Customer Reviews

Polk Audio RC55i 2-Way In-Wall Speakers (Pair, White)

5 star:		(84)
4 star:		(29)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The livingroom in our new home just doesn't have a place for free-standing speakers due to the floorplan (very open to the rest of the house, with a fireplace in the front corner). This ruled out using my existing (high-end) theater speakers (large towers).

I went to the local big-box store, and the only set of in-wall speakers they had that I thought were worth buying were a set of Klipsch that came in at $600 per set. I almost went for them, but after measuring I found they were about 2" too wide for where I needed to install one of them. The $300 Infinity set sounded horrible. They didn't sell Polk Audio or Boston Acoustic, which was actually what I wanted to look at.

So ... I figured at $140 from Amazon, the RC65i's were worth a shot. I'm glad I did - price vs. performance these are an excellent set of speakers. Decent dynamic range, and actually a surprising amount of bass if you don't have a subwoofer (though I recommend having one - you can only get so much out of a 6" speaker).

Now ... are these "amazing" speakers? Well ... no. They do not compare to my aforementioned towers. Those towers were also $900 a piece. They also are not nearly as good as the $600 Klipsch in-walls I looked at. If you think you're going to get amazing clarity and dynamic range for $70 a speaker ... you're going to be disappointed.

What these are is a great everyday speaker that will sound decent to most people under most conditions. They are a *slight* bit muddy, but not for the price range. That's the thing you really have to do is compare them to other speakers you could buy for so little money. And even some that cost a little more - the Infinity set I listened to at the big-box store was twice the price and didn't sound any better.

It also helps if you have a good receiver that lets you control the dynamic range being sent to your speakers. I have a high-end Yamaha that allows me to cut the low frequencies out of the main channel and only send them to the sub (12" powered down-fire). Doing this, you get rid of most of the "muddy" issues.

Summary: Can't beat them if this is how much money you want to spend. Period. I liked them so much for my application that I ordered a set of rc55i (the smaller ones) and installed them for the back surround channel. When I finish the basement I'm thinking of getting some of these (rc65i) to use for the back-channel.

I purchased a pair of these in-walls for a pool table/game room area I am building in the basement. My receiver is an Onkyo 805 7.1 home theater system and these will serve as stereo/audio part for only that room. I have never owned Polks or in wall speakers for that matter and listened to them at the big box store before purchasing these through Amazon. I was really impressed at the audio quality. I also didn't want floor standing speakers, but didn't want to sacrifice audio quality either so these speakers filled the bill.
No back boxes are necessary, the speaker is designed as an "infinite
baffle" type and only requires that the front and rear moving sound wave
are isolated from each other. Polk recommends to maximize the sound quality, you place a modest amount of a sound absorbing material, such as Polyfil (a synthetic cotton-like material found at craft/fabric stores) inside the cavity before installing the speakers. Supposedly, this will absorb the rear moving sound wave and reduce mid range coloration. I think insulation also works just as well. I haven't done this yet and they still sound excellent!

Super easy to put in and fantastic sound. Followed everyone's advice and stuffed the cavity with insulation....taped the wall with Scotch blue painters tape..and scored the paper of the drywall with a razor before cutting with a small drywall saw!

I had wall studs on both sides and I almost returned the speakers because everyone says it will not work. If you are just a little bit handy you can solve the problem. Here is what you do. Cut your hole in the sheet rock making sure to take it all the way to the stud. Remove the screws in the side of the speaker along the stud. Take a small metal saw, or hack saw and cut the plastic tabs off the back of the speaker that hold the sheet rock grabbers. Be careful not to hit the wires or speaker itself in this step. It does not have to be pretty as you will not see this area. You also do not have to cut it right at the base, you can leave about 1/8 to 1/4 inch height on the speaker tab and still flush mount the speaker on the wall. Now, back on the wall, you will have enough space to screw a small piece of 1"x2" wood along the stud behind the sheet rock line. Use the original screws to attach the speaker to the wall into the 1x2 on the stud side and the original sheet rock mounts on the other. I just did this with these speakers and they look and sound fantastic. I have no doubt I have voided the warranty but I am not worried about the speakers lasting less than one year. I hope it helps.

I installed two pair of these for the front and surround speakers in a smallish (12'X15) room. They have good overall response, but require considerable bass boost, or better, a sub-woofer, to be OK. They are also so "bright" that they needed a 2 to 4 decible treble reduction to avoid bothersome hiss.

Installation can be a pain because the locking cam (6 per speaker) that clamps the speaker to the wallboard can be so loose on its retaining screw that the locking cam won't rotate into its clamping position to grip the back surface of the wallboard. I solved this by using a little latex caulking compound on the loose retaining screws where they engage the locking cams. I don't know what will happen if the speakers ever need to be removed, 'cause the cam is unlikely to rotate back to allow it to disengage the backside of the wallboard.

I use these for the rear theater speakers so they dont really get tested to their limit. I will say they sound great for what I use them for. I would not use in wall speakers for mains no matter what brand,I use my stereo too much. Klipsch main speakers and Bose center speaker these Polk rear speakers keep up easily and are as good as the Energy speakers I did have.
Easy to install and blend in well. I would buy them again great value.

Circuit City's Firedog team recommended these and after a lot of research I had them installed this weekend. They rock! I have two of them as my front left and right speakers and a third as the center channel (leaving a fourth not being used, unfortunately) and am extremely pleased with the sound they produce. I combined them with a 150 watt Boston Acoustic sub, and two Polk in-ceiling speakers, using a Denon 888, and popped in Saving Private Ryan and felt like I was storming the beach at Normandy. I can't give the technical specifics of why they sound so good, I just know that my dog got out of the room from the explosions and bullets. Got a great deal through Amazon with free shipping and they got here in two days. Everything was great. I highly recommend these.

I'm an Audio Engineer by trade. I purchased 4 sets of these because Amazon was throwing in the 8" subwoofer and I couldn't be more pleased. I created a 7.1 environment. One speaker didn't get used but whatever. I paid under $600 for the entire setup with shipping n' all that. Forget paying the $300+ for a center speaker. IF you have all of the same, then the timber of the should should be even. When I score films, I use the same speaker types for the 5.1, 6.1, 7.1.

Installation:

The installation was a walk in the park! I had to cut into a wall stud to make the center speaker fit but that was the hardest and most time consuming part. Installing them in the dry wall took all of a few minutes for the 3 speakers (L/R/C).

I do recommend getting some insulation and putting that in first before you install your speakers. It dramatically increases the performance and sound. The wall I was installing them in didn't have any so I went up in the attic and cut out some small pieces from a part of my ceiling. IT worked like charm. :-)

Once those were done we cut into the ceiling and started installing them there. Those were a little tricky because in some parts I had Drywall and in another I had some form of concrete or something like that. It had wires n' all that. After we broke through it (extremely messy) the installation of those speaker went just as smooth as the others. Just had to patch and paint a little but it wasn't too much of a pain.

Running the wires weren't too much of a pain. There was a closet on the other side so I just drilled a hole and ran the speaker wires into the closet. THEN I drilled another larger whole over by the receiver and ran all of the wires through that. I have an attic so when I ran the wires from the ceiling ones, I drilled another whole in the closet (top) and dropped all of the wires down form there and then into the larger hole by the receiver.

Eventually I'm going to use wall plates but I didn't have them and I was too excited!

I recommend getting 200 feet of speaker wire. Be liberal with it because more wire is better than less wire.

These speakers have tweeters that can be angled. I recommend you angle them to your listening position.

Sound:

Once I turned on the receiver I said "oh... I guess it sounds ok". Then I started to justify it... "I only paid $500 for it so I get what I pay for...". DON'T GO DOWN THAT STREET! I started to play with the receiver (Sony) and I started tweaking the levels: FLAT EQ and adjust volume settings according to your room.

FOR THE RECORD, LOUD BASS doesn't mean your system is good. You want to have an even sound. The bass will stand out but too much bass can really mess up the listening experience.

Anywhoo, after making the adjustments I realized that I was watching my regular cable 1080i on an OLD movie that didn't really have too much 5.1 let alone 7.1, SO I did some tests:


** Avatar: 4 of 5 - I liked it a lot but it didn't have enough for me.
The speakers performed very well. I had it about a quarter of the way up in total volume. No issues...

** G.I. Joe: 4 of 5... Explosions, lasers, sword fighting the works!
I was starting to get hooked on the speakers! I had this one turned up about half way because I wanted to hear all the crazy stuff that goes on in the fighting scenes. Speakers performed very well

** Star Trek: 5 of 5... They did a WONDERFUL job on this.
In this movie I cranked the speakers up about half way as well. It was "loud" but no fatigue or signs of distortion.

** 2010: 5 0f 5... This movie had so much CGI and destruction I just had to try it.
This was cranked up about 3 quarters of the way up. It was LOUD but you can REALLY HEAR EVERY SPEAKER in the 7.1 playing something different. AWESOME TEST! The speakers held in there and at that point I was satisfied completely satisfied with my purchase.

Conclusion:

The 7.1 (Polk RC65i and the 8" sub) is a WONDERFUL combination. I'm very pleased with the performance and sound. I would recommend this particular configuration to anyone looking. You will not be disappointed.

Make sure you get the right receiver that puts out the right amount of wattage. I have a Sony STR-DH810. It puts out enough power to do these speakers justice. Onkyo makes some good ones as well. If you under power these speakers you WILL lose out on sound. GET A GOOD RECEIVER WITH THE RIGHT POWER.

If your room is larger and you decide to get the 8" version of these speakers, get a larger sub like a 12". The others will go deep enough to capture most of what your looking for and you can tweak the larger subs crossover and have it push out the REALLY low frequencies.


I hope this helps anyone out there looking!

It works, install easily and doesn't give a problem. Push it and it will fade at higher volumes, but as an inwall its a good performer. Keep it in a 1-1.5 cuft. environment and you'll be even happier you bought it. Whether bringing up the rear or working as a front or mid speaker..with a good receiver, properly tuned and a good sub, its a piece of cake. It'll return on its investment you can be sure.

Sound quality: After plenty of research on "affordable" in-wall and wall-mounted speakers for use in a home theatre, I settled on the Polk RC85i without hearing them. Amazon's customer reviews were a big factor. At first I bought just a pair from Amazon to make sure I liked them. I installed them into my drywall and wired them to channel "B" of my receiver with "A" powering my much more expensive floor-standing tower speakers. Toggling between A and B I could hear a dramatic difference with the RC85i's covering the frequency range better than the pricey towers and providing exceptional stereo imagery. I had friends and family close their eyes and tell me which they preferred and unanimously they chose the RC85i's (and were unanimously surprised -- Seems most people expect large, prominent speakers to sound better than nearly hidden in-wall speakers). I have now purchased 5 pair total, using 2 pair for front mains (gets me to 200 watts RMS per channel), 2 pair for side surrounds (1 pair for each row in the home theatre), and 1 pair for rear surrounds. At Amazon's price, which was always the lowest anywhere, I have completed my home theatre at a fraction of what I expected for sound this good. Of course one should not expect these to handle the lowest of the low end, and when paired with my subwoofer it's perfect to my ears, but with the subwoofer off they are still impressive for their size.

Installation: Instructions are simple and easy to follow. If you can cut a hole in your wall to the necessary dimensions and feed a wire, anyone can install these speakers tightly with no air leaks or rattling. My installation was in new walls and I used Polk's "pre-construction" brackets. I can see their merits if you have a professional sound company doing the precision speaker locating and an everyday drywall company coming in later -- The pre-construction brackets will force the drywallers to cut the hole where it's needed. But for do-it-yourselfers, the brackets are a waste of money and time.

Appearance: If you had matching paint, they would be almost unnoticeable. Very little protrudes from the wall surface -- I'd say 1/4 inch. Their grilles conceal the speakers for the most part making them look inconsequential. And isn't that the reason for in-wall speakers?

I'm seriously considering getting more for elsewhere in the house now.