Product Description

POLK RTi8 - Why settle for vinyl speakers when you can have the warmth and beauty of real wood at the same price, with speakers from the RTi Series. They are wonders of industrial design: real wood, radiant with metallic highlights and racing car lines. Classic Polk performance in a design that speaks to today's high-end home décor. Polk speaker cabinets are resonance-free. All wood cabinet Polk Audio loudspeakers are constructed of costly low-resonance MDF instead of the cheaper and more resonant particle board used by many competitive speaker brands. RTi Series Speakers feature additional anti-resonance strategies, like asymmetric braces. Efficiency 90 dB Crossover 2.2kHz, 12dB/Oct Low Pass, 18dB/Octave High Pass Inputs Dual (bi-amp) gold plated 5-way binding posts Unit Dimensions - Cabinet Size 41-5/8 H x 7-3/4 W x 15-1/2 D (105.73cm H x 19.68cm W x 39.37cm D) Enclosure Type Vented via Power Port - PowerPort bass venting for superior clean, low distortion bass that you can really feel Magnetic shielding for safe placement near video sources. Mylar bypass capacitors in the crossovers extend high frequency response and improve detail and transparency

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14457 in Consumer Electronics
• Color: Black
• Brand: Polk Audio
• Model: AM0735
• Dimensions: 41.63" h x 15.50" w x 7.75" l, 55.00 pounds

Features

• A single real wood floorstanding speaker with all MDF construction and resonance-free enclosures
• Equipped with dual 6.5-inch polymer composite cone drivers with rubber surrounds
• Features a neodynium magnet and a heat sink on the back of the magnet
• Equipped with one 1-inch silk/polymer composite dome tweeter
• PowerPort Plus bass venting ensures superior clean, low distortion bass

Customer Reviews

Amazing!!!
Great price and fast delivery. Awesome sound. I am hearing sounds in music that I have never heard before. Buy these speakers and throw in 'Dark Side of the Moon' and listen to what you have been missing.

Excellant deal
In regards to one reviewer Eduardo disagreeing with another reviewers comment that the 10s are a better choice not only do I disagree with this comment I find it foolish to accept advice from someone who obviously in nearly every one of his "reviews" is pimping or shilling for other manufacturing companies.

You may ask why. In his "review" of the 10s in between shilling for others he wrote I quote "But the RTi towers are much better than RTi bookshelves". But in this so-called review he advises to use the Rti6s so he can now shill for some on-line companies. His reasoning to save your receiver. Well the RTi10s, 6s and Polk Monitor 50s sensitivity is 89db and again quoting his review of the Monitor 50s "89db sensitivity means you don't need some massive super-powerful amp to drive these". Well, Ed since the rest of us are apparently using a receiver that is powered by something other than C-cells using the 10s may not be a problem. Also, speakers are about moving air and if smaller was better we all would be sitting around with Bose cubes stuck everywhere in Nirvana.

Now down to a real review. I own both speakers. My main system is 10s front, the 8s surround, CSi5 center, and an old "tank" AudioSource 15 inch sub. Powered by Pioneer Elite and strung together with some good generic 12 gauge wire. Both the 10s and 8s reproduce sounds accurately and in a pleasing manner but I prefer the 10s. The 10s range and imagining is fuller and deeper with better bass response. If budgeting is a problem the 8s at $199 apiece is a fantastic bargain and hooked with some good mid range electronics would give you a great system. For a 5.1 set-up buy four and use the CSi 5 as your center. Subs are subjective but you will need one to get the full effect especially for home theater. There are some decent ones in the two to three hundred range that will do the job. If you have a bigger budget spend the money on 10s for the fronts, a good mid range CD player, and then your sub.

The main set-up, or a similair one if you preferred a different line's sound, I have would make 99% of people happy in both home theater and music listening without breaking the bank. The other 1% or "audiophiles" would not be happy and that is fine.

One hugh word of advice! Before you buy a speaker or system if at all possible listen to it. Don't take mine or anyone else's opinion as the final word. Visit places where you can listen, and trust YOUR ears.

P.S. As a plus both speakers make for some more than decent looking furniture and do appear a lot more expensive looking than they are. Also be prepared for some nice real wood smells in your listenting area for some time.

Very Disappointed
I bought these speakers in February for another room in my house. I own a set of RTi12's as well and decided to go with these as my RTi12's in my home theater sound great. The disappointment started a couple of days after setting the RTi8s up. I had them going through a Sony 940 series receiver in two channel mode only. After a couple of days the sound aspect changed significantly and I thought it was the receiver as I've never had any problem with my other Polk products (the RTi12's mentioned above, and at least 12 automotive coaxial and component speakers over the last few years). I replaced the receiver with another Sony receiver for 2-channel mode only and was disappointed to find out it was the speakers. Both tweeters had shorted out. I called Polk customer support and they sent me some new tweeters. All was well for several months however, I noticed that if I turned up the volume 1/3 my receiver (tried with three separate receivers) would go into protection. I should note that these speakers get very little use, not being a part of my main home system. I was attempting to listen to these speaker last week and one of the tweeters gave out. While trying to figure out the cause I witnessed the other tweeter arch and singe the silk dome. I called Polk Tech Support and was saddened to find that the excellent customer service I had received on the previous occasion was non-existent. The rep was pompous and made no attempt to troubleshoot the issue. He chuckled and told me I needed to buy a high end Denon or Onkyo. I told him that I shouldn't need a $[...] receiver to run a simple 2 channel setup and was very concerned about the arch I witnessed being that these speakers are located next to my 4 year olds room. He just chuckled again and told me to box the tweeters up, send them to San Diego and they'd get me some new ones in a few weeks...still making no attempt to troubleshoot the problem. I'm not unreasonable and realize that sometimes internal components fail. But, due to the arrogance of the customer service representative I will be ending my 10 year relationship with Polk due to this experience.