Replacing my Polk Monitor 7s with something smaller. Suggestions?

dyche01

"Buy high. Sell low"
The title says it all. I love the sound of my old Monitor 7's and I have lovingly recapped and restored them. They are, however, just a bit too big for the space I have. Whatever I replace them with needs to fill a pretty big room. I am thinking about a pair of Monitor 5's (I have a nice pair of ported 5jr's but would like to hear a pair with the passive radiator) or maybe a pair of compact SDA's if I can find them.

Any other suggestions? They don't have to be in the Polk family but I would like something with a great, full-bodied sound.
 
Get yourself a pair of Polk RTi-A3's my pair except for extreme low end below 50 Hz or so give up nothing to my Polk Monitor 10B's. New at $399.00 a pair. The Cherry wood finished cases are beautiful, or black is you want them that way.
 
Last edited:
I use a pair of polk tsi100's that surprised me for being extremely low priced. They do not manufacture them anymore though.
 
The Polk TSi200's are very nice performers for me... and if you can afford them, the LSi7's are super sounding. The LSi7's are quite heavy, built like a tank, internal bracing... and the bass is surprising.
 
Get yourself a pair of Polk RTi-3A's my pair except for extreme low end below 50 Hz or so give up nothing to my Polk Monitor 10B's. New at $399.00 a pair. The Cherry wood finished cases are beautiful, or black is you want them that way.

I use a pair of polk tsi100's that surprised me for being extremely low priced. They do not manufacture them anymore though.

The Polk TSi200's are very nice performers for me... and if you can afford them, the LSi7's are super sounding. The LSi7's are quite heavy, built like a tank, internal bracing... and the bass is surprising.

I love all these Polk suggestions. I will give them a listen.
 
I wouldn't mind an aesthetically pleasing pair of speakers. I have a pair of KLH Model 6's running off of a Fisher 500B tube receiver and I love the way they both look and sound. I scored a pair of KLH Model 32's, thinking that I might be able to replace the 6s with something smaller but was disappointed by their low efficiency/sensitivity. I really had to crank up the volume to hear much. Maybe I should try them out on the 100 wpc solid state system
 
The Polk RTi-A3 is designed to mount on a wall. and it can be Bi-Amp'ed.This speaker can handle 150 Watts. It has a 6 1/2 in woofer which is the same size as the mid-woofer on your Monitor 7. This one of the reasons why I picked this speaker My Monitor 10B's have a pair of 6 1/2 mid-woofers. These speakers match up very well. Add a modest subwoofer to these speakers in a 2.1 system and you will not lack for anything. That is not a fake veneer it is real wood and it has what is called a piano finish smooth as glass.
712bentry.polk_.jpg




Here is a rear view of the RTi-A3 , Note the mounts for hanging it on the wall this is the way mine are setup.
you can see the speaker posts, you can separate them and Bi Amp these speakers.

10090948_3.jpg
 
Last edited:
I believe your Monitor 7's would be around the same size as the SDA CRS you mentioned.

Polk LSi7, LSi9 or better yet the newer LSiM703, I would suggest.
 
If you want to keep similar to the KLH 6's but in a smaller presentation, their best smaller speaker is probably the Model 17. Same beautiful sound but just not as big. 32's are just a bit on the small side. 24's are also nice but not quite as nice as the 17's.
 
I had a pair of Polk Monitor 7B in my 9' X 9' studio. I switched them with a pair of ADS L570/2 and I thought they sounded better than the Polks.
 
We have both Monitor 7's and Monitor 5jr+. For TV and movies with a sub the 5jr+ is a great performer. You get the same high end and midrange as your Monitor 7's in a smaller package. I have always thought the 5jr+ with the smaller passive radiator was a big step up from the ported 5jr.
 
Klipsch KG 2.2

Nice idea. I actually had a pair of the Klipsch KG 2.2's not long ago and I considered using them to replace the Polks. I really liked them a lot but not quite as much as the Polks. As my friend Jack put it: "I love the sound of the Klipsch speakers but I want to curl up with the Polks." I ended up pairing them with a Marantz 2238B in a system I built for a relative.

We have both Monitor 7's and Monitor 5jr+. For TV and movies with a sub the 5jr+ is a great performer. You get the same high end and midrange as your Monitor 7's in a smaller package. I have always thought the 5jr+ with the smaller passive radiator was a big step up from the ported 5jr.

I have always wondered about this. I have a pair of the ported 5jr's. I rebuilt the crossovers and upgunned the tweeters to RD0198's. I LOVE the way they sound and their efficiency is good for tube gear but I always wondered whether I would prefer the version with the passive radiator.
 
Last edited:
I had a pair of Polk Monitor 7B in my 9' X 9' studio. I switched them with a pair of ADS L570/2 and I thought they sounded better than the Polks.

Ooh, another great suggestion. I will have to look around for a pair to demo.
 
We have had the ported version and think the model with the radiator is tighter through the midrange into the lower registers. Run them with a sub crossed at 80hz and they are even tighter and quicker.

The Monitor 7 will always have the advantage for soundstage width and overall dynamics but the little guys are close.
 
What is amazing to me is with enough power, in my case 115 watts, RTi-A3's you can really hear the advances in acoustic technology in many ways these bookshelf class speakers sound better then my Monitor 10B's which are totally rebuilt.
 
Back
Top Bottom