Price, soundstage, imaging, durable

A little lacking in bass but hey, they're bookshelf speakers!

I am not a big Polk fan but I needed a small pair of speakers for the bedroom. I did'nt want to spend alot and found these at Circuit City for under 150 bucks, open box. I took them home and hooked them up to a Yamaha RX777 100 watt receiver. Played them at night at bed time, in the mornings ect. I actually did'nt pay that much attention to them at first. This by the way was over a year ago. One night I could'nt sleep and was listening to Stevie Ray Vaughn, I believe the song was Tin Pan Alley. I suddenly realized how great these little speakers sound. Articulate, great imaging and sound stage and enough bass for at least a smaller room. I really started to appreciate what a real bargain they are. Since then these little speakers have been my work-horse. I had them on my front porch exposed to all kinds of weather. In the garage, basement, mounted on stands, on the walls, you name it. These babies don't miss a beat. I have gone through dozens of speakers for stereo and home theater and have parted with most. I just can't bring myself to get rid of these. I feel the Polk rt25i is one of the best bargains in audio and they won't let you down. I don't think they make them anymore, but if you find a used pair, buy them! Mine are not for sale!

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Most paradigms, NHT, ADS, Cantons ect.

Sounds excellent with good equipment, but also pritty good with average equipment. It's capable of being open, transparent, life-like and warm sounding.

Bass and they can't handle a lot of power.

I originally hated these speakers, but with better equipment, they just kept getting better and better. After purchase, I set them up on a cheap, adjustable stand with a 80 watt $250 sony receiver and Monster xp cables. My first reaction was: "yuk, I got what I payed for." After the break in period it began to sound better: accurate and natural but not very open and not at all transparent. After a while, I replaced the stand. The new one was about 40 lbs heavier (not yet filled) and much more rigid. The sound got better, surprisingly better. To make the long story short, I hooked it up to a 50watt Creek int amp with DIY cat5* solid cord cables, plain DVD player which played the CDs, medium quality monster interconnects (M300?), sturdy stands and the sound was incrediably good! It was smooth, warm, and life-like. With acoustic music, they practically disappeared! Wow! I was honestly amazed. These are not perfict speakers, however. As expected, bass at loud volumes is bad, especially with rock music. It gets boomy and distorts. At lower volumes, it's listenable and most of the times, very good. It's no wonder that speakers are the last on my list of upgrades. Other than the problem with bass, these also have a limited sweet spot. So, they won't impress you when you are 20 feet away, typing :^. *(Check out tnt-audio.com for details, make yourself excellent cables for about $30 and 3 hours of labor. Everything you need can be found in Home Depot..no relations to either companies).

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Polk RT55i, Acoustic Research (?model) Infinity (?model)

Power Port, Baby! Banana plug inputs Smooth sound!

Ummmm.... you got me...

These speakers are great! I live in a dorm room, so I have to think small. I picked these up at a pawn shop along with a Polk center and some speaker stands for $250. For the size of the speaker (6 1/2 woofer), the Power Port does wonders with the bass!!

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Old Polk towers

Extraordinary detail and range for such a well priced speaker...goes much lower than u might think...though a sub is still necessary.

Polk doesn''t make a center channel in a matching Maple veneer...like that is really a complaint...also, doesn''t seem to accept bananna plugs

Well, I was looking for some reasonably priced speakers to replace the rears on my HT (a $10 pair of KLH...I know they suck, but I''m a broke college student). I found a pair of RT25i''s openbox for $79.95 each and fell in love. I sat them on my KLH 900Bs (I know, I know...) just to test the Polks out and they did such an awesome job that they are now my mains and I''ll have to suffer a little while longer till I get some more $$$ to replace them with some towers...till then I''ll suffer with the KLH rears. I can''t wait to have a full Polk system with these as rears. My system now: DCM (Center) Polk RT25I (Mains) KLH HT-9930 (Rears) KLH PSW8-100 (Sub) APEX AD-500W (DVD) Yamaha RX-V496 (Reciever) [the only component worthy or being paired with the Polks]

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KLH, Cambridge Soundworks

Tonal balance, clear accurate vocals, warm mid-range, price, construction

High end harshness on some recordings

I was looking for some good, reasonably priced, bookshelf speaker for a bedroom system. I auditioned several speakers which I have listed below. The main thing I listen for is how well the speaker reproduces the human voice. Second is mid-range overall. A good indication on highs is the reproduction of cymbals, particularly ride cymbals for you drummers. The Polk RT25I was by far the best of the bunch for vocals and mid-range. One CD I use is the Rolling Stones "Stripped". Jagger''s voice on "Love in Vain" is very well recorded. The RT25Is did the best job in reproducing his voice as well as the accoustic guitar and dobro. "Wild Horses" is also a good test track on this CD. Again the little Polk did an excellent job. They struggle a little on real high electric guitar tones, hopefully they will smooth out after break-in. For $200 there is very little to complain about. I will use these strictly for music and have them paired with a Velodyne CT-100. This seems to be a good, balanced system. I have never been a Polk fan but these speakers get my highest recommendation, for what that''s worth. These are great little speakers for those who want quality sound and are on a tight budget. Other components: NAD 160 pre-amp AudioSource amp 3 AMC CD8b player Denon tu-1500 tuner Kimber Kable inter-connects, PBJs Kimber Kable speaker wire, 4 something? Velodyne CT-100 sub

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Paradigm titans, KEF Q-15, NHT super-one, JBL S26, Klipsch KSB 1.1s

Well constructed, very durable. Good if not great sound production. Will not find a better speaker for the price!

None

I bought the RT25i''s for my rear speakers in my HT setup. I am very impressed on how they can handle every bit of detail from voices, to orchestral music in movies, to plain old FM stereo in 5 channel stereo. the 25''s do not miss a beat on anything that is played through them. I am truely impressed on how well they sound. Great speaker for HT or for mains if you are on a tight budget. My Setup... Main''s Polk LSi7''s Rears Polk RT25i''s Polk CS245i center speaker Polk PSW350 sub Yamaha RX-V620 receiver

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Polk, Yamaha, Kenwood, Altec Lansing

cohesive sound, price, surprising mid-fi quality

none for the $

Great bookshelf. I use these with an 80 w/c channel Yamaha 595 reciever and a Yamaha sub together with a Turtle Beach Santa Cruz audio card. This is about as much as I wanted to pay; any more and you begin to hear the limitations of computer-based audio (256k Lame MP3s).I like the Polk 25''s soundstage more than the Grado 225''s for monitoring edits and such.

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Polk 15s, Cambridge Soundworks Ensemble III

Surprisingly warm, clear sound from such a small speaker

Very minor distortion on sustained bass, somewhat lacking aesthetically

In purchasing these speakers, I was extremely limited in my selecton due to having only a $250 Cicuit City gift certificate to work with. The choice was between the Infinity RS-2 and the RT-25. I went in with the preconception that Infinitys would prove superior because of its larger woofer size (6 1/2 vs. 5 1/4), but was blown away by the quality of the Polks. I put the two through a test ranging from Vivaldi to Metallica and Polk was considerably better in every area. The Power Port makes a hell of a difference. They do distort a bit when undergoing heavy, sustained bass, but that's more a question of its size that its quality- a great bookshelf speaker. Paid $200.

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Infinity RS-2000

Price, construction, size, neutrality

Imaging

For their size and price ($190) the Polk's are great speakers. I am using mine as surrond speakers. However, they would work well for a small room, such as, a bedroom. If you have plans to use these speakers as the main speakers in a HT setup, buy a subwoofer. If you love bass, buy a subwoofer. The Polks are honest little speakers. Realize what you are purchasing and the price. If you are value concious and desire good sound these are a good choice. If you need more volume. The choice is more money or poorer quality in sound.

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Bookshelfs: KEF, Infinity, Paradigm

Great range of sound with good bass, even w/o sub.

Built-in mounting bracket not overly secure.

I bought 2 pairs of the RT-25i's for my front and rear, with their CS245i and PSW350. The whole system priced at $1,070, but later got GG to honor a rebate offer Circuit City had, which dropped the price to a total of $820.

Now, I realize that you have to listen to speakers to decide, as we all have different preferences. However, I learned a few things I'd like to share.

First, if you plan to listen to both 5.1 DVDs and music, you'd better test drive the speakers with both. What sounds good with a driving movie soundtrack, can sound aweful with a full range CD (such as classical or female vocal).

In my search, I first went to the latest Bose systems. I'd had 11 years of enjoyment from my old AM-5s. What a letdown! The design of the new systems can't hold a candle to their old stereo technology. Basically, they were entirely too "thin" for music and a bit sharp on movies.

Before getting the Polks, I compared to similar systems (up to my limit of $1,400), which included Klipch and Bostons. None had the rich sound of the Polks, without getting too large for my livingroom. None had the combination of bright treble with rich mid's that these had.

I will qualify the high response by saying that I first had a Denon 2801, with a very narrow bass/treble adjustment, which made the Polks, sometimes sound too muffled on high tones. When I changed to my Yamaha RXV 800, it made all the difference.

Now, I probably could have gotten away with smaller rear speakers, but when you listen to music in 5 chanel stereo or with one of the DSP modes, you'll be glad you matched them to the fronts.

With movies, the system sound is fantastic. Great detail and really rocks the place. The matching center speaker is well-suited to the Polk front/backs.

The only downside is the wall mounting brackets. They simply have a keyway type hanger, which could allow the speaker to move around when bumped or in an earthquake---They can easily slip off the recommended screw size (#10) and I darned near broke my nose, when one slipped during mounting.

Otherwise, highly recommended that you give this system a listen.

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Bose AM-5