Difference btw Monitor and TSI series

wesmont

Im a newbie to the home theater world. I just bought my first plasma and I want to set up a home theater. I was thinking of going with the TSI300 for fronts along with the onkyo 507. My question is that there are great deals on the monitor series, and I was wondering if the TSI are upgrades or have just been restyled and renamed. If they are upgrades, is there a big difference in sound between the TSI300 and Monitor 50s? Any help on this issue would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

obieone

Welcome to Club Polk.
I can't really answer your question, but I'd recommend the Monitor 60's on the Polk ebay page. I like mine.

johnda

There are some very nice buys on the web for Polk Monitor 60 and 70 speakers. A lot of people have stated that the Monitor 60 is a very good performing unit for the money. Try Newegg or the Polk EBay site. At the EBay site you can get refurbished Polk speakers, including the Monitor series. I have not compared the Tsi speakers with the Monitors. I have Monitor 30's and the PSW10 Sub woofer and the sound is excellent. I'm thinking about the Monitor 60's for my living room system because they have 8 Ohm impedance and are efficient (90Db) and my receiver there would drive them fine.

RandyBox

Newegg has the Monitor 60's for $115 shipped....

Code: EMCLVMT27

Randy

wutadumsn23

There are not a whole lot of "technical differences" between the two lines as far as the specs would indicate on paper, but to the ear I don't know. I have heard limited feedback on the TSi line and from what I have seen they do seem to be as good if not slightly better than the Monitor series. Is it worth the extra $ for the difference, I would have to say no. I have the Monitor 70's and have been nothing short of amazed by their performace (even without external amplification) As mentioned above Newegg has a great deal going on now for th 60's at $115 ea. with free shipping. There are limited reviews of the TSi line in here and hopefully soon I will be getting the TSi 500's for an audition, since Polk has a demo set floating around some of it's members right now. Until then I can't say which is better, but I do know this, you will not be dissapointed by the Monitor series one bit, and at the prices they can be had for these days they are hard to beat, IMO. Welcome to Club Polk btw.

-Jeff

comfortablycurt

wutadumsn23 wrote: »

There are not a whole lot of "technical differences" between the two lines as far as the specs would indicate on paper, but to the ear I don't know. I have heard limited feedback on the TSi line and from what I have seen they do seem to be as good if not slightly better than the Monitor series. Is it worth the extra $ for the difference, I would have to say no. I have the Monitor 70's and have been nothing short of amazed by their performace (even without external amplification) As mentioned above Newegg has a great deal going on now for th 60's at $115 ea. with free shipping. There are limited reviews of the TSi line in here and hopefully soon I will be getting the TSi 500's for an audition, since Polk has a demo set floating around some of it's members right now. Until then I can't say which is better, but I do know this, you will not be dissapointed by the Monitor series one bit, and at the prices they can be had for these days they are hard to beat, IMO. Welcome to Club Polk btw.

-Jeff

+1

Some solid advice.

jimmydep

IF your looking for speakers check out Polk"s e-bay site, they have plenty of floor standing speakers listed right now.

http://stores.shop.ebay.com/Polk-Audio-Direct__W0QQ_sidZ686154689QQ_sopZ10QQ_trksidZp4634Q2ec0Q2em14

I've made several purchases from them, and although they're refurbs they're like brand new, so buy with confidence.



Jimmy

BTW welcome to Club Polk

Pycroft

Hello and welcome to Club Polk...

I have also heard that the monitor series has been discontinued??? Perhaps the reason that they are cheaper at places like Newegg is that they are no longer made? If someone has details about the difference between the two speakers, I'd love to add the question about the negatives about purchasing the monitor series? I currently have Monitor 50's, 30's and a CS1 in my Home Theatre setup. If I was going to upgrade, should I go to 60's or 70's, or would there be anything negative about that?

Thanks,

Pycroft

potee

Hi and welcome to the club.
I have the 60,s as fronts and I'm very happy with them. I heard the TSi 300 and 400 at best buy and the only way I would spend more for them is if I really wanted the pretty bright black finish. Thats just my opinon.

potee

wutadumsn23

Pycroft wrote: »

Hello and welcome to Club Polk...

I have also heard that the monitor series has been discontinued??? Perhaps the reason that they are cheaper at places like Newegg is that they are no longer made? If someone has details about the difference between the two speakers, I'd love to add the question about the negatives about purchasing the monitor series? I currently have Monitor 50's, 30's and a CS1 in my Home Theatre setup. If I was going to upgrade, should I go to 60's or 70's, or would there be anything negative about that?

Thanks,

Pycroft

Maybe more of a temp. replacement, Monitors have been around forever and I don't see Polk pulling the plug on them, but I don't make that decision so I suppose it is possible. I can see no negative to owning the Monitor line (esp. if you are looking for an affordable entry level set-up that performs very well) If you do upgrade to the 70's or even the 60's I would recommend upgrading your center as well to the CS2, the CS1 will get drowned out by either one of them, esp. the 70's. I personally have the 70's and am very happy with them, although Newegg does have a killer deal on the 60's right now for $115 ea, there is another thread on that on the forum as well.

cnh

+1 on wutadumsn's posts above. I also run a set of M70s and I sometimes have had them next to a pair of TSI-300s (not really a 'fair' comparison as the TSI-500
would be the match).

Nonetheless the M70s handle a lot more sound than the 300s and even image a bit better which is surprising as they are the BIGGER speaker with the 6.5" drivers? This is NOT to say the 300s are not good. They're an exceptional entry level tower at their price point of about 400 a pair. But the M70s MSRP was over 900. And the crossovers are set up differently; give them power and they open up much more than the 300s or 50s. I'd say of the NEW series, the 300s are a bit better than the M50s--on lows. And as far as I can tell the M70s will hold their own against the 500s and may still be a bit better. The TSI-400s are pretty similar to the M60s in sound. If anything the tweeter in the TSI series may be a tad brighter? Not much.

What I'd like to know from someone is does the TSI-500 have a cascade crossover like the M70s or not. Because to me that's one of the things that makes the M70s stand out over all of its little brothers. If the 500s have given that up, I'd have to conclude the M70s would take it for music, at least! And that what Polk has done with the TSI is tweaked it more for HT so that the entire series is a 2 way design crossed over at the very same point, i.e., 2.5Khz...which was not the case with the M series? Other than that the differences are really not radical! But damn (TSIs) they look GOOD!

cnh

Hilbert

I've bought speakers from Polk eBay and been totally pleased; they're like new except they don't seem to require break in.

Rumor has it that if you phone them you may find they have things on hand which they haven't posted.

rdb2001

I had the monitor 50's before I upgraded to my kefs, and at the price point I got them at on polks ebay site I dont think there is a tower than can beat them at that price. I put together the whole monitor 50 cs2 and monitor 40 setup for under $500 shipped to my door and that was over 8 months ago. I would say the difference is not much to justify the extra cost IMO of the TSI line.

Hilbert

Right now on Polk Ebay site there is 1 pair of Monitor 70s being auctioned off. So far 1 bid, for $249. 15 hrs to go.

My Polk experience began with Monitor 50s They're not bad, excellent for the money; but it seems to me---correct me if wrong---that almost everyone who starts off with 50s upgrades before long. Whereas a lot of people swear by the 70s and stick with them. FWIW.

EDIT although Onkyo 507 with 80 wpc might not be up to the 70s. Oh well.

wboffthelake

cnh wrote: »

But the M70s MSRP was over 900. And the crossovers are set up differently;
cnh

Hello. Does anyone know what frequency the bottom two "subwoofer" drivers crossover to the top two "woofer/mid" drivers or what frequencies the subs handle on the Monitor 70? Thanks.

I am new to HT and just bought the M70s, CS2, M30 surrounds and a Pioneer VSX-919AH-k receiver. I have an ED A2 300 on the way.

wboffthelake

Given the whole Monitor/Tsi debate, I got my 5 Monitor speakers for $580 shipped from Newegg. Currently a Tsi 500/CS20/Tsi 100 setup from newegg costs $1200. From a purely technical design standpoint, based on the crossover used and the use of "subwoofers", the M70 design seems to have more in common with an RTi A7 or A9 than a Tsi 500, although the RTI A's use specialized 7" subwoofer drivers.

Based on the above, and positive reviews, I bought the Monitors "on faith" (something I never do, but the price was incredible) as speakers for my first HT system, replacing a pair of DCM KX12 Series 2 speakers and a circa 1987 Technics 2ch amp. While I can hear some better subtle musical detail from the M70s, they simply don't "fill" the room with sound like my old big box 12" woofer speakers. I'm sure the ED sub will change that once it arrives. Also, the tweeter is more laid back than the bullet horn tweeter I was used to. Also there is a break-in period, as, after a month, they sound better than when I first hooked them up, especially the bass.