Purchase RTi12's over RTi10's or 8's?

dakinesnow

Hey all,

I've read plenty of postings in regards to peoples preferences in sound in the RTi series, but I still am trying to decide for myself on which path to take.

Right now, I have found the RTi 12's for cheaper shipped to me than the RTi 10's. About a week ago the 10's were much cheaper, but that vendor sold out. My question is, will an upgrade to the RTi 12's be overkill for my fairly modest system?

I have an older Onkyo 503 and a Velodyne powered sub for extra bass. I also have M20's and M10's for front/rear right now. I know at some point I will be requiring extra amplification with the RTi series of my choice, as well as updating my receiver to support preouts/HDMI/etc.

So in deciding to upgrade, is this too much? Or would I be foolish not to grab a pair for this low of a price? I know the new versions are even more and have also read about some people liking them better and others not.

Thanks.:D

XJRGUY

I would buy the RTi12's. As long as you don't overstress your receiver with them now, you can always get an outboard amplifier (recommended) later.

Since you are running a dedicated sub, you have some flexibility.

Most receivers can't drive the RTi12's adequately.

I use the RTi12's and highly recommend them especially if you can purchase them for less than the model below them.

megasat16

dakinesnow wrote: »

Hey all,

Right now, I have found the RTi 12's for cheaper shipped to me than the RTi 10's. About a week ago the 10's were much cheaper, but that vendor sold out. My question is, will an upgrade to the RTi 12's be overkill for my fairly modest system?

I have an older Onkyo 503 and a Velodyne powered sub for extra bass. I also have M20's and M10's for front/rear right now. I know at some point I will be requiring extra amplification with the RTi series of my choice, as well as updating my receiver to support preouts/HDMI/etc.

So in deciding to upgrade, is this too much? Or would I be foolish not to grab a pair for this low of a price? I know the new versions are even more and have also read about some people liking them better and others not.

Thanks.:D

No, the RTi12 is not an overkill and not too much. You just get proper amplification later on and you can make do with what you have now (provided you don't listen to the very very loud with your current receiver).

As long as RTi12 is cheaper than RTi10 shipped, I don't see any problem going with the bigger and badder RTi12.

leroyjr1

Get the RTI 12's and when the funds come available upgrade each piece at a time. Your next upgrade then should be a nice receiver with preouts, then a external amp.

You can get a nice receiver for about $500-600 ( Onkyo 705/805/706/806 )They have pre-outs, hdmi inputs and the latest in HD decoding. A decent amp to push them will start at roughly $200

TAX time is coming

Sherardp

Agree with every post, go for the 12s, they're pretty darn good speaks, love mine.

mmadden28

+1 for the RTi12s.

And if you wanted to jump on a sale for a NEW amp, Emotiva's sale ends tomorrow-You get $100 off and free shipping (whats that like $70?). Looks like the XPA-5s are out of stock right now, but you never know they may honor the sale and free shipping anyway (at least it appears that way when I added one to purchase on thier website just now). Looks like they have XPA-3's in stock though. I only mention it as the sale is about over and its a small chunk-a-change in savings right there.

curved

RTi A9's - Polk Direct on Ebay.

dakinesnow

So a local retailer has just put the RTi 8's on sale for $149 each, which makes it only $298 for the pair.

Would this be a good option as well if I didn't want to pay over $700 for a pair of RTi 12's right now?

I still wouldn't mind and upgrade to better speakers than my current M20's which made me look at this as a great opportunity for the short term which the ability to grab the Rti 12's a little later (after tax returns).

leroyjr1

dakinesnow wrote: »

So a local retailer has just put the RTi 8's on sale for $149 each, which makes it only $298 for the pair.

Would this be a good option as well if I didn't want to pay over $700 for a pair of RTi 12's right now?

I still wouldn't mind and upgrade to better speakers than my current M20's which made me look at this as a great opportunity for the short term which the ability to grab the Rti 12's a little later (after tax returns).

The rti8's are a good speaker when paired with a nice sub.

dakinesnow

Plus they are bi-ampable like the RTi 12's and would also benefit from additional amplification down the road as well I would imagine...

XJRGUY

Deep down inside you know you really want the 12's!

dakinesnow

XJRGUY wrote: »

Deep down inside you know you really want the 12's!

I know, I know...but passing these types of purchases off for approval from the wife can sometimes be a challenge as well. With the RTi 8's purchase I can put it into terms she can understand such as "the savings between the 8's and the 12's is the cost of another Coach purse!"

She's happy, and I'm happy for now until she wants a new purse again and I want new speakers again.

CaligulaPolk

dakinesnow wrote: »

I know, I know...but passing these types of purchases off for approval from the wife can sometimes be a challenge as well. With the RTi 8's purchase I can put it into terms she can understand such as "the savings between the 8's and the 12's is the cost of another Coach purse!"

She's happy, and I'm happy for now until she wants a new purse again and I want new speakers again.

$800 dollars purse?

dakinesnow

CaligulaPolk wrote: »

$800 dollars purse?

Nope, $300 dollar purse. The same amount as the price difference between the Rti 8's and 12's.

CaligulaPolk

dakinesnow wrote: »

Nope, $300 dollar purse. The same amount as the price difference between the Rti 8's and 12's.

not in pair

dakinesnow

CaligulaPolk wrote: »

not in pair

The exact price difference between a pair of RTi 8's and 12's is $441.98 based on the two cheapest places I found them at, so close enough to $300.

broncsrule21@

get the 10s. Hey, someone had to stand up for them.

dakinesnow

Just bought the RTi8's tonight for a great price IMO and am about to rip open the boxes and replace my M20's in the front. Now I'm trying to decide if I should move the M20's to the rear or sides, or if I can use the extra two 7.1 channels somehow on my Onkyo 503 to give the new fronts a little extra power.

First I want to just directly swap them out for the M20's though just to see if I can notice a huge difference in my front stage. I'm only really listening to music right now tonight for trying to decide because I'm sure the HT side will be excellent already because even my low level stuff I think sounds pretty good for HT already. Must just be that they're Polks.

dakinesnow

New speakers sure do smell good!

XJRGUY

dakinesnow wrote: »

New speakers sure do smell good!

CONGRATULATIONS!!

Break them in and let us know what you think.

I'm glad you got your new speaks, you'll love em!

JohnLocke88

I love Fry's too. They have amazing prices on the RTi8s. I had that same smell on my 8s. Good stuff.

+1 on let us know what you think.

polrbehr

dakinesnow wrote: »

Nope, $300 dollar purse. The same amount as the price difference between the Rti 8's and 12's.

You're a lucky man ... I was contracted for an upgrade on a newly opening Coach store in East Hampton last summer, they had purses in there over $5000. :eek:

Congrats on the 8's, but I would take it easy on the speaker/audio purchases if I were you !







Sorry for the derail.

dakinesnow

polrbehr wrote: »

You're a lucky man ... I was contracted for an upgrade on a newly opening Coach store in East Hampton last summer, they had purses in there over $5000. :eek:

Congrats on the 8's, but I would take it easy on the speaker/audio purchases if I were you !







Sorry for the derail.

Wow, must have diamonds on those Coach bags because the $300 purses I was talking about are Coach...must be a different line of Coach they have but I leave figuring out the differences in purses to the wifey.;)

So far the 8's sound good for the setup. +1 for my wife saying that she thinks the front speakers sound like they are drowning out the rear ones when we sit only a couple feet from the rear ones.

Guess that can only mean it will have to be upgrade season again here shortly!

dakinesnow

So I would imagine that my next upgrade in the near future would be to look for a CSi5 to match the Rti8's in the front, correct?

After that I might consider a new AVR in order to achieve more power, updated connections, and pre-outs I believe?

Thanks. :cool:

mmadden28

dakinesnow wrote: »

So I would imagine that my next upgrade in the near future would be to look for a CSi5 to match the Rti8's in the front, correct?

After that I might consider a new AVR in order to achieve more power, updated connections, and pre-outs I believe?

Thanks. :cool:

Or a CSIA6. Its the next gen version-essentially the same although the veneer is on the front as well and the cherry finish might be a shade on the browner side. It just might be harder to find the CSi5

dakinesnow

mmadden28 wrote: »

Or a CSIA6. Its the next gen version-essentially the same although the veneer is on the front as well and the cherry finish might be a shade on the browner side. It just might be harder to find the CSi5

I will go for the CSiA6 when it's the same price as the CSi5. The CSi5 seems to be a little harder to find at the moment with the vendors that do have it charging right around $250 for them. Are they ever on sale from the $250 mark much anymore?

Not a fan of cherry at all and the front veneer won't mean much to me since I use the grills. If the veneer is always cherry on the new CSiA6, I would always keep the grills on if that's the way I had to go.

mmadden28

It would be cherry on the cherry model. I would imagine black on the black oak model.

Polkdirect was just blowing some of them out on ebay at like $129 each in Nov/Dec IIRC.

dakinesnow

mmadden28 wrote: »

It would be cherry on the cherry model. I would imagine black on the black oak model.

Polkdirect was just blowing some of them out on ebay at like $129 each in Nov/Dec IIRC.

If the black is black or silver I wouldn't mind. If PolkDirect has them for $129 each for the newer model then I would grab one fast! Hopefully they have that type of deal again. What do you mean by IIRC though?

Kex

dakinesnow wrote: »

Just bought the RTi8's tonight for a great price ... if I can use the extra two 7.1 channels somehow on my Onkyo 503 to give the new fronts a little extra power. ...

I think you made the right choice for your Onkyo 503. You may have been disappointed with the RTi10 or 12 unless you added a new receiver and/or external amplification.

As for using two extra channels for more power: I don't think that will work out. Your receiver is limited in how much power it can produce, so just hooking up two spare channels isn't really adding any extra power in the real world IMO: for that you would have to add an additional power source. YMMV. I'm not sure how you would implement it anyway, unless you have two channels for zone 2 usage that would output the same information as the front L/R channels in a 5.1 configuration.

For comparison purposes, since you want to do that with the M20, I would check if you can do an A/B stereo only comparison first with that receiver, subwoofer output and surround channels off and speakers set to large, blind if possible (you'll need help for that part!). It can be very interesting, even if it's a bit tedious to set up. Just an idea ... I use that method when I have doubts about my upgrades!

Congratulations and good luck with your system!

ZOOPDOOP22

dakinesnow wrote: »

What do you mean by IIRC though?

If I Recall Correctly.

mmadden28

dakinesnow wrote: »

.... If PolkDirect has them for $129 each for the newer model then I would grab one fast! Hopefully they have that type of deal again. What do you mean by IIRC though?

I'm doubting it. Looks like a lot of stuff they were blowing out, they've raised the prices on-in some case double or more.