Good to know you like the Polks, I read and watched a lot of positive reviews on them and wanted to love them but they just didn’t click for me. I’ve been auditioning a pair of Martin Logan ESLs and I like them a lot, but they can be ‘blah’ with some music. My main complaint with the speakers I’ve had for years is they ban be bright and fatiguing so I’m going to try pairing them with a Marantz amp the is supposed to be warm sounding. Fingers crossed.
I've had these for nearly a year. I agree they are heavy. They arrived ups freight on pallets. I love the sound. With proper placement, the vocals are right in front of your listening area. These are far she away the best over owned.
Choosing speakers is like dating, sometimes things just don't click. They are a popular choice and I'm glad they are making you happy. I moved the R700s out four feet from the back and side walls and angled them directly at me still too boomy and masked vocals. Their sound signature just doesn't work for me.
@@Koolbob2 I'm getting none of that. I have transparent and detailed sound. No veiling, and they don't boom. Quite neutral actually. They replaced my much more expensive focal speakers which sound unnatural by compare.
@@scottlowell493 I may be in the minority in not loving the R700s. Polk makes a wide range of speakers from very inexpensive to high-end. I was hoping the R700s would be a bit more detailed and articulate, but their tone was just a bit dark for my taste. After returning the Polks I tried a pair of Martin Logan ESL speakers, I definitely preferred the ESLs over the R700s. I debated on whether or not to keep the ESLs for over a month, but ended up sending them back as well. As wonderful as the ESLs were, no electrostatic speaker can match the dynamics of conventional speaker. My primary speakers for the last 30+ years have very tactile low bass and a bright, articulate upper end that puts vocals out in front, to my ear they are nearly perfect. My only issues with them is that they can be a bit lean in the upper midrange and the treble can be fatiguing with some CDs (the treble is spot on with LPs and most streaming. I decided to try a Marantz Model 30 amp and model 50 CD player with my TCM3 speakers. The Marantz amp's warmer sound paired well with the TCM3s and puts a smile on my face so I think I'll stick with this combo for now.
@@Koolbob2 It sounds to me the problem is your room. The R700's go low and they probably overloaded your room. You could have tested them with the ports plugged, although I don't know if the bottom port on the R700 can be plugged.
@@dragonstone6594 That would be an interesting experiment to try. My TCM3 speakers are rated 34hz-20,000hz +/- 2db and they have a rear facing port. The TCM3s have plenty of bass, enough that I prefer to leave my REL subwoofer turned off. Somehow my old speakers don't load the room with as much boom in the 60-180hz range as the Polks did. No doubt the R700s are fine speakers, but they just didn't work out as well as I had hoped in my room.
Thanks for watching! A friend let me borrow a pair of KEF LS50s (the original model that is no longer made) that really impressed me. Of course the KEF speakers need a subwoofer to play full range, bumping them to a price point a bit higher than the Polks, but I thought the KEF speakers had a much flatter frequency response, vocals were front and center and not masked like the Polks. The most impressive thing with the LS50s was no matter where I was in the room, I could hear both the left and right speaker. My only complaint with the LS50s is they sounded amazing within a somewhat limited volume range, turn the volume down to background music level and they sounded small and flat, turn them up loud and they ran out of steam and distorted. KEF makes many larger and 3-way models based on the LS50 that you might want to consider.
@Koolbob2 i still run my definitive technology BP20s that i bought brand new in 93! Still sound amazing to me. Run bose 301iii series in the rear from back then to. The definitive technology d11 sound great for a small bookshelf speaker very clean sound!! I have klh kandalls 1st series im looking to try out. Thank you. If you could try the d11s
I have these R700 as the main in my HT setup. They are perfect for that. They also good but not great for 2 channel listening for the money but the do need lots of room to breath (mine are in a large room as well) and respond well to better upstream equipment. I have a Parasound New Classic 2250 driving mine and they drink up the power from it. If you get a chance to try them with the separates before you send them back you may be surprised with how they improve. But if your room isnt big enough then they can be a bit too much.
Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment! Choosing speakers is like dating, sometimes things just don't click. The R700s are a popular choice and I'm glad they are making you happy. I moved the R700s out four feet from the back and side walls and angled them directly at me still too boomy and masked vocals. Admittedly my Onkyo integrated amp is a few years old, but it was well reviewed by Stereophile when it was released and it drives the power hungry Acoustat 2+2 electrostatic speakers well. Their sound signature just doesn't work for me.
Thank you, I love mid-century modern and have been fortunate to receive both tables as gifts from friends and picked up the pair of chairs at a local antiques shop for $35! I'm no expert, but I've been into music and audio gear since high school and hope to help others with their equipment buying choices.
I have a pair of these. I can totally understand why they certainly arent for everyone. When i first got them i played them for a few days then they got sent into another room where i rarely listen. What I've found from them is they are huge and pretty room dependent on how they will sound. I tried them in 3 differeng rooms and it was like having 3 different speakers almost. My initial problem with them was a lack of bass compared to the mids and very sibilant. After they sat for a couple weeks i listened to them in a more rectangular & damped room and liked the balanced sound of them there. The bass was better but still not enough detail or nuance to the bass. What i noticed was the woofers never moved or pushed air..and someone told me that was normal. Fast forward almost 2 months and then the woofers pushed in & out like most woofers im used to..and with this a much better bass response, better tone & detail to bass strums & notes. I was going to babble on about my love hate relationship with these speakers but i would be writing forever. What I'll jump to and say is that they are the main drivers in my digital system today and i like them. I use PEQ on them thru a RME dac and i know that i couldn't use them in my living room without it. I've never had issues with the midrange but ive had to play with placement and eq for the highs. I get very detailed wonderful sound from them now and with them placed 8 feet apart i get a 10ft wide soundstage. But it took lots of REW measurements, low noise PS's on my router, streamer, dac and a high powered amp to get them to where i like them. Different equipment had different effects on them...where the singer sounded like they were almost behind the speaker to where now they are in line with the speaker. After trying them in 3 different rooms with different equipment, with and without EQ i totally understand why people wouldn't like them. The only reason i didnt send them back initially was because of freight charges...but i got them at a decent price i felt i could resell them. They've turned out to be pretty good though and I've heard a lot of speakers in my 50yrs. The quality of the source is a big deal though with these behemoths. I don't normally keep speakers too long but I'm not in a huge rush to trade them off. They are too big for me to hold onto long term unused but i think I'll miss them when they are gone. I do always find it fascinating how different people have such different experiences with the same speaker. And i don't feel it makes one person right or wrong...its how it sounds to us..with our preferences, in our room, with our equipment. There has been a few times i didn't like something that others raved about. Is what it is.
I've had some time to think it over after I made the video review and I believe I've figured out a few things. Your comments on trying the R700s in different rooms confirms my newest theories. My listening room is about 14x14 with 8' ceilings, wall to wall carpet, one entire side wall is a bookcase so lots of diffraction there to break up standing waves. I have 8 2x4' sound absorbing panels (five behind the listening position and three behind the speakers centered on the front wall), bass traps in the corners behind the speakers. I position the speakers at least 3' from the front wall and 3' from the side walls and move them as needed from there. My preferred speakers (Omni Sound TCM3, hand-made, audiophile crossover components, Toby 8" woofers and Vifa 1" tweeters) have the woofer high up in the cabinet to help keep bass frequencies from interacting with the floor. The woofers on the Polk are lower in the cabinet and the downward facing port further reinforces bass response. Great if you put them on a slab, not so great IMHO if you have a MDF/plywood floor over floor joist as I have in my second story room. I removed all of my sound absorption panels when I was using the Polks and it did help with the soundstage, so I think they may perform better in a more lively room, like a room with hardwood or tile floors. If I leaned way back in my chair with my head almost against the back wall the Polks did seem to image a bit better. If my room was another 3 or 4 feet longer I may have liked them more than I did. I have a REL subwoofer that I don't use with my TCM3s or Acoustat 2+2s, but the sub might pair nicely with a pair of Martin Logan electrostatics or stand-mount speakers and using the sub with speakers that roll off around 50hz or so would allow me to dial in the balance between the bass and mid-upper frequencies to my taste.
@@Koolbob2 I understand what you are saying. Makes sense. To me they aren't a set it and forget it type speaker...well maybe if one has a really large room. I totally agree with them performing better in a livelier type room and sitting further away. I normally do prefer a bookshelf speaker paired with a sub. They have always been easier for me to deal with. Bass integration has always been an issue for me..and having a sub where I can place it anywhere and adjust the volume makes it a little easier. Then after I got my 1st SVS pro sub which has their app things have been even easier. Having 3 PEQ tabs and a room compensation adjustment has been a game changer. I will definitely go back to a bookshelf when I'm done with the Polk's. I held onto my Wharfedale Lintons which obviously I think are pretty good..but they can have some excess bass depending on the room & placement. I've never tried any of the KEF coaxial speakers..they shouldn't be heavy on bass..known to image extremely well with great mids. I've been told it's more of a stay seated in the sweet spot for the full experience. I find Erin's Audio corner channel & website to be helpful finding speakers..if you know exactly what you are looking for. Seems like you have some good gear already..it's going to take something nice to replace them. I think you did the right thing sending the Polk's back. You probably could have eventually made them work for you but it shouldn't be that hard..find something that fits what you have & your room. $2k is a lot of money and one shouldn't have to settle for anything when buying new.
I have these they’re my favorite for my music taste. I have focal Chora 826D for movies and music . I like the Choras too but very different . If you’re still searching for check out the Theva’s from Focal as they replaced the Chora’s and may be a tad better maybe . The numbers look the same but I’d think Focal would release an improved replacement . I really like both . They are Focals entry and I just can’t get over how much I like them . I won’t get the Theva’s as I paid around $450 for 2 Chora 826 D’s each . The Theva equivalent is $3K a pair . For the Polks I’m looking to improve them with two REL Classic 99 subs , & for the Choras I am ordering 2 REL T9x subs in October when the Tx series goes on sale . Good luck fun review
Thanks for the tips. I know Focal drivers are favorites among car audio enthusiast, but for some reason their home speakers haven't been on my radar. I've upgraded my amp and cd/DAC with Marantz Model 30 and CD50n and that has really improved the sound of my old speakers. I've put my speaker search on hold for now, but I may start looking again down the road.
I own these. I agree with you on the vocals, drums, and tweeter. I wish these imaged better, brought vocals forward, and tweeters were less recessed. That said I had a heard time finding speakers. There is only so many pairs we can try and send back over and over. These do sound great. SVS speakers have more air, better imaging, more forward vocals, and less bass. I had the Prime Towers and traded them in for the Polks. In many ways the Polks are superior, but the SVS were great and I miss there imaging, and vocals, but they just did not have enough bass for me.
Thanks for watching and commenting! Glad to hear I'm not the only one who thinks the Polks are too mellow and come up short in articulation and air. I got Crutchfield's 'Speaker Listening Kit' and was underwhelmed with the headphones included with the kit. I listened to EVERY floor standing and bookshelf speaker they have sound profiles for and they all were 'meh' for me. I may try a pair of Martin Logan ESL speakers next and if they aren't my thing then I'll just stick with my Omni Sounds.
That shiny plastic clear portion of the decal is not permanent. It is intended only for protection of the raised decal underneath for shipping. Remove the plastic tape looking part of the decal and the raised silver letters of the decals will be permanently left upon the speakers. I have the walnut R700s, R400 and R900s and all are this way.
Have you ever auditioned a pair of new speakers and immediately knew that you would probably be returning them? That's how I felt about the R700s. I positioned them face to face a few inches apart, wired one out of phase and left them playing fairly loud to break them in. Re-auditioning them a week later I knew they were going back and I didn't make any effort to peel off the plastic. I am glad to learn that it's just protection and not part of the logo. I next auditioned a pair of KEF LS50s on loan from a friend with a REL subwoofer. Although I preferred them over the R700, I again thought my old handmade speakers sounded better. I did keep a pair of Martin Logan electrostatic speakers for over a month and came very close to keeping them, but even though they excel in many areas, they fall short in other areas. Back they went. In the end, upgrading my 27-year-old components to use with my old speakers gave the best results by far.
I've come to the conclusion that selecting the 'right' speaker is a lot like dating. Sometimes 5 minutes is all it takes for you to decide this sin't going to work for me. Other relationships are complicated with ups and downs. If you're lucky you find a pairing that just clicks. I'm glad to hear the R700 makes you happy.
Hello from Bombay (Mumbai) India! Thank you for your detailed and honest review of these speakers. I am thinking of purchasing an entire surround + Atmos set of Polk Reserves, with the R700 as front L/R, bi-amped with a Denon/Marantz top-end receiver. In particular, your comment about how to unpack them is really useful, although I wish you had shown how to use them with spikes on your carpeted floor. As for sound-quality: since I have a good relationship with their India distributor, they have kindly agreed to let me keep their demo pair over the weekend to see how they sound in my home-theater room. And before I forget, I LOVE your Sony cassette pillow 🙂Where did you buy it?
Hi @bombayteddy I had several sets of speakers in and out of my room over the past few months and finally decided that I preferred my 30+ year old speakers. I tried switching to a Marantz Model 30 amplifier and found that it had slightly more bass extension and a warmer sound than my old Onkyo amp. The pairing of the 'warm' Maranta amp with my slightly bright and articulate speakers sounds great to me so I'm done buying gear, at least for now. I'd be curious to hear your impressions of the R700 with your setup. I got the pillow in a local shop several years ago, but I have seen similar ones on line over the years. Just search for 'cassette tape pillow'.
oh ,just remembered , i solved the moving around on carpet issue with furniture glides . they are ugly but allows you to move the speakers with one hand and very little pressure . this enables the listener to test different listening positions until one finds the optimal position. .when that is achieved you can remove the glides for a better aesthetic.
Great idea! I have some of those plastic slides that are about 3" square, I'll definitely put them to use the next time I'm auditioning speakers! If you still think the L600s are just touch bright try toeing them ever so slightly outward so neither speaker points at you. Sometimes being just a few degrees off axis is all that is needed to tame a bright speaker.
Personally I think you need to upgrade you kit first then assess these speakers as they are actually quite revealing. I’ve been running mine now with my modest $22k system in my 14x22 ft. Listening room and they are very good! I am also using a pair of REL subs with them to flat to 20Hz. I believe your room may be too small too. My soundstage is incredibly well developed with vocals nailed to the center (when recorded that way) and all of the stage is deep and behind the speakers as it should be. Perhaps it may benefit you to go audition some nice systems at your local high end dealer…. Good luck😊
Sounds like we both have an audio system we're very happy with. I drove to Dallas 30 years ago on a mission to buy a pair of speakers. I went to numerous high end audio boutiques and listened to many brands including B&W, Boston Acoustics and Theil. The Omni Sound TCM3 speakers that were designed and hand-made by Randy McCarter sounded better to me than anything else I heard on that trip. Randy's background was as an electrical engineer and he was best known for his hand-made interconnects which were highly thought of in the upper echelon audiophile community. I touched base with Randy years ago and he was developing a pair of 7ft tall line array speakers with multiple tweeters/midranges and dual push/pull subs. I lost track with him and don't know how they turned out or even if he's still around. A friend across town has spent over $60k upgrading his already impressive system over the past 6-months with the latest and greatest equipment made by PS Audio. He's the one who gave me his old Acoustat 2+2 speakers - 8ft tall electrostatics , talk about a wall of sound, with the right music they give you goose bumps, but I discovered I much preferred dynamic speakers for rock and roll. My friend's PS Audio upgrades got me to wondering if my old system could stand a little updating. I tried the Polk R700s with Onkyo, NAD and Marantz integrated amplifiers, for me the Polks were meh. I did kept the Marantz Model 30 amp which sounded warmer and punchier than my old Onkyo or newest NAD. I also auditioned the newest offerings from Martin Logan, KEF and Monitor Audio under $3,500 in my room and I still prefer my TCM3s. My friend is probably going to buy a pair of PS Audio Aspen FR5 stand mount speakers for his second, upstairs audio system and I may borrow his FR5s to try out, but otherwise I'm good to go for now. It's a shame that there are so few audio stores around anymore, All of the stores I visited in Dallas are gone now and my favorite audio shop in Memphis went from Audio only to Audio/Video then they went out of business.
It's no surprise that hundreds of speaker designers have created thousands of speakers over the years in search of perfection. The Polks seem to be a great value and lots of people like them, but they didn't check the right boxes for me.
There is no such thing as too much bass from a speaker without a subwoofer. Many swear that Andrew Jones's last floorstanding Mofi would be the perfect speaker and the only speakers anybody would need/want/own forever
Hmmm, yes and no. I love hearing deeeep, tight bass when it's supposed to be there. My speakers are rated down to 36hz +/- 3db and they do sound even better with my REL TX7 sub crossed over at 30hz so it augments where the main speakers roll off without being too boomy. I have a low tolerance for boomy bass, especially in the 60-180hz range, that is disproportionate with the rest of the frequencies. For me the R700s were too thick and slow on the lower end and sounded thin in the midrange and upper end. The only thing that matters in this hobby is that you enjoy listening to whatever equipment you have.
@@Koolbob2 indeed you have to enjoy listening, but if a speaker is rated 37hz for ex that doesn't mean will actually play 37 hz in any room/music, not at all. and the Roll-off will be higher anyway, probably around 45-60 hz. That may vary a lot. If you set a low pass filter on the sub on 30hz you'll have a gap between that roll off frq of the speakers and subwoofer's peak/HP roll-off. Usually speakers are boomy by themselves because of the construction: bad drivers or wrong sized enclosure most of the time, too little air space. If a speaker is built corectly which these polk certainly are in a very rigid and sturdy cabinet with enough enclosure size boomyness often comes from the room, placement/furniture etc. Even if a speaker doesn't have a back side port, placing it closer to the wall would make it boomy. SVS's last model of floorstanding speakers really go down to 30hz, but they have a different design and also 4 bass speakers. For example A 12 inch subwoofer in a sealed enclosure is closer to being boomy in a room, because of the size of the enclosure. a 12inch usually needs about 50-60 liters enclosure or even more if it's a long throw design. unless it's a shallow sub that can work in a 20 liters for example and also being engineered for that tight space with high Qts spec and other TS parameters. By the design of the Polk i agree with you the midrange should be improved. Also a bigger size midrange speaker would have been better to keep up with those bass drivers. I am certain Polk tried to combine best of both worlds like Hi-Fi and Cinema. They have a also surround and center channel in this serie and Home Cinema audience is very wide. Most people i guess will be using these with AV Receivers not amplifiers, even though a pair of monoblocks would be best
@@motorax.service.motociclete Yes, you are correct, my speaker is rated down to 36hz +/- 3db. That means it is capable of reproducing bass down to 36hz at 3db lower volume than its average output over the range from 36hz to 20,000hz. I've set my REL sub to its lowest crossover point so it augments the very lowest frequencies that are below my main speaker's capabilities with minimal overlap between the subwoofer and main speakers. The challenge for me is the Omni Sound TCM3 speakers I have were handmade in the 90's by an electrical engineer who was already well renowned in the audiophile community for the interconnects he designed and built. He owned Omni Sound audio boutique in Dallas and sold Theil and B+W speakers. He decided he could build better speaker using the best crossover components, wire, cabinet materials, dampening materials and drivers available at the time. I was in the right place at the right time and bought one of his final prototypes off the showroom floor because they sounded better than any other speaker at twice the price. They are rated at 92db @ 1 watt-meter, so 100wpc is way more than enough. The R700, like every other retail speaker is built with compromises to hit a certain price point. The R700s for example typically sells for around $1,200ea. The dealer mark up is about 50%, so Polk is selling them to the retailer for about $600ea. Polk is making about 50% profit, so Polk keeps the cost down to about $300 to build each R700. Speaker design and drivers have come a long way since the TCM3s were made, so I know there are lots of better sounding speakers on the market today. My mistake was expecting to upgrade to a better speaker in the $2,000-$4,000 range. I am going to focus on speakers in the $5,000 and up range to see if I can improve on what I have.
@@kenanyetin3456 I thought it had a little too much bass and not enough midrange clarity and treble detail for critical music listening, but I also beleive those atributes would make it an excellent cinema speaker. Biraz fazla bas, orta aralık netliği ve tiz detayının kritik müzik dinleme için yetersiz olduğunu düşündüm, ancak bu özelliklerin onu mükemmel bir sinema hoparlörü yapacağına da inanıyorum.
@@Koolbob2 teşekkür ederim güzel insan anladıgma göre polk s-60 sinama deneyimi için güzel bir haparlör olduğunu düşünüyorum sizce yanılıyormuyum bilmiyorum ama sizin düşünceniz itabi daha önemli 😊😊
an interesting review and very good at reminding us that the experience of sound/music , once it reaches the brain via the ear canal , is 100% subjective . it's essential to test multiple speakers to find what YOU like . i have the L 600s which look to be identical as far as the drivers and their layout are concerned . not sure why they are so much more expensive . anyway i love the sound . the vocals are above and between the speakers on my L600 and i find through past experience with polk that they are hungry for power . i'm using a marantz 30 that produces 200 watts a channel into 4 ohms and still i think they could take a bit more . the highs are a bit bright for my taste but not abrasive . i'm very pleased with this set up.
I'm a retired professional photographer and I have learned over the years that no two people see the same colors or tones due to physical and perceptual differences. Audio is no different and I agree with you completely that audio reproduction is a very personal experience. Two people can sit side by side and have very different experiences listening to the same music over the same audio equipment. I considered trying the L600s, but decided to give it a rest on looking for new speakers and enjoy what I have for now. I did swap out my Onkyo gear for a Marantz Model 30 and CD50n. I think the tweeters on the L600 are slightly different and if I had to guess I'd say the L600 might have slightly better cabinets and/or crossover components.
I'm really intrigued by the SVS Ultra Evolution Pinnacle and Titan. They are great looking speakers and the reviews are very favorable so far. I'm kinda tapped out after buying a Marantz CD50n, Model 30 Amp, Bellari MT502 Step-up Transformer and AudioQuest Black Mamba II interconnects. I'm really happy with how my system had come together, but I'm also wondering could it be better with different speakers. I'm thinking about auditioning a pair of PS Audio FR50 speakers at some point and I'll look into SVSs shipping/home trial/return policy and may consider auditioning them as well.
The room is 14x14' with good diffusion and absorption properties. No doubt the speakers need to be matched to the room, but objection to the Polks is their tone, not their output. Compared to every other speaker I tried, Polks bass was a little boomy and the upper end rolled off. I tried smaller stand mount speakers, like the KEF LS50s with a REL subwoofer. They were fine for casual listening, but they began to sound stressed when turned up. The Acoustat 2+2 electrostatics were definitely too much speaker for the room, With my listening spot against the far wall they were just starting to image properly, another 3' and I think I could have really enjoyed them. No matter what new speaker I tried, I kept coming back to the Omni Sound TCM3 speakers as my favorite with deep, punchy bass, good midrange and articulate upper frequencies. I tried a few amps and finally fell in love with the TCM3s paired with a Marantz Model 3 amp and CD /streamer /DAC.
KoolBob... Thx for the review... Seems you have some pretty high-end equipment in a 2.1 setup... please allow me to recommend that you explore the wonderful (and awfully expensive in both time and money!) hobby of surround sound. I took the plunge about 10 years ago and even though my system is anything but high-end (old polk R50s, R15s, and center; pioneer sub, old Onyko AVR, nice Oppo 103 DVDA/SACD/bluray player), my music listening pleasures have skyrocketed playing titles that were re-mastered for quad, 5.1, and 7.1. The clear separation of the channels while maintaining a soundstage that envelopes you is something to behold. Listening to the surround mixes of albums that I listened to in stereo for eons was like hearing them for the first time - I heard so many things that I didnt know existed in the mix. I have about 75 titles ranging from Elton John, to Deep Purple, the Doors, XTC, Tears for Fears, Talking Heads, Doobie Brothers, Yes, etc. When friends come over for a listen, they are blown away at the clarity and how some tracks sound as though the band is in the room with ya! Next up for me is a new AVR that is Atmos capable and adding 4 ceiling speakers... I did mention this hobby is uber expensive, didn't I? I can only image what the sound would be like if I had good speakers like the Polks you reviewed here... maybe one day when I hit the lottery! Favorite mixes: Yes' Close to the Edge and Doobie Brothers Quadio!
@mminPA When I was in high school I bought an entry level quadrophonic system from a friend and set up a speaker in each corner of my bedroom and spent many hours listening to music with the volume up and the lights off. I only had one quad LP, but the system did a pretty good job as simulating quadraphonic from stereo LPs. I've played around with 5.1 on two different systems in our house over the years and I do really enjoy watching concert movies on our living room 5.1 system I still gravitate to stereo for music. The Acoustats are my first experience with electrostatics, after hearing the wide and tall soundfeild of the Acoustats regular speakers sound 'small'. I wish I could hear a pair of high quality open baffle speakers in person, but they are very esoteric and I haven't seen any place to buy some and try them at home with an option to return them if they aren't for me. I'm going to think about it over the weekend, but at the moment I'm leaning toward buying a pair of Martin Logan electrostatics to try out next.
@@Koolbob2 Thx for replying... my first setup (in HS back in '77 - im VERY old!) was a Sansui 9090db with some KLH floor speakers (3 ways with 12" woofers)... drove the parents crazy when I had that beast cranked - I still have big bertha (with new pioneer speakers/sub) and she still sounds great though I must confess I only occasionally turn her on nowadays! The thing about the quad, 5.1 and 7.1 mixes is that the mixer sometimes goes back to the original master tapes and redoes the whole album, deciding what tracks to place where... Steven Wilson is a MASTER at this and is most likely why I hear instruments I never heard in original stereo releases. But all the surround music I have purchased sounds FANTASTIC.
@@mmInPA Sounds lie we are about the same age and had similar stereos back in the day. I had a pair of Realistic Optimus 10" three-ways and a Realistic and Sansui receiver, and I remember pulling into the driveway once after school and hearing Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon blasting from the house. Mom had the system turned up to 11 while she was doing housework. Thanks for the tip, I'll check out Steven Wilson's work in 5.1.
Thanks for watching, I'm glad to hear that you like your R700s, they are a popular choice and I think they are a great value for the money. I thought they were very nice, but a bit too thick in the mid-bass and lacking in detail in the vocals and upper frequencies for my taste. Nothing wrong with my integrated amplifier, the Acoustat 2+2s, Omni Sound TCM3s and Mission Audio RS6s I used as reference points all sound better than the R700s in my room to my ears.
@@PIPERBOYWILLIAMS 250w, LOL, how loud do you jam? :) I never take my 100w past half volume and it leaves my ears ringing. The best part of my rig is the turntable, I’ll try a few more speakers but I may stick with my 30-year old, hand made TCM3s. Once I’ve chosen my speakers I plan to upgrade the amp to match the speakers needs.
I have Klipsch R8000 F11 in my drum room. Denon 110th Anny integrated amp and SACD player. It’s Rated 85 WPC 8 ohms and 165 4 ohms, but reviews and tests show that’s quite conservative. It’s also ultra high current and the two pieces retail for about 7K. So pretty good power and quality feeding them. Morrow audio SP6 speaker wires were about 1K. I was pretty blown away for the price of just tad over 1000.00 pair delivered. Some say too bright etc. I thought they sounded pretty killer. Too fatiguing for all day listening some say. I don’t know who listens all day? lol. 1-2 hours is long session for me and they never bothered me. Anyways I have seen So many rave reviews on Polk R700 Reserve I decided grab open box pair for 1300.00 and see if I’d want to keep over the Klipsch. Long story short I’ll likely sell the Polks. They are not dark, but I don’t love the highs. They are somewhat overpowered by the bass. Yes they have more bass than Klipsch but to me it’s kind of muddy and not real clean and tight. The mids are very good and maybe silkier than Klipsch and not so loud as the horn. That said both have some pluses and minuses but I like the Klipsch a lot better. The Polk looks don’t impress much either to me. That crinkle coat looks like truck bed liner. If you had cheaper amp I think most would for sure prefer Klipsch. Who knows but that’s my two cents. 😮
The polks need excess power ,it's a different beast when it's powerd 200+ RMS ..otherwise can't expect much...An Avr is never enough for polk ,even for polk signature series.
Sorry for the late reply, missed the notification for your comment somehow. Glad to hear I’m not the only one who wasn’t thrilled with the sound of the Polks. Decided to keep my old speakers and upgrade to Marantz Model 30 amp, Marantz CD50n CD player and expecting to receive Eversolo streamer next week.
The clear plastic decal on the polk logo is there to protect the logo in its shipping package and is meant to peel off once unboxed at home like many other products in this world for the past many many years. (A very irrelevant obvious dislike you stated)
The build quality was impressive at their price point, but I knew I would be returning them, so I did not inspect the decals in great detail. I’m glad I returned the Polks, the Martin Logans I’m currently auditioning project vocals and details far more to my liking.
Try Klipsch RF7III. Otherwise for Polk L700/800 or Klipsch RF7III you need at least 300 wpc amp for open more this speakers. You can run them with regular receiver like 150 wpc but this is not same. They power hungry.
Wow, thanks for the input. I definitely don't want any speaker that has to have 300wpc. LOL! The Polk R700 achieved plenty of volume with my amp, but I didn't think they were an upgrade in clarity or tone from what I already owned.
I have the Focal as well in my theater setup. Agree very balanced and great for the price when on sale. Better than Polk for sure imo. Yea the Focal cost more than Polk. The Polk cost more than the Klipsch too. I have Kanta No.2 in my two channel room. Man I’m in love with those! Can’t picture anything in the 10K price range being better.
@@jordenb9469The Omni Sound (black ones) have lots of detail, vocals are clearly front and center, solid bass. Cons to the Omni Sound are treble gets fatiguing at higher volume, some bass frequencies are more pronounced than others. Monitor Audios sound nice, but small woofers can’t keep up when turned up. Acoustats have HUGE soundstage and good recordings sound incredible, great bass, very natural sounding but the treble is too soft for my taste and they don’t have the dynamic punch of traditional speakers. Ideally I’d like my next speakers to be able to evenly play all frequencies with detail, and not be boomy or harsh when turned up. I’d like to keep the price at about 3-3.5k a pair. I’m tempted to try Martin Logan electrostatic next. I have an REL sub I’m not using, so I may consider a pair of top tier bookshelf speakers rather than floor standing models.
I love good bass, but not then it overpowered the rest of the music. The Acoustat 2+2 electrostatics have the best bass going down deep (claimed 28hz +/- 2db) with no audible peaks and valleys. The Omni Sound TCM3 have bass that hits hard (hand made Toby woofers claimed 36hz +/- 3db) but in my room there is a narrow bass band that is more pronounced than others. I can hear it when listening to some guitar of Leo Kottke's guitar solos, some notes are louder than others when they shouldn't be. The Monitor Audio RS6s sound smooth at lower volume (claimed 38hz), but get harsh when turned up loud. The Polk R700 have smooth bass (claimed 38hz) with no noticeable peaks or valleys, but the midrange and treble can't keep up with the bass making the speakers sound overly warm in my opinion. The comparatively weak midrange and treble gives the speaker a somewhat dull tonality with insufficient air or detail for my taste.
@@MasterofPlay7 Good point, I have considered that possibility. A friend made me an offer I could not resist on his old VPI classic turntable with a Shelter 501 cartridge when he upgraded to a VPI Avenger. I just got the cartridge back from being re-tipped. The turntable is the best bit of kit in the room and I am on a journey to upgrade the rest of the gear to a similar level on my tight budget. The VPI is connected to a ProJect Phono Box DS+ phone preamp. I'm using a Onkyo DX-7555 CD player and A-9555 integrated amplifier, both were favorably reviewed by Stereophile when they were introduced. I'm using Tara Labs Prism speaker cables and comparable interconnects, so my system is very modest to be sure. If I were going to buy a new amp for the Omni Sound speakers I would look for a class A or A/B amp or perhaps even a tube amp that was warm so as to not overly excite the already detailed tweeters. On the other hand if I were shopping for an amp to drive the Acoustats I would consider a class D amp with a minimum of 200 WPC. The Acoustats have wowed me with their wide and tall soundstage and now box speakers sound small in comparison. At this point I'm trying to decide between open baffle speakers (which can be driven with modest amplification), electrostatic speakers which tend to need lots of power and current and traditional box speakers. I may be approaching this all wrong, but my plan is to find speakers that I really like first with the gear I have and then upgrade the rest of the system around the speaker's needs.
@@Koolbob2 I mean the Polk r700 offers great value, if you want clarity then you should probably pair them with class d amp, the dryness will balance out the warmth/richness/thickness of the speakers. I think a lot of receivers use class d these days
What your looking for in a speaker you will have to spend 25k compared to $2500 These Polks are really good for the price. You say these tweeters are rolled off then you lost some of your hearing at your age.
Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment. I don't think my hearing is the issue because the Polks sound boomy and thick to me, but the KEF LS50s sounded fine on the upper end as did the Martin Logan Electromotion ESLs, Monitor Audio speakers and the Omni Sound TCM3s. Sound is a very personal thing and one person's holy grail speaker may sound terrible to someone else. That's why there are so many different speaker designs and manufacturers out there. Some folks like the Polk R700s and some don't. That's why it's good to audition speakers, they all have a unique tone.
The kefs have a extended bass shelf scooping out some lower bass to avoid booming but they are output limited by nature of their design. These polks have a flat response but in room will excite deep room modes. EQ the room.
@@crispindry Yes! Unless you are in an anechoic chamber, what we hear is a combination of the speaker's response and the room acoustics, so the room defiantly has a huge effect on how speakers sound. I have eight sound 2x4' sound dampening panels in the room as well as bass traps. I tried all the speakers at different distances from the back and side walls, different tow-in angles and with all the variations on the port plugs on the KEFs. I took down the acoustic panels since they have more effect in the midst and upper frequencies to see if I could coax more kids and highs out of the Polks, but it didn't help enough. In my room the TCM3s hit hard without the boom I experienced with the Polks. I tried using the Dirac Live EQ built into the NAD amp I had at the time and it helped with the roominess, but I didn't like how it rolled off the dynamics and made the music sound 'off' just a bit. I used the maximum number of sample tones multiple times and everything just sounded 'off' with the Dirac Live.
Enjoyable hearing your take on this. I'm rather happy with these speakers , hope you find what you're looking for!
Good to know you like the Polks, I read and watched a lot of positive reviews on them and wanted to love them but they just didn’t click for me. I’ve been auditioning a pair of Martin Logan ESLs and I like them a lot, but they can be ‘blah’ with some music. My main complaint with the speakers I’ve had for years is they ban be bright and fatiguing so I’m going to try pairing them with a Marantz amp the is supposed to be warm sounding. Fingers crossed.
I've had these for nearly a year. I agree they are heavy. They arrived ups freight on pallets. I love the sound. With proper placement, the vocals are right in front of your listening area. These are far she away the best over owned.
Choosing speakers is like dating, sometimes things just don't click. They are a popular choice and I'm glad they are making you happy. I moved the R700s out four feet from the back and side walls and angled them directly at me still too boomy and masked vocals. Their sound signature just doesn't work for me.
@@Koolbob2 I'm getting none of that. I have transparent and detailed sound. No veiling, and they don't boom. Quite neutral actually. They replaced my much more expensive focal speakers which sound unnatural by compare.
@@scottlowell493 I may be in the minority in not loving the R700s. Polk makes a wide range of speakers from very inexpensive to high-end. I was hoping the R700s would be a bit more detailed and articulate, but their tone was just a bit dark for my taste. After returning the Polks I tried a pair of Martin Logan ESL speakers, I definitely preferred the ESLs over the R700s. I debated on whether or not to keep the ESLs for over a month, but ended up sending them back as well. As wonderful as the ESLs were, no electrostatic speaker can match the dynamics of conventional speaker.
My primary speakers for the last 30+ years have very tactile low bass and a bright, articulate upper end that puts vocals out in front, to my ear they are nearly perfect. My only issues with them is that they can be a bit lean in the upper midrange and the treble can be fatiguing with some CDs (the treble is spot on with LPs and most streaming.
I decided to try a Marantz Model 30 amp and model 50 CD player with my TCM3 speakers. The Marantz amp's warmer sound paired well with the TCM3s and puts a smile on my face so I think I'll stick with this combo for now.
@@Koolbob2 It sounds to me the problem is your room. The R700's go low and they probably overloaded your room. You could have tested them with the ports plugged, although I don't know if the bottom port on the R700 can be plugged.
@@dragonstone6594 That would be an interesting experiment to try. My TCM3 speakers are rated 34hz-20,000hz +/- 2db and they have a rear facing port. The TCM3s have plenty of bass, enough that I prefer to leave my REL subwoofer turned off. Somehow my old speakers don't load the room with as much boom in the 60-180hz range as the Polks did. No doubt the R700s are fine speakers, but they just didn't work out as well as I had hoped in my room.
Thank you for a honest review! Appreciate it!
Thanks for watching! A friend let me borrow a pair of KEF LS50s (the original model that is no longer made) that really impressed me. Of course the KEF speakers need a subwoofer to play full range, bumping them to a price point a bit higher than the Polks, but I thought the KEF speakers had a much flatter frequency response, vocals were front and center and not masked like the Polks. The most impressive thing with the LS50s was no matter where I was in the room, I could hear both the left and right speaker. My only complaint with the LS50s is they sounded amazing within a somewhat limited volume range, turn the volume down to background music level and they sounded small and flat, turn them up loud and they ran out of steam and distorted. KEF makes many larger and 3-way models based on the LS50 that you might want to consider.
@Koolbob2 i still run my definitive technology BP20s that i bought brand new in 93! Still sound amazing to me. Run bose 301iii series in the rear from back then to. The definitive technology d11 sound great for a small bookshelf speaker very clean sound!! I have klh kandalls 1st series im looking to try out. Thank you. If you could try the d11s
I have these R700 as the main in my HT setup. They are perfect for that. They also good but not great for 2 channel listening for the money but the do need lots of room to breath (mine are in a large room as well) and respond well to better upstream equipment. I have a Parasound New Classic 2250 driving mine and they drink up the power from it. If you get a chance to try them with the separates before you send them back you may be surprised with how they improve. But if your room isnt big enough then they can be a bit too much.
Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment! Choosing speakers is like dating, sometimes things just don't click. The R700s are a popular choice and I'm glad they are making you happy. I moved the R700s out four feet from the back and side walls and angled them directly at me still too boomy and masked vocals. Admittedly my Onkyo integrated amp is a few years old, but it was well reviewed by Stereophile when it was released and it drives the power hungry Acoustat 2+2 electrostatic speakers well. Their sound signature just doesn't work for me.
great review and very helpful. thank you for the time invested.
Thank you!
Love the retro decor. You gave a great presentation on the speakers
Thank you, I love mid-century modern and have been fortunate to receive both tables as gifts from friends and picked up the pair of chairs at a local antiques shop for $35! I'm no expert, but I've been into music and audio gear since high school and hope to help others with their equipment buying choices.
I have a pair of these. I can totally understand why they certainly arent for everyone. When i first got them i played them for a few days then they got sent into another room where i rarely listen. What I've found from them is they are huge and pretty room dependent on how they will sound. I tried them in 3 differeng rooms and it was like having 3 different speakers almost. My initial problem with them was a lack of bass compared to the mids and very sibilant. After they sat for a couple weeks i listened to them in a more rectangular & damped room and liked the balanced sound of them there. The bass was better but still not enough detail or nuance to the bass. What i noticed was the woofers never moved or pushed air..and someone told me that was normal. Fast forward almost 2 months and then the woofers pushed in & out like most woofers im used to..and with this a much better bass response, better tone & detail to bass strums & notes.
I was going to babble on about my love hate relationship with these speakers but i would be writing forever. What I'll jump to and say is that they are the main drivers in my digital system today and i like them. I use PEQ on them thru a RME dac and i know that i couldn't use them in my living room without it. I've never had issues with the midrange but ive had to play with placement and eq for the highs. I get very detailed wonderful sound from them now and with them placed 8 feet apart i get a 10ft wide soundstage. But it took lots of REW measurements, low noise PS's on my router, streamer, dac and a high powered amp to get them to where i like them. Different equipment had different effects on them...where the singer sounded like they were almost behind the speaker to where now they are in line with the speaker. After trying them in 3 different rooms with different equipment, with and without EQ i totally understand why people wouldn't like them. The only reason i didnt send them back initially was because of freight charges...but i got them at a decent price i felt i could resell them. They've turned out to be pretty good though and I've heard a lot of speakers in my 50yrs. The quality of the source is a big deal though with these behemoths. I don't normally keep speakers too long but I'm not in a huge rush to trade them off. They are too big for me to hold onto long term unused but i think I'll miss them when they are gone. I do always find it fascinating how different people have such different experiences with the same speaker. And i don't feel it makes one person right or wrong...its how it sounds to us..with our preferences, in our room, with our equipment. There has been a few times i didn't like something that others raved about. Is what it is.
I've had some time to think it over after I made the video review and I believe I've figured out a few things. Your comments on trying the R700s in different rooms confirms my newest theories.
My listening room is about 14x14 with 8' ceilings, wall to wall carpet, one entire side wall is a bookcase so lots of diffraction there to break up standing waves. I have 8 2x4' sound absorbing panels (five behind the listening position and three behind the speakers centered on the front wall), bass traps in the corners behind the speakers. I position the speakers at least 3' from the front wall and 3' from the side walls and move them as needed from there.
My preferred speakers (Omni Sound TCM3, hand-made, audiophile crossover components, Toby 8" woofers and Vifa 1" tweeters) have the woofer high up in the cabinet to help keep bass frequencies from interacting with the floor. The woofers on the Polk are lower in the cabinet and the downward facing port further reinforces bass response. Great if you put them on a slab, not so great IMHO if you have a MDF/plywood floor over floor joist as I have in my second story room.
I removed all of my sound absorption panels when I was using the Polks and it did help with the soundstage, so I think they may perform better in a more lively room, like a room with hardwood or tile floors.
If I leaned way back in my chair with my head almost against the back wall the Polks did seem to image a bit better. If my room was another 3 or 4 feet longer I may have liked them more than I did.
I have a REL subwoofer that I don't use with my TCM3s or Acoustat 2+2s, but the sub might pair nicely with a pair of Martin Logan electrostatics or stand-mount speakers and using the sub with speakers that roll off around 50hz or so would allow me to dial in the balance between the bass and mid-upper frequencies to my taste.
@@Koolbob2 I understand what you are saying. Makes sense. To me they aren't a set it and forget it type speaker...well maybe if one has a really large room. I totally agree with them performing better in a livelier type room and sitting further away. I normally do prefer a bookshelf speaker paired with a sub. They have always been easier for me to deal with. Bass integration has always been an issue for me..and having a sub where I can place it anywhere and adjust the volume makes it a little easier. Then after I got my 1st SVS pro sub which has their app things have been even easier. Having 3 PEQ tabs and a room compensation adjustment has been a game changer. I will definitely go back to a bookshelf when I'm done with the Polk's. I held onto my Wharfedale Lintons which obviously I think are pretty good..but they can have some excess bass depending on the room & placement. I've never tried any of the KEF coaxial speakers..they shouldn't be heavy on bass..known to image extremely well with great mids. I've been told it's more of a stay seated in the sweet spot for the full experience. I find Erin's Audio corner channel & website to be helpful finding speakers..if you know exactly what you are looking for. Seems like you have some good gear already..it's going to take something nice to replace them. I think you did the right thing sending the Polk's back. You probably could have eventually made them work for you but it shouldn't be that hard..find something that fits what you have & your room. $2k is a lot of money and one shouldn't have to settle for anything when buying new.
I have these they’re my favorite for my music taste. I have focal Chora 826D for movies and music . I like the Choras too but very different . If you’re still searching for check out the Theva’s from Focal as they replaced the Chora’s and may be a tad better maybe . The numbers look the same but I’d think Focal would release an improved replacement . I really like both . They are Focals entry and I just can’t get over how much I like them . I won’t get the Theva’s as I paid around $450 for 2 Chora 826 D’s each . The Theva equivalent is $3K a pair . For the Polks I’m looking to improve them with two REL Classic 99 subs , & for the Choras I am ordering 2 REL T9x subs in October when the Tx series goes on sale . Good luck fun review
Thanks for the tips. I know Focal drivers are favorites among car audio enthusiast, but for some reason their home speakers haven't been on my radar. I've upgraded my amp and cd/DAC with Marantz Model 30 and CD50n and that has really improved the sound of my old speakers. I've put my speaker search on hold for now, but I may start looking again down the road.
I own these. I agree with you on the vocals, drums, and tweeter. I wish these imaged better, brought vocals forward, and tweeters were less recessed. That said I had a heard time finding speakers. There is only so many pairs we can try and send back over and over. These do sound great. SVS speakers have more air, better imaging, more forward vocals, and less bass. I had the Prime Towers and traded them in for the Polks. In many ways the Polks are superior, but the SVS were great and I miss there imaging, and vocals, but they just did not have enough bass for me.
Thanks for watching and commenting! Glad to hear I'm not the only one who thinks the Polks are too mellow and come up short in articulation and air. I got Crutchfield's 'Speaker Listening Kit' and was underwhelmed with the headphones included with the kit. I listened to EVERY floor standing and bookshelf speaker they have sound profiles for and they all were 'meh' for me. I may try a pair of Martin Logan ESL speakers next and if they aren't my thing then I'll just stick with my Omni Sounds.
That shiny plastic clear portion of the decal is not permanent. It is intended only for protection of the raised decal underneath for shipping. Remove the plastic tape looking part of the decal and the raised silver letters of the decals will be permanently left upon the speakers. I have the walnut R700s, R400 and R900s and all are this way.
Have you ever auditioned a pair of new speakers and immediately knew that you would probably be returning them? That's how I felt about the R700s. I positioned them face to face a few inches apart, wired one out of phase and left them playing fairly loud to break them in. Re-auditioning them a week later I knew they were going back and I didn't make any effort to peel off the plastic. I am glad to learn that it's just protection and not part of the logo.
I next auditioned a pair of KEF LS50s on loan from a friend with a REL subwoofer. Although I preferred them over the R700, I again thought my old handmade speakers sounded better. I did keep a pair of Martin Logan electrostatic speakers for over a month and came very close to keeping them, but even though they excel in many areas, they fall short in other areas. Back they went.
In the end, upgrading my 27-year-old components to use with my old speakers gave the best results by far.
I have both the Klipsch RP 8000f III and the Polk r700 love them both.
I've come to the conclusion that selecting the 'right' speaker is a lot like dating. Sometimes 5 minutes is all it takes for you to decide this sin't going to work for me. Other relationships are complicated with ups and downs. If you're lucky you find a pairing that just clicks. I'm glad to hear the R700 makes you happy.
@@Koolbob2 well here is the answer to having both. I spend summer with the rp-8000f ii and winter with the Polk's. (Snow Bird)
Thanks! Good to hear both the pros and cons.
Hello from Bombay (Mumbai) India! Thank you for your detailed and honest review of these speakers. I am thinking of purchasing an entire surround + Atmos set of Polk Reserves, with the R700 as front L/R, bi-amped with a Denon/Marantz top-end receiver. In particular, your comment about how to unpack them is really useful, although I wish you had shown how to use them with spikes on your carpeted floor. As for sound-quality: since I have a good relationship with their India distributor, they have kindly agreed to let me keep their demo pair over the weekend to see how they sound in my home-theater room. And before I forget, I LOVE your Sony cassette pillow 🙂Where did you buy it?
Hi @bombayteddy I had several sets of speakers in and out of my room over the past few months and finally decided that I preferred my 30+ year old speakers. I tried switching to a Marantz Model 30 amplifier and found that it had slightly more bass extension and a warmer sound than my old Onkyo amp. The pairing of the 'warm' Maranta amp with my slightly bright and articulate speakers sounds great to me so I'm done buying gear, at least for now. I'd be curious to hear your impressions of the R700 with your setup.
I got the pillow in a local shop several years ago, but I have seen similar ones on line over the years. Just search for 'cassette tape pillow'.
oh ,just remembered , i solved the moving around on carpet issue with furniture glides . they are ugly but allows you to move the speakers with one hand and very little pressure . this enables the listener to test different listening positions until one finds the optimal position.
.when that is achieved you can remove the glides for a better aesthetic.
Great idea! I have some of those plastic slides that are about 3" square, I'll definitely put them to use the next time I'm auditioning speakers!
If you still think the L600s are just touch bright try toeing them ever so slightly outward so neither speaker points at you. Sometimes being just a few degrees off axis is all that is needed to tame a bright speaker.
Personally I think you need to upgrade you kit first then assess these speakers as they are actually quite revealing. I’ve been running mine now with my modest $22k system in my 14x22 ft. Listening room and they are very good! I am also using a pair of REL subs with them to flat to 20Hz. I believe your room may be too small too. My soundstage is incredibly well developed with vocals nailed to the center (when recorded that way) and all of the stage is deep and behind the speakers as it should be. Perhaps it may benefit you to go audition some nice systems at your local high end dealer…. Good luck😊
Sounds like we both have an audio system we're very happy with.
I drove to Dallas 30 years ago on a mission to buy a pair of speakers. I went to numerous high end audio boutiques and listened to many brands including B&W, Boston Acoustics and Theil. The Omni Sound TCM3 speakers that were designed and hand-made by Randy McCarter sounded better to me than anything else I heard on that trip. Randy's background was as an electrical engineer and he was best known for his hand-made interconnects which were highly thought of in the upper echelon audiophile community. I touched base with Randy years ago and he was developing a pair of 7ft tall line array speakers with multiple tweeters/midranges and dual push/pull subs. I lost track with him and don't know how they turned out or even if he's still around.
A friend across town has spent over $60k upgrading his already impressive system over the past 6-months with the latest and greatest equipment made by PS Audio. He's the one who gave me his old Acoustat 2+2 speakers - 8ft tall electrostatics , talk about a wall of sound, with the right music they give you goose bumps, but I discovered I much preferred dynamic speakers for rock and roll. My friend's PS Audio upgrades got me to wondering if my old system could stand a little updating. I tried the Polk R700s with Onkyo, NAD and Marantz integrated amplifiers, for me the Polks were meh. I did kept the Marantz Model 30 amp which sounded warmer and punchier than my old Onkyo or newest NAD. I also auditioned the newest offerings from Martin Logan, KEF and Monitor Audio under $3,500 in my room and I still prefer my TCM3s. My friend is probably going to buy a pair of PS Audio Aspen FR5 stand mount speakers for his second, upstairs audio system and I may borrow his FR5s to try out, but otherwise I'm good to go for now.
It's a shame that there are so few audio stores around anymore, All of the stores I visited in Dallas are gone now and my favorite audio shop in Memphis went from Audio only to Audio/Video then they went out of business.
R700 have a perfect anechoic frequency response, it's just your earing is accustomed to bright speakers.
It's no surprise that hundreds of speaker designers have created thousands of speakers over the years in search of perfection. The Polks seem to be a great value and lots of people like them, but they didn't check the right boxes for me.
There is no such thing as too much bass from a speaker without a subwoofer. Many swear that Andrew Jones's last floorstanding Mofi would be the perfect speaker and the only speakers anybody would need/want/own forever
Hmmm, yes and no. I love hearing deeeep, tight bass when it's supposed to be there. My speakers are rated down to 36hz +/- 3db and they do sound even better with my REL TX7 sub crossed over at 30hz so it augments where the main speakers roll off without being too boomy.
I have a low tolerance for boomy bass, especially in the 60-180hz range, that is disproportionate with the rest of the frequencies. For me the R700s were too thick and slow on the lower end and sounded thin in the midrange and upper end.
The only thing that matters in this hobby is that you enjoy listening to whatever equipment you have.
@@Koolbob2 indeed you have to enjoy listening, but if a speaker is rated 37hz for ex that doesn't mean will actually play 37 hz in any room/music, not at all. and the Roll-off will be higher anyway, probably around 45-60 hz. That may vary a lot. If you set a low pass filter on the sub on 30hz you'll have a gap between that roll off frq of the speakers and subwoofer's peak/HP roll-off.
Usually speakers are boomy by themselves because of the construction: bad drivers or wrong sized enclosure most of the time, too little air space. If a speaker is built corectly which these polk certainly are in a very rigid and sturdy cabinet with enough enclosure size boomyness often comes from the room, placement/furniture etc.
Even if a speaker doesn't have a back side port, placing it closer to the wall would make it boomy.
SVS's last model of floorstanding speakers really go down to 30hz, but they have a different design and also 4 bass speakers.
For example A 12 inch subwoofer in a sealed enclosure is closer to being boomy in a room, because of the size of the enclosure. a 12inch usually needs about 50-60 liters enclosure or even more if it's a long throw design. unless it's a shallow sub that can work in a 20 liters for example and also being engineered for that tight space with high Qts spec and other TS parameters.
By the design of the Polk i agree with you the midrange should be improved. Also a bigger size midrange speaker would have been better to keep up with those bass drivers.
I am certain Polk tried to combine best of both worlds like Hi-Fi and Cinema. They have a also surround and center channel in this serie and Home Cinema audience is very wide. Most people i guess will be using these with AV Receivers not amplifiers, even though a pair of monoblocks would be best
@@motorax.service.motociclete Yes, you are correct, my speaker is rated down to 36hz +/- 3db. That means it is capable of reproducing bass down to 36hz at 3db lower volume than its average output over the range from 36hz to 20,000hz. I've set my REL sub to its lowest crossover point so it augments the very lowest frequencies that are below my main speaker's capabilities with minimal overlap between the subwoofer and main speakers.
The challenge for me is the Omni Sound TCM3 speakers I have were handmade in the 90's by an electrical engineer who was already well renowned in the audiophile community for the interconnects he designed and built. He owned Omni Sound audio boutique in Dallas and sold Theil and B+W speakers. He decided he could build better speaker using the best crossover components, wire, cabinet materials, dampening materials and drivers available at the time. I was in the right place at the right time and bought one of his final prototypes off the showroom floor because they sounded better than any other speaker at twice the price. They are rated at 92db @ 1 watt-meter, so 100wpc is way more than enough.
The R700, like every other retail speaker is built with compromises to hit a certain price point. The R700s for example typically sells for around $1,200ea. The dealer mark up is about 50%, so Polk is selling them to the retailer for about $600ea. Polk is making about 50% profit, so Polk keeps the cost down to about $300 to build each R700.
Speaker design and drivers have come a long way since the TCM3s were made, so I know there are lots of better sounding speakers on the market today. My mistake was expecting to upgrade to a better speaker in the $2,000-$4,000 range. I am going to focus on speakers in the $5,000 and up range to see if I can improve on what I have.
@@Koolbob2 R700 sells for $770-$1000 each. Say 6 months a year for $1000 and 6 months for $770.
Merhaba sizce polk s-60 mı sinama HAPARLÖRÜ olarak güzel yoksa triangle br09 mu güzel bir sinama deneyimi yaşatır
I'm sorry, I don't have any experience with the Polk S-60 or the Triangle BR09.
Üzgünüm, Polk S-60 veya Triangle BR09 ile ilgili hiçbir deneyimim yok.
@@Koolbob2 teşekkür ederim güzel insan pekala polk r700 nasıl sinama haparlü olarak güzel mi
@@kenanyetin3456 I thought it had a little too much bass and not enough midrange clarity and treble detail for critical music listening, but I also beleive those atributes would make it an excellent cinema speaker.
Biraz fazla bas, orta aralık netliği ve tiz detayının kritik müzik dinleme için yetersiz olduğunu düşündüm, ancak bu özelliklerin onu mükemmel bir sinema hoparlörü yapacağına da inanıyorum.
@@Koolbob2 teşekkür ederim güzel insan anladıgma göre polk s-60 sinama deneyimi için güzel bir haparlör olduğunu düşünüyorum sizce yanılıyormuyum bilmiyorum ama sizin düşünceniz itabi daha önemli 😊😊
an interesting review and very good at reminding us that the experience of sound/music , once it reaches the brain via the ear canal , is 100% subjective . it's essential to test multiple speakers to find what YOU like .
i have the L 600s which look to be identical as far as the drivers and their layout are concerned . not sure why they are so much more expensive .
anyway i love the sound . the vocals are above and between the speakers on my L600 and i find through past experience with polk that they are hungry for power . i'm using a marantz 30 that produces 200 watts a channel into 4 ohms and still i think they could take a bit more . the highs are a bit bright for my taste but not abrasive . i'm very pleased with this set up.
I'm a retired professional photographer and I have learned over the years that no two people see the same colors or tones due to physical and perceptual differences. Audio is no different and I agree with you completely that audio reproduction is a very personal experience. Two people can sit side by side and have very different experiences listening to the same music over the same audio equipment. I considered trying the L600s, but decided to give it a rest on looking for new speakers and enjoy what I have for now. I did swap out my Onkyo gear for a Marantz Model 30 and CD50n. I think the tweeters on the L600 are slightly different and if I had to guess I'd say the L600 might have slightly better cabinets and/or crossover components.
thanks very much for the reply .it was very helpful .sorry i didn't reply earlier . your email got buried
under a mountain of other emails .
What do you think new Svs Ultra Evolution?? Polk or Svs which one best movie performance??
I'm really intrigued by the SVS Ultra Evolution Pinnacle and Titan. They are great looking speakers and the reviews are very favorable so far. I'm kinda tapped out after buying a Marantz CD50n, Model 30 Amp, Bellari MT502 Step-up Transformer and AudioQuest Black Mamba II interconnects. I'm really happy with how my system had come together, but I'm also wondering could it be better with different speakers. I'm thinking about auditioning a pair of PS Audio FR50 speakers at some point and I'll look into SVSs shipping/home trial/return policy and may consider auditioning them as well.
How big is your room? It appears that your room is far too small for the rated output and size of the Polk R700.
The room is 14x14' with good diffusion and absorption properties. No doubt the speakers need to be matched to the room, but objection to the Polks is their tone, not their output. Compared to every other speaker I tried, Polks bass was a little boomy and the upper end rolled off. I tried smaller stand mount speakers, like the KEF LS50s with a REL subwoofer. They were fine for casual listening, but they began to sound stressed when turned up. The Acoustat 2+2 electrostatics were definitely too much speaker for the room, With my listening spot against the far wall they were just starting to image properly, another 3' and I think I could have really enjoyed them. No matter what new speaker I tried, I kept coming back to the Omni Sound TCM3 speakers as my favorite with deep, punchy bass, good midrange and articulate upper frequencies. I tried a few amps and finally fell in love with the TCM3s paired with a Marantz Model 3 amp and CD /streamer /DAC.
KoolBob... Thx for the review... Seems you have some pretty high-end equipment in a 2.1 setup... please allow me to recommend that you explore the wonderful (and awfully expensive in both time and money!) hobby of surround sound. I took the plunge about 10 years ago and even though my system is anything but high-end (old polk R50s, R15s, and center; pioneer sub, old Onyko AVR, nice Oppo 103 DVDA/SACD/bluray player), my music listening pleasures have skyrocketed playing titles that were re-mastered for quad, 5.1, and 7.1. The clear separation of the channels while maintaining a soundstage that envelopes you is something to behold. Listening to the surround mixes of albums that I listened to in stereo for eons was like hearing them for the first time - I heard so many things that I didnt know existed in the mix. I have about 75 titles ranging from Elton John, to Deep Purple, the Doors, XTC, Tears for Fears, Talking Heads, Doobie Brothers, Yes, etc. When friends come over for a listen, they are blown away at the clarity and how some tracks sound as though the band is in the room with ya! Next up for me is a new AVR that is Atmos capable and adding 4 ceiling speakers... I did mention this hobby is uber expensive, didn't I? I can only image what the sound would be like if I had good speakers like the Polks you reviewed here... maybe one day when I hit the lottery! Favorite mixes: Yes' Close to the Edge and Doobie Brothers Quadio!
@mminPA When I was in high school I bought an entry level quadrophonic system from a friend and set up a speaker in each corner of my bedroom and spent many hours listening to music with the volume up and the lights off. I only had one quad LP, but the system did a pretty good job as simulating quadraphonic from stereo LPs.
I've played around with 5.1 on two different systems in our house over the years and I do really enjoy watching concert movies on our living room 5.1 system I still gravitate to stereo for music.
The Acoustats are my first experience with electrostatics, after hearing the wide and tall soundfeild of the Acoustats regular speakers sound 'small'. I wish I could hear a pair of high quality open baffle speakers in person, but they are very esoteric and I haven't seen any place to buy some and try them at home with an option to return them if they aren't for me. I'm going to think about it over the weekend, but at the moment I'm leaning toward buying a pair of Martin Logan electrostatics to try out next.
@@Koolbob2 Thx for replying... my first setup (in HS back in '77 - im VERY old!) was a Sansui 9090db with some KLH floor speakers (3 ways with 12" woofers)... drove the parents crazy when I had that beast cranked - I still have big bertha (with new pioneer speakers/sub) and she still sounds great though I must confess I only occasionally turn her on nowadays! The thing about the quad, 5.1 and 7.1 mixes is that the mixer sometimes goes back to the original master tapes and redoes the whole album, deciding what tracks to place where... Steven Wilson is a MASTER at this and is most likely why I hear instruments I never heard in original stereo releases. But all the surround music I have purchased sounds FANTASTIC.
@@mmInPA Sounds lie we are about the same age and had similar stereos back in the day. I had a pair of Realistic Optimus 10" three-ways and a Realistic and Sansui receiver, and I remember pulling into the driveway once after school and hearing Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon blasting from the house. Mom had the system turned up to 11 while she was doing housework. Thanks for the tip, I'll check out Steven Wilson's work in 5.1.
I have these. You need a reasonable amp and change the crossover
Thanks for watching, I'm glad to hear that you like your R700s, they are a popular choice and I think they are a great value for the money. I thought they were very nice, but a bit too thick in the mid-bass and lacking in detail in the vocals and upper frequencies for my taste. Nothing wrong with my integrated amplifier, the Acoustat 2+2s, Omni Sound TCM3s and Mission Audio RS6s I used as reference points all sound better than the R700s in my room to my ears.
@@Koolbob2 I didn’t like them when I first got them. They’re not good without an amp pushing atleast 250 watts
@@PIPERBOYWILLIAMS 250w, LOL, how loud do you jam? :) I never take my 100w past half volume and it leaves my ears ringing. The best part of my rig is the turntable, I’ll try a few more speakers but I may stick with my 30-year old, hand made TCM3s. Once I’ve chosen my speakers I plan to upgrade the amp to match the speakers needs.
I have Klipsch R8000 F11 in my drum room. Denon 110th Anny integrated amp and SACD player. It’s Rated 85 WPC 8 ohms and 165 4 ohms, but reviews and tests show that’s quite conservative. It’s also ultra high current and the two pieces retail for about 7K. So pretty good power and quality feeding them. Morrow audio SP6 speaker wires were about 1K. I was pretty blown away for the price of just tad over 1000.00 pair delivered. Some say too bright etc. I thought they sounded pretty killer. Too fatiguing for all day listening some say. I don’t know who listens all day? lol. 1-2 hours is long session for me and they never bothered me. Anyways I have seen So many rave reviews on Polk R700 Reserve I decided grab open box pair for 1300.00 and see if I’d want to keep over the Klipsch. Long story short I’ll likely sell the Polks. They are not dark, but I don’t love the highs. They are somewhat overpowered by the bass. Yes they have more bass than Klipsch but to me it’s kind of muddy and not real clean and tight. The mids are very good and maybe silkier than Klipsch and not so loud as the horn. That said both have some pluses and minuses but I like the Klipsch a lot better. The Polk looks don’t impress much either to me. That crinkle coat looks like truck bed liner. If you had cheaper amp I think most would for sure prefer Klipsch. Who knows but that’s my two cents. 😮
The polks need excess power ,it's a different beast when it's powerd 200+ RMS ..otherwise can't expect much...An Avr is never enough for polk ,even for polk signature series.
Sorry for the late reply, missed the notification for your comment somehow. Glad to hear I’m not the only one who wasn’t thrilled with the sound of the Polks. Decided to keep my old speakers and upgrade to Marantz Model 30 amp, Marantz CD50n CD player and expecting to receive Eversolo streamer next week.
The clear plastic decal on the polk logo is there to protect the logo in its shipping package and is meant to peel off once unboxed at home like many other products in this world for the past many many years. (A very irrelevant obvious dislike you stated)
The build quality was impressive at their price point, but I knew I would be returning them, so I did not inspect the decals in great detail. I’m glad I returned the Polks, the Martin Logans I’m currently auditioning project vocals and details far more to my liking.
Try Klipsch RF7III. Otherwise for Polk L700/800 or Klipsch RF7III you need at least 300 wpc amp for open more this speakers. You can run them with regular receiver like 150 wpc but this is not same. They power hungry.
Wow, thanks for the input. I definitely don't want any speaker that has to have 300wpc. LOL! The Polk R700 achieved plenty of volume with my amp, but I didn't think they were an upgrade in clarity or tone from what I already owned.
@@Koolbob2 👍
Focal aria 936k2 if you want balanced
Thanks for the recommendation!
I have the Focal as well in my theater setup. Agree very balanced and great for the price when on sale. Better than Polk for sure imo. Yea the Focal cost more than Polk. The Polk cost more than the Klipsch too. I have Kanta No.2 in my two channel room. Man I’m in love with those! Can’t picture anything in the 10K price range being better.
What are the other speakers you have in your room there? Thanks.
The small ones are Monitor Audio RS6, the black ones are Omni Sound TCM3, the 8ft tall ones are Acoustat 2+2.
@@Koolbob2 Which are you favorite?
@@jordenb9469The Omni Sound (black ones) have lots of detail, vocals are clearly front and center, solid bass. Cons to the Omni Sound are treble gets fatiguing at higher volume, some bass frequencies are more pronounced than others. Monitor Audios sound nice, but small woofers can’t keep up when turned up. Acoustats have HUGE soundstage and good recordings sound incredible, great bass, very natural sounding but the treble is too soft for my taste and they don’t have the dynamic punch of traditional speakers. Ideally I’d like my next speakers to be able to evenly play all frequencies with detail, and not be boomy or harsh when turned up. I’d like to keep the price at about 3-3.5k a pair. I’m tempted to try Martin Logan electrostatic next. I have an REL sub I’m not using, so I may consider a pair of top tier bookshelf speakers rather than floor standing models.
@@Koolbob2 Right on. Nice to hear about your audio journey. Have fun and hope you get what your after. 😎
i thought they are bass beast
I love good bass, but not then it overpowered the rest of the music.
The Acoustat 2+2 electrostatics have the best bass going down deep (claimed 28hz +/- 2db) with no audible peaks and valleys.
The Omni Sound TCM3 have bass that hits hard (hand made Toby woofers claimed 36hz +/- 3db) but in my room there is a narrow bass band that is more pronounced than others. I can hear it when listening to some guitar of Leo Kottke's guitar solos, some notes are louder than others when they shouldn't be.
The Monitor Audio RS6s sound smooth at lower volume (claimed 38hz), but get harsh when turned up loud.
The Polk R700 have smooth bass (claimed 38hz) with no noticeable peaks or valleys, but the midrange and treble can't keep up with the bass making the speakers sound overly warm in my opinion. The comparatively weak midrange and treble gives the speaker a somewhat dull tonality with insufficient air or detail for my taste.
@@Koolbob2 what amp did you use to drive them? the tonality could be from the amp
@@MasterofPlay7 Good point, I have considered that possibility.
A friend made me an offer I could not resist on his old VPI classic turntable with a Shelter 501 cartridge when he upgraded to a VPI Avenger. I just got the cartridge back from being re-tipped. The turntable is the best bit of kit in the room and I am on a journey to upgrade the rest of the gear to a similar level on my tight budget. The VPI is connected to a ProJect Phono Box DS+ phone preamp. I'm using a Onkyo DX-7555 CD player and A-9555 integrated amplifier, both were favorably reviewed by Stereophile when they were introduced. I'm using Tara Labs Prism speaker cables and comparable interconnects, so my system is very modest to be sure.
If I were going to buy a new amp for the Omni Sound speakers I would look for a class A or A/B amp or perhaps even a tube amp that was warm so as to not overly excite the already detailed tweeters. On the other hand if I were shopping for an amp to drive the Acoustats I would consider a class D amp with a minimum of 200 WPC.
The Acoustats have wowed me with their wide and tall soundstage and now box speakers sound small in comparison. At this point I'm trying to decide between open baffle speakers (which can be driven with modest amplification), electrostatic speakers which tend to need lots of power and current and traditional box speakers.
I may be approaching this all wrong, but my plan is to find speakers that I really like first with the gear I have and then upgrade the rest of the system around the speaker's needs.
@@Koolbob2 I mean the Polk r700 offers great value, if you want clarity then you should probably pair them with class d amp, the dryness will balance out the warmth/richness/thickness of the speakers. I think a lot of receivers use class d these days
@@MasterofPlay7 I agree, a Class D amp with a lot of detail could potentially add the clarity I find lacking in the R700.
Challenger M-105 👈 JBL Studio 698 👈👍 polk it is priced too high... to your capabilities !
What your looking for in a speaker you will have to spend 25k compared to $2500 These Polks are really good for the price. You say these tweeters are rolled off then you lost some of your hearing at your age.
Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment. I don't think my hearing is the issue because the Polks sound boomy and thick to me, but the KEF LS50s sounded fine on the upper end as did the Martin Logan Electromotion ESLs, Monitor Audio speakers and the Omni Sound TCM3s. Sound is a very personal thing and one person's holy grail speaker may sound terrible to someone else. That's why there are so many different speaker designs and manufacturers out there. Some folks like the Polk R700s and some don't. That's why it's good to audition speakers, they all have a unique tone.
The kefs have a extended bass shelf scooping out some lower bass to avoid booming but they are output limited by nature of their design. These polks have a flat response but in room will excite deep room modes. EQ the room.
@@crispindry Yes! Unless you are in an anechoic chamber, what we hear is a combination of the speaker's response and the room acoustics, so the room defiantly has a huge effect on how speakers sound. I have eight sound 2x4' sound dampening panels in the room as well as bass traps. I tried all the speakers at different distances from the back and side walls, different tow-in angles and with all the variations on the port plugs on the KEFs. I took down the acoustic panels since they have more effect in the midst and upper frequencies to see if I could coax more kids and highs out of the Polks, but it didn't help enough. In my room the TCM3s hit hard without the boom I experienced with the Polks.
I tried using the Dirac Live EQ built into the NAD amp I had at the time and it helped with the roominess, but I didn't like how it rolled off the dynamics and made the music sound 'off' just a bit. I used the maximum number of sample tones multiple times and everything just sounded 'off' with the Dirac Live.