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Polk Reserve R350 Review (Center Speaker)

Rate this speaker:

  • Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 122 52.4%
  • Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 98 42.1%
  • Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 11 4.7%
  • Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 2 0.9%

  • Total voters
    233

sarumbear

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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.
Ask people sitting either side of you, what they think.
 

Robbo99999

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Robbo99999

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As a single person who only sits in one location, this speaker is perfect for me. Thank you for the review
One post, one like, one speaker, one seat, one perfect symmetry, but it won't last long whatever happens......may it expand in the most fortuitous ways without the need for this one.....speaker!
 

Sammie

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One post, one like, one speaker, one seat, one perfect symmetry, but it won't last long whatever happens......may it expand in the most fortuitous ways without the need for this one.....speaker!
Not sure what you mean but this speaker can meet my needs for the unforseen future
 

Robbo99999

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Not sure what you mean but this speaker can meet my needs for the unforseen future
damnit, you've upset the symmetry by writing your second post, therefore invalidating the perfect symmetry I was alluding to....may you at least not be forever alone, or at least have a loveseat companion (to go along with your narrow directivity "perfect" speaker)! (If you look at the context of my recent posts & conversation with people you might cotton on that I'm trying to be humourous in my last two posts, ha)
 

GimeDsp

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I had a ford Focus, WORST care ever. 3 transmissions, never shifted right, in the shop for over 20K of repairs under warranty,
Ford is famous for the total GARBAGE they sold the public. Their cars became so bad they quit making most of them.

Ford focus and other cars with garbage transmissions and design were made to a price point, the difference is many other companies didn't engineer and build garbage.

"Price points" and "limitations" is BS. Bad engineering is bad regardless of price, price point is no excuse for bad design.
 

richard12511

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I am shocked to see how many people are rating this speaker less than "fine", despite Amir's positive impressions from his listening position:



Of course things get bad for other listeners which means I wouldn't buy it, but it is arguably quite good for that one person.

I voted "headless panther" based on the intended usage. The whole purpose of a center channel is to provide good sound and clear dialogue to people sitting off axis. On axis, it should really not change the sound at all, and in fact you don't even need a center channel if all you care about is the sound in the sweet spot. Only reason to buy a center is to give people to the left and right a similar experience to the guy sitting in the middle, and that's just what this speaker can't do. A center channel that only works in the sweet spot is as useful as an invisibility cloak that only works when no one is looking.

Sad to see that marketing was allowed to essentially ruin an entire speaker line for HT purposes. I wish they would do two separate models. For those that don't care much about sound quality(and just want something that makes noise and looks good), they can get the current model. For those that do care about sound quality, I wish there were a 3 way model that sacrifices a few extra inches of vertical space.
 
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amirm

amirm

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Folks, it is not easy to stick a mid-range in there in that slim enclosure. That is why I suggested a coaxial which they likely don't have in their parts bin.
 

sarumbear

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Folks, it is not easy to stick a mid-range in there in that slim enclosure. That is why I suggested a coaxial which they likely don't have in their parts bin.
As i said earlier, add an inch and a half and you can move the tweeter above one of the lower frequency drivers. Even their marketing photo shows how much room they expect there is below a TV.

0BCE25D6-4F5C-4795-B117-E34F59261EDF.jpeg
 

richard12511

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Folks, it is not easy to stick a mid-range in there in that slim enclosure. That is why I suggested a coaxial which they likely don't have in their parts bin.

I think making a good coax is likely an even more challenging endeavor. KEF does it really well, but not many others do.
 

beagleman

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Ask people sitting either side of you, what they think.
Can you explain your comment?

After commenting to you, I looked back and truly do not think I understand what you are saying or more importantly "Why"?

Are you assuming that all Polk Centers are designed and measure the same, as the one just tested here in the forum?

The Polk center I own is from about 2004 and is not really an MTM design, but a 2.5 design.
 

Beave

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That appears to have happened in 2020, so Gross was at GoldenEar for quite awhile.

I meant that he stayed on at Goldenear for a short time *after* selling the company to the group that owns (Fr)Audioquest.
 

Chromatischism

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I wish they would do two separate models. For those that don't care much about sound quality(and just want something that makes noise and looks good), they can get the current model. For those that do care about sound quality, I wish there were a 3 way model that sacrifices a few extra inches of vertical space.
Yeah, Infinity and Emotiva nearly cornered that market since the discontinuation of the Polk LSiM 704c and 706c. A third player with a thoughtfully designed center would be interesting, and Polk seems to be it, albeit at a slightly higher price. Not 3-ways but they have an offset tweeter, at least.

1635122522623.png


1635122572429.png


I'm not the biggest fan of the ring radiator tweeter but people always rated the LSiM speakers highly.

 

GWolfman

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Yikes! The horizontal beamwidth is like creating a knife that only cuts if it's held exactly perpendicular to the cutting surface; more than 10° off and it's like cutting with chopsticks.
 

Benedium

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Well if I needed a dedicated center for my R200, I would have gone for the R400 anyway. R350 is probably for those who value aesthetics over performance. Hope someone sends amirm the R400 someday.
 

digicidal

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Yeah, Infinity and Emotiva nearly cornered that market since the discontinuation of the Polk LSiM 704c and 706c. A third player with a thoughtfully designed center would be interesting, and Polk seems to be it, albeit at a slightly higher price. Not 3-ways but they have an offset tweeter, at least.

I'm not the biggest fan of the ring radiator tweeter but people always rated the LSiM speakers highly.

While a bit more expensive (not much though really), there are some good alternatives in the ID space at least. This is the center I use in my theater:
aperioncenter.png
Naturally it's not without compromises, but it's cheaper and definitely more svelte than the Ascend Horizon is (and more attractive curves as well). ;)
bm-ribbon-front-large.jpg
The Horzon reviewed pretty well.
 
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chych7

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I DIY'd a Seas Loki mkIII coaxial speaker for my center. I think it sounds fantastic for the vocal range (more directivity errors at higher freqs from the FR plots), and covers the 5 seats I have in my theater quite well. It wasn't very expensive and fits in my entertainment stand (8" height).
 
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