Customer Reviews

Polk Audio R30 2-Way Floor-Standing Loudspeaker (Pair)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I purchased these speakers after seeing them dropped from their msrp of $300 a pair to a little over $100 at Outpost.com. After giving them an extensive listening test, I can offer the following advice on how to balance the speakers into making them sound quite good.

1. When you first get them, the won't sound very good. They'll be missing the mid-range and the treble will be overpowering. THEY NEED TO BE BROKEN IN!!! After about 10 hours of heavy bass music, they'll loosen up the drivers enough to make a night and day difference. The mid-range will be there in full force, sounding accurate, while the tweeter will settle down and blend nicely.

2. Being a Two-way setup (2 drivers, one tweeter and one 6.5" midrange with extension down to about 100 hz), to function properly they need a subwoofer or an equalizer that emphasizes the range from 70 and below(I've upped it 3db). Adding a subwoofer to the mix with a crossover range of about 150hz will make the setup sound much fuller. Lacking a subwoofer, equalizing the low end up a couple of decibels (experiment with this since the amplifier might automatically do this and depending out good your receiver is, might be unnecessary) will give you good kick and fuller low end. Be warned: the more bass you give it, the less mid-range you'll have. I strongly suggest only 2-3 decibels max.

3. I found the best position for them to be at least 8 feet apart (any closer and the channels tend to blur a bit, erasing the stereo image. Experiment though, I have a lot of furniture that sucks up sound very easily), in the corners if possible with a buffer space of about 12" from back and sides. Avoid sticking them next to couches if possible as they have a very wide dispersion of sound- Your volume from a speaker can drop by 25% if one side is to a heavily clothed object (couches, chairs, thick curtains).

If you set these things up right, they'll sound great. Avoid older receivers(15+ years) unless they are truly top notch. A decent sub-woofer (10" minimum) as a compliment will give the system great range and be quite accurate. MAKE SURE YOU RUN THEM FOR AT LEAST 10 HOURS WITH FULL RANGE MUSIC(20,000 HZ - 50 HZ) OR WHITE NOISE BEFORE GIVING THEM A SOUND TEST!!! Break them in and you will be well rewarded.

A great set of speakers.

I recently purchased a pair of the Polk Audio R30s during an incredible sale. I had a couple of older JBL bookshelf speakers and had long been wanting a set of decent floorstanding speakers to get a more complete sound. I figured that for around $100 for a pair, I would take my chances. I hoped that at worst they would sound a little better than the JBLs I was using. But at that price, I kept my expectations fairly low.

When they finally arrived and I hooked them up to my old Pioneer receiver, and put on a CD. I was completely stunned to realize how much I had been missing with the bookshelf speakers, which I had always thought did a pretty good job. I heard powerful, rich bass on songs that I never knew had any. The bass was incredible and the mid and high range were excellent as well. I could not believe the awesome sound I was getting from such inexpensive speakers. I used to think about buying a separate subwoofer, but not anymore.

From bass all the way to the highest notes, the sound is clear, crisp and powerful. I have shown the speakers to numerous friend and they have all been very impressed as well.

I am baffled as to how a couple of the other reviewers here had were so unhappy with their R30 speakers. I know that there can be a fairly lengthy break-in period (40 hrs or so) with new speakers after which the speaker loosens up and the sound "warms" up. Or maybe the difference is in the receiver they used with their speakers. Or maybe they just got a bad pair. I don't know. I can only say that I could not be happier with mine and consider the speakers one of the very best deals I have ever gotten.

These two towers are quite the showmen for small floorstanding speakers. The tweeters are 1" silk, and they sound nice!. The tweeters open up a little more than the usual sweet spot sound effect you'd get from others.

The bass driver is fair sized, pretty tight firing, and not too clumsy. Front oversized porting for the driver helps ease the stress of any large 'boofs' of bass on these. I found a number of larger Polk 'R' series tower speakers to sound too beefy, and not very clean sounding when it came to detail. These smaller ones mop the floor with them when it comes to clean bass and detail, and still give plenty of power to boot!

If you really want a fantastic speaker that's equally priced, but constructed better with superior sound (honestly), look into Paradigm, or PSB! Still, thumbs up for Polk. These are quite the little towers. Not the gold medal, but definitely a bronze medal contender!

I replaced 2 Sansui (huge, heavy, 15 inch woofers) with these and I must admit, I was blown away with their performance. Not only do they look good, they sound WONDERFUL!!! Bass is quite decent, despite having a JVC sub to do most of that work, distortionless and exceptionally bright on highs. Mid range is ample, but does need a boost through EQ for tonal quality. Overall, I would have to say Polk did their homework when producing these and would highly recommend them to anyone thinking about replacing their older sets or getting new ones. I am particular about sound, being a musician and these are about as good as it gets, other than Bose, but then not all of us can afford such luxuries (about 5X the price of these)and alot of their price is their name. I do not believe that you would be disppointed in purchasing these for your your needs.

Bought these to work with a CSi30 Center channel, two R15 surrounds and a PSW202 Subwoofer (it came free with a purchase of $X from a local electronics store, i bought an Surround Sound Amp and a DVD player). When running DTS or Dobly Digital they match seamlessly. When listening to stereo music with the subwoofer off, they sound good, low bass is a bit lacking, but nothing to lament over. My R30's get about 90% home theater usage. I would recommend them in conjunction with other Polk Audio speakers.

I purchased these for $49/each from Frys in Palo Alto. I've always used Infinity and Bose, but have always leaned toward Polks. I needed a good set of speakers that had some loft (tower) to hook up to a Yamaha wall mount stereo (30 wattts), and these did the trick. The room is 25x12 and the R30's fill the room with great sound. I never drive them to distortion, but I'm sure will at some point. They are a great set for the price, and match anything I've had int he past including JBL, EV, Bose, Infinity, etc. They are just good sounding, great looking speakers. The Cherry tape looks great, and was a nice option over basic Black. I believe the R50's have wood vaneer, which would be a preference. If you can get them marked down, they are a steal. If you are not a sound snob, they should last you a decade. Enjoy.

I purchased these several years ago and always thought the sound was pretty good. However I recently wanted to upgrade them to get a larger sound stage so I purchased the Sony SS-F7000. After replacing them I felt like the new speakers were actually worse than my $100 pair Polks. So I hooked them both to my receiver for an A-B test (Panasonic SA-XR57 with Dual Amp configuration, subwoofer disabled, large configuration, and stereo test. Its known for its high end clarity due to being a digital amp). My wife and I agree, the Polk R30s have a much better sound stage and clarity for instruments, particularly the sax and bass. The one thing better on the Sonys is the low end of course, however as a whole I still prefer the Polks, so the Sonys are going back.

Picked these up used. Initially I was impressed it seemed as though it had great build quality, small footprint and its MDF seemed more dense than other comparable models. Hooked them up as mains to a Denon 7.1 Channel Receiver. Eventually I had to move these to the rear, it just couldnt stand as Mains. Not audible at low volumes, At higher volumes, it seemed to distort, and even some of my Bookshelf Speakers (Klipsch SB-1 and Polk Audio Monitor 40) outperformed these towers. They sound good, but they just dont have the clarity and effortlessness that it takes to be the anchors of a living room home theater. The R30's are better suited in a stereo configuration in a Garage or Lounge room as a secondary setup.

A somewhat small floorstanding tower isn't supposed to outperform its bigger brethren...is it? Well...guess what...this one does...BIG TIME!!!

Comprised of a 6 1/2" composite woofer and a 3/4" silk dome tweeter the Polk R30 "cherry" finished speakers outperform anything...and I DO mean ANYTHING comparable to its size and price and just about any speaker system costing seven to eight times its price! The "bass" goes much deeper than most give it credit for while never being overpowering or interfering with the seductive detailed "midrange" and "highs".

In a small room...it is a giant killer! At its ridiculously low price and used with vintage Pioneer receivers and amplifiers this just under three foot high "cherry" wonder cannot be equalled by anything else! Not Paradigm, PSB, DefTech, Bose, Sony, BIC, Wharfedale, Vandersteen, Boston, JBL, Advent, AR, Magnepan or just about any speaker you can think of.

The transducer has a most uncanny ability to present a tremendously generous "soundstage" while reproducing subtlety and detail unmatched by most others at any price! It simply involves you in the musical performance regardless of genre.

The Polk R30 is now my reference system. It has taken me a long time to match such a proper speaker to my small room and ironically at a fraction of the price I was willing to pay! It is the last loudspeaker I'll ever own as all others are just plain overkill. Polk R30 Cherry...BEAUTIFUL!!!

I tried out one of these at Circuit City, they had them for a hundred forty a pair on Black Friday and only at that price point these would be a decent purchase. When I see them retailing at close to three hundred regular price, my heart just goes out to the poor fools who'd pay that much for these.

See, the R30s are virtually identical to the R20, which (see my review on it) is a very disappointing speaker especially coming from a respected name like Polk. Well, this speaker basically just puts the R20 in a taller cabinet with a front port on the very bottom, which does create slightly better bass---though strong bass was about the only good thing about the R20 in the first place, the mids and highs were atrocious and the speaker distorts quickly at high volumes. It sounded slightly better with my receiver speaker settings on "small" and the low frequencies being handled by my sub.

For just a little over two hundred dollars shipped at ac4less dot com you can get the mordaunt short 906 towers which blows these out of the water. Use it with a sub and you'll be very happy, in this price range.