Customer Reviews

Polk Audio Monitor 40 AM4025-A 2-Way Bookshelf Speakers (Pair, Black)

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I shopped for and tried about 6 different pairs of bookshelf/front speakers from Polk (Monitor 30s, 50s), Bose (301s), and Klipsch before finally settling on these. To me, they strike the right balance between size, sound quality and asthetics. I have them paired with a Polk PSW12 subwoofer in the corner of the room. With the sub, full sound completely fills the room for home theater, and more importantly to me, for two channel music.

I tired the floorstanding Monitor 50s (over $100 more/pair), but find that these sound better. I have them placed on top of a 35" peice of furiture. I think the higher placement improves the sound field. I also bi-wired these to my receiever which makes a difference to my ear. Overall, they are an excellent value and highly recommended.

I bought these to be the surround speakers in my home theater system & definitely made a good choice. My speakers are all Polk Monitor series tied to an Onkyo HT-SR875 Receiver (also awesome). The thing that really stands out is how absolutely clear and pure the sound is from the Polk speakers. When watching movies - the soundtrack sizzles and the dialogue is crystal clear. While watching the Superbowl - I heard this funny popping noise coming from the opposite side of the room from me -and then realized I was hearing someone at the game, sitting by a microphone and applauding. Clear as a bell.

I don't think I would like these as well for a dedicated bookshelf stereo speaker - they reproduce mid to high range well, but don't have much bass response. Paired with larger front speakers, a center channel and a good subwoofer, they help create a really terrific home theater experience.

This is an excellent pair of speakers. I am very pleased with their quality having used them for about two months. I have them hooked up to a Kenwood KR-9600 and they work wonderfully. Excellent highs and lows along with excellent mids. With the KR-9600 I can get these speakers to have a wider frequency range than stated. The speakers work well by themselves and I would not bother to get a sub. I have my computer hooked up to the KR-9600 and I play my cds this way. I can raise the bass even more by doing this. The only downside is the price; however, they are well worth the price. The grills are alright but I took mine off because they look cooler. All in all this is a very good pair of speakers and with the proper equipment one can get them to excede their standard specifications.

I have the Polk Monitor 60s in the front and the 40s in the rear. With this arrangement I hear subtle sounds/notes in music/details I never heard before for the same music I have listened to for years. The speakers have great clarity and sound reproduction and do not sound muddy or have distortion. The bass might be a little low. However I increased the bass setting on the reciever and do not miss much. Maybe in a year or two I will add a subwoofer and the CS2 center speaker. Basically I gained more clarity and accuracy of sound. I might have tried the Monitor 70s for the front if I had to do it all over again and noticed the price I could ahve gotten them for from AMAZON.

I bought speakers used, they aparently have been discontinued but replaced by the TSi200. Ive compared the two and it appears the latest model has slightly more wattage, no aparent change in sound quality, both are excellent. Only difference is asthetics, so if you can land these used you can save a hundred dollars or so over the TSi200. It has a Very rich sound. Crisp trebble, and warm, abundant mid-bass. It is a large bookshelf, and has a tone that is normally found only on tower speakers. The shape and color is very handsome looking on the left and right side of a HDTV. This pair can serve as very formidable mains when matched with a good sub. The better the sub, the less crossover freq you have to dedicate to the Monitor 40's, the tighter your highs will be. I personally have them matched with a Klipsch Sub 12and this trio can stand up to the Monitor 70's any day of the week!

For the price they sound great. They lack in bass some, there is no plate on the back to wall mount it. I am using them for computer speakers and they sound better then any speakers marketed for computers. I prefer two of these with a decent receiver over a 5.1 logitech computer system. If using for a home theater I would make sure to pair with a decent subwoofer.

I just got these speakers to use as the front left & right for my home theater. They are paired with Polk Audio CS1 center and Monitor30 rears. These speakers sound great! I don't have a sub hooked up yet (will update when I do), but these speakers even produce some okay bass. I have watched The Italian Job and Avatar, both on Blu-Ray, and the speakers deliver crisp, clear, realistic sound. I have them hooked to a Pioneer VSX-521-K and and with these speakers you really feel like you are in the movie, just like at the theater! I cannot rate these speakers highly enough.

I originally bought a pair of Monitor 40s to be surround speakers to complement my SDA-2A main speakers and my CS-2 center channel speaker. It sounded great. A few years later, I opened a restaurant and had to surrendered my Monitor 40s.
It was two days before opening and we had no money left and no sound in the restaurant. The franhisors of the business gave us a 100 watt Sony receiver but we had no speakers. I grabbed my Monitor 40s from home, put up a couple shelves and hooked up the speakers. The sound was incredible.
The restaurant has 2500 square feet of dining space with 16 feet high ceilings. The Monitor 40s filled the entire area with beautiful music. We were all blowm away by the volume and quality of the sound. Our temporary solution to our sound problem became our permament solution.
I'm happy to say that the business is doing well and I have a new pair of Monitor 40s in my surround system again.
Whether you're looking for a pair of main speakers in a small system or a rear pair in a surround system, you can't go wrong with Monitor 40s.

This pair of Polk Monitor 40 speakers fit the system that I want to develop. The core of my original system included a Denon 790 receiver, 2 Polk Monitor 30 speakers, a Polk PSW-10 subwoofer, 2 Jamo C-401 speakers, and a Jamo C-400 center. When I bought the Jamos I hadn't a clue about what I was getting and, I'm retiring them. They are excellent speakers, they just don't fit the majority of what I listen to which, are DVD and blu-ray movies. Here is what I feel the 40s bring to my system:

Pros:
1. Incredibly clear sound, depth, and volume. The result of a combination of one nice 1" tweeter and two 5.25" (midrange?) per speaker.
2. These Monitor 40s are 8 ohm speakers and are easy to drive. The Jamos are 6 ohm speakers. It takes more power to get the Jamos to react like the Polks.
3. Both the Polk Monitor 30s and 40s appear to be designed to work in small to medium size spaces and, they do it well.

Cons:
1. The Polk Monitor 30s were bigger than I expected. The 40s are over twice the size of the Monitor 30s. But the sounds they make!!

Even if these speakers are in the $150 range a pair, they are worth it. They sound every bit as good as any 2-way bookshelf speakers at $300+ I've listened to in the stores I visited.
I highly recommend them!

I got a pair of the monitor 40 speakers for Christmas and have been listening to them for several months now. I have them pared with the psw10 polk subwoofer and a pioneer reciever. The speakers sound great by themselvs, but if you like a lot of base like myself, it would be a really good idea to add the pws10. These are really good speakers for the price, I strongly reccomend them!