big speakers vs small

Micah Cohen · October 2002

Okay, I've tried to think of a way to do this, and I figure I should just be honest.

I'm trying to write something for the next newspaper about the new RTi150 speakers. It's a big speaker. It's a big, multidriver rock and roll speaker like Polk used ta make. It rocks. I need to know, is this something you want? I need customers or Polk fans to actually say stuff I can quote about how big rocking speakers.... rock, I guess.

What can you all say about big speakers? Big classic Polks, or this new big speaker. Has anyone heard the RTi150? What can you say?

Micah

RuSsMaN · October 2002

To me, the big (passive) Polks (and 'big' multi-driver speakers in general) offer a more believable low-end, more musical, not as forced as a powered tower, or sub-sat combo.

I prefer the larger, full range speakers, as I feel they are engineered to produce a 'balanced' sound, from top to bottom. One isn't left fiddling with gain and xovers on a powered sub to get the music 'just right'.

The only caveat, if you even consider it one, is that typically with large, multi-driver speakers, the more clean power you can throw at them, the better, so make sure your amps are up to the task....

Thumbs up guys, I'll go get my demo on, but keep the big-boys coming.... I think the RTi150, and LSi15 are GREAT start...

Cheers,
Russ

Ps, a personal challenge to Polk, show me a damn near full-range, (25Hz -3db), passive speaker, and bring it in for $500 -600 /pair... I'll take 2 pair to start, when and if.

phuz · October 2002

Originally posted by RuSsMaN

Thumbs up guys, I'll go get my demo on, but keep the big-boys coming.... I think the RTi150, and LSi15 are GREAT start...

I agree with everything Russ said, good comments man.

Micah, have you given any thought to an article explaining the difference in the LSi15 and RTi150? I think a lot of people would be interested in Polk's view on the vast difference in these two speakers, especially since they are so close in price.

Sorta like the muscle car and ferrari comparison, but a little more detailed and in Polk's own words.

hoosier21 · October 2002

Big speakers are great, full range of sound, deep bass, great power handling abilities, look great standing tall in your room.

The RT150i is not that big of a speaker, it maintains a narrow 8 ¼ wide front baffle, and only 14 inches deep, at 48 it is taller than some of speakers out there.

I like the personality of this speaker, 500watts, no power cord, just might be a great speaker. I cant wait to see the 250i and 350i those monsters will be killer.

I need to hear the 150i soon.

jcaut · October 2002

I wanted to comment, but don't really have much to add. Russman pretty much summed up my feelings on this topic.

I haven't heard this speaker yet, but I plan to soon. There are still plenty of us around who don't necessarily buy into "smaller is better"(most audio-related things seem to be going that way lately). The RTi150 is still a rather slender speaker, but it has enough driver area to produce some respectable bass---- without another AC power cord to plug in. (Without hearing it) It sounds like a winner to me.

Like phuz said, you might want to give some info about why one might choose the RTi150 over the similarly-priced LSi15: Which one does what better, etc.

Jason

jmasterj · October 2002

Micah,

I want some new SDA's If you guys are really paying attention you should have noticed the colt following these speakers have.

I have RT-1000's in a home theatre set-up. But I really would love
to buy some new SDA-2's even more than the LSi 15's Ive been
thinking about getting. Make some more of these. Yes we love the
big Polks. Keep em comming.

TroyD · October 2002

I see the difference as being the trade off between, on the plus side of the ledger for bookshelves, greater placement options, higher WAF, better detail, little better imaging, less demanding for power.

For the floorstanders: greater presence, more realistic bass, bigger soundstage, over all easier to 'get sounding right'. More realistic or true to life presentation. I say this taking into account speakers at the RTi pricepoint.

Generally, I will take the larger speaker because of the realism and presence. Generally, I give the edge in midrange to the smaller speakers but not enough to make me want to ditch the floorstanders.

I'm with the others, the RTi150 is a step in the right direction, more please!

BDT

Paul Connor · October 2002

Micah,

Here it is... Big is good. Very good. Big speakers driven with lots of power. I have and always will own big speakers with the ability to fill not only the room, but the house with sound. Just drop by my house and listen to In My Time of Dying by Led Zeppelin and you will know why I feel this way. I am with jmasterj on this one. Build new SDA's and I will buy the first pair.

In spite of what some women will tell you....Size Matters!

Paul

F1nut · October 2002

To borrow a line from the Kinks, "Give the people what they want!"
Nothing beats a big full range speaker so, give us SDA. Updated, of course.

gidrah · October 2002

Big speakers sound better. Once you put bookshelf/satellites on a stand, they tend to take up as much room so there isn't really much bonus.

gidrah · October 2002

"Sound travels in air. If you want to move sound, you must move air. If you want to move air, consider the RTi150." specs and sales mumbo-jumbo to follow.

I'll take 1% of all sales or return postage of my 10B grills after Matt signs them.:)

F1nut · October 2002

And the wheels go round and round......Top of the morning to ya!

BTW, nice slogan.

danger boy · October 2002

I haven't listened to the new RTi150 yet.. no one here carries them.. so my search continues.

anyway, the phrases that come to mind that might get the feeling across to potential listeners about these speakers are something to the effect of

"the new RTi150's will double your pleasure"

or

"These ain't no mama's boy speakers"

or

"Feel the power between your ears"

yes i was drunk when i wrote this.

Micah Cohen · October 2002

You guys are great. Loads of good stuff here, loads of stuff I'm going to quote in my article. The point is, that the driving force behind making a multi-driver speaker, really a classic Polk speaker, is BIG SOUND!

Paul, I've been listening to Zepp (again) lately, revelling in just how effing GREAT that shite is. I often think stuff like this: It's the MTV music awards or something, and some idiotic hip band has just finished their song ("Blink 182" or "Limp Biscuit" or whatever), and the crowd of wannabees is cheering because, you know, I guess they're, like, good and everything. And then the announcer says, "Here's Led Zeppelin," and they come out on the stage -- NOT HOW THEY LOOK TODAY, BUT AS THEY WERE IN 1972, lean and mean, tall and slim all blond and effed up -- and proceed to do that thing they do at the beginning of THE SONG REMAINS THE SAME: "Let's goooooooo!" [CRASH into "Rock and Roll"!]. Can you imagine? Every wannabee's head would explode! Christ, I ACHE for a detached house and RTi150s to just BLAST that stuff!

Can you imagine? Imagine a young Deep Purple, circa 1973 ("Made In Japan"), bopping out on stage... The MTV crowd growing sort of quiet as that thrumming begins -- bummmmmm -- Ian steps up to he mic and says just softly: "This is a song called Highway Star," and the band just CRASHES into this amazing noise! I personally don't think the MTV crowd could handle it, their sesitivities having been lowered systematically by pale non-talents for so long.

BIG SOUND!

jcaut · October 2002

"Here's Led Zeppelin," and they come out on the stage -- NOT HOW THEY LOOK TODAY, BUT AS THEY WERE IN 1972, lean and mean, tall and slim all blond and effed up -- and proceed to do that thing they do at the beginning of THE SONG REMAINS THE SAME: "Let's goooooooo!" [CRASH into "Rock and Roll"!]. Can you imagine? Every wannabee's head would explode!

That's hilarious!

--Jason

Strong Bad · October 2002

What it must have been like to experience a Jimmy Page guitar solo! I love the solo where he uses one of those violin things (I don't know what it's effing called!!!) while using the beer bottle instead of his fingers on the strings. TOTAL CLASSIC!!! These groups today are all about noise, yelling in the mic and using every 3 and 4 letter colorful word as lyrics. I think when they write these songs, when they run out of words they just insert some colorful word in as filler.

Record Producer - "Ok guys, we have to get this song to the 3 minute mark."

Modern Rock Singer - "Let's see, if we insert "F***" here, here, here and here, then add "a**hole" here, here, here and here along with a few "Sh**s", "**** F***ers" and "Eat Me" WHILE simply scratching the guitar and banging mindlessly on the drums, then we'll surely sell 3-4 million records to the retarded MTV crowd! HEY, even that idiot on TRL will endorse our worthless crap!!!"

Record Producer - "I smell platinum record here guys!!!"

Anyway, I've always been a large speaker man. Large speakers = large full sound. Build something to beat my SDA - SRS 2.3's and I'll take them!!!

Paul Connor · October 2002

Another thought on the subject of this thread: Speakers and Titties have something in common. They is no such thing as too big.

Consider this when you think about Page and Co. They were not a top 40 band. I think they found their true voice on Zep IV and built from there from many musical influences. And while they are considered a hard rock band, at the core they are really an acoustic group in many ways. There was a lot of commercial crap at the time (sans profane language) that has not held up in any way. They were the same folks you would find on MTV today. They simply have a larger audience. Go figure.

shack · October 2002

Micah - Led Zeppelin - 1972?
Deep Purple - 1973?

This was back in my college days when real rock was strong!

Maybe there is hope for the younger generation yet!!!!

phuz · October 2002

Originally posted by ATCVenom
Nothing quite captures the majesty of the multi-driver beast whose sheer omnimous presence commands your complete obedience.

Combining the latest developments in technology while mainting the vigor of sheer out-put, the RTi150 pushes the envolope of big sound to its limits, treating its listener with the accuracy and volume which has become a trademark of excellence and the true audio experience.

Damn if that ain't a quote I don't know what is. Someone give this guy Micah's job.

TroyD · October 2002

I agree with MC's premise that the current rock scene is nearly complete devoid of any type of talent. The MTV music awards were a shining testimony to that.

I also think the RTi50 is a STEP in the right direction. What I'd like to see is REALLY big speakers in the order of the larger SDA's or AR-9 variety. Screw that, I wanna see Matt Polk wheel out a pair of beasts with his white lab coat wide open just wackin' it saying "I got your cubes right here"

BDT

RuSsMaN · October 2002

Oh the image.....

'lab coat wide open just wackin it'

I'll never look at my Polk catalog the same again....

Cheers,
Russ

LiquidSound · October 2002

Wouldn't they be "Jewel Pubes"??

F1nut · October 2002

I agree with MC's premise that the current rock scene is nearly complete devoid of any type of talent. The MTV music awards were a shining testimony to that.

I agree....it's sad, but true!

Hmmmm.....maybe Polk Pubes

danger boy · October 2002

where does one define the line between rock and pop? currently who is a rocker? we had lots of good rock bands in the 60's, 70's and 80's but do we have any true rock bands today?
Is Creed a rock band? i hope not. ha ha ha

Strong Bad · October 2002

I was a little quick to snap judge all groups and lump them all into one group. There are a bunch of modern groups and songs that i do really like. I DJ in a club and hear a huge variety of music and have grown to like a bunch. Here's a sample of with my favorite songs.

Staind - Been awhile & Epiphany (<----very good recording! Sounds great on my big SDA's!!! Give it a shot!!!)

Godsmack - Awake, Whatever & Voodoo

Puddle of Mudd - Control & Blurry

Creed - Are you ready & Higher

Again, they're not all bad. It's the rotten apples like Limp Bizkit and Kid Rock that annoy me. How many more songs is Kid Rock going to write that have the same lyrics..."I sold 15 million records **** phucha...I wnet platinum these many times...I get more **** than so and so...!" He has 3 songs with those same lyrics AND contributed to a song with Methods of Mayhem which just so happened to be those very same lyrics. True, he is shackin up with Pamela (Which is it these days...Lee or Anderson???), but she's all used up and has herpes or some crap like that so it doesn't count anymore!

madmax · October 2002

Originally posted by ATCVenom
Though it may not be full of rich melodic scores which can be considered "timeless", to say these musicians have no talent is...

I couldn't have put my thoughts of today's rock music and the artists who play it any better!

madmax

danger boy · October 2002

Originally posted by ATCVenom
Call me rather defensive but it simply urks my nerves hearing the constant repetitive "rock today lacks talent" sorte. Though it may not be full of rich melodic scores which can be considered "timeless", to say these musicians have no talent is incredibly unfounded to say the very least.

I will not divuldge into a pissing match here, I degress however, it saddens me to see such views from various individuals.

I don't think todays muscians lack talent. It just seems that alot of todays music is manufactured by some guy sitting behind his desk in a skyscraper somewhere.. it looks like some music is just pumped out at record speed just to make a quick buck. true there are some good groups today that truely do make their own music.. and care about the music they create. but , i'm not a big fan of much of todays music.
If you're talking pure good old rock, i'm finding it hard to find a band i can stick with for more than one CD that they put out.

I"m a big fan of the group Heart. Heart has been around for decades.. and they are the type of band that i'll buy everything they put out. Why? Because I know it's good, and it's ROCK. and they have withstood the test of time for more than one good CD. I can only find a few bands today that are up and coming that i'd go out and invest money into buying their CD's who are real rockers. I dont' mean to stir up a hornets nest. but sometimes you gotta buck the status quo.
anyway. that's my 2 cents worth.

George Grand · October 2002

"Real men, listen to real speakers. Trix, AND sub/sat systems.....
are for kids." Kwazy Wabbit!

Tony Rome, Oct 02

Frank Z · October 2002

Pop quiz!

What is this post about?

trubluluc · October 2002

...and soon we're talking mating habits of orangutans.

Yeah put me down for the big boxes,
for as long as I can lift them.

-Luc

Systems · October 2002

For space issues, smaller speakers. However, good stands weighted w/shot can reduce or eliminate what you saved on bookshelfs, and the stands take up the space that the towers would take up. So if you are planning to use good stands for bookshelfs, you might as well get towers. However, if you have to actually use a shelf or some other placement that isn't "audiophile correct"

, get bookshelfs & add a sub if you feel bass-deprived. If you're going to get towers, you might as well get towers that go low enuff to make a sub optional, not required. All this is preference, not law, of course.

big speakers vs small

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