My brand new Rti-a9's.......with Pic's!!!!

Retro152

Hey everyone,
Been wanting to post these for a few week's now, but was having trouble with my camera. After about 4 month's with the Rti-a7, (awesome speaker), of course i started to wonder about the big boy: THE MIGHTY A-9.

After a little haggling with my local HiFi store, i settled on a price of $1100 for the A-9's, they also gave me full value for the original price i paid for the A-7's, $850, me having to make up about a $250 dollar difference! Very happy with that.

Getting these Monster's home, and setup, was a chore to say the least. At roughly 80lbs a piece boxed, and very awkward, these baby's are definetly a 2 man operation.

TOOL FOR LIFE FAN, and LEROYJR1, you guy's were spot on as A-9 owner's. Midrange is unbelievable, the low end is right there,(what's a sub?), clarity, vocal's, the whole "9" yard's. Very happy with this purchase, 2 channel has improved big time, and it will only get better!:D Sorry, only have these pic's to offer, for now. Thank's much guy's!:D:D:D

Pat.

mantis

They are really nice speakers. The best Rt series has ever been. I feel they are very refined sounding compared to the older models.

Congrads. I see a Sc-05 to power them, really nice setup.

Dan

jimmydep

Good luck, they are really nice speakers, I almost bought them but went with the LSI-15's instead......But I may put them in my basement setup, Let us know more when they break in.

Jimmy

leroyjr1

Very nice!!!! Enjoy.

Retro152

mantis wrote: »

They are really nice speakers. The best Rt series has ever been. I feel they are very refined sounding compared to the older models.

Congrads. I see a Sc-05 to power them, really nice setup.

Dan

Thank's Dan. Yes, have the 05 in the mix also. Havent been on that much until recently, still owe you an "ICE CLUB" review on the unit.:D The A-9's have really made a big difference in my system. Very pleased!


Pat.

mantis

Retro152 wrote: »

Thank's Dan. Yes, have the 05 in the mix also. Havent been on that much until recently, still owe you an "ICE CLUB" review on the unit.:D The A-9's have really made a big difference in my system. Very pleased!


Pat.

Since you owe me a review, why not kill 2 birds with one stone. lets hear about your upgrade. I'd like to hear your thoughts on going from 7 to 9's.

Dan

Conradicles

Very nice and after hearing these TSi500's I have here via the Polk demo, I know these A9's must sound great.

comfortablycurt

Nice!! Congrats on the new toys Pat!!

superjunior

they only keep sounding better with time, enjoy
Jr

Retro152

mantis wrote: »

Since you owe me a review, why not kill 2 birds with one stone. lets hear about your upgrade. I'd like to hear your thoughts on going from 7 to 9's.

Dan

You got me bro, right on the "carpet":D. I will try to offer the best review i can: After setup and re-calibration using the MCACC with the Sc-05, i popped in my favorite cd, ( The Eagle's, Hell Freeze's Over). Just your basic Redbook cd, and noticed a marked difference in my front stage, the Midrange had perked up tenfold, compared to the A-7, instumental presentation, and vocal's were like night and day.

Primarily useing the NAD C-565BEE for my source, via digital hookup, and taking advantage of the 05's DAC'S, I was quite impressed. The A-9's are a little "bright" right now , but see them settling down in time. Seemed like there was alway's an overwhelming presence of bass with the A-7's no matter what.

For fun i threw my 80gb PS3 in the mix, via HDMI, and was dare i say "impressed"? feel it doesn't get the credit it deserve's as a cd player. Havent hooked up the NAD yet via RCA'S, to the 05, but that's next. Hope this was a somewhat decent review, im not good at these, hope i was able to give some insight.:)

Pat.

Retro152

comfortablycurt wrote: »

Nice!! Congrats on the new toys Pat!!

Thank's curt!, how bout the ERC-1 Demo with these badboy's?:D



Pat.

Toolfan66

Congrats!!! Pat, they do settle down a bit.
What speaker cables are you using?

Way cool Pat,

Larry.

Retro152

TOOLFORLIFEFAN wrote: »

Congrats!!! Pat, they do settle down a bit.
What speaker cables are you using?

Way cool Pat,

Larry.

Thank's Larry, Im using Audioquest/Cinemaquest type 4 speaker wire, and the "Sidewinder" IC'S.


Pat.

Toolfan66

Retro152 wrote: »

Thank's Larry, Im using Audioquest/Cinemaquest type 4 speaker wire, and the "Sidewinder" IC'S.


Pat.

Nice!!! I am happy you got them.

I love mine.;)

danz1906

Congrats!!!The speakers look great.

Retro152

Thank's Guy's:D:D:D



Pat.

bklynNupe

I just got my big wolves about 6pm today.
I guess my year in the gym is paying off, I lugged these big guys up three flights of stairs by myself. The wife and I just watched Into the Wild Directed by Sean Penn. The soundtrack features a lot of acoustic guitar. I would say the biggest difference I've noticed thus far after stepping up from the a5's to the a9's is the incredible warmth from the mids.

Tomorrow afterwork I will see how they handle on Jimi Hendrix's Band of Gypsies.

RyanJoz

Congrats!

I as well just got some A9's and it took them about 25 hours to break in to where they sounded awesome. I hated to do so but plugged them in and left the room because they sounded sort of muffled. Came back in an hour after doing some work around the house and they had really come to life. By far a great improvement over the rti12's I had. You are right about the speakers being heavy, but it can be done as a one man job....I did and didn't scratch a thing. Right now I have a HK receiver/cd/dvd and all blue jeans cables for ic's and 10 awg speaker wire. I plan to upgrade to an amp after I move out of the townhouse I am in, but they still sound great with 75 wpc. Put in Michael Jackson's History Disc 1 and you will be impressed with highs, mids, and lows and you will never look back again. I took one of my co-workers to the house to show them to him because he said he wanted to hear these speakers I couldn't quit talking about. He was amazed when I told him that the sub was not plugged in and he (a 19 year old kid who loves rap) said it was not even needed. I am most impressed with these speakers and will have another pair for 2ch once I get the HT rig all set up.

bklynNupe

RyanJoz wrote: »

Congrats!

I as well just got some A9's and it took them about 25 hours to break in to where they sounded awesome. I hated to do so but plugged them in and left the room because they sounded sort of muffled. Came back in an hour after doing some work around the house and they had really come to life. By far a great improvement over the rti12's I had. You are right about the speakers being heavy, but it can be done as a one man job....I did and didn't scratch a thing. Right now I have a HK receiver/cd/dvd and all blue jeans cables for ic's and 10 awg speaker wire. I plan to upgrade to an amp after I move out of the townhouse I am in, but they still sound great with 75 wpc. Put in Michael Jackson's History Disc 1 and you will be impressed with highs, mids, and lows and you will never look back again. I took one of my co-workers to the house to show them to him because he said he wanted to hear these speakers I couldn't quit talking about. He was amazed when I told him that the sub was not plugged in and he (a 19 year old kid who loves rap) said it was not even needed. I am most impressed with these speakers and will have another pair for 2ch once I get the HT rig all set up.

Thanks man.
I have to confess that I'm simply using oxygen free Parts Express speaker cable. Any thoughts from you or anyone else reading this on the best speaker cables for the a9's without falling for Snake Oil?also because of the room layout the distance between my 2-channel emo and left and right speakers are not equal. The right channel is about 3 feet away and the left channel is about 12' away.

comfortablycurt

Retro152 wrote: »

Thank's curt!, how bout the ERC-1 Demo with these badboy's?:D



Pat.

I'm getting some SDA2A's pretty soon myself...should make the ERC-1 demo a little more interesting. I'll have several pairs of speakers to test it out on now.:)

Retro152 wrote: »

Thank's Larry, Im using Audioquest/Cinemaquest type 4 speaker wire, and the "Sidewinder" IC'S.


Pat.

How do you like those Sidewinder IC's? I just bought one on here...and I'm probably going to be picking up another one sometime soon. I've heard from several people that they actually prefer them to the Diamondbacks/King Cobra's.

Retro152

comfortablycurt wrote: »

I'm getting some SDA2A's pretty soon myself...should make the ERC-1 demo a little more interesting. I'll have several pairs of speakers to test it out on now.:)



How do you like those Sidewinder IC's? I just bought one on here...and I'm probably going to be picking up another one sometime soon. I've heard from several people that they actually prefer them to the Diamondbacks/King Cobra's.

I only had some crappy Monster Ic's early on, so not the best comparison for the Sidewinder's, but real nice cable. Anxious to demo Ben's cable for a real test.

You must be psyched to get those SDA2A'S. Havent heard them, but look's like your going to have yourself a fun demo once you get your hand's on the ERC-1:D

Pat.

comfortablycurt

Yep, I'm definitely excited about finally getting my hands on a pair of SDA's. I should be getting them this weekend actually.

I'm looking forward to demo'ing Bens cables too, I've heard very good things about them.

Crown7

bklynNupe wrote: »

I just got my big wolves about 6pm today.
I guess my year in the gym is paying off, I lugged these big guys up three flights of stairs by myself. The wife and I just watched Into the Wild Directed by Sean Penn. The soundtrack features a lot of acoustic guitar. I would say the biggest difference I've noticed thus far after stepping up from the a5's to the a9's is the incredible warmth from the mids.

Tomorrow afterwork I will see how they handle on Jimi Hendrix's Band of Gypsies.

BklynNupe, get at me one of these days....Just hooked yup the M70 for rears and Im in Bk...contact me off mic if you can, would love to see your rig!

crossg

Retro152 wrote: »

Hey everyone,
Been wanting to post these for a few week's now, but was having trouble with my camera. After about 4 month's with the Rti-a7, (awesome speaker), of course i started to wonder about the big boy: THE MIGHTY A-9.

After a little haggling with my local HiFi store, i settled on a price of $1100 for the A-9's, they also gave me full value for the original price i paid for the A-7's, $850, me having to make up about a $250 dollar difference! Very happy with that.

Getting these Monster's home, and setup, was a chore to say the least. At roughly 80lbs a piece boxed, and very awkward, these baby's are definetly a 2 man operation.

TOOL FOR LIFE FAN, and LEROYJR1, you guy's were spot on as A-9 owner's. Midrange is unbelievable, the low end is right there,(what's a sub?), clarity, vocal's, the whole "9" yard's. Very happy with this purchase, 2 channel has improved big time, and it will only get better!:D Sorry, only have these pic's to offer, for now. Thank's much guy's!:D:D:D

Pat.

Yeah. I bought mine about 7 months ago and love them. I upgraded from the Monitor 70's so I noticed a difference right away. Had Santana Essentials cranked up a couple of days ago (running them full band, 2 channel stereo) and asked my brother to tell me if I had the sub turned on without looking. He said yes it's on and I said nope it's off.:p Currently looking at a Emotivia 5 channel Amp that should enhance the sound even more. Just getting them out of the box is a chore never mind moving them.:)

Retro152

crossg wrote: »

Yeah. I bought mine about 7 months ago and love them. I upgraded from the Monitor 70's so I noticed a difference right away. Had Santana Essentials cranked up a couple of days ago (running them full band, 2 channel stereo) and asked my brother to tell me if I had the sub turned on without looking. He said yes it's on and I said nope it's off.:p Currently looking at a Emotivia 5 channel Amp that should enhance the sound even more. Just getting them out of the box is a chore never mind moving them.:)

I have the Xpa-3 paired up with my SC-05, and im very pleased. My A-9's have been nothing short of spectacular. The 2 5 1/4 inch mid's, and 3 7 inch bass driver's delivering big sound.:D Liked the A-7's alot, but really did find the mid's lacking some.


Pat.

Crown7

Retro152 wrote: »

I have the Xpa-3 paired up with my SC-05, and im very pleased. My A-9's have been nothing short of spectacular. The 2 5 1/4 inch mid's, and 3 7 inch bass driver's delivering big sound.:D Liked the A-7's alot, but really did find the mid's lacking some.

Pat.

So you found the 7's lacking in mids....interesting. What I have discovered is that with my set up (A-7's up front and M70's in the back), the need for the sub sometimes is eliminated due to the lows, maybe I have to keep running them to break them in...Trying to find that balance because since the M70's are the closest to my ears I tend to hear those more.What distance do you have your rears from your ears? Just curious. Ive even bottomed out the center junk speaker to get more distinct sound out the 7's. Unfortunately fellas my audiophile moments have been temporarily halted due to my wife's cousin visiting from Dubai and she is staying in the man cave cause she is scared of cats. Its been 4 hours and I miss them already mad:

messiah

Great speakers... enjoy!!

beardog03

Very Cool speaks, man !!!

How are the AQ cables workin out ?

Sherardp

Very nice speakers, I run Rti12s in my HT room and they sound nothing short of amazing with my SC-07 used as pre and D-Sonic Magnum 1000S amp powering them. I often times think of upgrading but then I go back to listening, and again I lose interest in the thought of doing so. For what you get the RTiA series should put a big grin on your face. I have only spent a short amount of demo time with the A9s while in the USA last yr and they did sound pretty good. I'm sure they sound better than the 12s in some ways. Appearance wise they are gorgeous. Congrats to all of you guys. Nice toys.

Retro152

beardog03 wrote: »

Very Cool speaks, man !!!

How are the AQ cables workin out ?

When i first got into this hobby a short time ago, i was all wired up with Monster junk. Speaker wire, IC'S, Optical. I slowly was able to change out everything to AQ, and im very impressed, nice product!:D



Pat.

danz1906

Retro152 wrote: »

When i first got into this hobby a short time ago, i was all wired up with Monster junk. Speaker wire, IC'S, Optical. I slowly was able to change out everything to AQ, and im very impressed, nice product!:D



Pat.

Polk and Audioquest work well together.