I just got my Onkyo TX-SR603X and I was planning to buy speakers. I considered the JBL SCS 300.7, Harman Kardon HKTS 14 and the Polk RM6900. I ruled out the JBL as it has very limited frequency reponse range.
But the HK and Polk look comparable
HK: 25 Hz to 20Khz Subwoofer: 200 watts RMS
Polk: 28Hz to 28 KHz Sub woofer 100/200 watts (continuous/peak)
The HK has smaller and dual (how is it different for 2 separate drivers) midrage drivers. The Polk has slightly larger but 2 separate mid range drivers.
Now the key question of cost
HK HKTS 14 is $450 Max Polk RM 6900 is $799
Now thats a significant price difference and I wonder why the Polks are almost 50% more.
I am leaning towards the Polk because I heard them ans like dthem but so far could not hear the HK (or even JBL) as they are not properly setup anywhere (I tried circuit city, good guys, best buy and Frys).
I would appreciate any info which will help me decide which one I should get.
Thanks for all the replies. I will most probably buy Polk (Local circuit city is rewiring their home theater room) but I am still curious to find out why the price difference ($799 vs. $450) for more or less equivalent systems. There has to be a significant difference between the two to justify this price difference. If not this is a little similar to Bose charging high for less.
The polks are more efficient speakers (89db vs 86db), have a lot bigger center speaker and mains, which is the workhorse for a surround system.
With that said, we always recommend you try your best to listen to both systems and choose the one that sounds the best to you.
As far as cost, going from 3" to 3.5" midrange will increase the material area by a factor about 1.4, add that to the cabinet cost and you might get to the price difference.
Thanks Eld. I got the Polk RM6900 and they are great. I am still fine tuning it with the Onkyo TX-SR603X.
I have connected the sub using the LFE and not the way POLK suggests. I am planning to try the POLK way too. I have gone through the posts on this forum and there seems no single best way to doing this. Any suggestions in this regard will be great.