Clear midrange. Good build quality.

Highs on the harsh side. Imaging is fairly narrow.

I have listened to these speakers at a demo theater. I find the highs to be good but a little harshy when pushed and the imaging is fairly narrow especially compared to the Optimus Pro lx-10 which use a dipole 360 degrees film tweeter. Midrange however is better that the lx-10, in this range the polk don't sound boomy or muddy and also the build quality is superior.

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Optimus Pro lx-10

Great sound, build quality, efficiency, and value.

Only two way, and the best finish "cherry wood veneer" is hard to find.

I actually have the 600i Cherry, which is I believe a replacement for the 600. Awesome speaker, looks very sleek and symetrical. These speakers are very efficient, and sound terrific, especially when sound is tweaked through a EQ. They are ony two way, if that *bothers* you, and you cannot biwire. The next model up, RT800i solves these problems. I have these running with the PSW450, and the CS400i. Great setup, great sound.

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Infinity and Cerwin Vega bookshelfs.

Although I consider myself to be an "Audio Enthusiast" I am as picky as an "Audiophile"! Before making my purchasing decision to upgrade from my very superb British-made Leak speakers (whilst keeping them for my surround-sound movie watching) I thought long and hard.
Unlike many youngsters of all ages caught up in the frenzy that "more bass is best"...I wanted speakers that would reproduce the musical source as it was originally intended to sound (recognizing that many recordings are only as good as the equipment in the recording studios). In other words, I'm not a big bass fan and this review is intended more for the "true" audiophile.

Having gone to Pensacola, Florida for a demonstration by Polk Representatives and listening to several of their speaker systems and then having the unique opportunity (over a period of several months) to listen to many of the speakers Polk manufactures I was in a unique position to compare before buying.

My main observation is this:

Comparing the RT600's, RT800's, RT1000P's, RT2000P's ---the main difference between all four speakers is bass. All four speakers have the Tri-laminate dome tweeter and the larger more expensive speakers in the RT series boast either an extra bass or seperate mid-range speaker elements.

But for value I could find none better than the little RT600 tower system. And no speaker sounds anywhere as good than in your own home and environment. The RT600 reproduces "ALL" sounds superbly...not just bass. I like to hear sound at all frequency levels and especially at treble and midrange...to me, bass is easy and cheap. But reproducing the full range of frequency is most important and the RT600's are the best speakers that I have ever heard or owned. I only wish that I could have afforded four of them instead of the system that I obtained...which to me, never-the-less, is the very best value for your money:

RT600 Main (Retail each = $329.99 = Total of $ 679.90 + tax)
RT3 Rear (Retail each = $139.99 = Total of $ 279.98 + tax)
CS225 Center (Retail each = $219.95 = Total of $ 219.95 + tax)
(Grand Total of $1179.83 + tax)

Other speakers owned: Leak MKII 2-way (13" woofer) commercial "Sandwich" speakers (British); Sony SSU3033 bookshelf speakers. Additional speaker experience: Retail Sales in Electronics.

I've had my Polk RT600's for about a year now. I powered them through
a Harman/Kardon AVR25mkII. For the budget minded I have to say that this is
the most musical, quality sounding system I have every owned or heard in
the $1000 range. I listen to a lot of Zappa and classical music and I couldn't
beat this setup for the price. They carry well, have a lot of presence,
and excellent mid-range reproduction. Even after a year I am still happy
with them!

I had searched for a while before I decided to buy Polk RT600s, I had listened to NHT, Klipsch, amongst others. I believed the Polhs to be more 'spacious' sounding, with nice crisp highs, and a terrific bass, I am very particular to midrange, (most speakers I listened to being a little overpronounced in this area), the polks were very agreeable (correct wording). Mind you I had a budget of $800, and opted for these over the RT800s. Then i got them home....WOW!!, I had never owned speakers of this quality, past speakers had been, Bose(when they were better), and ESS(anyone remember them?).These blew them away, Fantastic imaging, bass, design (looks), and price, I like them better than some speakers costing 2x amount. Well worth the investment, I plan on setting up Home theater in the near future, and i am Polked all the way.

I just bought the RT600's for music and home theater purposes, and these easily do the trick. I have the CS300 for the center and the RT35's for the rear and you cannot beat this combo for the money. You are getting quality through price and sound! I have a subwoofer for the low end and I am very happy with this purchase. The differences between the RT600's and RT800's is the low end in general. If you want to save a little $$$, get the RT600's and a quality sub and it will out perform the RT800's easily. I give the RT600's five stars!!!

Absolutely clear highs, great lows

mid range a little weak, but not noticeable if switched from prologic back to 3 channel mode on amps

I wanted to replace the Altec Lansing that were 5~ years old. Altec sucks major when compared to RT 600. I listen to classical music and watch movies. RT 600 adapts very well in both situation.

In classical music, I was able to pick out where the people were and found their mistakes. Clicking sound of the valves on clarinet (sp?!) were present and accounted for. I could hear people taking breaths in between. Just excellent, the most perfect, true to life thing I have ever heared.

When watching movies, I was able to experience theater effects in my own entertainment room. The bass, even tough couldn't break anything, is more than sufficient. I don't plan on buying a sub anytime soon. Damn efficient speakers. Only need to turn amp up to 45 % to reach uncomfortible loudness. After comparing speakers in stores and researched on the net, I have come to the conclusion that this is the money well spent.

Quality: 5, mid range weakness can be overcome by switching between listening modes on the amp

Value: 4, or 4.5 because I got a free center channel. Reason is I don't see many people who sale Polk Audio on the net and in stores. This way Polk can jack up the price a bit and not worry about competition between resellers.

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Altec Lansing junk

I have to ammend my review. After hooking these speakers up to a dolby digital receiver and watching several movies I noticed severe distortion when these speakers were hit with certain frequencies. All though these speakers sound awsome I found them to be unacceptable for home theater.

P.S. I hooked up my old DCM bookshelf speakers to the same receiver and they were able to produce the same scenes without distortion so it could not have been produced by the receiver.

Overall sound reproduction; excellent high and middle range; surprisingly good low range; VALUE

None

I recently bought a pair of RT600's based on a review in Consumer Reports and a thorough evaluation at my local Circuit City store. The RT600's have been discontinued, so they can be found for under $400/pair (a tremendous value, as they recently sold for *$600/pair!) I bought them to replace a pair of 17 year old Klipsch KG4's that blew out a few weeks ago. I loved the KG4's, particularly in their prime. However, the RT600's have a tonal quality in the middle and high ranges that's a notch above the KG4's and ideally suited for orchestral music and opera (don't get me wrong, the KG4's were wonderful in every respect in their prime).

The output of the RT600's at the low end is surprisingly good and perfectly sufficient for the vast majority of orchestral, jazz, and voice music. Indeed, the bass output seemed fine even for Supertramp's "Rudy". However, I just couldn't resist the temptation to augment the bass, particularly for pseudo home theater purposes, so I just ordered an Acoustic Research S112PS powered subwooofer (whether I really need it or not).

If you can still find these speakers, they're a real steal for the price you'll pay for them. I went back to Circuit City last weekend, and all they had left were floor models, so they won't be available much longer.

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Klipsch KG4

sound quality, price

not as good as hugely expensive speakers, who would have thought

I baught these speakers for $500 total with a center channel. I feel like I stole them. I have spent about 2 weeks researching and testing out speakers before buying these. An article in consumer reports was what finally got me into these speakers. The article rated this speaker as the best for reproducing sound acuretly out of all the midrange speakers they reviewed. The infinity RS 5 was way down the list.

All in all they sound grate, my mom's $2000 dollar infinities would blow them away but for the price I dont think you can beat them. The only other speaker I liked as well was the klipsch SF2's but I got these for a better price and believe they are more true to the music. Cant give them a five because I know there are better speakers out there if you have more money to spend.