Very Heavy (20lb!) Polk Bookshelf Speakers RT35
$245.00
Out of stock
This one has sold. Looking for one?
We take these in regularly. Leave your name and we’ll email you the moment one arrives, before it goes up for sale.
Email me when one arrives
Whatever you end up with, it needs cable. Build a set to length →
Other bookshelf speakers we have in stock now
3 in stock · $145.00–$295.00 · all ship
Polk Audio RTi6 Bookshelf Speakers – Real Wood, Bi-Wireable$295.00Ships
Great Sounding Budget Speakers from Polk Audio R150$145.00Ships
Polk Audio RT15 2-Way Bookshelf Speakers — Versatile & Compact$145.00Ships
Whatever you end up with, it needs cable.
We hand-build speaker cable to your exact length and terminate it however you like: banana, spade, pin or bare wire. Tell us the run and the ends, and it ships ready to plug in.
Build a set to length →Polk’s RT35 is a solid two-way bookshelf design incorporating Polk’s 6 1/2″ polymer/mineral-composite woofer and 1″ shielded polymer-dome tweeter. The speaker’s walls are fabricated from 3/4″ MDF, and the front baffle is a full 1″ thick, while the rear baffle is of an injection-molded mineral-filled polymer. Polk has also incorporated several proprietary technologies in the RT35.
Beginning in 1988, Polk began a long-term research project in partnership with Johns Hopkins University. This resulted in a new research tool that enabled Polk to view and analyze the entire vibrating surface of a speaker driver. In particular, Polk was able to see and understand the resonance that develops on loudspeaker cones as they move. Modal resonance is a major cause of frequency-response aberrations and other distortions in loudspeakers. The result of this analysis, Polk’s Dynamic Balance[R] technology, allows the company to design drive units with, in their words, “unusual clarity, detail and extension.”
Additionally, Polk’s Power Port[TM] technology refers to the company’s method of reducing air turbulence at the mouth of the bass port. Polk says that by reducing this turbulence, in addition to reducing “chuffing” noise, they actually improve bass efficiency by a full 3dB while reducing distortion. The Power Port itself consists of a “cone” at the mouth of the port that occupies the space between the port (pointing into the port’s mouth) and a supporting plinth. According to Polk, “the cone promotes laminar airflow and the ever-increasing cross-sectional area of the space mimics a very long flared port.” Conveniently, the port’s plinth also acts as a handy wall-mount bracket.
Perhaps the most interesting of the technologies incorporated is the Acoustic Resonance Control system. Simply put, this is a method of counteracting identified internal box resonance’s by designing a port system tuned to those same resonance frequencies — but out of phase. As the out-of-phase output from the ports combine with the resonance of the speaker system, the two cancel each other out. Polk adds: “The audible results are greater midrange clarity and detail with noticeably more natural and accurate reproduction of vocals. Imaging is also markedly improved, [and] the speaker exhibits superior localization stability and image depth.”
Connection to the RT35 is via a single pair of gold-plated five-way binding posts. Finish is a black wood-grain-vinyl, but the front baffle is a pebble-grain black vinyl — quite handsome actually.
Polk states a frequency response with -3dB points of 50Hz and 23kHz. Crossover is accomplished by second-order high- and low-pass filters at 2kHz. Sensitivity is stated as 90dB, and nominal impedance is said to be compatible with 8-ohm outputs.
The speakers measure 15″H x 8″W x 12″D and weigh 20 pounds each.
The RT35’s retailed for $399 USD. Asking just $245 for these excellent quality speakers.
| Weight | 45 lbs |
|---|---|
| Dimensions | 16 × 22 × 19 in |
Related Products
Camber Laser 3 Bookshelf Speakers – Made in Ottawa, Canada
Built in Ottawa, a short drive from where they now sit. A 6.5-inch Audax mid-bass on a translucent polypropylene cone and a 1-inch dome with a centre diffusor, in light grey bezels against a dark cabinet. Two-way rear-ported, 8 ohms, 10 to 100 watts, spring clips on the back — give them room off the wall. Grilles included; very good condition.
Paradigm Monitor 3 v3 Bookshelf Speakers – 8″ Woofer, Canada
An 8-inch woofer in a cabinet small enough to sit on a stand — a 210 mm ICP cone on a die-cast chassis, with a third-generation titanium dome on the Studio-series waveguide faceplate, crossed at 2.0 kHz. Low frequency extension to 38 Hz and 91 dB room sensitivity, so 15 watts drives them and 150 is just headroom. Built in Canada, in Black Ash. Very good condition.
PSB Century 300i Bookshelf Speakers – 6.5″ Woofer, Canada
MartinLogan Motion 15 Bookshelf Speakers – Folded Motion, Boxed
The reason to want these is the tweeter — MartinLogan's Folded Motion driver is a pleated ribbon rather than a dome, so it squeezes air out from between its pleats and barely has to move. A 5.25-inch aluminium cone below it, 92 dB sensitivity, and the high-gloss black clean of the swirls these show so readily. Original boxes included.
Polk Audio RTi6 Bookshelf Speakers – Real Wood, Bi-Wireable
JBL 62T Bookshelf Speakers – Rosewood Finish, Titanium Dome
Discounted for the aftermarket screw holes a previous owner left in the back panels, and very good everywhere else — original drivers, clean rosewood finish, both tested here. A mid-1980s two-way with a pure titanium tweeter that runs out to 23 kHz, and an easy 89 dB load that a thirty-watt vintage receiver drives properly.
Mission 731 Bookshelf — Made in England, Inverted Driver Design
Two things to tell you: a ding on the top side edge of one cabinet, and third-party binding posts a previous owner fitted to one speaker. Otherwise good — and the design is the interesting part, since Mission's inverted geometry puts the tweeter below the woofer to bring the two into step at seated ear height. Made in England.
Bowers & Wilkins WM2 Outdoor Speakers, Pearl White, w/ Brackets
On an outdoor speaker the condition is the whole story — these are almost never retired for how they sound, but for sun turning a white cabinet chalky and yellow, freeze-thaw working at the seams, and grilles blooming with rust. Pearl White shows all of it more plainly than black would, and this pair grades Very Good, factory wall brackets included. B&W did not design a weatherproof box and then find a driver to fit it either: a 130 mm woven fibreglass cone crossed at 3.5 kHz to a 25 mm dome, the same material philosophy as their indoor speakers.
Castle Knight 1 Bookshelf Speakers — Real Wood Cherry, Pair
From a Yorkshire company that spent forty years being known for its cabinets above all else. The cherry veneer is deep-figured real timber, book-matched across the two cabinets so the grain mirrors when they are set up together, then sealed and waxed by hand over more than five days. Underneath is an honest two-way bass-reflex with a 130 mm woven natural-fibre bass/mid driver and five-way binding posts. Very Good condition.
