rtia3 vs tsi200

charlie5266

i'm building a small ht to be used for gaming and movies and possibly music.
i'll be using bookshelfs for both the fronts and rears with 2 outlaw 8" subs for bass.
can't find any reviews on the tsi200, but am wondering which (rtia3 or tsi200) will have better upper-bass/midrange response? seems to me that the 2 5.25" drivers in the tsi200 might give better midrange than the lone 6.5" driver in the rtia3.

also, can you lie the rtia3 on its side with that teardrop cabinet?

Jim Shearer

Haven't heard the TSi, so no comment there, HOWEVER:
DO NOT turn a speaker on its side if you want to get all the sound you paid for!

Imaging & sound stage will suffer if you don't keep the speaker up-right!

Cheers, Jim

messiah

I demoed them both today and the Tsi200 absolutely SMOKED it! Way better sounding imho.

VSchneider

I am sorry, but the only way TSi200's could "smoke" the RTi is if they caught on fire.
Something must have been wrong with the setup to favor the TSi200 pair.

Describe the "better sounding", Messiah.

- Val

messiah

Well, I guess I should have gone into better detail about my demo earlier today. Sorry for that. First off I didn't go to specifically demo these 2 speakers. I went listen to many current offerings by some of the top speaker manufacturers in order to help a friend of mine build a home theater. I also brought along an impartial set of ears, my girlfriends. She doesn't really care about how they look because they won't be in our home, or how much they cost because it doesn't affect our budget. She is friends with my friend however (she introduced us) so she wants the best for him. By home theater I am not referring to a few well placed speakers in a living room or den. He is actually building a dedicated theater room in his home. So anyway, I had listened to quite a few speakers (a bunch...no more like a ton actually lol) and was finishing my listening with the polk brand. I listened to the Lsi line, then the Rti line, and then the salesman asked me to listen to something else with my eyes closed. I said sure, cool. So he started playing King Crimson and switching back and forth between two speakers. One sounded thin and like it was missing something, and one sounded pretty well rounded, as though most of the range possible was accurately represented. My girlfriend had the same impression. When I saw the price tag of the 2 speakers I was laughing my **** off! Yeah, the Tsi200 is a bit bigger. But the sound it produced was WAY bigger. Still, I was a bit skeptical. So I had the salesman switch the receiver (from an denon 3808 to an onkyo 905) and he played pink floyd. Same reaction. Yeah, I'll say it again, the Tsi SMOKED the Rti. It is what it is. After I came home I went online to see what there was about these new speakers and I ended up looking here (I'm a somewhat new member, but have always loved polk speakers). There isn't too much out there about these speakers, so I thought I'd contribute and help out. Just so you know I didn't end up selecting the Tsi's for my buddys theater. Of all the speakers we listened to the Paradigm studio line sounded the best considering his budget.

Bottom line? The Rti was just ok. The Tsi was very good.

VSchneider

That's quite an interesting experience, indeed. Thank you for sharing.

I believe what you guys heard is true, but the cause is still likely a particular setup issue, i.e. placement, miswiring (out of phase maybe?), a loose nut holding the jumpers between top and bottom pots possibly preventing one of the woofers from playing, or simply a blown set of RTi A3's.

In my experience, the RTi6 (RTi A3's predecessor) was a clear winner over Monitors (TSi is essentially a repackaged and maybe slightly updated Monitor line,) which I ran in my room in the same position and with the same AVR and material.

So much about this hobby is subjective, and all opinions matter and count.
Again, thank you for sharing.

Jim Shearer

Things can go wrong in demos! Couple years ago I bought a pair of RTi6's. I listened to RTi4, RTi6, LSi7 and LSi9. I liked the RTi6 and LSi7 about equally. The LSi9 must have been defective though: sounded way bad (at least to me.) Don't know why anyone in their right mind would buy them if that's what they really sound like.

I have since listened to LSi15, which should have similar characteristics to the LSi9. The 15's sounded pretty good. Again, I must conclude that I heard a pair of defective LSi9's. In a store, you would expect they would get defective or broken (abused?) product off the shelf right away. But if they don't realize there's a problem, then maybe it's not much of a hi-fi shop! :rolleyes:

Cheers, Jim

Frank840

The tsi speakers are not something to overlook espeicaly for the price. They are little brighter then the Rti6's. You get a little more bass out of the dual woofer's compared to rti6, but if you have a nice receiver you can change the x curve to fit and save a few dollars. IMO

Frank

Grimster74

Here is my review of the TSi200's I did before they came available to the public.

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=67973&highlight=tsi200

Erik Tracy

Frank840 wrote: »

The tsi speakers are not something to overlook espeicaly for the price. They are little brighter then the Rti6's. You get a little more bass out of the dual woofer's compared to rti6, but if you have a nice receiver you can change the x curve to fit and save a few dollars. IMO

Frank

Really? Brighter than the RTI6?

If I remember correctly, the RTI6/4s were branded as being bright.

That would make the TSi200.... "brilliant" ? :-)

I will admit that my RTI4s do seem a tad shiny on the top end.

RutgersFTW

The RTi6 I spent a few months with had a very unique sonic signature. All the way through the upper mids they were punchy but warm, then the top end is even further forward but a touch bright with some material. They're a very dramatic speaker which will either wow or disgust an attentive listener, but definitely a giant killer at either MSRP or street.

The Monitor 30s I had shared this tonal balance (which I've been told is the "Polk sound" by others) with a little less refinement both in the mids and the high end, but still very listenable with most material. Male vocals had a touch too much chestiness, and the highs had a wee bit too much grain for my liking, but they were still very capable and, again, a great buy at the price.

I could see the TSi improving on the Monitors and refining that sound. If some of the peakiness in the mids and highs were mellowed and smoothed I'd believe they could sound better than RTi-series speakers with certain electronics. The drivers and cabinets aren't significantly cheaper.

Cool impressions from everyone in the thread. :up:

FrysElectronics

The TSI series is just an upgraded version of the monitor series. The new A series is on a whole different level. Between the tsi200 and the a3, i would have to go with the a3s. They have a better and bigger driver and both have the dynamic balanced tweeter. So maybe the Tsi will have a slightly better high's. The A3s also have an arc port and a better cabinet. Sorry but im a fan of the A series. Between all TSi's and RTi A series though, the RTi A's have more detail and texture to my/our ears but less bass.