Just bought some RTA 11T's - How'd I do???

Marcas

Greetings - I'm new to Club Polk. Here's short review of my history with Polk. Many years ago I had some B&W speakers. My roomate had Polk Monitor 10's. I was always jealous that his speakers sounded better. Many Many years later I'm walking through a local hi-fi store (Soundtrack) and I spot a pair of SDA SRS 3.1's. At that time they were $1000/each. This pair was a "demo" pair and on sale for $800 for the pair. I bought them.

I enjoyed them for many years. Some years later I moved into a 1 bedroom apartment and thought my speakers were too big. Yes, this is where my life would forever change. I must have been abused as a child because I sold my SDA's for $400 in the local paper.

Fast forward to today. I am now collecting vinyl and vintage audio equipment. I have an HK turntable, Luxman integrated amp, SAE Tuner, etc... I think it would be cool to get some Polks again. Low and behold, if you ever see them, which is rare, the SDA SRS's go for $1500-$2000/pair. Unbelievable.

After much searching on eBay and Craigslist, I just bought a pair of RTA 11T's for $300. From the pictures they are in perfect condition. They haven't come yet but needless to say I have high hopes. I have some old Magnepan SMG's that I use for classical. I'm looking for the RTA's to be my rock/jazz speaker.

Just wondering what folks think of the RTA 11'ts. By the way, if you're reading this and you're the one who bought my SDA's, I'd be glad to give you $500 for them. That's $100 profit for you ! ; )

nikolas812

Welcome to Club Polk!

Do you have a link to the add where you bought them? I would love to see some pictures.

John in MA

$300 sounds high to me, but if you like them that's all that counts. That kind of money could buy a smaller SDA model.

I didn't pay much for mine but they needed some work.

cfrizz

Welcome to Club Polk. Enjoy your speakers when they arrive.

TroyD

Enjoy! Welcome to Club Polk!

BDT

Marcas

Someone suggested that I paid too much for my Polk RTA 11T's. I'll tell you why I thought $300 was a bargain. First, if you go to www.polksda.com you will see a great deal of information on Polks, including ebay auctions for specific speaker models. In December of 2005, a set of RTA 11T's had 25 bids and sold for $376. I can't imagine that the price has gone down or that this speaker is MORE readily available today.

Second, I've been watching Polk speakers (painfully) on Ebay and Craigslist. I see great deals on Craigslist but can never convince anyone to ship. The last pair I saw on Craigslist was a gorgeous set of Monitor 12's for $150. I told the person I was willing to pay anything for shipping. They weren't willing to take the trouble. On ebay, the SDA's just seem to go for a premium, regardless of condition. So, take a look at the condition of these and maybe it will make more sense why I chose the buy-it-now option.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Polk-Audio-RTA-11T-Speakers-Excellent-Condition_W0QQitemZ160196541364QQihZ006QQcategoryZ14993QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

If you can't click on that link just search for: 160196541364

Their suppose to ship today. I'll post again when I get them hooked up !!!

danger boy

those are really nice RTA11's. congrats.. and personally, I don't think you paid to much.. we love good deals in here.. but that's not out of the ballpark in terms of price.

enjoy them once you get em.

John in MA

There's no need to get defensive. I'm used to seeing them for sale in the $150-200 range. Simple as that. Small SDAs like 2Bs in the $250-350 range.

The Polksda.com samplings are only a narrow cross section from a handful of auctions.

danger boy

used speaker prices are all over the place.. I paid $100 for a pair of 2b's, with bad tweeters.. and a friend of mine pair $40 for a pair of SDA 1's.

George Grand

Speakers, shmeakers.

If you add an "A" to your name it would be Maracas which is really pretty sharp. (Nobody else has that name yet!)

Just where you from son? Montrose/Ouray. Where the hell is that in Colorado?

Marcas

Responding to the last post. Maracas. Interesting. I don't think I've ever heard that, not even in Jr. High School! Anyway, to answer your question I live in Montrose and work for Ouray County. Montrose is a small farming/ranching community in the southwest area of Colorado. (known as the "western slope") After 42 years in Denver my wife and I decided we'd had enough. Everything that was familiar from growing up their had been bulldozed and paved.

So, we find ourselves in a small little blue collar town of about 20,000 people. Ouray, where I work, is named after Chief Ouray of the Southern Ute Tribe. Ouray is known as the "Switzerland of the West". Here's a couple of photos:

The first one is a downtown shot of Ouray. The second one is the highway out of Ouray to the south known as the "Million Dollar Highway". Notice the dropoff and lack of guard rails. This is the pass I have to go over to visit my favorite used vinyl store in Durango. (Everything is a $1!!!)

Anyway, I hope that helps. BTW - I keep buying as much vintage audio equipment as I can get my hands on. When my polks come I'm going to put the following items on Craigslist:

- Mordaunt Short - Floor standing speakers in perfect condition.
- Carver - 120w Carver AV Receiver. (From the early 90's)
- Either a Kenwood multi-disc cd player or a Luxman single disk.
(I have to figure out which one I want to keep.)

heiney9

You did fine @ $300, especially if you're happy with them. The biggest part of a deal is if it's local and no shipping is involved. Local PU is always desirable and worth paying a bit more.

We are used to great deals here on CP and sometimes loose sight of what the "real" world gets for some of the older Polks. I sold my RTA 11t's of which I was the original owner and had the boxes etc and they were mint except for the bases which were coming apart due to age. I sold them to a forum member for $200 pick up only.

I personally bought a pair of SDA 1C's from a local Polkie at one of our Polk meets. Got a ridiculous deal since they already had new caps, resistors, Vampire terminals and the updated RD0 tweets. I feel like I stole them . I won't even post what I paid for them for fear of retribution from some members <lol> .

Enjoy them, I wish I had the space to keep my originals in the 2nd system but it just wasn't meant to be.

H9

Boywonder

I'm sure there is some awesome mountian biking in Ouray, the hermosa creek trail in Durango is world class, and is on my top three rides list. Carvers(?) bakery was also a great place from what I remember, haven't been there in about a decade........

jawhog

I had the RTA 11TLs for a long time until I sold them last summer. Tried here first, but after no takers and a few price drops, ended up selling them on Craigslist to someone that ended up being a member here anyway.

They do end up selling in the $150 to $250 a lot, but they don't come up for sale often, and when the seller is willing to ship (I didn't want to risk it, they're so big and heavy), the price often goes up a bit. Plus, you could wait around for a year and maybe never see a good condition pair for sale for at any price.

I loved them and they're definitely worth $300. When you use a good amp with these, there's no chance you need a subwoofer for music and they hold their movies too.

cfrizz

HOLY $HIT!!!:eek::eek::eek: You couldn't pay me any kind of money to go on that highway!:eek:

I wonder how many people have gone sailing over the edge without a parachute!:eek:

BB3

Marcas,

Congratulations on getting those speakers. Price means nothing if that's what you really wanted and most importantly, what makes you HAPPY.

Happy Listening My Friend.

---

Bill (BB3)

ben62670

He has even posted at Club Polk in over a year and a half.