Polk Audio RT10 Bookshelf Speakers
Polk Audio RT10 Bookshelf Speakers
USER REVIEWS
[Nov 21, 1997]
Kahuna
a Casual Listener
I'm happy, but not fully complacent by the way it sounds -- bass and midrange is o.k. & highs are great. When I listen to CD's with a lot of vocals, it doesn't make me feel as though "I'm there". At times, it sounds a little to ambient. I have to say, though, that in movies the speakers are fantastic. As for the price of the speakers, can't complain too much. It is a pretty good deal when comparing cost vs. quality. |
[Nov 19, 1999]
Patrick Williams
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
Incredibly clear sound-especially mids and highs. Amazingly good lows for speakers in this price range.
Weakness:
Recordings with heavy bass and some distortion (some rap and live albums) at high volume can make you cringe. I originally bought comparable Infinity speakers. They were more expensive than the Polks and minimally smaller. The highs were clear, but the mids and lows were awful at half volume on my Onkyo receiver! I took them back and listened to a variety of other speakers (from all price ranges) on the showroom floor and kept finding myself drawn back to the Polks. Similar Products Used: Older Pioneers in the same quality/price range. |
[Oct 14, 1999]
Loe Eddy
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
Good High,Mid, and low frequency
Weakness:
None at this moment This is a good quality speaker at affordable price. Similar Products Used: Jamo classic 8 |
[Mar 09, 2000]
Phillip
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
Excellent soundstage, clarity, accuracy
Weakness:
none at this price range I bought these speakers in 1996 from a chain store because they were the best sounding speakers that they had in the price range I could afford at the time. I brought them home, plugged then into my system (Old Kenwood KA-7100 int. amp. and a 10 year old Onkyo CD player, monster cables), and listened happily for 3 years. I recently moved into a new house and was blessed with a room in the basement that has become my listening room/office (lined with acoustic foam which my wife hates but I LOVE). The Onkyo bit the dust so I decided it was time to upgrade. I decided to start with a NAD C540 CD player. I noticed a definite improvement in sound. After a couple months I bought an NAD C340 integrated amplifier. Again, definite improvement in soundstage and clarity between instruments. I started to become obsessed with improving the sound. All the while I'd been visting stereo stores, listening to B&Ws, Mirage, J&M, Paradigm, PSB, thinking about speakers. After reading a ton about speaker cables I replaced my monster cable with Kimber Kable 4PRs. OH MY GOD! These speakers have come alive! Similar Products Used: B&W601s |
[Sep 29, 2001]
Tim
Audiophile
Strength:
None that I can think of.
Weakness:
lousy bass extension, disgusting upper-midrange/lower treble balance, generally unlistenable. These speakers are garbage. I'm sorry but you can do much better for the price. They are not worth $100 used. They are extremely bright sounding and will give you a headache after 15 minutes of listening. Vocals are very nasal sounding and sibilants are unbearable. I hate to sound like an audio snob here but I'm afraid I really cannot say anything nice about these speakers. Look elsewhere. Similar Products Used: many, current speaker is nOrh 6.5 |
[Dec 19, 2001]
Drew B
Audiophile
Strength:
Fantastic imaging. Very "Polk."
Weakness:
A little weak on the low end, but room placement makes a huge difference (as with any speaker) The first post here is from someone who's clueless. These speakers are NOT garbage. (He's either got a horrible setup, bad room or room placement, or a defective pair.) I've combined the RT-10s with a Velodyne sub, and they are absolutely fantastic. Gorgeous imaging, especially with acoustic jazz. Very good for home theatre. There is no way you can do better for less than $1000/pair. |
[Apr 29, 1998]
Thomas Walker
an Audiophile
I have owned the S10 for nearly 3 years in my search for reasonably pricedspeaker. I listened to similarily priced INFINITY, B&W, JBL, BOSTON ACOUSTICS, |
[Jun 23, 1998]
Polk Man®
an Audiophile
I'm not a big home theater nut, but I am CO-Editor of Elite Car Audio and Performance at http://auto.pair.com My review on these phenominal speakers all started one year ago. I was new at the complete Hi-Fi scene. I found myself flipping through a crutchfield magazine, and my eyes caught these polk audio speakers and I though "what peices of crap!" ok, like I said, I was new at this audio scene, so I had no idea! I flipped the page again, and my eyes suddenly gazed upon these Infinity RS 2000.5's! "My god! Linear Motor Technology and a flared port? WOW! they must be awesome!" Let me restate my absent mindness once again, I was new at this stuff! I decided to presue my audio system further by going to THE GOOD GUYS, a local audio store, and took a listen to those ugly polk speakers. So I poped in my 69 boys CD and cranked up the bass to 3/4 and took a listen to the Polk RT10's... BOOM BOOM, TING TING went the dynamic balance 1" tweeter and the db 7.5 Mid-Bass Driver. I was thorougally impressed! The deep, quick, spacious sound was exciting and fulfilling to the point where your head is about to burst! A sigh of relief happens when the RT10's hit the 35Hz bass note with no struggle what so ever! I decided to compare this wonders to the Infinity RS 2000.5's at Circut City. I once again plopped in the 69 boys CD and took a listen. I WAS THUROUGALLY DISAPPOINTED! and no, there was nothing wrong with the amp or anything, it was a carver 75w pr. channel. bass was at half, trebel at full, and this is what I heard, BOOM WHISTLE BOOM WHISTLE... that's the sound of the so-called distortion free port. I won't get into how bad these speakers really were, cause I'm sure your probably bored enough as it is! My current system is as follows: |
[Jun 11, 1998]
Dan Huber
an Audiophile
I've had these speakers for seven months now and I can happily say that at 15 years of age, these have got to be the best things I've bought yet. Of course there's other stuff out there better than these, but not at the price I paid. I can't argue much in saying that they don't have the greatest highs, or that the midrange is a tad dry, but the bass extension is fairly good for the size of these speakers. The bass isn't very tight, though with less deep bass, there's going to be more transparency than say a powered sub built into the cabinets. Speed is fairly quick and linear soundstaging is pretty good, though they have more dimensional presence than linear presence, in my opinion, at least. The tweeters can be slightly tizzy, but not bad with the right gear. They can be driven fairly loud and still play cleanly, though vocals tend to suffer, as does top end definition. Pianos sound fairly natural and woodwinds sound clear. Overall, a BEST BUY (I hate that store) for the money! And I know nothing's perfect, but skip logical thinking for now. |
[Sep 05, 1998]
paul gossert
an Audiophile
i really like these speakers. im driving them wit a kenwood thx amp that has 135 watts . im using them in a fairly small room. the bass is quite good and they sound clean and realistic. for the money they are pretty good. |