Customer Reviews

Polk Audio SurroundBar Speaker System (Single Speaker) - Titanium

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

 

 

I purchased the Polk Surroundbar with some trepidation, as it is an expensive leap of faith purchase due to the fact that I was unable to find a local Polk dealer with a showroom model to test. I thought the unit would be ideal in my TV room due to the fact that I refuse to drill holes in my hardwood floors to accomodate traditional 5.1 rear speakers.

Fit and Finish -
The Surroundbar arrived and I was immediately impressed with the integrity of the product packaging. The fit and finish of the bar itself is very impressive. The product is very heavy and solid, encased with a real metal finish, giving it a very hi-tech and sturdy appearance. In addition, the accessories included in the box (stand, mounts, cables) are of the highest quality and complement the surround bar nicely.

Performance -
When the system was initially set up, I thought it sounded ok. Then I further studied the set-up guide and found that the way my subwoofer was connected and some of the necessary settings on my receiver were incorrect. Instead of the standard RCA type sub connection, I rewired the sub to be in line via speaker wire to the 2 front connections as reccommended by Polk. Also, the speaker size needed to be set to large for all channels. (I've learned to ALWAYS follow the manufacturer's specifications!)

Once the adjustments were made, the sound was incredible. The first thing you notice is the overall power of the unit. The sound is huge and imposing. The surround effect is absolutely incredible both with DVDs and Xbox games. I now have almost a full 360 degree sound experience with distinct separation between all channels. Movies with DTS-ES 6.1 sound are a wonder to listen to. This system replaced a 3.1 full-size Onkyo speaker setup and sounds cleaner, more powerful and much better overall than the other full-size speakers ever did!

Conclusion -
I am completely satisfied with my purchase. I'm getting my demo material picked out so that I can invite my neighbors and buddies to come over and marvel at my new toy. It's expensive, but you get what you pay for with this product - no wires, no drilling holes in the floor, easy setup and excellent performance. Even my wife thinks it's cool!

MY HIGHEST RECOMENDATION.

For what it is designed, the speakers are top notch.

Pros:
The pros are fairly obvious: space saving, great look, no cumbersome wiring, the surround effect is clearly separated, AND it is NOT dependent on room configuration.

Additional pro is the sound quality: Mid range is wonderful, jazz and vocal sounds have the fullness you'd expect from Polk Audio. Treble is crisp without breaking. All-in-all, the sound is sufficiently top-notch even for someone who appreciates good sound systems (except for some of you serious audiophiles).

Another pro is the speakers are strong enough to handle enough power for a sizable room, say a 20x20 room.

Cons:
The cons is pretty obvious too. It is not real surround, so it does NOT give 360-degree feel to the sound field, but rather gives about 180-degree feel.

Note that you will need to add your own subwoofer that has sufficient power for your room size.

Bottom line, I am very happy with this purchase.

The speakers are great, but I was disappointed that Amazon (ordered direct) sent a package that had obviously been previously returned, contained the wrong manuals, and was missing the hardware necessary to attach the speaker to the wall mount bracket. It seems there wasn't even an attempt to QC the package prior to sending out to the next customer. :(

Plain and simple, we had an ongoing problem. He loves big sound and I hate wires running all over the house. When we recently purchased a new television set decided to give this a try. We already owned a sub-woofer so hooked this into the stereo receiver, connected the television and dvd - great sound, no ugly mess of wires and easy installation.

Like others have mentioned, use the instructions. We originally attempted a different configuration and the results were inferior....in fact, we thought something was wrong with the speaker so took the time to review everything, realized our mistake and were very pleasantly surprised by the superior sound quality.

While others have complained about the lack of "true surround" from not having speakers physically placed behind you, I find this quite superior. At least to my sensory input, I've always hated the "disconnect" between seeing something on a screen in front but hearing it behind you. This provides a much more realistic sound quality in that it totally wraps around the room in much the same way that typical sound does. Lows and low, highs are high and the rest is very crisp clean sound. Best of all - banished the wires.

I've been a home theater buff for years now, and have only had "true" 5.1 or 7.1 surround setups, with obligatory wires everywhere and unhappy wife as a result (wives I'm convinced care little about home theater, just it works is about it...!!). But I hate looking at wires as I get older, and prefer my current home to be as wire free as possible. The super low roofline makes running wires in the attic to the edges of the room virtually impossible, so my only real option was either wireless or a surroundbar setup. Unless you plan on spending a mint, wireless speakers are pretty good at being surrounds or iPod accessories but that's about it. There's just not that certain sound you get from a hard wired speakers. Wireless rear speaker setups are a better option, where you have one receiver and two mini-amps connected to the rears. But I digress...My decision after reading the reviews on the SurroundBar from Polk was to try it out and keep the room clean of wires. It does sound fantastic, no doubt. No, you will not get the same effect as you do with speakers that are behind you. Your room dynamics will affect how the speaker sounds granted, my parlor room is a near perfect cube and pretty large. I will add some wireless rears and run a 7.1 surround setup, since I have the amazing Onkyo TX-SR576S receiver (new also). Get the matching Polk PSW10 sub, or a similar 10" forward firing sub. An 8" is too small to balance out with the SurroundBar effectively.

I had been looking for a high end sound bar speaker and this item certainly fit my needs. This was a floor model that was in excellent condition at less that half the retail price! The sound quality certainly lives up to its claims. Glad I shoped around and did my homework on this item. Amazon comes through again!

Surround sound from this speaker is pretty good. I use this as the LS-L-C-R-RS speakers as well as a sub and two in the rear RL-RR for 7.1; this is a good setup for family movie night and video games.

I've got the speaker about 7 feet up and angled down, so there is a bit of dead space near the front. This is due to my room + window layout more than anything else. Instructions say to wire inline with the sub... don't do this and leave your sub on the LFE; it sounds better and louder all around. I let the stereo do the setup/calibration automatically, this seems to work well in reproducing surround sound.

No need to have speakers & wires all over the place. Neat. Clean. Hides well.

I'll be short and sweet, it sounds good, not great. It does look great and really cleans up a room. If you want something that comes close to a 5.1 surround experience in a 1 speaker package I would recommend it. It's more like 3.1 with allot of ambiance. I did already have a 5.1 receiver and a decent subwoofer. If I had to purchase them on top of the speaker, I might have looked at the Yamaha solutions. I bought an open box that ended up being about 75% off MSRP so for that price it certainly was a great deal. I still have my full 7.1 system boxed up for when my 10 month old grows up a bit and stops trying to knock the floor standing speakers over, but for now this certainly fits the bill.

It's hard for me to tell the surround effects. With a good sub it makes great sound. Much cheaper than other similar designs. Easy to mount. Drilled through the wall to hide the wires.

Good looking but lacks "umph". Not as good at simulating Surrond as I hoped for the price.