My Fantastic R50-R30-R15 set up....BUT

Kchill

Hey guys, been lurking here for the past 2 years. I have read quite a bit on Polk Audio. I like many folks bought a HTIB...Onkyo in fact back in 05. It worked for a while but of course it sucked for music. Then I ran upon tower speakers at Fry's. I bought my first Polk r30's in 06. I then bought 2 sets of r15's at Fry's great prices. I loved the sound and even sent my brother the same set up. When I went to his house up in DC and hooked up his Sony reciever the r30's kicked azz! It sounded much better than mine. For the last year I wanted to hear what the r50's sounded like, but Fry's never had them in black.

Well in December they put the black on sale for that amazing low price! I rushed over to picked them up and was blown away by the sound that I was missing for so so long, it felt better than my brothers up in DC. Well then we move forward less than a month later and the fire sale that has been going on.

Man I never felt this way about speakers in my life! I went to audition the RTI 8's and 10's. I stood there with MP3 player in hand hooked up to thier Onkyo to compare. I played about 10 songs and they were very nice to let me do so. I came to the following point. The 8's are bright and the 10's were warm. I now think its because of the Onkyo reciever (which will be a whole other discussion). Needless to say after an hour I was ready to purchase the 10's, good thing was I was able to bring back the 50's if needed.

We go to cash out. And the fine rep tells me we may have a problem Houston, the blacks which he had taken down off the shelf and ready to go in my car was comming up reg price and that the cherry (which I would not want) were out of stock. The Fry-manager would not release those for less then 299.00 each after his discount:mad:.

Needless to say I walked out without them. On my way home I was thinking that I could not find a big reason to buy these as I could not hear a huge difference over the r50's.

Now I know many of you would tell me that there is a big difference but I could not justify a 500 buck difference.

Then I though that maybe I should just buy a different reciever and take that road since I am happy with the speakers. I also took comfort in knowing that this pattern of price drop seems to happen every 3 or 4 years as I have went back in the threads. This happens when the line is changed.

So I am at a crossroad, should I go back and wheel or deal or just be happy with what I got. Change the reciever or buy the speakers and upgrade the reciever later since the speakers are somewhat on sale. Should I wait till the line is changed again. I know we are talking about a few penney's but, well I don't know??? LOL

On a side note thanks Ron, I have followed your path somewhat from HTIB to Polk as I have read your stuff from this form to another one on that other famous site that seem to bash POLK!

Ron Temple

If you're referring to me...you're very welcome.

Sometimes when dealing with Frys, getting a little hot will do the trick. It's worked for me...and it hasn't...but all in all, you can still get smoking deals.

Putting RTi10s on the Onk 5xx series will work, but it will limit the speakers...even 8s. If you're itching to upgrade, then the 8s, a refurb HK 2xx series and a better sub will be pretty awesome.

Take your time and enjoy.

Kchill

Thanks Ron, do you find the HK to be warm in sound with just the right treble to hear precussion?

I begin work on my basement this year and will be looking for my "Final Soulution" ...lol

cfrizz

Welcome to CP Kchill!

We are the only fanatics about Polk. You go to other boards & the advice is to pick another speaker company!

Keiko wrote: »

Bash Polk??? Some of the best products ever made with exceptional customer service and there's a group out there bashing PolkAudo!?! The oddassity! :mad: Oh well, nice write up anyway Kchill. Good luck with your system and welcome to CP.

Ron Temple

Kchill wrote: »

Thanks Ron, do you find the HK to be warm in sound with just the right treble to hear precussion?

I begin work on my basement this year and will be looking for my "Final Soulution" ...lol

The entry level HKs are much better sounding than the entry level Onks, IMO...a few more features and warmer and punchier. My rec was based on budget and SQ.

obieone

O.K. Pal! Spill your guts! Who's bashing Polk?!

Kchill

Yeah...got a csi3 just in time for the bowl. Even had a chance to listen to music for a few hours....wow what a difference...

Does this CSI3 match the R50's?????

I can tell that it takes some power as I had this thing on full blast according to my reciever.

I may be done....no need to do more...I shall be happy with my set up. I hear things so clearly.

Once again I was in Fry's for like an hour as I demo the new center, they even had them set up with some RTi 12's...I tell ya those are monsters!

But when I got home and hooked up the new center and turned the music on I was like "hell yea"...

Fry's had my black for 142.99.....I know folks are getting the cherry but I want mine to match up with the rest of my speakers...

Also had a chance to look at the CS2 but this thing was half that price and sound just as good. They no longer carry the CSi5 but the new one was simply huge and would not look right on top of my TV...anyhow I now feel good about my HT.

I'm not mad at Fry's anymore for not letting the 10's go.

I don't have the power for them anyways, but man did this CSI3 really clear things up and the good news is that it don't overpower the 50's.

I stand behind the 50's (or shall I say in front)