Mixing Monitor and RTi ?

[Eman]

I was wondering if anyone had tried this, done this or can recommend this. Currently I own a set of the Polk Monitor 104 5.1 package (all speakers consists of 5 inch woofers and tweeter) and was wondering how well the RTi12 speakers might sound with this set especially the center channel or if its not recommended. I am also considering the Monitor 70s which I have sampled and liked though I understand they sound different I still liked their low end performance. My receiver is a Harman 630. The tweeters look almost identical in construction and the RTi12 has two five inch woofers at least the same size so it cant be that bad - I hope.

[screxer]

Haven't heard the RTi12 unfortunately, but I do own the Monitor 70's and love them (have heard the RTi12 is very power hungry and tends to be a bright....due to the power issue, I opted not to aggressively pursue them as it would entail running a seperate amp to get them to really sing whereas the Monitor 70's work fine running off the 635). I cross them over at 60hz and let the Velodyne handle the real deep lows. I compared the Monitor 70's to the Infinity Beta 50's and there was no comparison. The Monitor 70's sound WAY better to my ears. They offer a crisper sound, larger soundstage, and simply a more natural feel to them. I do have the system mixed with RTi38's, RTi28's, and a CSi30 and everything blends fine for me.

[aaharvel]

normally I wouldn't say this, but if you like the Monitor performance then by all means by the Monitor 70's. Two reasons- you're going to need an outboard amp to power the rti12's to fully take advantage of them, secondly- i've heard monitors and rti's together. It doesn't mesh, at least to my ears. If you don't want to or don't have the funds to replace your entire system- my advice is to buy the monitor 70's.

[aaharvel]

Hey Screxer, how's the DSP functions of that Velodyne SUB working out for you? Mine is the older model, without the DSP functions but identical amplifier and 10" driver.

[screxer]

The Jazz/Classical and Movies settings are the only two worth using....the movies one gives you the added punch for good action sequences, whereas the Jazz/Classical gives a real nice flat curve (based on some reviews I read) for music....overall, I'm very happy with it. It's a vast improvement over my Polk PSW12.

EDIT: "real nice flat curve"....is it just me or does this statement seem really lame? :p Anyways, check out the following review to see what I mean:

DPS-10 review

As you can see, it's far from flat on either one, but still fairly good on movies and jazz modes. It's not an SVS, but it gets the job done which is fine for me.

[Eman]

normally I wouldn't say this, but if you like the Monitor performance then by all means by the Monitor 70's. Two reasons- you're going to need an outboard amp to power the rti12's to fully take advantage of them, secondly- i've heard monitors and rti's together. It doesn't mesh, at least to my ears. If you don't want to or don't have the funds to replace your entire system- my advice is to buy the monitor 70's.

Yes, I believe this is a more logical upgrade path. Thanks for the tip and by the numerous other posts recommending a separate amp it is best to let the RTi12s go. The monitors 60 is unavailable here and the 50 were too thin (from memory) so the 70 are the top contenders now. If it were not for the negative reviews on Circuit City web page I probably would have bought these already.