Wow, been comparing a lot of speaker series

F1nut wrote: »

Welcome to the forum.

Thank You

Well I have another set of TL1600 from another seller and this subwoofer has the hum as well. After finding reviews 'after the fact', seems this is normal. I can live with this since I know the power supply isn't on it's way out. To bad the Polk Tech rep I spoke with, wasn't aware of this design flaw in the subwoofer. Other than that, the subwoofer sounds great, nice and tight, with strong punch and fair bass extension.

The more I listen to this Blackstone TL1600, the more amazed I am with it. I found it's main speakers, the TL1s are only about 3.5 decibels lower in output than my Infinity Reference RS1 which rate at 89 decibels with 2.83volts at 1 meter. Previous model of the RS1was the Reference 2000.1 which are near identical.

I actually prefer the sound of the TL1 to the Infinity RS1 after properly setting up the TL1s. Imaging is just as good in the TL1 as the RS1. Funny thing is they both seem to have time alignment with almost identical cutout flares. They also use a 1/2" semi-dome tweeter. The Polk TL1 is silk while the Infinity RS1 is polycarbonate.

The vertical axis, high frequency response on the TL1 is very similar above, below and on axis, which is phenomenal! The Infinity RS1 highs drop off significantly above and below on axis, vertically.

I also like the voicing on the Polk TL1 better. The voice frequencies are more prominent sounding much more real and natural. I always thought Infinity RS1, 2000.4s, and even the CC-2 speakers sounded thin in the vocal range. They never sounded as real or as natural as some speakers but when I bought them, I liked their timber/voicing. The older I got, the more I noticed how they lacked a natural voice.

What's truly amazing is that the TL1 match up with the TL1600 subwoofer flawlessly. I can't hear a hole in the response at all! Now I do have the subwoofer right next to the entertainment center that the TL1 main speakers are on so the higher bass, while directional, is right where it needs to be with the main speakers. While there may be a hole, according to my calculations is shouldn't really be more than 3 db deep and only maybe 100 or 110Hz to 150Hz. Hek there's large speakers that have dips in their response worse than that.

I'm listening to my Blackstone TL1600 speakers with a Denon AVR-3803 which today's equivalent is a Denon AVR-X4700H receiver. My main Infinity system is powered by a Denon AVR-2312ci which is equivalent now to a AVR-X3700H. I stream music from a Roku Streaming Stick Plus and listen to CD/DVDs/Blu-ray Discs through a Sony Blu-ray BDP-S6500 Player.

I'm so impressed, by these TL1600 speakers, I may replace my Infinity RS1s and CC-2 speakers with the Polk TSI100s and TSI CS10 speakers or maybe even the Signature series but going by the Crutchfield speaker headphone speaker auditions, these are the 2 series that are in my affordable range. The RTI-A speakers sound brighter and more recessed in the voices than I like for music.

Polk seems to have really come along way since hearing their speakers 23 years ago when I auditioned against the Infinities and when my buddy bought his Polk tower speakers.

Thanks for listening!

PSOVLSK wrote: »

I missed this back in January. Nice system and nice write up.

Thanks

My father in law has been through a lot of speakers as well. He had some of those reflecting Definitive Technology tower speakers with the side powered subwoofer in each speaker and the reflecting speakers on top(maybe radiator) and rear. I never liked those much as they sounded really muddy, dull, and lifeless, yet they were big bucks.

He gave those speakers to my brother in law who also has a set of DT but the larger towers.

Anyhow, my father in law years ago bought a Denon receiver packaged with the Boston Acoustic MCS 95 speakers. His first then upgraded to those Def Tech speakers.

He's been wanting to give those Boston Acoustic MCS 95 speakers to me, but at the time wasn't interested.

Now that I have the pleasure of owning the Polk Blackstone TL1600 package, I found out how good the TL1 speakers sound and how much better than my much larger Infinity RS1 (RS 2000.1) Bookshelf speakers (5-1/4" woofer, 1/2" semi-dome tweeter). So I thought I'd bring home those Boston Acoustic MCS 95 speakers and give them a try as a much newer replacement. My Infinity RS1 and CC-2 speakers are 23 years old.

I did, they sounded absolutely HORRID! OMG, did they sound bad. They made my Yamaha NS-SP1800BL front speakers sound golden. Those Yamaha which are my worst sounding speakers, sounded like audiophile speakers next to the MCS 95s!

The MCS 95s were very harsh sounding. They were also very thin sounding. They were thin, bright, and shouty sounding and made my skin crawl like nails on a chalk board. I can NOT believe they packaged these with the Denon AVR-591 receiver.

Now these MCS 95 speaker were very loud for having only a 3" woofer and 1/2" semi-dome tweeter. They were rated at 88db and I have to say they were spot on. I used my Infinity RS1 (same as previous year's RS 2000.1) 89 db with 2.83 volts at 1 meter sensitivity as the benchmark. Since I don't have equipment to measure white noise at 2.83volts, I just use the RS1 as the benchmark. My yamaha speakers are 7 db quieter than the Infinity using my Radio Shack Sound Pressure Level Meter. That puts them right at their rated 82 db sensitivity. The MCS 95s were 6 db louder than the Yamaha Speakers which puts them right at their rated 88 db. Now my polk TL1s rating is really bloated at 89 db because they are 3.5 db quieter than my Infinity RS1 putting them at 85.5 db sensitivity, a far cry from 89 db.

So the MCS 95s have high sensitivity and even a really heavy cabinet going for them, yet their sound is terrible. Really surprising seeing so many glowing reviews for the MCS 95s, 100s, 130s, and even the 160s which are a newer revised version of the 95s.

Now I really appreciate how good all my speakers sound.

I was going to replace my Infinity RS1 main speakers with my Infinity Primus P143 speakers which were serving duty as surround speakers. I also was going to replace my Infinity CC-2 center channel speaker with one of my Infinity Entra .5 speakers which were serving duty as my rear surround speakers, and then use the MCS 95s to be used as the surround and rear surround speakers. Now I'm throwing that idea in the trash and may wait awhile for some polk speakers to go on sale and leave the Infinity Primus and Entra speakers right where they are.

Those Primus and Entra speakers are much newer than my RS1s and CC-2 speakers so they may sound better to me now. Never really compared them to the older reference series speakers as I liked those a lot at the time, plus those older speakers are more full range and louder.

The Polk TL1s have really shown me that a tiny speaker can actually sound better than a standard size bookshelf speaker opposed to the opinion of many who say a tiny speaker can't sound as good.

Well made my purchase for the Polk TSI100 bookshelf speakers and TSI CS100 center channel speakers. Should match up with the Infinity Entra .5s and Infinity Primus P143s really good and better than the current Infinity Reference RS1s (2000.1) and Infinity CC-2 center channel. Just waiting for delivery next week.

Kex wrote: »

Congratulations! 🍾 🎉

You put a lot of thought and effort into this, so now you can reap your rewards. 👍

Thanks!

All I can say is WOW. Man do these TSI100s sound great. Very much like the TL1s I have but just more open and spacious sounding.

While doing the speaker level adjustments, I finally see what having a 7.1 speaker system that has matching voices finally sounds like. The Infinity Entra .5s and Primus P143's white noise sounds just like the Polk TSI100s. The Center Channel CS10 sounds just like the TSI100 something the Infinity CC-2 never did with the RS1 or the previous 2000.4s which the CC-2 was suppose to be matched with.

The TSI100 sound like a very high end speaker next to those Infinity RS1(2000.1) speakers. The speakers sound just awesome with Fleetwood Mac's Gold Dust Woman.

On top of that sound, the TS1100's and CS10's piano black finish caps also match my black glass entertainment center and black glass Mount-It! speaker stands! Like they all were made with each other.

Very happy and even found this excellent review of the TSI100 speakers with a 4 out of 5 star rating!

These TSI100s and CS10 speakers blend with my Velodyne CT-100 sub just great thanks to their lower bass extension. The Velodyne CT-100 only goes up to about 120Hz -3db so it doesn't blend well with smaller speakers. The limit is about a 4" woofer which my Infinity Entra .5s and Primus P143s have along with a 100Hz -3db limit. They are on the same wall as the sub so their directional bass getting shifted to the subwoofer isn't as noticeable as it would be for the front speakers on the opposing front wall.

I found that subwoofers that go below 30Hz very rarely have much output above 120Hz.