Polk Reserve R350 Review (Center Speaker)

[Tks]

Maybe someone should make a coaxial mid-range+tweeter for this use and problem would be solved.

I've always wanted to ask. Is there any inferior aspect of coaxial designs (barring R&D cost of getting it performing properly/and of course the lesser power output I suppose) compared to multi-driver designs? We've seen Genelec demonstrate how superior their designs are... I'm just not understanding why doesn't every company offer a design like this? Or in the case of virtually every other instance of industry - whenever a newer more superior standard arises, the old one is slowly phased out entirely eventually. So what's the hold up?

 

[rebbiputzmaker]

Why 3 ways ?
Wouldn't the ideal solution be coaxial 2 ways ?
Why would you need bass from a center speaker ?

Well I do agree with you. I think people go overboard with what they think home theater should be. I look at home theater and music listening as two totally different things.

 

[napilopez]

Yeah, I get the whole 'marketing' schtick—but—these are being marketed as LCR speakers. In a vertical orientation where the measured vertical dispersion now becomes the horizontal dispersion, you get a fairly wide soundstage. However, you are now left with terrible vertical dispersion. With the narrow dispersion of the tweeter, if the tweeter isn't pointed directly at your head, you get the effect that @amirm mentions. This would drive most listeners insane having to keep their head locked in one position to get good dialog intelligibility.

All-in-all, this is one design that lacks whichever way you orient them.

It's a matter of debate whether narrow vertical dispersion is a necessarily a bad thing. While, this is narrower than I would like, it also lessens the effect of the ceiling and floor reflections, which are the ones that appear to most adversely affect timbre. Indeed some designers consider it a benefit, and your vertical angle is less likely to change while sitting from 9-10 feet away than your horizontal angle.

 

[Chromatischism]

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

My listening situation is as you see in the above picture. I had pointed the speaker toward me so listening on-axis initially. Response there was good. I felt no need to mess with EQ, nor was it going to be easy to develop EQ for those minor variations.

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.

 

[maverickronin]

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.

But it's specifically a center speaker. You don't even need a center for a single person sitting in the sweet spot.

 

[Chromatischism]

But it's specifically a center speaker. You don't even need a center for a single person sitting in the sweet spot.

I agree and I don't use one, though if I could find a suitable one, I would. Suitability would include both performance and ability to fit in the space.

 

[ROOSKIE]

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.

Center channels are to anchor the dialog on the screen even if one is sitting off to the side. It is mainly for everyone else except the main listening position.

 

[Alice of Old Vincennes]

I simply don't understand how a speaker company can make such basic mistakes in engineering like this.

Because they think can get away with it sans Amir.

 

[Alice of Old Vincennes]

I’m expect there were no engineers involved on the design. Marketing needed a narrow height speaker.

Oh give me a break. The salesmen designed it? They know the target audience.

 

[Alice of Old Vincennes]

They could say no, and get fired

How about a one dollar plastic waveguide?

 

[sweetchaos]

Here's the 3-way center speakers I found under US$500/ea (sorted $-$$):
1. Polk Audio LSiM 704c
US$250
2. Airmotiv C1+ Center
US$250
3. SVS Prime Center
US$350
4. Monoprice THX-365C THX
US$400

Spoiler: measurements

View attachment 131778
https://www.audioholics.com/bookshe...noprice-monolith-thx-365t-thx-365c/conclusion

5. Airmotiv C2+ Center
US$400
6. Aperion Audio Novus N5C
US$500

Of course, I'd like to see these on the test bench for a definitive say whether they are good or something is broken.

 

[Alice of Old Vincennes]

Polk even made a 3-way center, the LSiM 704c, I guess it's discontinued now(maybe wrong about this, it's so hard to tell if things are just out of stock or gone...). It was like, 2 inches higher I suppose, but yikes. There are reasonably priced 3-way centers out there like the Emotiva C1+ and Monoprice 365C. And of course all the coaxials from Kef.

These bad 2-way centers bug me, because they ruin the whole speaker line for home theatre basically, even when the bookshelf/floorstanders are pretty good/great.

Don't forget the giant Infinity 3 way center. It took so much effort to figure out how to fit under TV. Lower top self coupled with high TV placement?

 

[Alice of Old Vincennes]

I loved the engineer’s reply: I wasn’t allowed to!

A wireless midrange I could velcro on my head?

 

[Alice of Old Vincennes]

Well I do agree with you. I think people go overboard with what they think home theater should be. I look at home theater and music listening as two totally different things.

Home theater in a head vice? Alone or at a nursing home?

 

[Chromatischism]

I think it's ridiculous Polk can't or won't do better.

Polk even made a 3-way center, the LSiM 704c, I guess it's discontinued now(maybe wrong about this, it's so hard to tell if things are just out of stock or gone...)

Polk can make great speakers. Keep in mind the LSiM was their previous flagship line and is discontinued.

The Reserve is NOT their flagship line.

 

[rebbiputzmaker]

Home theater in a head vice? Alone or at a nursing home?

A good home theater system should sound the same no matter where you are in the room.

Pretty easy to do with very simple speakers actually. Two-ways with a four-inch woofer all around is enough imo for the fronts, center, satellites, and add a good subwoofer for an excellent home theater experience. Of course very large rooms could be different. Ymmv

 

[nerdoldnerdith]

It looks pretty good...

If you put it on its side.

It seems to me that if you can't use a properly-designed three-way center channel, your best bet would be to use no center channel at all, or maybe a short bookshelf if you can make it fit. I have no center for my TV and it sounds fine.

 

[deprogrammed]

Polk even made a 3-way center, the C, I guess it's discontinued now(maybe wrong about this, it's so hard to tell if things are just out of stock or gone...). It was like, 2 inches higher I suppose, but yikes. There are reasonably priced 3-way centers out there like the Emotiva C1+ and Monoprice 365C. And of course all the coaxials from Kef.

These bad 2-way centers bug me, because they ruin the whole speaker line for home theatre basically, even when the bookshelf/floorstanders are pretty good/great.

The LSi M 706c and LSi M 704c are available on the Polk web site. Looks like the new legend series is 3 way as well.

Polk™ Center Channel Speakers - Small & Large | Polk Audio™

Center Channel Speakers are the workhorse of any home theater system. View all center channel speakers from Polk Audio here. Free shipping.

www.polkaudio.com

 

[beaRA]

This is why I use an LSiM 704c with my Reserve R500 towers. There are a lot of lazy takes in this thread on the engineering capability of Polk. This is a speaker with compromises clearly made to fit a constrained form factor. It is disingenuous to cherry pick it as an example to confirm your bias against Polk while ignoring all of their well designed products.

 

[beaRA]

The LSi M 706c and LSi M 704c are available on the Polk web site. Looks like the new legend series is 3 way as well.

Polk™ Center Channel Speakers - Small & Large | Polk Audio™

Center Channel Speakers are the workhorse of any home theater system. View all center channel speakers from Polk Audio here. Free shipping.

www.polkaudio.com

They show as out of stock to me on the Polk site. The 706c can still be found on Amazon though.