Polk R15 Advice

New member

Username: Krazymofo24

Dallas, Texas

Post Number: 5
Registered: Aug-05

Posted on Sunday, August 14, 2005 - 01:09 pm:

I have a pair of Klipsch B-2's and I just bought two pairs of Polk R15's $50 a pair on sale at Fry's. I am using two R15's as a center and two as surrounds. I just have a bedroom to work with.
Should I use the two klipsch's for the center and have the front's as R15's? I will upgrade again in a few months, should I go towards Polk or Klipsch?

Jan Vigne

Gold Member

Username: Jan_b_vigne

Dallas, TX

Post Number: 5064
Registered: May-04

Posted on Sunday, August 14, 2005 - 01:46 pm:

The R15's are not a great speaker. Keep their role as much on the supporting side of better performers as possible.

New member

Username: Krazymofo24

Dallas, Texas

Post Number: 6
Registered: Aug-05

Posted on Sunday, August 14, 2005 - 02:21 pm:

You are right they are not great, I am new to the home theater set up. I been using my PC and a 4.1 Logitech speakers as my main source of movies,games, and music. I bought a 32 inch HDTV for my room and an Onkyo HTIB($235) came with a reciever instead of a dvd player. The R15's sound two times better then the Onkyo's. Should I return the Klipsch's they cost $250 tax included and replace them with a pair of Polk's since I have the R15's. The R15's are just temps for atleast a few months.

Silver Member

Username: Kano

Post Number: 576
Registered: Oct-04

Posted on Sunday, August 14, 2005 - 02:33 pm:

First I think you need to decide who's "sound" you like better - Polk or Klipsch. From there both companies offer a long line of products from entry to reference level. I personally prefer the Polk's smoothness but envy the Klipsch's ability to reveal every last nuance in the recording.

And yes, you want to go with one company or the other, mismatching speakers can work well enough in a system, but in this case the speakers sonic characteristics are so diverse you won't want them together.

Gold Member

Username: Edster922

Abubala, Ababala
The Occupation

Post Number: 1549
Registered: Mar-05

Posted on Sunday, August 14, 2005 - 02:45 pm:

The R15s are one of the better under-$100/pr. speakers, with a surprisingly much better tweeter than the higher priced models of Polk's R series.

What you need to figure out is how important surround sound is to your needs vs. 2-channel sound. This will depend greatly on your taste in movies...blockbuster action flicks IMO are the only ones that really deliver your money's worth in surround sound, so if you mostly watch other genres why bother? The only other reason to have surround sound is if you're willing to pay upwards of $20-30 a pop from the still piss-poor selection of available SACDs and DVD-As.

If not, it'd be a much better idea to get the best 2.1 setup you can afford rather than a crappy 5.1

This would involve returning the entire HTIB, both the Polk and Klipsch speakers, and buying better speakers, receiver, and sub separately.

If you want more details on that, reply with your maximum budget and I'll give you some specific recs.

New member

Username: Krazymofo24

Dallas, Texas

Post Number: 7
Registered: Aug-05

Posted on Sunday, August 14, 2005 - 02:46 pm:

I decided to return the Klipsch's and get the Polk Montitor 40's. I hope this is a good decision. Polk have lower frequency rating 47khz versus 62 hopefully that'll mean more bass.

Gold Member

Username: Edster922

Abubala, Ababala
The Occupation

Post Number: 1550
Registered: Mar-05

Posted on Sunday, August 14, 2005 - 02:47 pm:

how much were the Monitor 40s? They are of pretty mediocre quality and unless sold at clearance tend to be overpriced for what you get.

Jan Vigne

Gold Member

Username: Jan_b_vigne

Dallas, TX

Post Number: 5070
Registered: May-04

Posted on Sunday, August 14, 2005 - 04:58 pm:

John - I believe your username might be very appropriate.

New member

Username: Krazymofo24

Dallas, Texas

Post Number: 8
Registered: Aug-05

Posted on Sunday, August 14, 2005 - 04:58 pm:

I bought the Polk Rti4. I returned the klipsch, its too late to return the HTIB its been around a year. It was only $230 I use the Sub and the reciever and I dont have money to upgrade those yet. I'll be able to buy a matching Center in 2 weeks right now just using Two R15's. I just have a room in my parents house to fit a bed,tv,pc, and speakers in. My bed is along the right wall and I have to put my Surround right on that wall. Which means i'm laying/sitting directly under it when I watch movies which gives me no real "surround" effect. The system sounds really good and the rears do make a difference just not as much as they would in a bigger room.

I chose the Rti4 over the Monitor 40 still not sure if it's the best choice yet. My budget if I return my Rti4's and four R15's $350 right now $500 in a few weeks. So if you got any suggestions i'll really appreciate it.

Silver Member

Username: Kano

Post Number: 577
Registered: Oct-04

Posted on Sunday, August 14, 2005 - 05:01 pm:

I agree with Edster, if spending the money on Polk, I'd get into the Rti series over the Monitors.

http://www.polkaudio.com/homeaudio/products/individual/bookshelf/all/rti6/

Silver Member

Username: Kano

Post Number: 578
Registered: Oct-04

Posted on Sunday, August 14, 2005 - 05:03 pm:

Sorry, your last post didn't appear before I posted.

Those are miles better than the Monitor 40s.

Jan Vigne

Gold Member

Username: Jan_b_vigne

Dallas, TX

Post Number: 5074
Registered: May-04

Posted on Monday, August 15, 2005 - 02:18 am:

My suggestion would be to stop buying stuff and then returning it. You'll soon find no store wants to sell you something your going to return.

Gold Member

Username: Edster922

Abubala, Ababala
The Occupation

Post Number: 1554
Registered: Mar-05

Posted on Monday, August 15, 2005 - 11:06 am:

> You'll soon find no store wants to sell you something your going to return.

True...if he's buying from small independent audio stores at some point they'll clamp down. However the speakers he's been trying out are most likely from big-box stores.

Big-box stores on the other hand ain't got no choice, and I wouldn't feel too guilty about doing that to them. For every consumer like John who takes the time to do what he's doing, there's probably 4 or 5 suckers who'll just buy full retail, Bose, or whatever BB or CC advertised "on sale" at their usual ridiculous markups.

New member

Username: Krazymofo24

Dallas, Texas

Post Number: 9
Registered: Aug-05

Posted on Monday, August 15, 2005 - 12:39 pm:

I only returned two pairs of speakers...first I bought Bose 161's for $159 which SUCKED compared to the Klipsch B-2's. I bought the R15's on sale at Fry's $50. Then I returned the B-2's to Best Buy and bought the Polk Rti4's at Fry's.
The RTi's sound much better than the Klipsch and were only $10 more.
Jan would you really feel guilty returning a few items to stores you bought your TV, PC, Speakers, DVDs, IPOD, and Games to? The three stores I shop at the most is CC, BB, and Fry's they're billion dollar corporations that might lose no more then twenty bucks on restocking. I think I bought enough of stuff there to be allowed to use the return policy.

Gold Member

Username: Edster922

Abubala, Ababala
The Occupation

Post Number: 1556
Registered: Mar-05

Posted on Monday, August 15, 2005 - 12:46 pm:

If you keep the RTi4s for your front mains then the R15s would be fine for surrounds.

New member

Username: Krazymofo24

Dallas, Texas

Post Number: 10
Registered: Aug-05

Posted on Monday, August 15, 2005 - 12:58 pm:

Yeah thats what I plan on doing and buying the Csi3 for the center to replace the R15's.

Gold Member

Username: Edster922

Abubala, Ababala
The Occupation

Post Number: 1561
Registered: Mar-05

Posted on Monday, August 15, 2005 - 11:13 pm:

If you watch a lot of TV and movies, it might be worth your while to get the CSi5...a lot more expensive than the CSi3 but worth it, your center speaker is the most important speaker for TV and movies.

In fact I'd seriously consider sacrificing the surrounds in order to get the CSi5 if I were in your shoes.

Bronze Member

Username: Krazymofo24

Dallas, Texas

Post Number: 11
Registered: Aug-05

Posted on Tuesday, August 16, 2005 - 12:55 am:

I might consider that, but the surrounds only cost me $50 but still the csi5 will be better that way I can upgrade to Rsi8 or 12's in a couple of years or when I start saving.

Silver Member

Username: Kano

Post Number: 583
Registered: Oct-04

Posted on Tuesday, August 16, 2005 - 03:53 am:

I have the Csi3, and can't imagine what the Csi5 does better, besides low end bass extension.

I disagree with Edster about the surrounds, not in that the R15s will perform horribly, just that the di-pole Fxi3 or Fxi5 are truly excellent, I think they're my favorite aspect of my system, the spatialization between the fronts and surrounds is dead on... And I mean that literally when playing Rainbow Six 3 on my Xbox.

Bronze Member

Username: Krazymofo24

Dallas, Texas

Post Number: 12
Registered: Aug-05

Posted on Thursday, August 18, 2005 - 03:09 am:

I am going to upgrade my surrounds, but it'll take time. I will probably upgrade to either Rti6 or Rti8 and use the Rti4's as surrounds. I still need to upgrade my sub,receiver eventually, and center channel. Since I am in a small room I wouldn't really benefit in having really nice surrounds yet, and my parents wont like my playing bass loud so the sub will be one of the last things I upgrade too. I am gonna buy Csi3 and return the pair R15's, but keep the other pair for surrounds. I am just using 4.1 right now the R15s are too soft for the center channel.

Brandon P.

Unregistered guest

Posted on Saturday, August 27, 2005 - 01:19 pm:

i just bought a pair of polk R30's, a pair of R15's, and a cs1 center channel from ebay for $300 shipped to the door, is this a good price or should I turn around and sell them to try to get my money back?