Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Axiom VS. Polk---Help me decide.

Hey guys im hoping one of you guys have heard the Axioms as well as Polk. This is what im considering....

POLK------

2x RTi12
2x FXi5 (backs)
2x RTi6 (sides)
1x CSi5
1x Velodyne DPS12

$1,698.33


AXIOM------

Axiom EPIC 80 Home Theater with two extra QS8.


$3,586.25

Yes a big price difference since I can get such a good deal on the Polks but im willing to pass it up if the general consensus is that Axiom is better.

Any input would be great. Thanks.

that seems like a pretty good deal, i was considering polks, but for me the rt12's would be like $250 more than my m60's and they would need a receiver capable of 4ohms, which mine isnt so i am still building my axiom system (vp150 ordering tommorrow) but i love my m60's and couldnt be happier

Ya well that brings up anotehr good point. I have the HK 635 and was not planning on adding any amps. Im thinking the M80ti will do just fine with the 635 but I hear the RTi12 is a monster and the 635 would not even phase it.

well you could just buy the 12's then see how they sound, and if need be pick up a couple amps, possibly some outlaw m200 mono amps

Wow, that is quite a deal on the Polks. It does seem like the Velodyne sub, while good, it a miss-match for the Polk system. Seems a bit underpowered for the rest of the speakers. It gets down to a good 25Hz, but the EPic 80 system you are looking at with the EP500 sub is supposed to be a much nicer sub, and can get down to 13Hz for real deap bass. Either sub should have enough watts for you I would think as I have a SVS PCi 20-39 (gets down to 20Hz) that has a 325 watt amp, and it is enough power to shake my house (and my neighbors, and their neighbors....) Some of that is the lower frequency it pulls too. Again, the Velodyne is nice, but if you are building the system of all systems, why "skimp" on the sub. (Again, for others that may own this sub, I am not nocking it, it is awesome I am sure, but I would have expected a $1000+ sub compared to the rest of the Polk system being looked at.)

For me, not having heard the Polks, I would lean toward the Polks on price alone, but that is because I am pretty tight with my money. In a side by side comparison, I would think that the Axioms would have the potential to be the better speaker set. Price wise, these setups are about the same at normal prices, not what you can get them for. I did a little Froggle.com and came up with about $3230 for the Polk set (plus shipping, remember Axioms ship for free.) Now, upgrade the sub from about a $550 sub to a $1000 sub and you are at $3630

Hey Zach, I know the Axiom vs. Polk question has come up from time to time. You may want to try using search for Axiom AND Polk to find posts. If I recall the norm was people preferring Axioms over Polk, but not sure which models were compared...

good luck

Randy

Axiom 60s 150 350 4 Qs8's
Denon 2805
Sanyo Z2 Projector
Panasonic S97S DVD
Samsung OTA HD Receiver

Zach,

I am a rare (lone?) Polk, Velodyne, and Axiom owner. I have RTi8s, CSi5, FXi3s and Velodyne CHT 12 (predecessor of the DPS 12, I think). My Axioms are M22s for stereo only. I went over this issue last night with a friend who I am helping put together a system. He loved my Polk system but he needs bookshelves so when I outlined my general thoughts on the two companies and their offerings I came up with this:

Both are great speaker companies the produce great speakers for the price. In general I think Axiom gives you a little more for the money when the retail prices are compared - but you obviously are not dealing with retail where the Polks are concerned.

For my friend I am recommending Axioms because he needs bookshelves. The Polk bookshelves have to come from the LSi (starting at $900) to compare to my M22s.

People who have heard both like the Axiom surrounds better than the Polk surrounds.

I think my RTi8s and my CSi5 are outstanding and although comparing them to the M22 is not a perfectly fair comparison I have a hard time believing that the Axiom towers and center are any better - I would definitely put my money on the CSi5 vs. the VP150 based on what I have read (and I hope to do the comparison soon after my friend gets his system).

So, if I were in your shoes at this point I would go for the Polk system that you can get and although I think my Velodyne sub is great, based on what I have read from people that have compared them, I would probably go with SVS or Hsu. If it is a package deal, take it and run - you will be thrilled. You won't find the Velodyne sub lacking. I only have mine turned to about 1/3 volume.

Good luck.

those polks are an 8 ohm speaker

and the polk system retails at 3220 without the sub.

If you can get them for that price, and they're not too

beat up..... sounds like a steal.....

FWIW I've never heard the polks but my axioms are great!

oops my bad, i thought they were 4ohm, thnx for correcting me Rt12 Specs