(Possible backorder?) Polk R15 bookshelf speakers $39.99 pair + S/H @ outpost.com

[Deleted member 54998]

I got a pair of R15's from outpost about a week ago and they sound very good. The mid's and top end are solid, but as to be expected from woofers this size the bass is lacking. They are great for surround sattelites.

I should also note that mine definately were not sheilded. This is something to consider if anyone plans on using them next to a CRT.

Joel

 

[anonz]

R15 Cherry is now $49.

I am waiting for the black versions to come on sale.

Bought the R30s --- good deal IMO.

 

[Greg04]

I had a pair of these...woofer went...$13 to replace it. Not too bad.

 

[SJetski]

Originally posted by: anonz
R15 Cherry is now $49.

I am waiting for the black versions to come on sale.

Ya,

Still a great price @ $49 + s/h a pair, not so good if you can't match the cherry though

 

[SJetski]

Bump for price drop,

The black ones are going for $39.99 again

http://shop4.outpost.com/product/3292811

 

[frankgomez75]

I'm in for a black pair!

Thnx OP....

Now I gotta wait for the R30's to go on sale.

 

[ElFenix]

i should get these just to complete my set of polk R series speakers

i've got R50s, R30s, and R20s (using one of those for my center)

 

[spc hink]

how would these compare to the ascened acoustic 340's. I know its like apples and oranges but how much of a difference can there be in sound. I was thinking of getting these for my mains for now and when I can save up get the 340's as mains and move the polks to rears.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: spc hink
how would these compare to the ascened acoustic 340's. I know its like apples and oranges but how much of a difference can there be in sound. I was thinking of getting these for my mains for now and when I can save up get the 340's as mains and move the polks to rears.

Ascend has great frequency response and seems to be one of the best deals out there for "midrange" bookshelf speakers. (I use midrange very loosely since some would consider $525/pair a fortune and some would consider that to still be entry level).

These polk speakers are budget speakers and I don't think anybody would say otherwise. Great deal at $50-ish for a pair though especially as there aren't really many alternatives out there.

I'm sure they would do quite well as surrounds later on in a more expensive system.

If you think you might not want to get the Ascends for the price difference, maybe try out a pair of them and take advantage of their in home trial period.
Unfortunately shipping both ways is probably going to be about as much as purchasing a pair of R15s.

To get an idea of what the Ascends might sound like, you might want to check out a local Paradigm dealer. Apparently the Studio series has similar characteristics as the Ascends. Studio 40s and Ascend 340s are similar sounding from what I have read.

 

[Aztech]

Nice! That's the lowest I've seen 'em go. And it's finally the black ones. I'm in for a pair.
Thanks!

 

[spc hink]

thanks OP

 

[OCNewbie]

What are these most commonly used for, cheap home theatre setup?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: OCNewbie
What are these most commonly used for, cheap home theatre setup?

Yeah, or music or whatever.

A few pairs, a budget sub, and a budget receiver for a 6.1 setup.

You can hook it up to your DVD player or computer etc.

 

[anonz]

Thanks for the heads up on the price change for black.

In for a pair. $10.10 for shipping was a bit of a downer, but the result is still very nice.

 

[OCNewbie]

These are powered speakers right? Or non... ? I mean, do they require a separate amp/receiver to power them? And do they have the bare-wire connections? Thanks

 

[Tu13erhead]

Originally posted by: OCNewbie
I mean, do they require a separate amp/receiver to power them? And do they have the bare-wire connections?

Yes.

Yes.

 

[JFKJr]

I got these to replace my Sony Desktop Speakers connected to my computer. I also got a highly rated Sonic Impact 5066 amp from Buy.com for $26 with free shipping. It amazes me how many of us have top-of-the-line Soundblaster cards, but then pair them with cheap $30 Sony/Labtech/Altec-Lansing speakers. I know I'll hear quite a difference, especially since I encode all my MP3 files with EAC and the recommended LAME VBR settings from hydrogenaudio.com. Whenever I play the same MP3s in my car's high-end audio system, I'm always amazed how much better they sound compared to my computer.

One thing that pissed me off what that after tax & shipping to California (ground nonetheless), the total came up to $63.55. They must be heavy items, otherwise they're doing the eBay-style shipping & handling price hiking.

 

[JFKJr]

G*D D*MN these sound SOOOOO much better than the crappy Sony powered desktop speakers I had. I just got around to hooking up these speakers to the Sonic Impact 5066 amp and am so amazed by how good the combination and my high-bitrate LAME VBR MP3s sound. This < $100 amp and speaker combination sounds right up there with my $7000 Hi-Fi home theatre system. Don't believe me, well here's other people praising the amp (and I'm confirming how good it sounds with these speakers):

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/sonicimpact/t.html
http://www.stereotimes.com/amp041805a.shtm
http://home.pacifier.com/~gpimm/sonic-impact.htm

What's scary is that now I can hear the most of the singer's breathing in between sentences/breaks on my PC, just like I could only do before on my hi-fi system.

 

[MicroChrome]

Yes, I also have a t-amp hooked into a pair of R15's! They are great! What kind of power supply are you using?

The only down part is that I am getting more and more into DTS audio... I suppose I could try to find an old style DVD player that has seperate out's ... Or I could buy a high end head and use 2 t-amps for sorround. Don't know how you hook up a single center. Maybe 3 t amps? But you can't bridge them but they do sound good!

 

[GINOinFL]

I have to thank all of you at the Hot Deal Forum. Using deals posted here in the last month, I bought an Onkyo SR503 receiver for $240, the 10" Dayton Subwoofer for $99, and a pair of R15s for $50. Makes a great start on a HT system!

The sub comes today. I'll post a review later on this setup next week.

I'll prob get another pair of R15s for fronts when they go back on sale again (only one pair per household). These R15s seem plenty for fronts if you're just using them for home theater and not listening to them for music. Then I just need a center and I'm done. Any recommendations on an inexpensive center to go with them?

 

[JFKJr]

Originally posted by: MicroChrome
Yes, I also have a t-amp hooked into a pair of R15's! They are great! What kind of power supply are you using?

The only down part is that I am getting more and more into DTS audio... I suppose I could try to find an old style DVD player that has seperate out's ... Or I could buy a high end head and use 2 t-amps for sorround. Don't know how you hook up a single center. Maybe 3 t amps? But you can't bridge them but they do sound good!

I'm using a 12V Lite-on power supply that originally came with a Motorolla Surfboard cable modem I used to use. The plug size, volts, and polarity were perfect for this. I guess it's a pretty standard size and volts.

For what you want, you would need to find a DVD player with built-in DTS decoder, which is a little hard since most just have digital pass through for DTS (and rely on your receiver to do the decoding), even if they have a built-in Dolby Digital 5.1 decoder.

Still, I'm not sure I would use this for a home theatre system since I'm a lazy bastard and wouldn't be able to use a remote control for the volume on this. Next to my computer, it's fine, but not if I have to get up from my couch to change the volume!

 

[Slickone]

BTW, black R30's are now $40 each.

Do they ever have the R30's on sale in cherry? Looking back through the thread it seems the R15s are sometimes on sale in cherry but the R30s were only ever on sale in black.
And why can't I find the R15, R30, or R50's in cherry at all either on Outpost or polkaudio.com?

Do the R50's actually go on sale for only $50e sometimes?

I need some for my parents house. Think the R30 (or R50) could provide enough bass to not need a subwoofer? This will be for music only. And they don't care about a lot of bass. That'd sure make things a lot easier, not having to buy a sub. That could be $80/pair or $100/pair + shipping. Else the R15's for $40/pair or $50/pair + shipping, $99 sub + shipping, and having to buy speaker stands + shipping would cancel out a lot of the cost difference in the R15s and R30s (or R50).

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: Slickone
BTW, black R30's are now $40 each.

Do they ever have the R30's on sale in cherry? Looking back through the thread it seems the R15s are sometimes on sale in cherry but the R30s were only ever on sale in black.
And why can't I find the R15, R30, or R50's in cherry at all either on Outpost or polkaudio.com?

Do the R50's actually go on sale for only $50e sometimes?

I need some for my parents house. Think the R30 (or R50) could provide enough bass to not need a subwoofer? This will be for music only. And they don't care about a lot of bass. That'd sure make things a lot easier, not having to buy a sub. That could be $80/pair or $100/pair + shipping. Else the R15's for $40/pair or $50/pair + shipping, $99 sub + shipping, and having to buy speaker stands + shipping would cancel out a lot of the cost difference in the R15s and R30s (or R50).

From the specs it doesn't seem like R30s or R50s are going to have much more bass than the R15s. They should still do a pretty good job on their own though. You could test it out and then decide what you want to do.

Search for R30 or R50 in the advanced search area under archived messages. I think all combinations have been on sale.

 

[Slickone]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
From the specs it doesn't seem like R30s or R50s are going to have much more bass than the R15s. They should still do a pretty good job on their own though. You could test it out and then decide what you want to do.

Search for R30 or R50 in the advanced search area under archived messages. I think all combinations have been on sale.

Only thing is if the R30 or R50 aren't going to have any sort of bass, then I'd go ahead and just get the cheaper R15's to being with (and get a subwoofer).

R15's reproduce down to 60Hz, R30's down to 45Hz. Isn't that quite a bit different?
R50's down to 40Hz. Any below that is mainly what you can feel isn't it? I think my Infinity 10" (BU2) subwoofer only plays to 30Hz.

 

[jayR]

quote:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by: MicroChrome
Yes, I also have a t-amp hooked into a pair of R15's! They are great! What kind of power supply are you using?

The only down part is that I am getting more and more into DTS audio... I suppose I could try to find an old style DVD player that has seperate out's ... Or I could buy a high end head and use 2 t-amps for sorround. Don't know how you hook up a single center. Maybe 3 t amps? But you can't bridge them but they do sound good!


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I'm using a 12V Lite-on power supply that originally came with a Motorolla Surfboard cable modem I used to use. The plug size, volts, and polarity were perfect for this. I guess it's a pretty standard size and volts.

For what you want, you would need to find a DVD player with built-in DTS decoder, which is a little hard since most just have digital pass through for DTS (and rely on your receiver to do the decoding), even if they have a built-in Dolby Digital 5.1 decoder.

Still, I'm not sure I would use this for a home theatre system since I'm a lazy bastard and wouldn't be able to use a remote control for the volume on this. Next to my computer, it's fine, but not if I have to get up from my couch to change the volume!

How loud does this combo get? Loud enough for special fx in a movie? Loud enough for a realistic full ochastra? Rock concert? It is hard to belive that 6w/channel will do it.