M70, TSi400\500, RTi10\12 ?

lwright84

I have been enjoying my Polk setup for nearly a year now (Thanks again to all those who helped both directly and indirectly). My setup is currently:

2x Monitor 40 (L\R front)
1x CS1 (center)
2x R15 (L\R surrounds)

I think I am ready to upgrade my fronts and move the M40s to surrounds or even sell them and fix my R300 towers I was using as surrounds previously before they broke (the R15's are literally sitting on top of the R300s since the accident.)

So I am consdering the following: Monitor 70, TSi400, TSi500, RTi10, RTi12. What I would like to know is if there is really a justifiable reason for me to go for the TSi\RTi over the M70s. I would like to know what the real, tangible differences are between the 3 similar model lines and if it would equate to a significant difference to my ears for the extra hit to my wallet. I've heard rumblings of better build quality, or even higher quality drivers.. but I would like some substance added to those claims if it all possible.

Thanks in advance for any and all help

wutadumsn23

IMHO, there isn't much difference between the Monitor's and the TSi's. I have Monitor 70's and am currently demo'ing the TSi 500's and without doing a whole lot of testing, there doesn't seem to be a huge difference between the two, IMHO the Monitors sound a little better than the TSi's. The RTi series is a step up from both and is a much better speaker, esp for HT. The ding to your wallet is up to you, lol.

-Jeff

lwright84

Indeed. I've heard people claim that they would rather have the RTi8 (or RTi A5) with 2 drivers, rather than the Monitor 70 or TSi500 with 4 drivers. What would be the reasoning for this? In my simple knowledge.. it would seem that more drivers would equal more clarity and better overall performance when comparing decent speaker sets (obviously no amount of bad quality drivers will compare to a set of good quality ones, but these are not bad quality drivers were talking here). Am I wrong about that?

wutadumsn23

lwright84 wrote: »

Indeed. I've heard people claim that they would rather have the RTi8 (or RTi A5) with 2 drivers, rather than the Monitor 70 or TSi500 with 4 drivers. What would be the reasoning for this? In my simple knowledge.. it would seem that more drivers would equal more clarity and better overall performance when comparing decent speaker sets (obviously no amount of bad quality drivers will compare to a set of good quality ones, but these are not bad quality drivers were talking here). Am I wrong about that?

While it is sometimes true that more is better, that isn't always the case. It depends on the quality of the drivers, cabinet bulid, crossovers, etc. The RTi is a better all around speaker, and sounds better because of it.

-Jeff

lwright84

Well then thats an upgrade goal to shoot for down the road.. I just pulled the trigger on the M70's in Black that newegg has on sale today only ($175 ea). Cant wait!