rti a5 or monitor 70s

I have the A5's and really like them. I have never heard the M70's so i can not really say which is better. I know that the M70's will need a little more power to get the best out of them. What amp are you going to be using with them? Also the A5's are a little smaller, so if size is an issue keep that i mind. The M70's are significantly cheaper too though.

good luck on the decision. Stick around, others will chime in soon.

i'm actually wondering about buying a pair of rears (surrounds)... not sure if i should get real surrounds like FXiA6, or get Monitor 70s and put them to surround duty?

btw I own rtia5's as mains.

I have the rtiA5's in cherry and in my opinion they are beautiful. I can't speak for the rti8's but I am very happy with the overall performance of my speakers. For H/T they are fantastic. I find them pretty decent for music but if I were doing more music listening, I would get another speaker.

Todd Lee wrote: »

I've got a 1018 as well, paired with a5's. For HT, they're phenomenal! I've got an SVS Pb12-nsd sub, it compliments the a5's to near excellence. Without a good sub, I'd agree that the a5's are bright for music.

My relatives have rti8's, I much prefer the look of the 5's over the 8's, with or without grilles. Both the 8's and 5's that I've experienced are in black.

Todd, was a Hsu in your selection process for a sub? I'm going for a Hsu.

lriker wrote: »

Last question, I hope. Based on prices at newegg till tomorrow. A pair of monitor 70s would set me back about 350 and a set of thr rtia5s (if I take the 150 promo card and use it to buy a second rtia5 when they are on sale for what averages to be 300 dollars) for about 600 dollars. Is the 250 dollars price increase worth it for the rtia5s? I may or may not get a sub in the future, not much room for it and besides the r50s had even bass for me, but I will be getting an external amp later.

earlier this yr it was originally a sale on the monitor 70s that made me do research and bounce back and forth between one polk tower series vs another... I ultimately settled for the RTiA class, in cherry. Very warm furniture matching color, and the sculpting of the tower made it more 'current' than the box dated silver faced monitor... though had the monitor 70s been an outstanding sounding set over the RTiA it would have made it a harder choice, as I'd be paying less for better sound, but no, perhaps thankfully. But within the RTIA class, though I own the 5, I do still think about the 7 or the 9. I think the 9 would do well with 2channel audio. My 5, well I hope my Hsu will mesh nicely for the fact that the Rtia5 has no sub, it's only a tweeter and two mids.

polkfarmboy wrote: »

Monitor series sound crappy in comparison to the rti line ..... end of story

Not really! You just haven't heard a pair of M-70s properly amplified. Definitely, more 'musical' than Rti-A5s or Rti-8s IMO. But it's really subjective...you like bright forward tweeters....then by all means lower level Rtis....Keep in mind that the 70s are the Monitor flagship and the A5s and 8s are mere entry level for Rtis. But they're fine for Dynamic, detailed, clean movie soundtracks! It's to be expected that things should be a bit 'fuzzy' and blurred between the flagship lower model and the entry level higher model. If they weren't I'd be SURPRISED! As someone (who shall remain unknown) once said: With the M-70s...Polk just got those right (he was referring to ALL of the M-tower series (50, 60 and 70).

cnh

Todd Lee wrote: »

Yes, I was deciding between the PB12-nsd and the HSU vtf3-mk3. I'm sure I would have been happy with either sub. From the information I gathered, it sounded like the SVS excelled at HT, and the HSU excelled with music. Our priorities lean toward HT, so I saved the $100 and went with SVS. Having said that, I love the svs with HT, and I really like it with music. I'm sure I would have loved the hsu with music, and really liked it with ht.

I actually auditioned both the pb12-nsd and the vtf-3 in my home. Both performed very well for HT. the SVS gets a nod for higher SPL in the lower frequencies, but the HSU was simply cleaner and more detailed across the board. The HSU was definitely more musical, but was more detailed, precise, and accurate for home theater too. Plus the dual port tuning on the HSU was a big plus too (I actually prefer the max output mode over the max extension mode!). I wouldn't call the SVS boomy, but it was certainly boomier than the HSU.

just my .02