Ketch,
From my experience here at home, the american Polk RTi A3 is the equivalent of the british AE Evo 1s in terms of bass/midrange/treble and imaging.
Construction - considering the AE use more expensive metal alloy cones (ala CMMD of Infinity) vs. tweaked composite cones of Polk, AE wins.
Only caveat with the Evo 1s is the required 'toe-in', proper stands and a bit of allowance from the back wall for it to match the holographic imaging of the RTi A3 on stock wall mount. RTi A3 sounds even better with allowance from the back wall, proper stands and toe-in.
They're neck and neck when it comes to low frequency extension, especially in concrete rooms from low to moderate volumes, but Evo loses to the RTi A3 on high volumes since the Evos tend to bottom out on loud bassy passages like the cannon fire on Tchaikovsky's the 1812, Vangelis' Movement #3 and R&B songs.
The RTi A3 wins on high frequency extension, reminds me of the Dali Ikon 2.
Midrage is where the Evo beats the Polk .. almost listening to a B&W 6XX series.
Aesthetics, Polk wins - you cant beat the curved cabinet, real wood veneer on the Polk RTi versus vinyl veneer on the AE, Although cabinet mass/density goes to AE - It weighs as much as the RTi A3 despite it having a smaller cabinet (siksik kung baga)
I got the Evo 1s for 13K in 2006, and the RTi A3 for 20K 2010. If you think about it its bang for the buck.
Practicality goes Polk - you just turn on the amp, load in the CD and play then listen passively. with the Evo you have to be 'interactive' - lessen the bass when the volume is loud, boost it again when its low, more toe in for classical, less toe-in for rock/R&B.
So there's my first hand experience with my former Evo 1, and my new RTi A3.
