Enthusiastic Highs; Tight, Accurate Bass.

The Subs are a bit lacking in the power department

Before purchasing these speakers I also auditioned the 2000i's. I have to tell you that anyone who is actually condsidering buying those speakers over these might be insane. Besides the lower price tag, the 1000 have tighter, more accurate bass with more colorful highs and midrange. However, the bass of the 2000's was clearly more powerful and this shows when listening to AC-3 or DTS. However, I feel that this does not warrant the higher price and does not outweigh the benefits of a more accurate sounding speaker. Furthermore, with the money you save you can buy an extra external sub and blow the 2000's away.

Several other things to note: the casing looks beautiful in real wood.
The footprint is about 1 sq foot which you'll appreciate if you're pressed for space.
Power lights stays on as long as the things are plugged in. Hasn't bothered me yet, but I'm sure it will.

Similar Products Used:

Polk Audio RT2000i

Cherry finish enclosures, Dynamic Balance Drivers, Acoustic Resonance Technology, Bi-ampable, clarity, 3-D Imaging

Green power light stays on all the time, even if internal amplifiers have "powered down"

Having bought my RT-1000i towers for Christmas of 2000, and after a 90-day break-in period, I am categorically convinced that these speakers are probably the best value for money in any category of home audio components!

The RT-1000i is a heavy speaker and arrives well packaged from the Polk facility. Every care is taken to protect the exquisite finish and enclosed circuitry. Some people would say that the user manual is weak on explanation, but I think it is written for the typical Polk customer who already has an impressive base of A/V knowledge. Connection options are fully explained, diagrams are clear, and the text is well written. Additionally, Polk gives you the option of registering your product online; a nice feature for techies like me!

Setup is an easy affair, the 5-way binding posts offering an excellent connection. Bass is adjustable via a rotary knob in the back, allowing for the perfect blending of bottom-end frequencies. Advanced construction technologies deliver a superior level of audio reproduction 3-D imaging and sonic presence is razor-sharp. I'm not a fan of artificial bass, and these speakers pleasantly surprised me. The bass notes blend seamlessly with the midrange for enchanting musicality. No doubt this is due to Polk's cascading crossover algorithm that is built-in and NOT user-adjustable (this is a good thing).

If you have a spare set front left and right pre-outs available on your receiver, you are in luck. Connect these to the towers as shown in the manual, and imaging improves further. Watching "The Sixth Sense" is an experience with these speakers, as I could feel a genuine sound envelope encompass my viewing area.

The only drawback (and it is minor) is the fact that the power light stays on all the time with these speakers. Even modest receivers allow you to dim the front panel display because the extra light can be distracting. Why then, should your speakers light up!?????

This is a phenomenal speaker for both home theater and HiFi applications. The excellent pricing means Polk has closed the gap between the casual listener, and the audiophile. As everybody knows, the only difference between an enthusiast and an audiophile is the price of their toys!

Similar Products Used:

Only the Polk RT2000i can be listed as "similar"

Build Quality, Sound, Clean mid-bass,detailed highs

Price.. Had to replace on tower speaker sub-speaker was blown right out of the box.

After listing to my RT5's for a few years. I wanted a more impressive sound stage. Sound quality from my RT5's was good but, I wanted more mid bass to fill the room with a more complete sound. So I went to my closest C.C. and auditioned the polk tower speaker family. I went from the RT600's on up to the RT1000i's. I also brought my wife along. I'm sure this was the hightlight of her weekend. But, she smiled and gave me her opinion. We listened to the RT600's they sounded ok... then the RT 800's they were good also... but didnt really have alot of mid bass..Then the RT1000's. At first I wasn't impressed with them until I turned up the volume switch on the back of the amp...No thanks the the highly trained C.C. associate (Joke). After we got everything set up so I could hear just the RT1000's with out a sub playing with them... Not real sure why the C.C. guy kept putting it on..(moron)... anyways, the Highly tuned ears of my wife said she thought the 1000's sound the best. "Remeber guys: your wife/girlfriends opinion is very important when you are trying to convince her that WE NEED THESE... even though she doesn't realize it yet.. Make sure you take your own CD's and listen to songs that you know will test abilities of the speakers you are potentally purchasing. Even better C.C. had the exact reciever that i have at home. The Sony 945l,this reciever has really opened my eyes to modern sound.. after replacing my 6year old pioneer it was like night and day... WOW.... This reciever made me realize that I needed to upgrade my speakers to match its acoustical abilities. And after hearing the RT1000i's, I knew they would work nicely.

C.C was also running a special on a free center channel speaker with a Polk tower purchase. They would give you a CS175.. This is a small center channel which would no longer fit in my expaned surround stage.. So I used that money towards the CS400i. Which are acoustically matched to the RT1000i's.. They us the same 1" tweeters and 6 1/2" drivers.. Hearing this center channel I knew I would be a happy happy man..and I think that it was the happiest day of my wifes life also. Or, so I have myself believe. The CS400i rocks... it kicks the living crap out of my Cambridge Soundworks Center plus monitor and its puny 4-3" paper drivers and paper 1- 2" tweeter.. Who are they kidding anyways?? well I was young and stupid when I bought it.. A little known fact is that this Cambridge guy created Bose.. which everyone knows are the best speakers known to man (Joke)...(Fact Everything they create is expensive and made with cheap materials similar to paper plates.

At this point I took the speakers home. These speakers are packaged in a sturdy box..which is rather big. These speakers are heavy. And having to carry these speakers up 3 flights of steps was an interesting task. They must use lead in the amps or something.

After unpacking The speakers and assembling the speakers.. it was time to wire them up... I was still listing to my RT5's while i was unpacking the speakers and switched to my RT1000's initially i wasn't really that impressed with the highs.. they sounded kinda flat.... so i started messing with the frequency addjustments for the low, mids, and highs on my reciever... and Bamb! I adjusted the crossover on my highs from the factory settings and they now are crisp and clean.. the mids clear and the bass smooth and tights.. i set my crossover to for the subs for my rt1000's to 125hz.... anybody thinking they can get 35Hz from a 6 1/2 " sub driver is loosing it... Ok they may play at that level.. but what type of clarity are you going to get from them When driven hard??... Size and surface area = BASS. Thats what a powered sub is for... But the bass that does come from these speakers is great.. fills the void that my system was lacking.. These speakers are great if a bit pricy.. 2 Stars for price.. fairly expensive but worth it.... overall I give 4 stars. sound great look great... but manufauring testing is questionable...this is the second set of polks I have had to replace because of speaker malfuntion..

Similar Products Used:

Polk RT5's

Excellant sound, clean mids and highs, well balanced with an adjustable bass. Clean/durable cabinet design. 5 year warranty

none

Awesome sounding speakers. Highly recommend. Use as mains with both music and home theater.
Clearly the best speaker I've heard for 500.
Polk customer service is outstanding. The best company
I've ever dealt with. I bought an open box at the goodguys
Polk sent me a new grille, manual and origional packaging (for when I move) at no charge.

Simply Awesome!

Similar Products Used:

too many

Pretty good all around speaker for the price. Great for HT. Small footprint.

Highs can sound bright at times. Bass is not very focused, and doesn't extend that far. Those damn green lights that never go off.

This is a follow-up to the review that I made about a year ago... since then I have listened to a few more products, I have become more familiar with the sound of these Polks, and my tastes have become a little more descerning.

I use this product in a 5 channel HT setup without a separate sub. The .1 channel info is sent to the Polks via the regular speaker cable connection across the supplied jumpers. My usage pattern is probably 65% music and 35% DVD movies. For movies I have absolutely no complaints. The speakers sound big when they have to, and also have the detail necessary in quieter scenes. The built in subs are pretty decent considering their dimminutive size, and they emit a good rumble. However, lately this has become my biggest complaint, at least when listening to music. When listening to music with some decent bass punch, the speaker doesn't seem to deliver the focus necessary. I think that this has something to do with the fact that the sub is downfiring. I tried to mount the speaker on spikes to help illeviate this issue, and it worked somewhat. I find myself turning off the subs on some music because the boominess interferes with the enjoyment of the treble and midrange. When I do this, the speakers sound really damn good. I'm actually thinking about getting a quality external sub and turning off the internal subs all the time, effectively using the Polks like they were smaller spearkers. It is obvious that the tweeter and midrange drivers are solid. The midrange sounds thick and palpable, never blanketed. Treble sometimes gets fatiguing, but I think this has something to do with specific recordings. Furthermore, I tried doing away with the slight toe-in in which I had the speakers positioned, and this smoothed the treble while also widening the soundstage. Focus wasn't effected negatively either.

After a year of owning these, I have to say thatI really like these speakers. Granted that I bought them when I didn't know too much about audio, but these Polks are really solid, especially for HT... If you're a 100% music guy, I suggest going elsewhere, but they're great for what they're made for.

powered sub does the job

none yet

these speakers do the job as main speakers. I use them as the front chanels for the suround system. There is no way to compair them to the spekers that they replaced as they were twenty year old. The tecnology has changed so much in just the last few years alone.

Similar Products Used:

other main speakers

Powerful, clean mids & highs, strong bass

Those little green lights, fairly large

This is a follow up review. I have now been using these speakers in my ht setup for about 4 months now. Absolutely no complaints for ht use, but you still need a dedicated sub for the really ground shaking bass. It is with the music side of these speakers that I am becoming very impressed with. After about two months of listening to these they really opened up. These speakers will play exactly what they are given - if it is recorded bad it will sound bad. However, if the recording is good, look out. The highs and mids are awesome. I listened to Vanessa Mae (violinists) on my B&W's and it sounded nice and warm (what I'm use to), but when I played it on my Polks (through a receiver no less) it was truly amazing. With good cabling and ample power these speakers really sing. It felt like Vanessa was right there - totally amazing soundstage. I beleive most complaints on this board have not let the speakers break in or are using an inferior power supply (Cheap recievers and cable, Cheap cd players). Do these speakers some justice and spend money on a reciever or seperates that sound nice and they will sound great for music as well as ht. I consider these speakers to have high sound. I think some people pre judge them because of the name or some of the outlets where they are sold - too bad. Listen with your ears not your preception.

Similar Products Used:

B&W, Paradigm

Great on dialogue, solid sound stage, relatively flat.

A little harsh on music.

I have worked at CC for three years and have heard several speakers come and go. Also being an audiophile I listen to many speakers well beyond what we carry ie: Dynaudio, Martin Logan. At this price point, these speakers are a wonderful value if you are mainly into home theatre. However if music reproduction is your main goal, you may find these speakers a little harsh. The tweeter seems a little bright, and the dynamics of the speaker are not quite up to par. Otherwise a great value in a speaker.

Similar Products Used:

Infinity, Mb Quart, Boston, AR, ML

Built in powered sub, consumes little floor space, solid construction, comes with carpet spikes, ability to bi-wire.

Those little green lights I use to think looked kind of cool are starting to annoy me. I wish they would at least go off with the sound.

When it came time for me to buy new speakers Polk Audio wasn't even a consideration. I was planning to buy Paradigm or give some B&W's a listen at the same stereo shop. I had already auditioned several Paradigm models and liked them all. Anyway, by chance when buying some cd's at future shop I heard the RT1000i's being listened to by another consumer, so I went over and joined them in the sound room. I couldn't believe how good they sounded. I listened to them again over the next few days and fell in love with the way they sounded. They were a far cry from the first Polk's I ever listened to many moons ago. I decided to purchase the RT1000i's over the paradigm's because for 1) I liked the sound a little better and 2) I felt I was getting more speaker for the money. Granted you still need an external sub for HT use. When listening to music I prefer no sub but still like extended bass - which the RT1000's have no problem delivering. Some of the other reviews complained about "boomy bass" & "too bright" highs - I have found niether of these problems. You must remember when dealing with powered towers you have to adjust the settings for different music. Especially when you have two ways to control the bass - from the bass control on the tower, and the bass control on the reciever. Also I found you need at least 12 gauge speaker wire to get the most from these speakers. I heard bi-wiring them also makes a huge difference in sound. These speakers will reproduce what you through at them. If your system is lacking in all other areas don't expect miracles.
When I first took these home I thought they sounded pretty good, but after I hooked up new monster cable speaker wires they sounded a lot better. They keep sounding better the more I use them. Also a little side note, I bought a new cd player with an optical output and bought a monster optical cable for the conection - what a major difference this made to my system. Everthing sounds at least 40% better. If your not happy with cd reproduction give this upgrade a try - you won't be dissapointed.
Bottom line - if you need a speaker for HT & music give the RT1000's a shot I don't think you will be dissapointed.

Similar Products Used:

Sony, kenwood

Seamless blending across all freq. Full bass in stereo, deep thundering bass in HT ( 6.5 in woofer are you kidding me? ) Use of high current power really pushes the subwoofer effortlessly.

None

I had brought apair of polk RT600i to bulid my HT around and was using a low end reciver. The sound was good for what i was using Then I upgraded my A/V reciver to a top end high current unit and boy did I get the bug!My 600's sound great in the high to mid range but I need to fill a mid to large room 25x30 so I needed to bump up the low freq quite abit. I listened to the JBL studio series and Infinity Interlude and then back to Polk. Using my upgrade option at CC I had made my mind up to go with the Polk RT800's or Interlude IL40's. After hard listening the 800's won, hands down but for $100 more per speaker I gave the 1000's a good hard run to. They sounded better then the 800's so I bought them. Let me tell you, at home on my equpment in my room they sound 20x better then they did at CC. These speakers bring the whole system to life, outstanding imaging, a very large sweet spot and the high current amps provide accurute tight bass. In short a great speaker at this price point, slightly bright but not to much, very tight bass in stereo, and thundering with HT.

Similar Products Used:

Advent,JBL,Polk RT600i