Need Floorstander Advice

jrhooper

I currently have Ascend Acoustic Sierra One bookshelfs up front in my system. They are a quality speaker that has served me well for the past year. However, I am strongly considering the switch to a floorstander. I am considering the RTIA7. I have a Marantz MM9000 five channel amp in my system rated at 150 watts per channel at 8 ohms. Marantz does not recommend the amp to drive 4 ohm speakers. So that rules out the LSI series. Are the RTI series a significant step down from the LSI series? Also I have read numerous reviews that even the RTI series are power hungry. The specs on the Polk website seem to contradict this. I would appreciate any advice. THANKS

renowilliams

Ok, to start with, welcome to club polk. The LSI and RTI speaker lines are like comparing apples to oranges. The LSI are a considerable jump up in price and are the top of the line polk speaker. They are considered to be more laid back in terms of sound as well as very musical. The RTI line have a different sound , some would describe them as bright sounding. The amp you have will have no difficulty driving the RTI line. I have a Yamaha RX-V861, which is rated at 105 watts per channel and it drives my RTIA5 fronts and RTI6 rears just fine. That being said, if you have pre-outs on you reciever you could always get a power amp later.
What you need to decide is what you are primarily going to use you system for, H/T or music. The RTI line is a fantastic H/T speaker, which in my humble opinion can play music good as well. What you like in terms of type of sound is a very personal thing. I suggest you go and listen to a RTI system and keep in mind that retail stores notoriously set up sound terrible.

I am very happy with my set up, particularily for H/T, but will be making some changes as time goes on. I will however be keeping my RTIA5's for home theater, they are fantastic. I'm sure others, much more knowledgeable and articulate than myself will chime in with some suggstions.

Hope this was helpful.


Tim

jrhooper

The Marantz amp I have is an external amp hooked up to a Marantz SR5002. It is an excellent amp for 8 ohm speakers, but Marantz advises it would not be a good idea to use it to drive 4 ohm speakers. It is a MM9000 amp.

Ron Temple

From all I've read the Sierras are a very nice speaker, that's very neutral and uncolored. The RTis are very dynamic. I wouldn't call them bright, but they do present as lively, a bit edgy in the highs and on the hot side of neutral. The LSis are probably warmer than the Sierras, but with an outstanding tweeter, very rich and smooth. Your problem is that they are 4 ohm speakers and if that amp can't handle low impedence, you're not going to get the most out of them.