VR3
10-24-2006, 11:24 PM
Well Ive spent some time with these speakers for a while now... and I think its ok for me to give a few impressions.
The RT series is better than I remember it, yet still as good as I remember it. The Tri-lam is just as good as I remember, nice amount of detail, a little sibilant at times which is irritating. But it overall had a nice assortment of detail between the vocals and drums which I found admirable. It did the snare and hi-hats fairly well with the crashes and rides coming in ok and good at times.
The midrange falls a notch below my DTs, not quite as controlled seemed like, and the instruments were basiclaly smeared and forgotten between the middle and sides - yet the outter imaging was pretty good, but sometimes lost. The best part was the center imaging, a trait that seems to follow Polk through time - just a very strong center image. Yet the speakers themselves never seemed to escape being a speaker, the singer was very pronounced, yet missed the texture of the actual singer.
The midbasses on the RT55 are not near as good as the series after it. I had the RT35i moons ago running full range at levels beyond a level known to man and never once heard those things bottom. During movies the RT55 would bottom ocasionally - was slightly dissapointed. This is where the DTs really surpassed them, seeing as the DT midbass is known as bottomless due to its spider design...
The bass to midbass was slightly bloated and muddied up the vocals in some songs, but only on ocasion.
Overall for an entry to mid speaker, the RT55 wouldnt dissapoint. Fairly detailed, fairly controlled imaging - kind of dismissed the fine textured of what makes music music - yet still could make your foot tap.
The bass left much to be desired, the midbasses just werent very controlled - I know its not the amp, my DTs mids tightened up considerably with the Odyssey than with the B&K - so... Im pointing to the midbasses. I figured the crossover or something would prevent the midbasses from bottoming....
They are a cool speaker and I dont plan to get rid of them, alot of fun to listen to - to crank to insane levels and jam out -- a good memory lane speaker for me.
Thanks Lou for hooking me up, Paul and Al for signing them - a great piece to the collection!
The RT series is better than I remember it, yet still as good as I remember it. The Tri-lam is just as good as I remember, nice amount of detail, a little sibilant at times which is irritating. But it overall had a nice assortment of detail between the vocals and drums which I found admirable. It did the snare and hi-hats fairly well with the crashes and rides coming in ok and good at times.
The midrange falls a notch below my DTs, not quite as controlled seemed like, and the instruments were basiclaly smeared and forgotten between the middle and sides - yet the outter imaging was pretty good, but sometimes lost. The best part was the center imaging, a trait that seems to follow Polk through time - just a very strong center image. Yet the speakers themselves never seemed to escape being a speaker, the singer was very pronounced, yet missed the texture of the actual singer.
The midbasses on the RT55 are not near as good as the series after it. I had the RT35i moons ago running full range at levels beyond a level known to man and never once heard those things bottom. During movies the RT55 would bottom ocasionally - was slightly dissapointed. This is where the DTs really surpassed them, seeing as the DT midbass is known as bottomless due to its spider design...
The bass to midbass was slightly bloated and muddied up the vocals in some songs, but only on ocasion.
Overall for an entry to mid speaker, the RT55 wouldnt dissapoint. Fairly detailed, fairly controlled imaging - kind of dismissed the fine textured of what makes music music - yet still could make your foot tap.
The bass left much to be desired, the midbasses just werent very controlled - I know its not the amp, my DTs mids tightened up considerably with the Odyssey than with the B&K - so... Im pointing to the midbasses. I figured the crossover or something would prevent the midbasses from bottoming....
They are a cool speaker and I dont plan to get rid of them, alot of fun to listen to - to crank to insane levels and jam out -- a good memory lane speaker for me.
Thanks Lou for hooking me up, Paul and Al for signing them - a great piece to the collection!