Polk ES60 Tower Speaker Review

[Ajax]

@amirm

Many thanks for the review, after reviewing some ordinary gear it's nice to see you back in "recommending" mode.

As we normally listen to speakers in pairs, can I request that in future you please stipulate whether the price is for one only or a pair.

Thanks in advance.

 

[ocinn]

A much less extreme measure you can try is plugg the existing port, as long as it can be restored to its original state.

Port plugging is one of my favorite “mods” to do on cheap speakers. If you have a subwoofer(s), 99% if the time (in my experience), it improves things

It’s the perfect intermediate between doing nothing (in which case you probably shouldn’t be in this hobby), and actually re-fabricating parts of the speaker (where once you factor in labor and materials, you might as well just get better speakers to start with).

 

[WhereTheTimeWent]

@amirm

Thanks for the review!
Compared to a very good bookshelf speaker, let's say a Neumann KH 150 - would you rather have the Polk?

 

[beagleman]

Mostly in that price range. As you say, there are powered monitors that despite being small, have impressive SPL and bass extension.

Here are the Specs and features:

View attachment 348238

View attachment 348239

@amirm

I believe these are not the specs for the Polk ES60 Tower, but for the ES50 model instead

Great job taking on this big speaker though!

 

[delta76]

always nice to see a tower speaker review. thanks for doing the review and best of luck with your back @amirm!

 

[testp]

thanks for these reviews! but definetly watch out with heavy lifting stuff as well !
i'm convinced already from Focal Chora 816 review, that i need tower speaker for my next upgrade..

 

[Mikig]

Metterò il Polk ES60 nella mia lista consigliata se riesci a domare la sua luminosità con un po' di filtraggio. Personalmente, mi piace più di quanto dovrei!

Hi Amirm thanks for the content.

Do you think that this speaker, as well as others reviewed, can begin to compete, in terms of sound quality and performance, with higher-end speakers?
or rather, are you starting to see the Topping effect in the loudspeaker category too?
Or are we still far from seeing speakers at a human price, with absolute record-breaking performance?? Thank you

 

[staticV3]

Hi Amirm thanks for the content.

Do you think that this speaker, as well as others reviewed, can begin to compete, in terms of sound quality and performance, with higher-end speakers?
or rather, are you starting to see the Topping effect in the loudspeaker category too?
Or are we still far from seeing speakers at a human price, with absolute record-breaking performance?? Thank you

Perfect example of the Topping effect IMO:

Wharfedale Linton 85th Anniversary Speaker Review

Wharfedale Linton 85th Anniversary Review

www.erinsaudiocorner.com

Thomann Swissonic A306 2-Way Bookshelf Speaker Review

Thomann Swissonic A306 2-Way Bookshelf Speaker Review

www.erinsaudiocorner.com

The A306 is smaller, a fraction of the cost, but as or more performant than the Linton is all aspects.

 

[spacevector]

It was purchased new and kindly donated to the forum by a member.

Wow! Thank you to the generous member for donating this speaker.

What are you going to do with now though @amirm ?

Thanks for a great review!

 

[Ismapics]

Mostly in that price range. As you say, there are powered monitors that despite being small, have impressive SPL and bass extension.

Here are the Specs and features:

View attachment 348238

View attachment 348239

Hello @amirm : I believe that this spec sheet is not for the ES60. Rather these are for the ES50. Cheers, IM

 

[amirm]

@amirm

Thanks for the review!
Compared to a very good bookshelf speaker, let's say a Neumann KH 150 - would you rather have the Polk?

For far field listening I would pick Polk personally if one has ability to EQ it.

 

[fordiebianco]

It's great to see that Polk is able to crank out reasonable floorstanders for a reasonable price. I bought the T50 after @amirm 's encouraging review as cheap and cheerful floorstanders for my 5.1 TV/music setup and was pleasantly surprised at the cost/performance ratio. The ES60 look to be in the same category.

 

[GXAlan]

For far field listening I would pick Polk personally if one has ability to EQ it.

Out of curiosity, based upon bang-for-the-buck or is there something about nearfield monitors that are weaker when doing far field listening?

Just thinking about subwoofers. The “chest slam” effect seems to be stronger with big woofers even if multiple small woofers generate the same SPLs in REW subjectively.

 

[Hart]

I think the Polk line was asleep for a long time, however these latest offerings are impressive for the price.

 

[ObjectiveSubjectivist]

Every time I hear name Polk I see this gentleman

 

[CleanSound]

It was purchased new and kindly donated to the forum by a member. ES60 costs US $511 on Amazon and has 4.5 start average review (1925 ratings):

I demand the name of this generous member who made this donation, s/he is embarrassing and shaming the rest of us.

 

[Toni Mas]

Extremely poor... Among the poorest ever...

 

[Svet Angelov]

Every time I hear name Polk I see this gentleman
View attachment 348299

Yes!! 4 touchdowns in 1 game...

 

[jbattman1016]

Would be nice to see the Encore T6 against this Polk. I suspect the main differences will be related to the difference in the port design. Too bad monoprice can't keep anything in stock.

 

[beagleman]

I think the Polk line was asleep for a long time, however these latest offerings are impressive for the price.

I am assuming you never heard of the Polk Lsi or Lsim line up?

They are quite good speakers that were made over the last 20 some years (22 exact) and were well reviewed.