Customer Reviews

Polk Audio Monitor 50 2-Way Floorstanding Speaker (Single, Cherry)

5 star:		(42)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Let me start by saying that I was looking for a pair of speakers to replace my Bose 701's. I love my Bose, but I felt that they were lacking in clarity on the higher end of the sound spectrum. So I decided to make them the front speakers of my home theater system, where the lack of high end sound clarity isn't as noticeable as when you are just sitting down listening to your favorite CD's. After much research I went to my local electronics store with a particular speaker in mind. I had decided on the Infinity Primus250. I was pleased with the highs that the Infinity's delivered, but before leaving I decided to listen to the Polk Monitor 50's because they were in the same price range and I know that Polk makes a quality product. After alternating listening to both speakers with a variety of music styles I was torn. Both speakers would have been a welcome addition to any home system, but the Polk speakers seemed to offer just a little more clarity on the higher end. The vocals and instumentation of the music seemed just a bit more alive with the Polks. I was right. When I got them home and hooked them up they sounded as good as they did in the store. So although I would not have been wrong if I had bought the Infinity's, I'm glad that I decided on the Polks. I hope this review has been helpful.

I paid $99 each for these speakers shipped. For this price, they are really great. I have them bi-wired with some overpriced monster cable speaker wire I had to buy at the local AV chain store because that's all they sell now. I did most of my listening through a panasonic blu-ray disc player, outputting the sound via an optical cable to my Onkyo old school 5.1 DTS receiver for the decoding. I've watched about a dozen movies and listened to many albums. I also do some listening with the old ipod.

These speakers will satisfy all but the most discerning ears. The treble is clear and I think it is just right. Some speakers have a brighter treble that some listeners really desire (klipsch speakers for example), these are more neutral sounding which I feel is more natural. The treble is in no way muted or muffled, it's just right. They are ported, which means certain bass frequencies will be accentuated and there will be a slight loss of detail as compared to most completely sealed cabinets. This port helps to make the speakers sound more full for home theater, but I find it undesirable for music as it over-accentuates certain lower frequencies. Certain bass notes will really resonant, while others taper off quite a bit. The frequency range is just low enough to vibrate your couch just a bit, but definitely lacking for any music that is bass heavy. They almost will work for rock, but if you like your kick drums to shake your walls, you will need a sub. In fact most people will want a sub. If your idea of rocking the house is turning up a beatles track, they will do just fine. I would guess the sound level tapers off heavily at about 70hz. They do say they go down to 56hz I believe, but I doubt they are pushing much air at all at 56hz. The mid-range is good. Vocals have above average air and presence while piano and guitar sounds good, but mid-bass lacks punch and dynamics. They seem to image fairly well, but it's hard for me to tell in my current residence because my room is an odd shape. Though the manufacturer describes these speakers as requiring only small amplification, I think they really benefit from high quality amplification. My Onkyo receiver is certainly not a high-end amp, but I definitely think these speakers will sound better with amps that can drive them more dynamically and at louder levels. Watching Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds live on blu-ray was quite a treat. There's very little low bass in this show, as it is all acoustic guitars. Vocals were great and the guitars sounded very nice (I play guitar and know what a guitar should sound like live). You could easily discern the different guitars and point them out in the soundstage. Dave's voice sounded really great through these speakers. Treble was just a touch bright on this recording for me. Note that I was listening to this disc in 2 channel mode, not in surround sound, so as to really hear only the sound of the front speakers.

So, to summarize: These are GREAT for movies, but you will want a sub. For Music, they are just above average, but when you factor in how little they cost, they are very nice for the price. They have a neutral natural treble and mid-range, with a mib-bass that I wished was more dynamic, and bass response that accentuated certain lower frequencies and wasn't as clear and low as I would like, but that's what you get with ported speakers. I really think these speakers will reveal a crappy source (crappy ipod, or cheapo cd player, or your typical receiver you will find in best buy that is just average).

I think if you want to noticeably do better than these speakers, you are looking at spending at least about $500 a speaker. So yeah, when you factor in the price, these are a home run.

These speakers produce a beautiful sound for a very beautiful price. I just bought a pair of Monitor 50's to go with my sound system and home theater. The high end is crisp and clear, and the bass is clean, with no "booming" distortion. I compared these speakers to comparable floor-standing, 2-way Sonys, and the Polks outdo the competition with clarity and immaculate sound. The price at ABC Warehouse beats the cost quoted on Amazon, as I paid $175 for each one. Don't waste your time looking around. If this is your price point, these are your speakers.

and then some. They really bring the home theater experience to life. To me sound has always been the bigger part of movies. A great visual display can only do so much, even on the big screen in a "real" theater, but when you feel the thunder in your belly, that's something else again.
They are clear on the high end and can handle the low ends just fine!
I'd recommend a pair of these to anyone looking to upgrade.
BTW for some reason I had to buy these on a per item basis, I did buy two, would have been silly to buy just one, unless of course I was into Sunflowers.

I just picked up a pair of these off of Crutchfield, and they sound terrific. I tested them out vs. the Infinity Primus 250s, and although the Infinities had more volume, the Polks just sounded a lot cleaner. They're a good price for really high quality speakers, you won't be sorry.

The Polk website lists these babies at a whopping four hundred sixty bucks MSRP...now if you're paying anywhere near that, I'd say you're nuts because there's far better speakers available at that pricepoint. Luckily the street prices on the Polk Monitor line keep dropping, perhaps due to fierce competition from both high-quality Internet-direct manufacturers like av123, Ascend, SVS, Hsu, etc. and as more speakers are now produced in cut-rate China, such as the Usher Audio S-520. At the one hundred thirty bucks shipped each price that Amazon currently has them at, however, this is an excellent value---mainly because these being floorstanding rather than bookshelf speakers, you don't have to spend any money on speaker stands, which would start at around eighty to a hundred bucks and negate any price advantage of bookshelf speakers.

The Monitor 50 is basically identical to the Monitor 40 in terms of not only having the same two 5.25" mid-woofers and 1" silk tweeter, but surprisingly the much larger cabinet of the 50 does not seem to give you any extra bass extension: both the 40 and the 50 are listed by Polk as going down to 57Hz, which means that having a powered subwoofer is highly recommended, especially if you are using these speakers for home theater (DVDs)---and particularly if you watch a lot of big-budget action flicks where the subwoofer really makes or breaks your system, particularly in a large open space.

For critical music listening, the Polk Monitor is decent, but hardly anything to write home about. That's "critical music listening"---wherein one sits in front of the speakers and listens intently to the nuances, details, balance and tonality of the musical output, in contrast to casual listening where you're perhaps preparing a meal in the kitchen at the same time, or dusting the furniture, etc. Critical music listeners, look elsewhere, and be prepared to spend at least two hundred fifty to four hundred dollars for a truly good pair of bookshelf speakers such as the Infinity Beta 20s or Ascend CBM-170s.

For everyone else, meaning those who mainly watch DVDs, TV, and play video games, the Monitor series will be plenty adequate. The silk tweeters give you decent detail, the 89db sensitivity means that you don't need some massive super-powerful amp to drive these, and the double-woofer d'Apollito (midwoof-tweeter-midwoof) design of the Monitor 50 and 40 will give you a nice full midrange and room-filling output.

Got this after listening to the Monitor 50/60/70/RTi10 at local Frys. For a movie , I found absolutely no difference between all the Monitors. The 70's had more bass.

The front soundstage (coupled with Csi3) is the crowning glory of my HT setup. Superb sounding. Very crisp, Extremely sensitive (can hear flaws in Mp3s), bi wiring capable, solid binding posts, very clean finish, and extremly well packaged. Grab it

Used these speakers as front speakers for some time now, recently upgraded to the 70's Polk Monitor Speakers and moved them to the back of the system as the rear speakers. Totally happy with the Polk Monitors 50's and 70's. You'll probably need a subwoofer to bring these to perfection.

I purchased these Polk Monitor 50's as front speakers to go along with a Polk CS1 center channel, and R150 surround speakers. I also purchased the Sony SA-W3000 sub locally because of the amazing price at a local retail outlet. When put all together with my Onkyo TX-SR606 receiver, I was immediately blown away from the clarity and detail these speakers were capable of reproducing.

My old setup had consisted of Logitech's Z-5500 series of speakers. That was an extreme budget setup, but for what you pay for that, it was a decent setup that has gotten me by for a few years now. Fast-forward to the end of 2008 and things have changed since then. HDMI has gotten HUGE, and along with blu-ray really picking up now, I decided it was time to invest some well-spent money and step up to take advantage of this present technology at hand.

The first thing I tested these speakers out on was the IMAX prologue on the Batman Begins blu-ray which shows the first 6 minutes or so of the Imax production-shot movie, The Dark Knight. Put simply, I was absolutely BLOWN AWAY by the amazing clarity and detail I could make out in this scene. Everything was perfect. The glass shattering out of the building that the crooks broke out at the beginning was stunning. The noise the gun made when prepping it for a shot was dead-on. The sound of the cable being shot out across the air and onto the neighboring building... all great stuff. The tense music and the gunshots were also perfectly recreated. This was like watching the movie for the very first time again.

Not only movies, but games also were like an entirely new experience on these speakers. I just re-played the first couple hours of Metal Gear Solid 4 on the Playstation 3 this thanksgiving weekend, and WOW what a completely different experience. I never noticed the insane amount of attention to the sound that Konami has incorporated into this game. I mean, it sounded great on the Z-5500's I used to use, but on this new setup, and especially the Monitor 50's and CS1 center channel, the detail came to life. I still can't get over the punctual, realistic notes you hear from all the different assault rifles and submachine guns. The sounds of the bullet casings falling out all over the concrete ground were unbelievably awesome. I found myself wasting away clips of ammo just to hear this over and over again. I've never heard such great high's coming from a set of speakers before.

Music also sounds great on these. One of my favorite soundtracks was from the game Final Fantasy VIII, which I still think, to this day, is the single best video game soundtrack available. Listening to the last couple movements of the ending theme really brought out the amazing quality and clarity that these speakers are capable of producing. The ending theme is one of my all-time favorite instrumental selections and these speakers remind me of why that is. It simply must be heard to be believed. Beautiful music to the ears.

Over this thanksgiving weekend, I had my brother over and he wanted to see a blu-ray on my new surround sound/tv setup. He picked out the Earth documentary (not Planet Earth, but another BBC production feature) and we watched that. This blu-ray was only putting out standard Dolby audio, no DolbyHD or DTS-HD. Just standard Dolby. The first thing he commented on was the awesome quality of the sound. He has a Sony receiver with Sony speakers at his place so this comment coming from him suggested the difference in brands was very noticable.

To wrap it all up, for the price I paid for these and the sound that they produce, I am very happy with the purchase and would not look back at any other brand. My future purchases will always include Polk, because I have never heard better.

I'm using this with an Onkyo TR-606 alongside a Toshiba 62" DLP HDTV and a full set of Polk speakers, and the sound quality is remarkable. I have four of these for the four corner speakers and they do great both in music and movies and TV, with excellent separation.