"I bought these speakers six years ago...wait, there's a port back here?" 😂

finally some one reviews my old Polks...thank you sir!!!

Hey Randy, thanks for doing a review on these speakers. I purchased these speakers about 6 years ago and had not seen many reviews on them. They are amazing for their price.

I have the RTI A5s floor standers in my living room. Now I’m looking to set up a 2 channel system in my bedroom with the A3 bookshelfs. This review helped a lot!

Thank you for reviewing older, obtainable, and great value speakers! These would be great in my garage.

It’s interesting how, in the audio world, a distinction can be made between “accurate” and “fun.” You had critical things to say about individual metrics, but taken as a whole, the speakers end up being highly recommended. I think that’s cool.

Plugg the rear port for better imaging! I had the A3 but it was too much bass for my bedside system. Ended up with the smaller A1. I took the rear bracket off and plugged the port. It not only imaged better but improved transient response.

I still run these in my home theater along with the huge center, been considering a more wide friendly jamo 803hcs setup but am concern about the sound difference. Great video, earned a new sub.

Hello everyone, I have them and they sound FANTASTIC ! I have more expensive speakers from focal and verry expensive speakers from aurus cantus. And the Polk speakers can match the expensive ones for sure. So if you look for small speakers DONT hasitate to buy the polk RTi . They realy verry good ! They where connected on my pioneer SA-8800 from the bleu line serie's.

I have these mounted on each side of a 100” screen along with the matching center in the cherry finish. Absolutely great looking and great sounding home theater speaker paired with a Yamaha rx- v 675 receiver.

Yeah. Put the covers on to tame the harshness. College kids take the grills off. That cover was not designed to be put in a closet.

Randy, have the POLK RTi35s from 20-25 years ago. Are these Polk speakers you reviewed a close newer brother to my old RTi35s. I feel like they might be.

I have these for home theatre and man they are better than speakers 3x the cost. Maybe I just like the higher crisp sound on bullet shots and explosions, stuff like that.

I have the Rti A5 - the next step up, a floor stander. I totally agree with you. Not audiophile neutral, but can be a blast to listen to. Sometimes a little too bright - you don't want any toe in for sure. Sometimes you want that audiophile sound, so I have the ELAC Unifi's too. But sometimes you want a little more excitement, and the Polk's bring it. And the I think the Polk cabinets are the best you will find at their price point. $230 a pair for the A3's, $420 per pair for the A5's, and the cabinets are beautifully finished real wood. The cherry is really pretty and they look great with the grills off or on.

413 subs , it's going fast 😀😀. Waiting for xambridge audio sx-50

I just bought a mint pair of these used for $95 Canadian and plugged them into the system in my weirdly shaped living room. OMG, in my space the sound stage is incredible! They are so much more fun to listen to than my Paradigm and Coincident towers, as well as my bookshelf speakers from Paradigm and Tannoy. I gave up my pretentions of having an audiophile ear years ago, I'm just looking for musical enjoyment and the Polks deliver. Even my wife, who's oblivious to changing stereo components, was struck by the immersion with these speakers. I bought them to go in my home gym, but they may stay in the living room!

FYI - the RTI A line is no longer listed on the Polk website. Looks like they are no longer making them. I hope the come out with a replacement.

The rear port is an ARC port, that is Anti Resonance Cancellation port. It is designed to create a resonance 180 degrees out of phase with the cabinet resonance frequency effectively canceling cabinet resonance.

I have this pair. THEY ARE AWESOME!!

the only Polk I have loved were the older ones like 20 years ago

It's sad how they just got discontinued, but you can't buy them now. if I recall there were the revised version of my RTI6

I have the RTIA9 and CSiA6 and i reflect your observations... the upper mids and highs are in your face.... they are more suited for Home theatre and not for music....

Surprise! 🙂 Yep, the RTI series is both front AND rear ported. Looks like you just now discovered that, haha!😁 The PowerPort system helps to reduce chuffing for cleaner, deeper bass. Great, solid speakers, in terms of sound and build quality. Very good. I have the Cherry finish, it is flawless. Yes, real wood veneer is sometimes rare these days. I like your review on the TSI series as well, you can still buy a "few" of those new, but they're running out of stock, especially cherry finish. TSI is NOT real wood, but vinyl covered MDF (like most in that price range), but still looks real and flawless. TSI 200 and up are way better than the TSI 100, but your review is on par, as usual. Kinda interesting, since you did a review on the S20 (and maybe S15 as well)...If the TSI 100 is that much better than the S15, it should mean that the TSI 200's and up should be better than the S20...and so on..? I'd like to know your thoughts on that. I think the S20 is a bit overpriced at $300/Pair, for what it is. I measure with my EARS, not numbers and graphs, by the way. Thank you for doing the same, which is another reason I like your reviews. All that matters is if they sound good to "your" ears. Thx for keeping it real, based on what you hear. I can relate to that. Keep it up, man.👍

Still Rocking Polk RT400's!!! Older Polk's Kick A$#!!!!

Hey Randy, could you PLEASE help me out? I just purchased these RTI A3 speakers secondhand on Facebook Marketplace and the power ports had been removed. I still have them but the screws are missing. Could you please tell me which screws these take? I talked with Polk customer service and they weren’t able to help me since these speakers were discontinued. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated!

I was able to grab these guys’ bigger brother the A7s for a $100 on used market and holy schnitzels they dig down around 28hz. They are a blast!

I have the whole line - (well, the A7s for the floor standing speakers not the A9s). Center, and 2 pairs of these book shelfs for surrounds / front heights. (well - i also bought 2 of the subs - and those were a joke to be honest). Had them since 2016, and they have served me quite well (ESPECIALLY FOR THE PRICE). Once I finally got the right subs for my room (not Polk), I appreciated the speakers even more. I wouldn't say they sound amazing personally - but they filled my room quite well. I have just recently splurged and ordered MartinLogans new motion XT line (F200, C100, B100) to replace these speakers (still waiting on delivery). Given the enormous jump in price for the MLs, I am concerned I will be disappointed. For such a massive increase in price, I am expecting unicorn dust. That said - the Polk RTi line served me well, and it's time to move on.

I have these in my 3.1 setup and they sound great.

I own a pair of these and I totally agree with this review. They are great to fill a room and the shell is really nice 👌 but they aren't as good as tannoy mercury f1 customs for imaging. However polks really do well in a room that's not set out for listening with odd shaped walls . I rate them plus they are nice to look at but they are not B and w or tannoy accurate

I think that the NEXT value/budget speaker you should review is the Wharfdale Diamond 220 (5 1/4") at $199 or the 225 with the larger 6 1/2" woofer for $299. Highly regarded as the best value in their class, across the pond, highly discounted now because they are being phased out and I think they are PERFECT for what you are doing here. Right in your wheelhouse! Another one that is in line with your channel would be the PSB P3 and the larger P5. Also, for the 2 channel home theater guy, the Marantz NR1200 at $599 is a stellar option. Happy Thanksgiving! Enjoying the heck out of my Sony Cores and just wondering if I should add the center channel?????????? Haha!

I've owed a pair of these for 5 years now. I agree they are not "accurate." I am constantly adjusting the equalizer trying to get them to accurate; not gonna happen. I was weened on JBL 4311's back in the 70's so I'm kinda spoiled in that sense. Good to know that you confirmed my suspicions, maybe I can roll off the highs and upper midrange and increase the middle midrange and see how they sound. Anyway, I just ordered some JBL A130s to replace them so hopefully they will give me the accuracy these Polks are missing. Thanks for the review.

Can you do a review on the klipsch rf83

Love that silver Testors model paint. Nice touch.

Yeah, I have a set of these with the center channel, all in the cherry finish that I bought for I think $160. Guy listed them with a set of A7 towers and eventually split up the set. If you are looking for a solid speaker that definitely isn't quite up to audiophile standards but still does a lot of things well, you can do a LOT worse than the RTIs. The replacement TSX220 is very similar sounding but with a definite step down in terms of finish. Vinyl instead of veneer.

I used to sell these, and when paired with a good source of amplification they actually sounded quite good. I would not pair these with N inexpensive class D amplifier. We had these RTI-a3’s paired with Cambridge Audio CX-80 and Cambridge CD transport. As well the Cambridge Audio AXR-100. No subwoofer, 26” or 28” Sanus speaker stands about 14”-18” away from the wall when measured at front baffle. We got a good full range sound, nice imaging, buttery midrange reproduction. An 8”-10” sub would have been a nice pairing to round it out and solidify the bottom octaves. However it wasn’t exactly necessary to provide a realistic music experience. The RTI-a3’s have enough bottom end texture to provide a realistic experience. Typical CD’s used for playback demonstrations were from Diana Krall, Michael Buble, Steely Dan, John Legend. Every one has difference of opinions when it comes to speakers and audio products. Although I disagree with this review somewhat, it is not something I take personally. In my experience, audio equipment has nuances that either work well together, or don’t. It is always good to try some different pairings to find what you like. Hope that some find this useful in making future decisions with audio equipment.

I have the towers. They're big. They're loud 😀

I don't agree with half of his observations. Boosted highs? Yes slightly but most rooms will cancel that out. At nearfield it might be noticeable. Stereophile did a review years ago and gave it a good write up. You shouldn't hear the high frequency bump in most male vocals anyway.

How about some RTIA9's?

Based on your review it seems like one would be better off buying something from ELAC or Jamo in the $230 price range if they are looking for more of an audiphile sound. I think these would make great garage or barbecue speakers. They would likely shine in that scenario where boosted highs would be helpful sound staging and imaging or not As Critical.

I have these speakers. WHat did you use to process your signal and power them? I used to have them powered by mid/low grade denon. and tried them on a 7012 Marantz. Man what a big difference. THe imaging was definitely there. and stereo separation was great too. even tho the marantz is capable of biamping them. i didnt. Now i want to take them back to my marantz receiver and biamp them just for the fun of it.

They’re like a functioning alcoholic. Everything is just on the fringe of being out of control but somehow it all stays glued together.

In your opinion how would the Klipsch rp 400m stack up to the Polk rti a1 ? I have the a1’s now and love them after auto cal equalization to flat on Sony str4400ES . But straight out of the box agree the highs to mid high range is unusually pronounced. Was curious how the smaller klipsch would compare. I’m not sure I have room for the rp 500 or 600’s .Thanks for the input.

They're a drunken sailor.. 😂👍

I'm wondering if the RTI 3 that I have will be compatible with the Elac 6.2. 's I just bought for surround sound for my 4k T V ? Any thoughts also have polk subwoofer

It's always funny to me that absolutely every reviewer on KZfaq insists that almost every speaker has this drastic U shaped response curve.. but the actual curve when measured just is not that dramatic. EXEPT FOR KLIPSCH. damn that dip is just extreme ...it's shocking when viewing the measured curve. The DIP at around 1800 hz is far too drastic to not be 100% intentional .

Have you thought about reviewing the Polk audio RTI, A5 speakers? Crutchfield has them on sale for $219 each

These speakers made me into a wannabe audiophile. My father in law paired the rti A9’s with a Yamaha receiver that couldn’t have been more than $300 new in the 90’s, and a $150 turn table he got off amazon - and when he spun up some of his vertically stacked vinyl I was delightfully surprised (and pissed / jealous) of how full the room sounded, and clear - I expected a fairly middling experience at best given all the factors I mentioned. I’ve always wanted him to leave them unattended so I could see what happens when they’re cranked. Someday. The power specs have always made me curious that they go up to 500w, I can’t understand it.

You got into audio that recently?? Shocked

Hi i like your channel how about if I want to use them as surround back?

You should review the Polk audio s20 there way different then the Polk s15

Nice review. You brought to light most things i thought about it. I use these in my 2 channel room with no sub. I found putting them in the corner toed in adds a lottta bass. It is a fun Fun FUN speaker. Not the most accurate but can get down on some good RnR music. Lotta cats listen to their oh so ritzy tunes at 75db with a solo violinist, a flute and female vocalist. Sorry, im not into that, like you, give some punch from the bass drum, electric guitar and lets get down!!

Can you review the Polk Audio Monitor Series 2 line?

Just bought a pair of these for 10$ at goodwill.

I like mine for the office. Is it accurate who cares. They take some power too.

Which is best to buy this or polk S20? For you? Thanks Sir

Speaking of Klipsch lol. How do these compare against the Klipsch Reference R51 and 600m?

I bought a pair two years ago. They are fun . But they are a little sloppy but I listen to rock mostly so there great. You're review is right. But well worth the price.

How do these compare to the elac debut b6?

Speakers who are front and rear ported are able to fart and burp simultaneously. They're usually in politics. 🤪

My rti6 sound very flat, doesn't move, no punch no vibes.

I want speakers that are square for about £200

haha he that kind of guy who looks funny when serious haha

wood is a big deal to me

I’ll stick with my S20s

LOL,,old polks

That's bullshit. The S20 is damn good .