I think you'll find a lot more success if you rely on reviews with objective test data rather than brand names to make your purchasing decisions.
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Polk Reserve R350 Review (Center Speaker)
- Thread starter amirm
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Agreed I'm also confused why someone would be so angry at the company if you know speaker design you'll know this has inherent limitations
They also have much better center channel speakers in that lineup even why not just return it they have a generous return policy usually and buy the better versions?
Also these designs are for seriously compromised listening spaces our spouse or family acceptance factor. The designers know they have serious limiting factors but do the best they can with the conditions they are given
I can definitely understand buyers remorse, I don't buy any audio products anymore unless they've been measured here on ASR or by Oratory (for headphones). (not that I have plans to buy more except maybe some subwoofers, or maybe one more pair of headphones in the future.....would be high end for headphones to see the fuss)
My only experience with this brand was a demo session of the L800 paired with Classé Delta amplification. They where not perfect but I was quite impressed with the realism of the stereo image, really this SDA thing is not only marketing, I don't think I've experienced such a good representation of depth, not just width, the instruments were clearly positioned in the 3D space, as good as it get really, the Drums and the bass was coming from way behind the speakers on the chosen recordings (mostly classic rock). At 5000 a pair it's not cheap but relatively reasonable in the hi end bracket. I don't think any brand should be dismissed by one negative review, they have a wide range of stuff for many types of market. Obviously tough in this special case Single speaker listening couldn't be reviewed that way here, the system needs both LR signals to both speakers.
Marketing says a serious center speaker should look symetrical and have "enough" speakers.
Maybe because, bar one, which is three times the price, all Polk centre speakers are designed wrong.
Why do you think those speakers are designed for serious limitations. They are not sound bars. Look at the pictures Polk show off their speakers. There’s more than twice height is available.
Besides, other than the three times expensive model they have taller speakers which are also designed wrong. Space is not an excuse.
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MarkWinston
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Shit, there goes my hope of getting a matching center for my R200
Looks good to me
You want there to be a 3-way center in the Reserve line. I want there to be a 3-way center in the Reserve line. The lead engineer (Scott Orth) wants there to be a 3-way center in the Reserve line. Polk as a company has decided to reserve (pun intended) that driver layout for their flagship line. So don't buy a center channel from this particular line of speakers, but don't act like that means you should dismiss every Polk product.
If you are in the US, the LSiM 706c on closeout sale on Amazon would be a good match.
Disappointing as the R200 being so good, there seemed to be promise... I'm still waiting for a C2+ to be tested - 3 way, stretched driver placement - and would further bring more clarity to the the budget center discussion. (beyond RC263, and moving up-mkt to Revels)
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That appears to have happened in 2020, so Gross was at GoldenEar for quite awhile.
In other words Polk decided not to do a correct design. Theres no need for a 3-way. I used to manufacture a 2.5 way speaker not much taller than some Polk centre speaker. See here. They still work perfectly as a centre speaker.
For a centre speaker, can't you use you any speaker that had enough output and enough horizontal dispersion? (along with a flat enough frequency response to please the person in question).
I'm thinking any decent speaker with wide horizontal directivity would work as a centre, hell my JBL 308p should be good for a centre speaker for example? https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...ds/jbl-308p-mkii-studio-monitor-review.17338/
Albeit it's "large" and sticks upwards rather than laying horizontally under you telly. And as long as distortion issues at playback volumes are not a problem. But essentially you just want a speaker with good horizontal directivity right, and good power?
And low height
Chya, although if you have your TV a bit higher then I guess you put the speaker underneath.....but you can't have the speaker obscure the TV, so for a vertically oriented 2-way then you have to have good enough vertical directivity to enable it to slot in underneath your TV whilst still being in the sweet spot for both audio & TV vertical viewing angles.....I still think it's possible, but you'd have to have your speaker right underneath your TV and be further enough away from the TV - ultimately therefore it would depend on the size of your TV and how far away you were willing to sit (and how you have your TV tilted to some extent, if it's a bit higher than eye level then you'd tilt it down......but neck ache, ways & means).
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I had canvassed the market to see the offerings available for weeks; with the height (<5.5") and looks (wood) restrictions.
At the time of my searches, I had to dig deep just to find each center speaker's height (extract below of those that were under 6" in height)
At the time of my searches, I had to dig deep just to find each center speaker's height (extract below of those that were under 6" in height)
- Cambridge Audio SX-70 Center @$189 >> was a contender
- Klipsch RC42IIBL @$200 >> was possible
- Klipsch Reference R-34C @$350 >> bit too high
- Klipsch Reference Premiere RP-400C @$350 >> bit too high
- Klipsch Reference Premiere RP-404C @$380 >> bit too high
- Klipsch Reference Series RC-10 >> Discontinued
- Klipsch Reference R-25C @$170 >> bit too high
- Klipsch RP-440C Center @$360 >> bit too high
- Sony SSCS8 2-Way 3-Driver Center @$120 openbox >> bit too high
- Polk Audio Signature Series S35 @$400 >> meh
- CERWIN VEGA SL-45C @$?? >> bit too high
- MartinLogan Motion®6 @$300 >> meh
- Monitor Audio Radius 225 @$450 >> cheezy
- Monitor Audio Radius 200 @$424 >> bit too high
- Definitive Technology ProCenter 1000 @%220 >> bit too high
- GoldenEar SuperSat 3C @$300 >> bit too high
- Micca RB42-C Center (????) @$100 >> looks (probably sounds) cheezy
- NEUMI CS5 Center Channel Speaker(???) $70 >> looks (probably sounds) cheezy
OP
- Thread Starter
- #138
There is little awareness of problems with MTM configuration in center speakers among the public. Whereas there is good preference for a slim center with a bunch of drivers. So I can see why their marketing department would push for this configuration.
Hopefully we can change this over time and get people to understand the issues.
Hopefully we can change this over time and get people to understand the issues.
Nice research, well that's the kinda way you gotta look at when working out a shortlist. We find as much information as we can & pull the trigger!
beagleman
Major Contributor
I have an older Polk center "LsiC" with flanking woofers tweeter in middle, except one woofer is rolled off above 200 hz or so.
It sounds quite decent.
It sounds quite decent.
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