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Polk announced the "Reserve series" of loudspeakers

sweetchaos

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Polk just released the "Reserve series":
1616546346707.png

Website:
https://www.polkaudio.com/en-us/reserve-what-better-sounds-like

Position in Polk's lineup:
The "Reserve series" is positioned between the cheaper "Signature series" and the more expensive "Legend series".

To watch the live press event (hosted by Audioholics), watch:

Specifications:
2021-03-23 17_46_46-Book1.xlsx - Excel.png

Source: from audioholics, with pricing added.

Breakdown of models:
Bookshelf: R100, R200
Center: R300, R350, R400
Floorstanders: R500, R600, R700
Atmos: R900

Availability:
"Black colour" is shipping as of today, next is "walnut colour" (available in May), then the "white colour" (available in June).
White is available in all models, except the R400 and R700.

Very exciting...Discuss! :D
 

McFly

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Still dont see waveguides, but ring radiators are a nice compromise i guess. The port design is also intriguing

edit, looking closer, I see a lil waveguide. Probably not what’s required for full off axis sound power matching but still, it’s a waveguide.
 
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mhardy6647

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They claim to use the same drivers as the "Legend" series -- at about half the price.
Interesting, indeed.
 

ROOSKIE

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You Tube is filled with reviews today of the line.
4 reviews, all are giving essentially a "rave" style subjective report.
I would love to see a Klipple NFS report.
Here are links to the tubers vids.
I know, I know. But this makes it easier for those that want to watch these vids.
I watched them all.
R100
R200
R500
R600
 

Beershaun

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Just watched the audioholics interview on the new speakers.
They spent some time discussing the port designs and speaker bracing designs and how they addressed the midrange resonance problems common with ports. I like that they seemed to directly talk to many of the issues Amir discovers in his speaker measurements. So I have hope for good measurements from these if Amir gets to measure one.
 

joentell

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You Tube is filled with reviews today of the line.
4 reviews, all are giving essentially a "rave" style subjective report.
I would love to see a Klipple NFS report.

I don't know if mine was raving, but I liked them, and I at least backed it up with some basic measurements. I also invited people to "check me" once @amirm or @hardisj get their hands on these to see if what I said in my video held true.

I watched the other reviews to see how similar my experience was to theirs, and one guy specifically made comments about the off-axis performance of this speaker that was the polar opposite of what I experienced and measured. He said the tweeter "drew attention to itself" or something like that, when he walked off-axis, which I don't get since off-axis, the tweeter really falls off quickly and seemed very directional. A few guys also mentioned extended bass response which I didn't really see in my measurements, but I did experience some, but I attributed that to room gain due to placement near boundaries. The bass on these were about on-par with what I've seen from other speakers this size. I wonder how much certain audio reviewers take into account how their room is interacting with the speaker.

This is not to put anyone down. I am also still learning as I don't think there's a point where we know it all. I just think more informed reviewers would be good for audio. I do my best to inform the other reviewers I'm close with to show them how to do some basic measurements to get a better idea of which qualities of the listening experiences are attributed to the speaker, their room, the placement, their preferences, their hearing capabilities etc.
 
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LearningToSmile

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I like the looks of the big R700 towers a lot, the price is also competitive. The rounded edges and textured black finish make it stand out. It seems they didn't finish updating the website yet, as specifications are missing for me for now. Hope we eventually get measurements, since they're in a price segment I'll be looking at when I eventually get around to completing a HT system, the big towers are priced right between KEF Q950 and Revel F36. Interesting they're offering 3 different center channels.

Neat cutaway render:
polk_r700_simple-feature-billboard-1195x769_3_17032021.png
 

hardisj

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I like the looks of the big R700 towers a lot, the price is also competitive. The rounded edges and textured black finish make it stand out. It seems they didn't finish updating the website yet, as specifications are missing for me for now. Hope we eventually get measurements, since they're in a price segment I'll be looking at when I eventually get around to completing a HT system, the big towers are priced right between KEF Q950 and Revel F36. Interesting they're offering 3 different center channels.

Neat cutaway render:
View attachment 120030


That thing at the bottom caught my attention. I wondered if it was some sort of Helmholtz resonator. On their site I see this, but I'm not sure if this is referencing the piece at the bottom or not.
X-Port adds a set of closed-pipe absorbers that are specifically tuned to unwanted cabinet and port resonances
 

LearningToSmile

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That thing at the bottom caught my attention. I wondered if it was some sort of Helmholtz resonator. On their site I see this, but I'm not sure if this is referencing the piece at the bottom or not.
The towers have the x-port combined with "enhanced power port"(I think that refers to bottom plate interacting with the port), the x-port alone is more clearly visible in cutaways for their smaller speakers:
polk_r200_simple-feature-billboard-1195x769_4_centered_17032021.png

And while this image suggests the tube inside of the port is open from one side, from the exploded view:
Capture.PNG

it looks like there's also a plug on the inside end.

I think it's just a way of turning the port from a tube to a torus, since this is what they write about it:
"Polk's proprietary X-Port eliminates unwanted noise created as air moves in and out of the speaker cabinet port at high-speeds. "
 

Beershaun

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Yes. Check out the audioholics video. Their engineer walks through the parts and the assembly and how it all works. It's pretty elaborate for a port.

One thing they mentioned is that these are 4ohm rated speakers. So may be tough to drive at certain frequencies. At the same time they said it's not a problem for most AVRs to drive them (e.g. 100watta rms should be sufficient).
 

MZKM

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The column resonator is really cool and seems like it does a good amount of work in reducing cabinet vibrations.

They never explained why the largest tower and largest center don't come in white.

They said the tweeters and turbine woofers are the exact same models as are in Legend (I guess the flat woofers aren't), and they never really touched on why to still go for Legend; the only thing they mentioned really was better finishes.

Also, the tweets on Reserve have a circular flat while legend has a rectangular plate, not sure of if that is anything other than aesthetics.
 

echopraxia

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Every time I see the marketing materials for a Polk speaker, the engineering descriptions or breakdown of the internals, it looks really cool and promising... until being disappointed when hearing them, or seeing the measurements.

So I'm personally going to reserve judgement until I see at least some basic anechoic or Klippel measurements :)
 

ROOSKIE

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Every time I see the marketing materials for a Polk speaker, the engineering descriptions or breakdown of the internals, it looks really cool and promising... until being disappointed when hearing them, or seeing the measurements.

So I'm personally going to reserve judgement until I see at least some basic anechoic or Klippel measurements :)
Yes we deff want to see the measurements here and I am excited, I have a good feeling about these.
My LSIm703 set was excellent and was a great find $ wise when they slowly began to clearance them a few years ago. I don't have them anymore but used them a lot over a 2 year period. I think their suggested retail of $1500 was appropriate at the time.
Excellent both objectively and subjectively and previous to this model I was really no Polk fan.

Since then, I also have tested and owned the S20 & S15, both of which are very good in their respective price ranges. The S20 in particular was a set I appreciated and almost kept as a $300 reference set even though I really just had it here for some testing.
 

napilopez

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Yeah this lineup looks really cool. The legend L200 was already solid with a good listening window, but it's biggest problem was resonances, which were particularly loud escaping from the port. Here was my spin squishified for ASR aspect ratios:

1588965937809.png


The resonances escaping from the port were extremely loud, clearly coinciding with anomalies in the spin.

L200 Resonances.jpg


So given resonances are apparently one of the things Polk has most focused on with these, hopefully they are much better in this regard!

The horizontal off-axis doesn't look great in NRD's measurements, but the on axis is solid (haven't seen the other videos yet). I guess we'll see!
 

Alexanderc

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Every time I see the marketing materials for a Polk speaker, the engineering descriptions or breakdown of the internals, it looks really cool and promising... until being disappointed when hearing them, or seeing the measurements.

So I'm personally going to reserve judgement until I see at least some basic anechoic or Klippel measurements :)
I can’t find many measurements (haven’t looked very hard either), but the ones I have seen don’t look too bad. Are there some that are pretty bad?
 

dfuller

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That ring radiator looks like a scan speak if I had to hazard a guess. Very nice tweeters.
 

flipflop

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mhardy6647

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One thing they mentioned is that these are 4ohm rated speakers. So may be tough to drive at certain frequencies. At the same time they said it's not a problem for most AVRs to drive them (e.g. 100watta rms should be sufficient).

Cructchfield's refreshingly up-front on this point:
Give them plenty of power
Many more affordable Polk Audio speakers are known for their high efficiency (they don't need much power to produce great sound). That's not really the case for the R200s. Because of their high-end design and construction, they need more power to sound their best.

The R200s have a nominal impedance of 4 ohms, and at 86 dB efficiency, they're real "gas-guzzlers." I highly recommend a high-output power amp or integrated amp to drive these speakers.
https://www.crutchfield.com/S-jbwJey6bmLr/p_107RSV200/Polk-Audio-Reserve-R200-Midnight-Black.html

Interestingly, Polk's* website doesn't give specifications (yet), but Crutchfield lists what I believe to be the "official" specs thus:

Product highlights:
  • 1" ring radiator Pinnacle tweeter with an integrated waveguide for a broad "sweet spot"
  • 6-1/2" Turbine Cone™ midrange/bass driver
  • frequency response: 51-38,000 Hz
  • nominal impedance: 4 ohms
  • sensitivity: 86 dB
  • recommended amplifier power: 70 watts
  • bass-reflex (ported) enclosure with rear-firing X-Port
    • reduces low-frequency distortion and increases bass output
  • 5-way binding post speaker terminals
  • removable magnetic grilles
Dimensions and warranty:
________________________
* Or whatever passes for "Polk" under SoundUnited/DEI Holdings ownership. The "spec" tab on the Polk website for these is blank:
https://www.polkaudio.com/en-us/product/bookshelf-speakers/reserve-r200
 
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