RTi100

by Adam, March 21, 2002

Strengths:

Most bang for the buck! Sound is Awesome!

Weaknesses:

so far, nothing to complain about

Review:

I did extensive research on all brands and models, and found for the money the RTi100\'s to be a wonderful buy. The built in sub in both towers, and the crisp sound overall is terrific! Can\'t wait to complete the system with surround and center speakers. I currently live in an apartment, but bought these to start the next phase for a house.

by Tim, May 24, 2002

Strengths:

Built in Powered subwoofers for value and performance. A 3-way speaker that truly delivers the full range of sound.

Weaknesses:

At $499 a piece, it may seem alittle steep, but from my opinion, well worth the price.

Review:

As a audio\video sales counselor for a electronics store I get the chance to see and hear top of the line technology everyday. I have been a big fan of Polk Audio speakers for a long time and always recommend them to my customers for the best of music and movies. I recently purchased the RTi100's and in addition to the new look, they have amazingly superior sound to any of its predecessors and blows away the competition.

by Marc, July 13, 2002

Strengths:

Clear sound and tight, strong bass. Can hear every note.

Weaknesses:

None.

Review:

Purchased and fired up the 100's last week and am completely blown away and satisfied with them. Well worth the price especially when compared side by side with anything in the same price range.

by Peter, October 25, 2002

Strengths:

Clarity, imaging, transparency, tight bass, aesthetics, value, quality construction...Did I forget something???

Weaknesses:

None....at all

Review:

Most impressive, indeed...Once again, Polk Audio offers novices and audiophiles alike an opportunity to experience uncompromising performance and excellent value in the same beautiful package. The sound produced by the RTi100's easily surpasses that of any speaker offered by the competition regardless of price. These speakers should be the "crown jewel" of any mid-to-high end system you might be considering.

by Robert Donnelly, October 27, 2002

Strengths:

very clear midrange.

Weaknesses:

occasional base flutter

Review:

very happy with the polk r 100 speakers appearance is great and workmanship is very well done.

by David Smith, January 19, 2003

Strengths:

Small footprint. Excellent and precise sound. Bass is fantastic. Excellent in a stereo as well as home theater set-up.

Weaknesses:

None.

Review:

These speakers are the best in their class and price range. These speakers look beautiful in your living room.

by Lloyd Howard, March 31, 2003

Strengths:

Definitely full range. A must listen no matter what type of music you may like.

Weaknesses:

Uh...

Review:

About 5 months ago I bought a suite which consisted of Rti38's, CSi30, PSW404, and apair of R15's for surrounds. I've always loved the Polk Audio loudspeakers so I figured I'd go all the way with surround sound this time. Upon hearing it all for the first time my seven year old son said, "That sounds good Daddy". And I agreed. But, being a baby boomer I was longing for a set of "big towers" so last week I traded it all in and bought a pair of RTi100's. Now my son says, "Oooh that sounds 'real'!! And real it is! Awsome clarity through all frequencies, tight clean bass from the built-in subs. Over the past five days I've listened to everything from rap to new age. But today was the ultimate test...Telarc Classical Collection "Celebrating 25 Years" CD, track 3 which is the excerpt from Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture / Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Everything was right on. Strings, horns, percussion and the cannonfire, well, sounded like cannon fire! BRAVO POLK! The "Speaker Specialists" have done it again!

by Raymond, May 28, 2003

Strengths:

Good midrange for movies

Weaknesses:

No clean sound. No detail.

Review:

For the price I will not settle on this speaker at all: it does not have a clean sound in its frequency range and it cannot reproduce the sound of the instruments correctly as well. The piano sounded wired and the orchestra sounded a real mess when I tried Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Richard Strauss’s Also sprach Zarathustra and Ravel’s Bolero. Do not waste you money if you are going to buy a pair of good speakers for music. However, it is not bad for movies anyway.

by SCOTT REID, June 19, 2003

Strengths:

Beautiful blend of sight and sound. Speakers posses an artful look.

Weaknesses:

Distorted bass responce at higher levels, probably from 1) Too weak an amp or 2) too small a bass driver.

Review:

Terrific music reproduction in the highs and mids range. At low sound levels, the bass responce is good, however, when "pumping" volumes at highers levels the bass greatly deteriates. Recommend the separate sub if considering for purchase.

by Eric, August 31, 2003

Strengths:

Great mid and highs....The bass is very good once you break them in.

Weaknesses:

None

Review:

I just bought these at Circut City for only 187.99 each. I could not pass this deal up, so i bought them. When I got home I hooked them up to an older reciever, all i can say is EXCELENT, these speakers play anything from rap to rock with the highest detail. Thanks POLK!!!

by Ben, September 1, 2003

Strengths:

They look nice

Weaknesses:

They sound like shit and blow way to easy

Review:

This things sounded like crap, I blew my left one.

by Joe Rod, September 1, 2003

Strengths:

Nice clean clarity...nice booming bass...nice looking speakers...nice space left over (not to big)...

Weaknesses:

Whenever there is a movie scene that has guns ablazing-neighbors call the police...

Review:

I just purchased thses via the upgrade program at Circuit City. I brought in my rti70s and got the 100s for 171.99 each! I was given 483.00 store credit! Sure I could have got the 150s but for my Home Theater csi40 and completer 7.1 system these will do the trick nicely. Besides, I was able to get nice Monster cables, dvds, and a portable dvd player with the in store credit. Now whether I am watching Dvhs (D Theater) or dvds or Direc tv HD channels or listening to music, I always feel a part of the action! Thanks, Polk...

by Derek, September 2, 2003

Strengths:

Tonal balance and clarity. Powered sub is a plus. Outstanding mid-range depth.

Weaknesses:

don't think there will be any...only had them for 1 week.

Review:

Well, took the plunge and purchased a pair of these babies and am I impressed! Transparency, clarity are just a couple of adjectives to credit these awesome sounding speakers. I primarily will use them for home theater...but I occasionally listen to classical and tonal reproduction is excellent!

by Matt, September 4, 2003

Strengths:

Well rounded frequency responce through an impressive dynamic range whilst maintaining clarity in even the lowest capable frequencies. Great tight Bass and even frequency responce for monitoring recordings.

Weaknesses:

Easy to be stupid and not hook them up with the AMP they deserve. Do yourself a favour and don't buy these unless u got at least a 100W RMS per channel amp to compliment them.

Review:

I have used a couple of pairs of these speakers for 2 years now and have been very impressed with the sound reproduction. As i say in the weeknesses they deserve/need a decent amp, pre amp and cables. I urge u to treat them well and they will blow ur socks off. And whatever u do, don't mistake cranking these babys and hearing the rush of air hurridly trying to escape the sub port as a Sub woofer fluff or wobble, BECAUSE THESE SUBS ARE TIGHT AS. Running these guys up front and two more as rears with a 200 KM kick arse sub is stupid. Do what learnt and kick the sub (bass is tighter sounding from the RTi100's) and get yourself some smaller rears if u value ur RT's at all. All i can say to finish is, i listen to everything under the sun and loud, as well as use them as too huge recoding studio monitors and i am happy as. If your not ur a snob and need to go waste your money on B&O for the same sound. BAH! MOO!

by Johnny B, October 9, 2003

Strengths:

Tuff look, tuff pounce, tuff luck MOTHER-DEAR, did I WAKE YA??

Weaknesses:

Shhhhhhh, this box is silence....

Review:

FULL-ON hysteria Brothers & Sisters! My punkrock brain couldn't contain its CEREBELLUM once I plugged my 100s in OH GOD! (ps: that 'hysteria' was NO DEF-LEPPARD poke!) SOLID punch, like a White Stripes show but EASIER TO GET TICKETS TO....

by Rick, October 9, 2003

Strengths:

Compact size with sound staging that seemed well beyond their price.

Weaknesses:

Very sensitive to room placement, I've had them for weeks and I am still fiddling with them.

Review:

Great all round system. I've been dabling in mid-to-high end audio for years. My trusty custom boxes finally gave up the ghost and it was time for a replacement. I went around to all the audio shops in my area, listened to a great many speakers, and the RTi100's impressed me with their overall "goodness" Not too boomy, not too bright, nice imaging and the ability to handle a wide variety of music.

by Glenn, October 17, 2003

Strengths:

Still listing its strengths...I will update you once I could no longer see any.

Weaknesses:

Too many strengths, not enough room for weaknesses( I guess there's none :-))

Review:

Outstanding speakers!! I am very happy that I added these speakers to my rig, it gave life to my system.

by Danny, October 20, 2003

Strengths:

Great all around sound.

Weaknesses:

Will sound like absolute crap unless hooked up properly.

Review:

Well I must admit I was very sceptical at buying these beauties. I read the opinions here and debated over it for a while, until the new RTI line debuted at my local circuit city. I was able to get these at 299 each, and there was no way I was going to let that pass me buy. After getting them home and hooking them up as my front L/R and moving my RTi38's to the rear duty, I was not very impressed at all. The speaker sounded ok, but the lows definitely lacked any type of detail whatsoever. To say the least I was very disappointed. That is until I posted at the forum here and learned the best way to hook them up is to leave the jumper plate in place and not run the woofers off of the LFE out of my receiver. After hooking them up this way I can only say WOW!!! They sound awesome, with good pure range. Now I am no expert in any way but I think I know what sounds pretty good and these things ROCK!!. They perfecty match my RTi 38's, my CSi 40 and now my new FXi 30s that I just picked up. My home theater never sounded so good.

by Tim, December 5, 2003

Strengths:

Powered speakers for the price of a plain speaker

Weaknesses:

None

Review:

They look outstanding and sound 10 times better than they look. Incredible bargain if you see these by them and consider yourself blessed!!!

by Don Jones, December 12, 2003

Strengths:

Weaknesses:

Review:

After reading all of the reviews on these speakers I found a pair for $560 and I bought them. It was a great choice. I am using a 20 year old NAD 7155 Digital Stereo receiver rate at 55 W per channel conintuous power into 8 ohms and with the volume turned to the 9:00 o"clock position, they will fill the room with sound. I hook them up by removing the jumper cables and using an RCA cable from the pre-amp out on the receiver to the input on the sub. I then connected the pre-amp out to the main in. The sound is clean and the bass is tight and strong. My music of choice is classical. I have the complete collection of Richard Strauss symphonic tone poems on the RCA Victor Living Stereo lable with Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. There recording were done in 1954 and are among the earliest stereo recordings ever done. You would not know they 50 years old. These speaker do justice the works of Strauss. For those who want accurate speakers, these are the ones. I do not know what a $10000 pair of speakers would sound like, but I cannot imagine they would sound $9000 better than the 100's. This was my Christmas present and I am as happy as a hog in a pig pen with the sound of these speakers. Thanks Polk. You may use this review on your web site. I tried to do it, but it did not work.

by cHRIS, January 7, 2004

Strengths:

SOund and looks

Weaknesses:

Lack of power handling capacity

Review:

I have owned my 100'S FOR almost 2 YEARS NOW. Powering them is an ADCOM system 150w 5 channel amp and I have Polk Sat's to compliment them. Alone the 100's are truly the best performing speaker I have owned. Definition, clarity and reliablilty are outsanding. With the adjustable powered sub as a bonus to reveal the great impact for dvd movies at low levels I could not ask for more. I would recomend these to everyone.

by Eric, January 18, 2004

Strengths:

Excellent Bass.... Excellent Midds......Excellent Highs. THESE SPEAKERS KILLED MY BROTHERS BOSTONS and they were only half the PRICE :)

Weaknesses:

When you first get them the bass will be kinda poor at low volumes, but after you break them in you will be impressed. Kinda HEAVY

Review:

This is a follow up review for my polks. I have now fully broken them in. They have excellent frequency response down to about 30hz. The highs are so good that on a frequency CD they got so high the dog was going crazy. Every day I play them loud and still thier is no Distortion. I have the subwoofer outputs running instead of the speaker jumpers, This I would recomend, because you get lower base while your mids take care of the rest. The amp I am running is a Pioneer Dsx411, and even though it is pretty cheap it does the job. My brother has a Pair of BOSTON ACUSTICS and these polks put him to shame. My only complaint would be that they are very heavy, so watch when you move them not to drop on your foot.

by FASV, February 25, 2004

Strengths:

High quality craftmanship;shielded;smooth sound overall

Weaknesses:

Heavy if you have to carry them to a second floor!

Review:

Months ago I went to a local Circuit City in the Miami; Fla. area and I was blown away by the sound of these Polk speakers. Unfortu-nately for me the price of $499.00 a piece was more than my check book could handle at the time;so I kept dreaming of owning these babies someday even if they were used.... Yesterday I return to the same store and going to the audio dep. I could not beleive my eyes!. They were on clearance sale for $176.99 ea!.I did what any audio buff will do: buying them!. This is my second pair of Polk towers.I am using my old ones for the rear surround channels.I also got a center channel model CSI30.Needless to say I don't go to the movies anymore! Use them with a goood amplifier and they will blown you away!

by jhkc, May 31, 2004

Strengths:

Good sound

Weaknesses:

Really heavy for me when i carry them to my room

Review:

I just bought a pair with 500 bucks, is it still expensive now? anyone has any links i can buy cheaper?

by Phayoun, August 12, 2004

Strengths:

Execllent balance between high and bass. Auto adjustment of the sound quality of different music.

Weaknesses:

No comment.

Review:

I bought these speakers at Fry's Electronic in San Jose. The price was really low for only $175.99 per speaker. I used to dream to own these speakers, but back then, it was $589.95 per speaker. Now I have it for almost one year, I still love the quality of it. It is perfect for my living room.