Customer Reviews

Polk Audio VM10 Satellite Speaker (Single, Black)

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

 

 

I am using these Polk VM10's with a POLK sub-woofer in my dining room. I am powering them with a SONOS 100 powered receiver and have the system set up on a black laquer side table... the finish on the speakers matches the table perfectly... they look cool.

The whole set up cost less than a thousand and gives me a great sound and access to all of my ripped CD's plus the Rhapsody library of I don't know how many millions...

The speakers put out a clear crisp sound that is good at both low and high volume...

I would imagine that mounted on the walls with two more speakers, they would make a fantastic surround sound system, particularly for smaller rooms...

My philosophy in surround speakers is that they should provide adequate and accurate fill when playing movies or special soundfields. They do not need to measure up to anything else. The VM10s are small, attractive, and highly adequate. They come with a wall/table bracket. I use these as my two rear surrounds, with VM30s as front mains and a VM20 as my center. The center VM20 made a tremendous difference in my movie enjoyment. Voices are very clear and when playing music in preconfigured soundfields that use the center, it really picks up the pace. The idea in using the VM series all the way around was to voice and frequency match the whole system. I didn't useed to think that was important, but I do now! These are all powered by a Sony 2400es receiver, and the sub is a Velodyne DHQ15-R. The sub needs to be great, I think, not just good, to fill the missing frequencies when you use speakers like these. These speakers are dropping dramatically in price, too.

If you do end up getting these speakers, make sure to also get a subwoofer whose upper 3dB cutoff is at least 110Hz. Without a subwoofer, the sound from these speakers is "tinny" and lacks depth - very unimpressive.

I will update this review after adding a subwoofer to my setup.

These speakers look fantastic, but sound terrible. I hooked them up to my Pioneer SX-680 receiver with my old, cheap Klipsch satellites (the ones the VM10s were intended to replace), and the Klipsch sounded immeasurably superior. The VM10s have awful bass and midrange response, in particular because the woofers are cheap, and there is no bass port to allow air to escape. The speakers sound lifeless, almost imploded. Midrange frequencies are clearly missing their characteristic dryness and fullness.

I tried turning up the bass on my receiver to overcome what might be a crossover limitation, but they still sound awful. They're also incredibly inefficient- if I pump 40 watts per channel into my big speakers, you get huge sound and volume. Not the VM10s though, their tinny sound immediately produces a strain on the ears that make them painful to listen to, even at low volumes. The surprising part was that having the VM10s playing in complement to my big speakers actually detracted from the overall sound quality, and exaggerated a very narrow spectrum of frequency response- which is all these speakers can produce. I tried these speakers on my more powerful Pioneer SX-1010 stereo-- same result.

The power handling capacity of these speakers is also hugely overstated. When I push 40 watts into these speakers, they are already straining-- I can't imagine them taking much more than that. I wasn't about to risk it since I knew I'd be returning them promptly. You're probably thinking- these are meant to be surround sound rear speakers, what does he expect? I expect my money's worth, and I expect good sound from all directions of my room, not just the front of it. Avoid these overpriced speakers- I wouldn't pay $100 for a pair of these. They're stylish, but that's *all* they are.