Rti a5 or Rti a7

Brian217

First off I must say thanks for everyones help...I have learned alot about receivers, amps and even speakers the past few weeks...I just bought the Pioneer Elite 01txh...No speakers yet just starting to build...These two speakers will serve as my front speakers and if anyone could give me any insight on the two, which would be better in my case...WIll be listening to tv and movies, occasional music..I will be getting a sub also but thats for another thread...Hope someone can help me out...And Thanks again to everyone!

leroyjr1

I would go with the RTI A5's because of the better mid section. The bass is a lttle better with the 7's but if your adding a powered sub your good to go. The 5's are alot cheaper as well. Check out POLK DIRECT EBAY STORE.

Chitown_Badger

I was going to get the A5s from the polk direct store...I auditioned them and liked them a lot. But I got a killer deal on a pair of new RTi10s and had to take it ($400 for the pair). I don't have any regrets

MHayes

Brian, I was in the same boat as you in terms of these two speakers and chose the a7s in the end. To help me decide, I went to a local dealer that had both and listened to them over and over. I would get the salesman to switch between the two with my eyes closed and in my opinion, the a7s just sounded more natural. I paired them both with a sub and surrounds and without to hear them in different set-ups. I suggest you do something similar if you have a dealer nearby.

nm4710

I have to agree the A7s are better in my opinion. I own RTi10s (similar to A7s) and RTi8's (similar to A5s). My RTi10s are better in every way i can think of (short of taking up space) over the RTi8. I have listened to the A7 and A5 and feel the same. The A7 in my opinion has better midrange and much much better bass. Treble sounds about the same b/w the two. I suspect people who think the A7s lack midrange perhaps didn't listen to them in the optimal environment or with adequate amplification. I think the A5s sound good, but the A7s are another level.

kolky

I would have to echo the first response. If you are going with a separate sub go with the A5s. They blend very nicely and have a really nice midrange. Even though they will lack the low end punch of the A7s the sub should take care of it. You'll probably cross then at 80hz anyway which takes away most if not all the advantage of the A7s.

jnickrand

I've always been a little put off by the 3-way Rti designs because of my insistence on a subwoofer. I'm a bass head and I openly admit it . The A7 & A9 both cross over to their 7" bass drivers at about 120-125hz. So if you cross over at 80 hz to a sub then you are only having those bass drivers play 40 hz worth of content - what a waste!. You could cross over at 60, but then that's only 60hz. Some manufacturer's 3 way designs have crossovers in the 300-650 range FWIW.

The big advantage, IMO, of the A7 or A9 is that you can literally listen to music 2.0 (subwoofer off). The bass drivers of the A7 & A9 will be integrated extremely well, you won't have to worry about the boominess or sloppiness of many subwoofers. You'll have nicely defined, musical and tight bass. But for me and my Metallica, Linken Park, STP, etc... I'll give up some "musical" bass for room shaking

Just my opinion.

danz1906

Go for the RTiA5s with a good Sub.

leroyjr1

nm4710 wrote: »

I have to agree the A7s are better in my opinion. I own RTi10s (similar to A7s) and RTi8's (similar to A5s). My RTi10s are better in every way i can think of (short of taking up space) over the RTi8. I have listened to the A7 and A5 and feel the same. The A7 in my opinion has better midrange and much much better bass. Treble sounds about the same b/w the two. I suspect people who think the A7s lack midrange perhaps didn't listen to them in the optimal environment or with adequate amplification. I think the A5s sound good, but the A7s are another level.

A7's midrange is no way near on the same level as the a5's. The rti 8's you listened to must of had something wrong with them.

trinidesignz

Well I'm so confused on which speaker to get I currently have RTi 70 but I wanna make sure I upgrade really good some people say A5 is way better than A7 with a good sub. But if the A7 has less midrange can it be compensated by using CSi A6?

leroyjr1

trinidesignz wrote: »

Well I'm so confused on which speaker to get I currently have RTi 70 but I wanna make sure I upgrade really good some people say A5 is way better than A7 with a good sub. But if the A7 has less midrange can it be compensated by using CSi A6?

Theirs pluses and minuses for both speakers. Depending on how your going to use them you'll get different responses. IMO the A5's with a sub will blow the a7's away.

Both speakers are a trade off. If you go RTI A7's your going to have good bass but lack in the midrange department. If you go RTI A5's your going to have great midrange but lack in the bass department.

Think about it if the A5's lack in the bass department you can just add a good powered sub which you'll probably do anyway no matter what speaker you choose. If you choose the A7's ther's nothing you can add ( in reason)to get better midrange.

nm4710

LeroyJr I guess my ears must just be different from yours. I own a pair of RTi8s that work flawlessly...and their midrange and bass are BOTH inferior to the RTi10s IMHO. Vocals just aren't as clear...and music, even with the speakers crossed at 80hz sounds better to me on my 10s. As for adding a sub, I haven't heard a sub yet that really blended in well with RTi mains when it came to music.

I have my doubts that polk would manufacturer a higher model of speaker within a line that had inferior performance to a lower model...in any case, I think the best thing for the OP to do is to go and listen to both.

MHayes

trinidesignz wrote: »

Well I'm so confused on which speaker to get I currently have RTi 70 but I wanna make sure I upgrade really good some people say A5 is way better than A7 with a good sub. But if the A7 has less midrange can it be compensated by using CSi A6?

Seriously, go find some and listen to them, that's the only way you'll know that YOU made the right decision. As soon as I listened to both, it was clear to me which ones I wanted to buy, but opinions (and ears) vary. Good luck.

danlarson

Or, get some that you can return... Amazon has a great return policy.

comfortablycurt

I'm getting ready to upgrade to RTiA's here in the near future, and I've been throwing the same question around. It seems to be that the A7's probably would be really bass heavy, which isn't always a bad thing, but it depends on your preferences. The A7 has two 7" drivers and a 6.5" mid. Those are pretty damn close to the same size...it's probably kind of hard to discern betweeen what's bass and what's midrange. Where as the A5 has two 5.25" mids...giving you much warmer and cleaner midrange.

What I'm gonna do is get the A5's for now, with four RTi4's, a CSiA4 and a PSW1000. Eventually the A5's will get moved to surround duty with another pair of A5's, and a pair of A9's will take over as my mains. CSiA6 will probably be in order at that point as well.

curved

nm4710 wrote: »

As for adding a sub, I haven't heard a sub yet that really blended in well with RTi mains when it came to music.

Come and listen to my Snell sub....you'll have a completely different feeling after you do.:D
http://www.snellacoustics.com/ProductDetails/3472.asp

comfortablycurt

Whoops...my info was wrong there. The A5 actually has two 6.5 inch mids, not 5.25 inch mids. The theory is still the same though.

The A7 has a much weaker midrange section, and is really bass heavy. The A5's have a much better midrange section, and not as much bass. Most home theaters have subs anyway, which take care of most of the bass. I'd imagine the A5's would merge better with a sub, and would give you better sound quality across the whole frequency range.

What sub do you have in mind?

MHayes

comfortablycurt wrote: »

The A7 has a much weaker midrange section, and is really bass heavy. The A5's have a much better midrange section, and not as much bass. Most home theaters have subs anyway, which take care of most of the bass. I'd imagine the A5's would merge better with a sub, and would give you better sound quality across the whole frequency range.

Have you listened to either the A5 or A7? I can't stress enough that you should listen before making an assessment on how the speakers sound. It's not as simple as looking at them side-by-side and saying that Polk added a 6 1/2 driver and took away 2 7" drivers to arrive at an a5. The crossover points between the two are different, which I think makes a distinctive difference in the sound. IMO, your assessment is a "little" off, but that's based on my listening of the two.

leroyjr1

MHayes wrote: »

Have you listened to either the A5 or A7? I can't stress enough that you should listen before making an assessment on how the speakers sound. It's not as simple as looking at them side-by-side and saying that Polk added a 6 1/2 driver and took away 2 7" drivers to arrive at an a5. The crossover points between the two are different, which I think makes a distinctive difference in the sound. IMO, your assessment is a "little" off, but that's based on my listening of the two.

No he's pretty much spot on.

comfortablycurt

MHayes wrote: »

Have you listened to either the A5 or A7? I can't stress enough that you should listen before making an assessment on how the speakers sound. It's not as simple as looking at them side-by-side and saying that Polk added a 6 1/2 driver and took away 2 7" drivers to arrive at an a5. The crossover points between the two are different, which I think makes a distinctive difference in the sound. IMO, your assessment is a "little" off, but that's based on my listening of the two.

I've heard the A7's before. Actually a couple weeks ago at my local Polk dealers shop. I've never actually heard the A5's, but in listening to the A7's I found them to be very lacking in the midrange department, because of the fact there's only one of the 6.5" mids. I also found it to be rather bass heavy...to the point where it overpowered the midrange.

I made an assumption that the A5 would serve better because of the lack of bass drivers, and the addition of an extra mid. From what I've seen on here most people would agree with me. He also said that he was going to be getting a powered sub, which would fill out the low end very nicely. So the lack of bass drivers on the A5 shouldn't really be an issue for him.

MHayes

leroyjr1 wrote: »

No he's pretty much spot on.

To each his own. I find the midrange on the a5s to be too much "in your face" and the a7s to sound more natural and balanced. We agree to disagree.

comfortablycurt

MHayes wrote: »

To each his own. I find the midrange on the a5s to be too much "in your face" and the a7s to sound more natural and balanced. We agree to disagree.

I suppose that's why there are so many different types of speakers out there. If everyone liked the exact same kind of speaker, all of these discussions would be pretty dull...lol

MHayes

comfortablycurt wrote: »

I suppose that's why there are so many different types of speakers out there. If everyone liked the exact same kind of speaker, all of these discussions would be pretty dull...lol

Absolutely, you speak the truth there my friend!

comfortablycurt

MHayes wrote: »

Absolutely, you speak the truth there my friend!

"Which speakers should I get?"

"Those ones!"

"Why?"

"Cuz you don't have a choice!"


I think I'd get tired of that conversation after a while...lol