Polk although seemingly looking to be the best and the most boring looking speaker on the market has done it. The RT800 blows away its big brothers the RT1000 and the RT2000 in both value and ease of use. My experience has been that they like to run just a little louder than most speakers. I have never owned a speaker that liked to be pushed hard like these do. Try a pair if you dont agree they sound incredible than you havent turned them up loud enough yet

These speakers sound good.
they are completely full range too. They reproduce even the deepest bass,
for $400 each they are the best speakers money can buy. They sound good
no matter how loud the are,(good amplifier of course). my only complaint is
that the high range is not present enough in low listening levels.
nothing's perfect, I love these speakers

Bought recently a pair of RT-800's and a Harman Kardon AVR 35. The sound is the best I have experienced so far. I like listening to both Rock and Classical, and both are handled very well. The Polks diskant is clear and crisp, the middle range is warm, natural and fills easily the room even the HK 35 is not a powerplant, and the bass is deep and distinct.
I have compared these speakers to several other similar priced speakers from Bose, Infinity, JBL and Cerwin Vega, and it left no doubt in my mind that these speakers are the best. You have to play them a little load to get the full potential - But I guess most people don't mind..

I've been sampling main speakers for several weeks. Had tried the RT55 - but I was very disappointed with them. Took a pair of RT800 home, the sound is clear, crisp the full range. What I really like is that the RT800's sound good at low volume but really come "alive" the harder they are pushed. The RT800 sound real - not synthectic like the RT55, Infinity's, etc. I like to play rock music loud and the RT800's performance is excellent. The price - $800 at Circuit City. As compared to other speakers in that price range, I would say the Polk RT800 is a good buy.

Strong performance with music and home theater

Losses a little detail at lower listening levels

Polk RT800's are great sound for the money. I upgraded from RT55's, and was very pleased with the improved performance of the RT800's. I was pleased with the RT55's before, but the RT800's bass response goes much deeper, and blends much better with my Cerwin Vega subwoofer. For music, the RT800's sound good to great with a variey of music, and they sound down right fantastic with home theater (Omaha Beach scene in "Saving Private Ryan" rearranged the furniture). These speakers liked to be pushed, so they don't perform as well at lower listening levels, but if you usually listen at a moderate to high level then the Polk RT800's perform as well or better than any other speaker I've heard in this price range.

Similar Products Used:

Other Polks, Infinity, Def. Tech.,Paradigm

Looks good. Very Clear if not played to low or to loud.

I think they distort at louder levels. I had a pair of MTX 1240s that I think handled power much better. The MTX speakers sounded better at low and high levels. these Polk RT 800s sound better in the midrange.

I think they are good speakers. They sounded better then the rest of the speakers at Circut City in their price range. I'm not sure seling my old ones and buying these was worth the money. I have the Polk RM 7500 Surround set and love it, so its not that I don't like Polk. I just am not sure about these RT 800 speakers. Well maybe I,ll review them again after I have them for a few months.

Similar Products Used:

MTX 1240s.

- Great sound
- Slim tower

- under-driven at low volume

Nice speakers with crisp sound. Low volume doesn't seem to drive the speakers as well as I'd like.

The RT800 with the CS400 and the f/x 500 make a fantastic HT setup. The RT800 sound wonderful with music and HT. I tried the RT1000p for a month before I took them back for the RT800. If you have HT you will need an external sub. The RT800 is an excellent value. Only $650 for the pair delivered to my door.

Full range sound from a slim tower

Needs lots of clean current/power to rise above it's class

I don't want to write a full review now, but this week I learned a very important lesson about these speakers I would like to share with current owners who are NOT bi-amping or bi-wiring them. This little trick will cost you only a few minutes of time well used. Those gold plated coupling pins between the HF and LF inputs have got to go!!!! I have read alot of reviews stating that the sound gets rough at higher listening levels. I find it's not the bass but the highs that become "wooly". I use 12g Monster XP
for the RT800's and CS300 center and 16g XP for F/X rears. My power is coming from HK PA5800/AVR40 combo(my AVR45 developed a hissing problem and is currently being replaced with an AVR300 that I am eagerly awaiting). The PA5800 is a gift from the love of my life (who understands but not fully supports my Audio/Video habit)that arrived via UPS Mon from JandR.com. After trying various installation combinations to include bi-amping(using 2 splitters off the main pre-outs off the '40 using the rear amps of the '5800 to feed the HF)I settled for the conventional 5 channel out and while I was hooking everything back I got this wild idea, why not replace those couplers with a small peice of 12g XP ? I quickly realize that the 12g would be thick as bear wire so I used 16g. I feed the 12g in the LF input with a 10" cut of 16g the feed the other end of the 16g into the HF input being careful to maintain polarity(red-to-red, black-to-black)throughout. It's been three hour of Jazz, R&B, Gospel, Pop, and Classical (thanks to Music Choice on DirectTV)and the top end of the sound SEEMS to be alot smoother at all levels I have been able to try (it's night and I'm breaking in this new amp). The improvement could be the amp (which 2morrow I'll take out of the loop just to test) or I'm just hoping to hear an improvement in which case I'll find out in a few days after the novelty wears off. Whatever difference I hear, real or implied, I believe I'll keep it like this for a while. If the signal is traveling through similar wire from amp to speaker the signal should have very little degradation. I can't say the same for those little couplers. This is bi-wiring with a very short wire. Try it for yourself. All you have to lose is a little time. Good Luck. Post you findings.

Very clear detailed highs, good looks, and great for HT as well as music.

None so far.

I really loved these speakers. They sound great for the money and I don't think there is better speaker for the money. By the way I'm selling my rt800s for $550 since I just upgraded to b&w speakers and going more high end. I gonna give this speaker 2 thumbs up for the money.

Similar Products Used:

Other polk speakers.