Polk Audio Rti A7 Floorstanding Speaker (Single, Black)

These replaced my "Energy" Take Home Classic 5.1 system, that I had beforehand and the Polks knocked it out the park! What a Night and day difference! For the price and the range that these can give you, it is really hard to beat! They pump out plenty of low bass and clear mids and highs! A full sound that won't disappoint!When they first arrived, I had some buyer's remorse because they sounded flat and not lifelike at all...but after fully adjusting the eq settings and after a couple of weeks of allowing them to fully break- in....they began to rock!They have been labeled as a bright sounding speaker time and time again...but since I mainly use it for home theatre listening enjoyment, that's exactly what i wanted. They provide me with so much clarity with sill giving you everything you could ever want from a full range floorstanding tower! And like I said that the eq settings can easily remedy it, as it is better to have the ability to create a brighter sound if wanted, rather than just living with what you ended up with.! I think I read somewhere that new curvature design, gives you a warmer sound over the previous model generation. I'm not sure since I didn't have the previous generation from this line. I do have the older more expensive set, which are the older brother to the A9's, the RTI 12's...and they are similar sounding, with the rti12's being a bit warmer...I think the A7's are a little more efficient though.If you feed these with a sophisticated receiver or good quality amp, and feed it high fidelity material, these will give you just what you want from it! **Side note: look into upgrading the power supply later on, if you presently have a smaller amount of amplification from your amp, and not enough funds to upgrade it just yet .** As this is what I did. I got a different amp later on just to power these bad boys...and let me tell you that it does make a diffrence! Now I see why everybody always says to use clean power!I have them connected with Sewell 12 Guage premium speaker wires with banana plugs that are already connected and seems to be soldered on(also bought here on Amazon). To clarify on my setup , I'm using a Pioneer Sc-81 receiver as a pre-amp and an Onkyo M5010 supplying the juice to these. They are being used as front "wide" channels in my 9.2 setup. Polk Rti12 are my main front, Csi A6 in the center, Martin Logan motion 16's in the rear, and Elac B6's as my side channels. They were all pieced together little by little. Luckily for me, I ended up loving it all and it all flows for me. I guess the Pioneer "MDACC" that programs and balances the whole sound, with the microphone, indeed works wonders! Because I really enjoy everything! It's amazing what the receiver can do....plus using the "virtual" settings are incredible!But, DO try to get everything from the same model line, as this is always going to give you the best chance of havimg everything "timbre-matched".If i was asked what are the A7's better meant for, whether they are better suited for home theatre usage or for pure listening enjoyment...I would say both...but home theatre first, then music listening second(they are indeed fully capable of both with clean power though).These are built like a tank! Great overall craftsmanship and the finish of real wood veneer! Extremely solid and sturdy! Give 'em a knock to find out for yourself. Nice gold terminals in the back, which can be bi-amped if desired(seperate amplifiers being used for the highs and mids, while another amp is connected to supply the low bass).The A7's don't give you that "in your face" color schemes, used on the woofers, that the other guys use. Just enough of a classy and modern look. And if you do get the Csi4 or Csi6 matching Center speaker, it will make your whole theatre setup scream quality and look really sophisticated! Adding the RTI "A" model surround speakers will indeed be the proverbial icing on the cake! Great setup for movie watching, of course!Keep the grills off if there are no kids or crazy pets...and i find myself stealing a glance at them every now and again!I do not think I'll be upgrading for many years to come!Happy Listening!

I've been a Polk fan for close to 20 years now. I just did some math in my head, and I've purchased a total of 17 Polk speakers over the years. I'm not currently using all of them, but the retired ones are in the garage waiting to be inherited by my kids when they head off to college. Polk speakers are built to last a lifetime, and the company stands behind their products. The first set of surrounds I purchased back in '98 had their built-in wall mounting brackets fail after 5 years or so. I contacted Polk, and the friendly rep I spoke to said "all the speaker parts are guaranteed for life. We'll send you the newer, redesigned brackets at no charge". I can't think of any other consumer electronics company I've dealt with that offers this level of service. Of course the high build quality and great service are kind of moot points if the speakers don't sound great, and they do. It was the great sound that primarily led me to stick with the brand over time.I purchased the RTiA7s a couple of years ago as part of a complete upgrade of my home theater system. My goal was to put together a system the produced excellent 2-channel music playback in addition to home theater surround. My 2nd Polk purchase back in the late 90's was a pair of RT25i bookshelf speakers I hooked up to an Onkyo TX-8511 in the living room and that system has been my personal benchmark for music listening since then. I have finally achieved the Holy Grail of besting its music reproduction with the home theater system. The RTiA7s are just now achieving their full potential as a result of replacing the Pioneer SC-1523-K receiver that was driving them with a Marantz SR5009 I picked up for a song at a liquidation sale. See my 5-star review of the Marantz SR5009 (posted under the replacement SR5010 model) for more details. These speakers need a good amp to really shine. The Pioneer's high-end digital amp just wasn't up to the task despite putting out 135W/channel. The Marantz puts out 100W/channel by comparison, so it goes to show that you can't go by power ratings alone to know how well an amp will drive a certain pair of speakers. The Marantz opened up the low end of the RTiA7s and they are a joy to listen to for hours straight. The bass is tight, nuanced and never sloppy. The highs are clear without being harsh. The imaging is amazing. If you close your eyes, you can easily imagine you're at a live performance with the vocals and instruments emanating from different points in 3 dimensional space. In addition to the RTiA7s, I have a Polk CSiA6 center, Polk FXiA4 surrounds, and a BIC Accoustech PL-200 sub. The CSiA6 is timbre-matched to the RTiA7s and has a matching cherry color and matching grill.

don't waste your money on it because it has very poor sound quality plus high and bass speaker doesn't work. junk

Purchased 2 of these for my Sherwood 4-channel stereo. Wanted to replace some cheaper speakers in the room but get something comparable to my Klipsch that are in the rest of the house. I purchased some Polk Audio outdoor speakers and have been quite impressed. First, these are beautiful speakers, great wood and well made...very heavy! When I plugged them into my Sherwood 4 channel stereo I was not impressed with the sound. Very clean but it was just missing something. Not as full fidelity as my Klipsch are. Then I read about bi-amping the speakers. I had an extra channel in my 4 channel system so I thought why not bi-wire them? I asked an audiophile friend who said it would not make much difference that way. Boy was he wrong! When I bi-wired the speakers to the extra channel it just made these bad boys step right up!! WOW ! What a difference! Now they are loud, clear and have the fidelity that my other reference speakers have. So my recommendation is that while they will run ok with a 100 watt RMS system they really need more wattage to get them to really work well. I know bi-wiring is not a true 200 watt way but it was enough of a wattage jump to light these things up!!! I had thought about buying the 9's but I see now I would have had to purchase power amps to run them effectively.... Great speakers and would really recommend to anyone!