Polk Reserve R200 - Review & Measurements by Erin

[VintageFlanker]

Text review:

Polk Reserve R200 Bookshelf Speaker Review

Polk Reserve R200

www.erinsaudiocorner.com

 

[HighFutility]

Curious to see how the spinorama affects the preference score.

 

[Beave]

I haven't watched the video, so Erin may have covered all of this already. But it's interesting to compare the R200 to his previous measurements of the R100.

It's not at all what I would have expected:

---The bigger R200 doesn't appear to have higher sensitivity or much more bass extension
---The smaller midwoofer in the R100 seems to have *worse* directivity matching with the tweeter than the larger midwoofer in the R200

Weird.

There appears to be a small cabinet wall resonance around 250Hz. And that bump centered around 1200Hz? A surround termination problem with the larger midwoofer?

But the measurements look pretty good overall. Just not what I expected based on seeing the R100 results first.

Erin's Polk R100 Review

 

[mhardy6647]

I wonder whether the Matthew Polk "Signature Version" R200ae, with snazzier exterior finisha and - more to the point - with a (much?) tweaked XO, would measure substantially differently?

Reserve R200 Anniversary Edition Bookshelf Speakers | Polk Audio™

Polk continues our 50 year celebration with the Reserve R200 Anniversary Edition. Enjoy great Polk sound with these limited edition bookshelf speakers.

www.polkaudio.com

https://www.polkaudio.com/en-us/blog/brand/inside-reserve-r200ae-upgraded-crossover-network (FWIW)

 

[joentell]

I took 10 minutes and did a "JNT ghetto spin" of the Polk R200's using an in-room nearfield MMM (1ft). I've included the REW mdat file. I measured both speakers and they measure similarly.

Unsmoothed 1/48 from RTA

1/12 Smoothing

Maybe I see the 1khz bump, but it just doesn't seem as drastic. Also, I'm getting good bass response if I include the port tuning in the response.

Here's the measurement from today compared to the one I did in February 2021 if the timestamp on the measurement is right. This was taken in a totally diffrent room and above 500hz, everything lines up pretty well with the measurement I based my review on.

 

[muad]

I took 10 minutes and did a "JNT ghetto spin" of the Polk R200's using an in-room nearfield MMM (1ft). I've included the REW mdat file. I measured both speakers and they measure similarly.

Unsmoothed 1/48 from RTA
View attachment 291702

1/12 Smoothing

View attachment 291707

Maybe I see the 1khz bump, but it just doesn't seem as drastic. Also, I'm getting good bass response if I include the port tuning in the response.

Here's the measurement from today compared to the one I did in February 2012 if the timestamp on the measurement is right. This was taken in a totally diffrent room and above 500hz, everything lines up pretty well with the measurement I based my review on.
View attachment 291708

Isn't 1ft too close to get proper driver integration and crossover summing?

Also, how did you generate the LW and Sound power from the MMM measurements.

I find MMM measurements at a couple meters out, gets pretty close to the early reflections curve.

 

[thewas]

Here's the measurement from today compared to the one I did in February 2012 if the timestamp on the measurement is right.

Probably it is wrong, the series was released around end of 2020, also I don't think you did such MMM measurements 11 years ago?

 

[joentell]

Ha! I corrected it from 2012 to 2022.

 

[VintageFlanker]

Probably it is wrong, the series was released around end of 2020, also I don't think you did such MMM measurements 11 years ago?

Pretty sure @joentell meant "2022".

Edit: what he just said.

 

[joentell]

Isn't 1ft too close to get proper driver integration and crossover summing?

Also, how did you generate the LW and Sound power from the MMM measurements.

I find MMM measurements at a couple meters out, gets pretty close to the early reflections curve.

What you have to be careful of is the baffle-step. Usually, 2X the width of the front baffle is a good starting point. The thing about a MMM, is it's a spatial average, so you can cover a wide area.

I opted for being closer in this case because my kids were being loud upstairs, so I needed the higher signal/kids playing ratio.

I just measure all around the speaker by spinning it on a motorized plate which gives me a rough estimate of sound power. From there, I can just drive the DI. This is just a quick and dirty method. I think if more reviewers did at least this, we would have a lot more reliability in reviews. I'm working on a way to get even more precise measurements, but 10 minutes for 2 speakers is not bad.

 

[muad]

What you have to be careful of is the baffle-step. Usually, 2X the width of the front baffle is a good starting point. The thing about a MMM, is it's a spatial average, so you can cover a wide area.

I opted for being closer in this case because my kids were being loud upstairs, so I needed the higher signal/kids playing ratio.

I just measure all around the speaker by spinning it on a motorized plate which gives me a rough estimate of sound power. From there, I can just drive the DI. This is just a quick and dirty method. I think if more reviewers did at least this, we would have a lot more reliability in reviews. I'm working on a way to get even more precise measurements, but 10 minutes for 2 speakers is not bad.

Lazy and ingenious!! Good job.

I wish I could've tried this on my DIY towers before I sold them. Would have been interesting.

I guess if you did a stationary MMM at 2m out, you could drive an ERDI?

 

[joentell]

Lazy and ingenious!! Good job.

I wish I could've tried this on my DIY towers before I sold them. Would have been interesting.

I guess if you did a stationary MMM at 2m out, you could drive an ERDI?

Thanks!

Regarding ERDI, I haven't tried it that far back using this particular method. My reference point has historically been measurements taken on a Klippel NFS using the same model speaker. I just check for close alignment.

I don't want to go off-topic too much though.

 

[sweetchaos]

Text review to be updated...

Full review is up now:

Polk Reserve R200 Bookshelf Speaker Review

Polk Reserve R200

www.erinsaudiocorner.com

 

[VintageFlanker]

 

[HighFutility]

Full review is up now:

Polk Reserve R200 Bookshelf Speaker Review

Polk Reserve R200

www.erinsaudiocorner.com

Do you know when the preference score will be updated on the passive speaker list? Thanks in advance

 

[sweetchaos]

Do you know when the preference score will be updated on the passive speaker list? Thanks in advance

I’m waiting on Erin to send Pierre the raw spinorama data, and then for Pierre to upload the results on his website. He usually does, every couple of months. Once he does, I’ll know the preference score and I can update my guide.

 

[HighFutility]

I’m waiting on Erin to send Pierre the raw spinorama data, and then for Pierre to upload the results on his website. He usually does, every couple of months. Once he does, I’ll know the preference score and I can update my guide.

THANKS!

 

[OldManMatt]

I recently sold my R200's that were manufactured in 2020. I tried to find any saved or screenshots of REW measurements I had but I must have trashed them at some point.
I did find a couple from when I was using Dirac on the Arcam SA30. This crude pic is from first setting up the Arcam, one measurement of left & right Polk's with SVS sub crossed at 50hz. Speakers facing straight forward. Mic in the middle 8ft away. I could give all the dimensions of the room but I'll just say that with most speakers I get a suck out around 50hz and big boost at 40hz. Wall has a 10ft wide area that sinks back 15in, I usually start with speakers 17in off that wall 8ft apart facing forward. Then I start playing with speaker distances and axis.

In this room I didn't find the Polk's to sound bass shy. You can kinda get an idea of what I was dealing with in my room. For the majority of the time I had them I used them in a 2.1ch streaming and TV set up. I EQ'd the system with a RME dac and SVS pro app. For my ears and listening preferences these were a big favorite of mine.

 

[robladw]

I got my pair the day they came out. It was actually because of the local store here and knowing the owner. When he got these he called some of us to come listen to them. I left with them. My experience with them has been what Joe tested. For a bookshelf the bass was good. I still prefer a sub with bookshelf speakers as I like around 25hz for music. Hopefully it was just a quality issue with the run and not a vender or manufacturer change that has lead to these measurements being different. I have recommended these to a few people and have not heard anyone complain about them as of yet.

 

[Karmacoma]

Got them setup in a small room. Erin's comments are almost on point with what i experienced with these speakers, a tad too much treble, not to the point of being fatiguing though. I disagree with his shallow bass comments, probably cos I use them in a smaller room with typical european hard walls, or in a different position. His video sounds pretty severe considering the performance, the comments he posted on his site are more balanced. You can't push em really hard without the bass hollowing out, creating a very annoying unbalance, so they're definitely for low/mid level listenning where they can compete with much, much more expensive speakers in terms or tonality and imaging.
Overall very pleasing speakers for the price (500€ here), as a fair comparison i definitely prefered them to the focal aria 906 which you can find around the same price here.