Are The RTi4's Bright Or Just Very Detailed?

Yashu · April 2007

What kind of flooring do you have? What shape is the room?

Ok, if you will bare with me here, we are talking about my nearfield listening setup. I have a set of PSB towers, but I moved into a smaller place and wanted to taylor a system for my new surroundings. The monitors are on my desk, the walls and floors don't really make a difference with this setup, but the floors are carpeted and the walls all have art, shelves, ect.

Hardware: NAD c350 integrated, Sansui Tuner, hagUSB s/pdif adapter from my PC to a Monarchy Audio DIP, then to a MHDT Dialogue II DAC. I have both my monitors and my towers on an Adcom 3 pair selector. (I use the towers now for 2 chan HT, and the PSB alpha Bs currently for music)

I have tried: JBL Control X1s, Polk RTi 4s, Monitor Audio Bronze B1s... and the PSB Alpha Bs... Polks were by FAR the brightest, with the monitor audio's being by far the darkest and most veiled, JBLs suprisingly transparent but lacking any sort of bottom end and the PSBs being the best balance so far. I honestly am hungry for "more" but I don't want to try yet another speaker and then have to return it.

I am looking for something with agile and open mid/bass like the PSBs, with smoothe sweet high end that won't sound too harsh with digital sources, but that can still throw a fair soundstage (imaging was the only trait of the Bronze B1s that I liked). So, I am not looking for the most revealing speaker, but the most "musical".

Would you call the LSi a musical speaker or one for critical listeners only?

Whew...

EDIT: I forgot to say that regarding hearing limits, my ears test into 20khz and beyond... It can be a blessing and a curse, that is why I may not want a tweeter that is going to reach stongly into 20+khz

markmarc · April 2007

jerrymb:
Have you broken in the RTi4's by playing them for at least 100+ hours continuously? Second, have you played around with positioning? Third are you using stands, wall mounting, or on a shelf? is the room carpeted and have curtains?

You'll be surprised by how much speakers improve through breakin, and by the placement and room acoustics. Finally, what kind of speaker wire are you using? Cheap, small gauge will make speakers sound thin and shrill.

Don't give up yet, work with all the suggestions.

heiney9 · April 2007

aaharvel wrote: »

I personally can't wait for the LSI experience. I just need more space for a 2ch. rig.

Get on those LSi's ASAP. A great mind blowing experience, especially if you get the 9's. I've had mine for 6 months and still can't believe the sound that comes out of those smallish bookshelf speakers. People keep asking me if I have a sub hidden somehwere. The scale and dynamics are just superb!!!! And the Vifa tweeter is just to die for!!

jerrymb · April 2007

I've only played them for about20 hours.I have them on 24 inch stands.My room is carpeted.I'm using decent 14 guage wire.Last night I put on a cd and sat directly between the 2 speakers and it sounded wonderful.The brightness is still there but it's not a harsh or distorted brightness.On the cd I listened to I would say that it sounded clearer than I 've ever heard it before.No way I can return my Yamaha reciever.But I have an older Onkyo packed away and I took it out to try it with the RTI4's and it sounds exactly the same!

Lowell_M · April 2007

jerrymb wrote: »

I've only played them for about20 hours.I have them on 24 inch stands.My room is carpeted.I'm using decent 14 guage wire.Last night I put on a cd and sat directly between the 2 speakers and it sounded wonderful.The brightness is still there but it's not a harsh or distorted brightness.On the cd I listened to I would say that it sounded clearer than I 've ever heard it before.No way I can return my Yamaha reciever.But I have an older Onkyo packed away and I took it out to try it with the RTI4's and it sounds exactly the same!

What is your source? What kind of CDP are you using? How do you have it connected? I've seen some painfully bright music come out of cheaper JVC DVD player DAC's. I can't stand to listen to my DVD player unless I connect via Toslink to my H/K and let it do the conversion. And actually, my ears don't care much for the Cambridge Audio DAC's either. Similar brightness...and analytical maybe.

You need to find a synergy between all of your components and connections that suits your taste. I'm there with my HT rig and am working on finding just the right equipment in my price range (I'm a cheap-****) for my 2-channel. There are upgrades that I would like to make (tighter sub for instance) in my HT, but overall I'm happy with what I pieced together) If you want to try changing somethings out, try the used market. Used audio equipment is, most of the time, just as good as new. then if you don't like it, you can sell it at about what you bought it for and only be out the shipping. There are cool deals on the flea market here all the time.

jerrymb · April 2007

I returned the Polks today.I picked up a pair of Infinity Primus 152 for $47 each!They sound smoother and less bright than the Polks.I still cannot believe all the rave reviews for the RTi4's.Maybe people think that BRIGHT means better?They did reveal more detail than I've ever heard but the cost was extreme brightness which to my ears seemed to drown out everything else.

Paramount Polk · April 2007

I also found the Rti4's a little bright... I was never truly satisfied with them. My receiver isnt the best either but my ears are for more warmer and neutral sounds. The Rti4's were a gift for me so i didnt have a decision on which model i'd receiver. they're used too. The thought about them being HT speakers also ran by my mind... Im going to head for the monitor 50's now... im gonna take a good listen @ CC or PC Richard.
And Go HK!!!

aaharvel · April 2007

Paramount Polk wrote: »

I also found the Rti4's a little bright... I was never truly satisfied with them. My receiver isnt the best either but my ears are for more warmer and neutral sounds. The Rti4's were a gift for me so i didnt have a decision on which model i'd receiver. they're used too. The thought about them being HT speakers also ran by my mind... Im going to head for the monitor 50's now... im gonna take a good listen @ CC or PC Richard.
And Go HK!!!

yeah i noticed the budget Sony AVR in your sig. that's the culprit imo.
Jerry, to my ears the primus speakers are great for the price with a talent for classical music. For $100/pair they're a steal. Nice going.

jerrymb · April 2007

For $47 each I feel like I stole them.I know that the older Primus 150's are discontinued and have been reduced in price.Every place on the web I checked had the new 152's for about $100 each.$200 for the pair.I paid $94 a pair!Now I need a sub to go with them.I was thinking of a Velodyne sub.I'm willing to spend about $200.Any suggestions?

heiney9 · April 2007

Just to help you out Jerry this is what a review had to say about the RTi 4. I would guess the synergy between your other components were the culprit. Sometimes all the equipment doesn't play nice together. I just don't want you to be soured on Polk Audio speakers. For your particular situation and set-up they just didn't work for you.

http://stereophile.com/standloudspeakers/1004polk/

H9

jerrymb · April 2007

Let me put it another way.Why do the Polks sound different than any other speaker I've heard?Either all the speakers I've ever owned were crap and the Polks are great and I just don't appreciate a good speaker or all my previous speakers were OK and the Polks are just unusally bright.I read the Stereophile review.That's why I bought the Polks.

cnjvh · April 2007

Here's a dumb question - do you listen with grills on or off? I found the brightness of my RTi's to be tamed a bit by leaving the grills on (that's how they're designed to be used so it makes sense I suppose).

heiney9 · April 2007

jerrymb wrote: »

Let me put it another way.Why do the Polks sound different than any other speaker I've heard?Either all the speakers I've ever owned were crap and the Polks are great and I just don't appreciate a good speaker or all my previous speakers were OK and the Polks are just unusally bright.I read the Stereophile review.That's why I bought the Polks.

Sometimes that's just the way it is. System synergy is something that gets mentioned often here on CP and if you get a different set-up later on down the road and try the RTi's again they may work for you. Again I had a similar experience with my Athena bookies, which got rave professional reviews, and they just didn't do it for me at the time (even in a secondary less critical system). I still have them and I still swap them in and out and still nothing but an average non-descript sounding speaker. I was disappointed and I've moved on.

Polks as an entire speaker line tend to be very accurate sounding speakers and they will probably, more than many other speakers at this price point, reveal other source and sytem shortcomings. Other manufacturer's designs may tend to mask these shortcomings so they aren't so apparent.

Atleast you gave them a try and hopefully if your system evolves you'll give them a try again (not nec the same model) later on down the road. It's all about what works for you in your system the way you like it.

H9

aaharvel · April 2007

cnjvh wrote: »

Here's a dumb question - do you listen with grills on or off? I found the brightness of my RTi's to be tamed a bit by leaving the grills on (that's how they're designed to be used so it makes sense I suppose).

was wondering if someone would mention this. When the grilles are off, the rti's sound horrible imo. I've never heard such a difference with grilles on/off in a speaker before. Mine are on and they stay on.

jerrymb · April 2007

I had the grills on.I've always read that Infinitys were bright but after listening to the 152's for the last few days they sound tame compared to RTi4's.

Willow · April 2007

aaharvel wrote: »

was wondering if someone would mention this. When the grilles are off, the rti's sound horrible imo. I've never heard such a difference with grilles on/off in a speaker before. Mine are on and they stay on.

Mine are always on as well.

michael_w · April 2007

So Jerry doesn't like Polks? Big deal. I think we're beating a dead horse here trying to convince him it's something else in the system that's wrong. Syenergy plays a big role in the system, but it's not everything. Polk has it's own unique flavor and it just might not be his taste.

Willow · April 2007

I think I may try hooking up my rti4's to my MA700s. I have never used them as mains on my HK either. So this will be totally different. I've never had 200wpc push the 4s.

heiney9 · April 2007

michael_w wrote: »

So Jerry doesn't like Polks? Big deal. I think we're beating a dead horse here trying to convince him it's something else in the system that's wrong. Syenergy plays a big role in the system, but it's not everything. Polk has it's own unique flavor and it just might not be his taste.

Yea, well he did ask the question so I don't think we are beating a dead horse especially since the person who posed the question is still involved in the discussion. I'm not trying to convince him, I'm trying to tell him some possible reasons why......................because he asked.

H9

michael_w · April 2007

It just seems useless to me to keep trying to convince him that he should like them. He already sold the speakers and has moved on. I guess I interpreted the posts differently but that's how I saw it. FWIW yes, I think the rti series is bright and equipment can help tame it but in the end it's still a bright speaker.

GATOR3000 · April 2007

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Tube CD Player is the answer in my rig anyway..Roll some tubes in your CD Player and you can tame a big frigen HORSE, never mined Rti series speakers!!!

Of course they are bright. Most speakers under $1000.00 I have listened to were bright detailed to certain extent no doubt about it.

IMO........You want to fix the brightness on any Rti series speaker use tubes all the way. Tubes have the best sound reproduction with new or old audio material IMO.

Cheers:)

Paramount Polk · April 2007

My grilles are gonna get shot on when i get back home... maybe thats why im so dissatisfied with my sound... hopefully the new Onkyo will "tame" it and putting the grille back on will help...

Acoustically invisible?? what the poopy?

c0reyl · April 2012

you guys realize that if you ever say a speaker sounds bright, warm, sharp, soft, boomy, bassy, or ANYTHING but "exactly like the music should"

you have a problem.... and Aluminum dome tweeters tend to sound harsh, go for silk domes for the most natural sound. most studio monitors use them for a reason. Studio monitors are designed to reproduce EXACTLY what was recorded in the booth, and are pretty much the best baseline for reproducing sound perfectly IMO.

also, Tube amps have the most linear sound reproduction out of any other amplification. if you want REAL sound without sounding warm or bright or any other BS, try getting some Mcintosh tube amps hooked up to a quality surround sound processor, which will act as a receiver, hooked up to either kevlar/quality paper/pulp woofers with high efficiency silk dome tweeters. you will be amazed. MOFSET amps, no matter what will have square waveforms in the sound reproduction instead of a linear reproduction. even the best Class AB amps have some kind of distortion, which can't be really picked up from THD specs.

then again, wtf do I know? I'm some 21 year old kid who barely graduated highschool...

Edit: I'm thinking it's his amp, because I forgot those speakers have silk domes, which almost never are too harsh or bright, people usually say they're warmer if anything else, which is stupid, because they aren't either if made right

Lietuvis91 · April 2012

Thanks for the info, but I hope you realize you woke up a dinosaur thread from 2007... :razz:

nhhiep · April 2012

Rti tweeter is more bright, not detailed. Great for HT, but you simply can't enjoy music long with it. Speaking of brightness, Rti is nothing compare to Klipsch Reference. That thing really tries to kick you out of the room quick.

Erik Tracy · April 2012

RTis and music can work very well.

I started with RTi4s in my system - and with my components they did an admirable job for both HT and my music preferences.

I suppose if your preferences are to use bright components and silver ICs and like to listen to cheaply mastered metal music at glass shattering volumes then they could be the wrong choice.

Drenis · April 2012

Erik Tracy wrote: »

RTis and music can work very well.

I started with RTi4s in my system - and with my components they did an admirable job for both HT and my music preferences.

I suppose if your preferences are to use bright components and silver ICs and like to listen to cheaply mastered metal music at glass shattering volumes then they could be the wrong choice.

If only one could swap LSi 9 drivers and tweeters in RTi A9's. Best of ALL worlds. :razz:

halo71 · April 2012

haha, post 54 made me laugh. Another no it all necro-poster. :rolleyes:

heiney9 · April 2012

I wonder if the #54 poster has ever even heard RTi speakers. Probably not.

I have a pair of RT25i's and RTi38's. Neither are bright on the rig I run. The RT25i's are actually a superb speaker, some of the best midrange I've heard for the size and cost. Even beats out my 5B's on some material. The highs are very smooth and articulate but not the last word in transparency or detail. Very good to excellent considering the price.

The RTi 38's aren't as good in the midrange and the highs, while not bright, seem a tad more ragged. Not as balanced as the RT25i's as they seem to have an unnatural thickness in the lower midrange, upper mid-bass. Same rig, same music, same stands, same position as the RT25i's. The RTi38's probably could have used more optimum placement.

Overall, using tubes, quality I/C's and speaker cables as well as a nice, neutral sounding USB dac I wouldn't chacterize the RTi series as bright on my gear, but not as smooth and laid back as LSi's or RD0 equipped vintage Monitors.

Nohr SE9 - 9wpc EL34 based full tube integrated. 1958 Valvo 12AX7 slant getter; 1969 Mullard Blackburn 5AR4 rectifier; SED Winged C EL34's
MIT terminator 2 I/C's
Canare 4S11 speaker cables
Keces DA-151 dac
Media Monkey playing FLAC files via ASIO4ALL plug-in
Trey Special Power cables for the DAC and Integrated amp.

H9

Ps. In the process of recapping the RT25i's with Clarity/Axon combo as well as adding Mills resistors, stay tuned

heiney9 · April 2012

Actually I read the Stereophile review on the RT25i and didn't really believe them because it was the RTxxi line and I had always read the RTxxi line could be bright and with me having SDA's and the classic Monitor line I thought Polk's days of really nice sounding inexpensive speakers were behind them.

The RT25i and maybe even the RT35i are special, they sound fantastic. I bought the RTi38's thinking I'd get something even better and I was disappointed compared to the RT25i. The 25i has the magic and while the i38's aren't too shabby they come up short for strict 2 channel music listening.

H9

Are The RTi4's Bright Or Just Very Detailed?

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