Advent Heritage vs Polk RTA 11t

[Mewzishun]

I’ve been using a pair of Polk RTA 11t’s for the last few years that I picked up on Craigslist. They’ve been great.

A few weeks ago I found a pair of decent Advent Heritage speakers on CL with blown tweeters and missing fuse caps. The 8” drivers look amazing— surrounds are perfect. I picked them up for $30. I have since repaired the speakers with a donor set (found for $20), so they’re back 100%.

What I’ve found:
The Polks have great imaging but lack bottom paired with my rig.
The Advents have nice bottom but lack imaging of the polks.

My Kenwood L-series setup really brings out the best of both speakers. I don’t like to use EQ and have tuned my room the best I can (the room is my den and recording/rehearsal space).

I’m torn. I really like both.

What’s your thoughts and experience?

 

[JVB]

I’ve been using a pair of Polk RTA 11t’s for the last few years that I picked up on Craigslist. They’ve been great.

A few weeks ago I found a pair of decent Advent Heritage speakers on CL with blown tweeters and missing fuse caps. The 8” drivers look amazing— surrounds are perfect. I picked them up for $30. I have since repaired the speakers with a donor set (found for $20), so they’re back 100%.

What I’ve found:
The Polks have great imaging but lack bottom paired with my rig.
The Advents have nice bottom but lack imaging of the polks.

My Kenwood L-series setup really brings out the best of both speakers. I don’t like to use EQ and have tuned my room the best I can (the room is my den and recording/rehearsal space).

I’m torn. I really like both.

What’s your thoughts and experience?

See this is an older post, if you still have the Advents experiment with replacing the fuses , this was the issue on mine. I re-foamed speakers, checked crossovers for proper values, and tested tweeters. then refinished cabinets and put on new grill cloth, looked at fuses and they looked ok.
Speakers now look beautiful , however the sound was very dull, muddy, and flat. I was very unhappy after all my work. then on a whim I put in new fuses and cleaned the fuse holder contacts. Wow , they now sound great and the mid and highs really came alive, obviously there was something defective with the old fuses and maybe some corrosion in the fuse holder. I went from not wanting to even give them to somebody
to not wanting to sell them to to anyone. FYI , I A/B them with Vandersteen 2CE, custom towers with Mark Audio drivers, DCM Time Frame's,
and they do very well so I have some decent reference points.
Hope this helps,
John

 

[F1nut]

In case the OP ever comes back or someone else comes along with a similar question. The RTA11's need to be close to the rear wall to obtain good bass. The OP has them too far out in his room, they need to be 5 to 6 inches off the wall.

 

[Lavane]

In case the OP ever comes back or someone else comes along with a similar question. The RTA11's need to be close to the rear wall to obtain good bass. The OP has them too far out in his room, they need to be 5 to 6 inches off the wall.

I was wondering about that.

 

[HoltHill]

Good point about placement. I would also suggest checking that all four 6.5" polk drivers are working and not seized. The RTA-11t should produce solid bass down near mid-20 Hz range without difficulty. Might also want to check that the damping weights on the PRs are attached. Each PR was tuned to a different frequency. If the weighting is off, it could cause cancellation effects.

 

[Lavane]

And check for shifted magnets. Was that problem addressed by the time these were produced?

 

[F1nut]

And check for shifted magnets. Was that problem addressed by the time these were produced?

It wasn't a problem at the time. The adhesive used worked perfectly fine for a long time after the MWxxxx drivers were no longer used in Polk speakers. The issue is age related, which of course, Polk had no idea about when the drivers were manufactured.

 

[Mewzishun]

Hey everyone, didn’t realize I had so many responses. Just saw. LOL!
First off, placing the Polk RTA’s close to the wall rendered them boomy and muddy. Yuck. I couldn’t do it. That’s why I had to pull them out.
All drivers worked fine. Nothing was blown on the Polks. I think it was just the room and amp pairing.

I gave the Polk RTA’s to my father-in-law as a gift who is now enjoying them immensely. There’s nothing wrong with them; they just weren’t for me.

I’ve become quite fond of my Advents and grown used to them.

 

[WillMeyer]

I really like the Heritages. I upgraded mine by installing metalized polypropylene caps and new air core inductors in the crossover - it really improved the clarity and imaging. Great speaker.