Polk audio Reserve R500 Compact Floorstanding Loudspeaker (Black, Single)

I purchased these speakers about eight months ago to use as "hybrid" speakers for both home theater and music listening. I was initially skeptical, having only experienced Polk's lower-end products and unsure if their higher-priced models could compete with other brands with more history and...

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  Amazing for both music and home theater

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  Bass can be 'boomy' if placed too close to wall (plugging bass ports resolves this)

I am beyond thrilled that this is the speaker system I selected. I was replacing some older Ohm Walsh2's and the R500 was about as large as would fit well in my room, and I am just in love with the sound.

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  Build quality, amazing sound for the price level, EVERYTHING about them. They look so awesome in my room. And I appreciate how nicely and easily the grills pop on or off with the magnetic fasteners... don't have to worry about finicky fastener posts or clips breaking over time.

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  Not as much of a "con" but the reality of a speaker this size... a subwoofer will help with the bass for some types of music, but I wouldn't call the bass lacking in any serious or detrimental way.

The sound and look excellent. The room is not big and they still need to warm up a bit, but they sounded out of the box beautifully both with lossless streaming and with vinyl. Base is nice and smooth. I am still adjusting them to the room, but so far no complaints.

I am not a first time customer, I have shopped at C several times over the years, I come back because like to ask questions, and I want straight answers, and I always get that at C. My advisor, Fox, listened to my goals, my room size, then recommended the R500.

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  Beautiful sound, and great looking.

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  Sub speaker terminal seemed undersized

Stunning bass depth for a speaker with 5 1/4" drivers. - Excellent resolution and detail. These speakers define well vocals, explosions ,ect when you listen through the HDMI-E ARC- or Optic of the TV, but really shine on the whole spectrum no matter what kind of music from Enya to Def Leppard.

So far, I love these speakers. I was impressed by the reviews I had watched about the Polk Reserve Series. Sean at Zero Fidelity reviewed the R500s in particular. I wanted tower speakers and this model fit my room & budget. I am currently driving these with a Marantz NR1200 Receiver.

My ~20-year-old Canadian towers have a generally nice/open sound, but recent ARC Genesis measurements confirmed my experience of top-end brightness. I was also jaded with the "square black box" look.

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  Sound, size, finish, price.

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  The stock Polk footers use a non-standard thread size.

You won't get better service anywhere. Quality and price are excellent!

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  Nice clear sound at low volume. Quality and handsome cabinets.

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  No cons

I initially ordered the center channel, R350, which I love for television. I wanted the matching right and left channel is a 3.1 system. Visually these are beautiful, modern speakers. They are warm with terrific bass. They have excellent dispersion and make a wonderful home theater.

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  Great for home theater.

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  I am not convinced they are as open sounding as desired for just two channel music listening. The warm tweeter is good for the human voice in home theater applications.

Based on the price this is an easy five stars. I tried the Polk L600's and those sounded fantastic but the bass response flat out over powered my room (13' by 17' with angled ceilings).

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  - Stunning bass depth for a speaker with 5 1/4" drivers.- Excellent resolution and detail without being bright.- Very linear sounding speaker from top to bottom.- These speakers will scale with better electronics.

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  - Lot's of people won't take these speakers seriously simply because they are from Polk.- Finish is a bit utilitarian but they still look really good. That's one of the reasons they sell for what they do.- Bass is DEEP but not terribly nuanced. Still no bloat at all if set up correctly.