The Polk TSx110B is a diminuative bookshelf speaker sporting a 1" silk dome tweeter and 5.25" bi-laminate cone mid/woofer in a ported enclosure. Priced at modest $199.95, the TSx110B has a specified frequency response of 61Hz-24kHz (-3dB limits), which is hardly shabby for a speaker of this size. How does a pair of bookshelf speakers not much costlier than a bag of "audiophile rocks" stand up to a little scrutiny? Read on to find out.
Executive Overview
One of the first things you'll notice about the Polk TSx110B is that it is a rather attractive speaker for the money. No, you're not getting furniture grade veneer, but the graceful curving lines and optional "cherry" vinyl give it a more attractive look (to my eye at least) than so many basic black boxes that adorn the shelves of Best Buy and the like. Flipping over to the rear of the speaker you'll find run of the mill set of binding posts, hardware needed to wall mount the speaker, and of course the rear-firing port.
Moving on to more important matters, as noted previously, the Polk TSx110B is a two way speaker outfitted with a 1" silk dome tweeter (which appears to sit in a shallow waveguide), and a 5.25" bi-laminate cone mid/woofer. Obviously there's nothing terribly unique about the driver compliment itself, though from what I can see there's nothing to damn the implementation either. The big question is whether the drivers themselves are of reasonable quality/capability, and whether the crossover is well designed.
As far as the numbers go, again the TSx110B is fairly ordinary, though this isn't exactly a negative. A rated low frequency extension (-3dB) of 61Hz indicates that this speaker should work reasonably well with the THX standard 80Hz crossover, though crossing a bit higher could yield some benefits in terms of dynamic capability. With an 8 ohm nominal rating and an "efficiency" of 90dB, I'd also expect that the TSx110B isn't terribly difficult to drive, which is pretty much expected for the target market.
So what don't I like? Really there's not a lot I can complain about at a glance. Naturally this isn't going to be the speaker for folks that are demanding full reference levels in a large room, but nobody should really expect that from a speaker of this size. The only other thing worth mentioning relates to the wall mounting hardware. Judging by the size of the rubber bumpers, the rear port should have at least a little breathing room. However, having a speaker that close to the wall will tip up its bottom end, which may not be a bad thing depending on your tastes.
Summary
For the asking price of $199.95 per pair, Polk seems to be delivering a pretty respectable little bookshelf speaker. The looks aren't too shabby for the price, and there don't appear to be any glaring flaws from what I can see. If Polk put as much effort into this budget model as they did the costlier LSiM703 reviewed
here, they could have a serious low cost contender on their hands. So what do you guys think? Anybody own a pair?
Any interest in having Gene/Joel measure these up, down, and sideways to see if they pass muster?
Quick Specs
Tweeter:1" (2.54cm) silk/polymer Dynamic Balance dome
Mid / Woofer: 5 1/4" (13.34cm) Dynamic Balance bi-laminate cone
Upper -3dB Limit 24 kHz
Lower -3dB Limit 61 Hz
Nominal Impedance 8 ohms
Efficiency 90 dB
Overall Dimensions (including base): 11 1/2" H x 7 1/4" W x 9 1/2" D
Product Weight (each): 9.4 pounds
Speaker Warranty: 5 years parts and labor original purchaser
