Monitor audio vs Polk Audio

wldock

wldock

Enthusiast
Not all Polk fans like every speaker in their line-up. I did not care for the RTi line but lived with the older RT5000 set for a bit. I think the LSiM is a really nice speaker line for Polk. Between the 703, 705, 707 Polk offers slight variations to the sound signature. Polk put a lot of their engineering into this line. The 706 center and 707 towers measured ±1.37 dB and ±1.49 dB from 500 Hz to 20 for example. However, the 705 and 707 do get up their in price. There are so many other nice speakers in this price range....I'm sure some are swayed by other brands.

Anyway, the new Signature line is supposed to pull from their past and present engineering but offer not as hot of a top end as the RTi line. Given the price, they are worth a listen for those shopping in that $500-$1300 price range. I think many Best Buy locations offer them now and think they sound nice for the price. Plus the Walnut finish looks very nice.
 
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E

<eargiant

Senior Audioholic
Not all Polk fans like every speaker in their line-up. I did not care for the RTi line but lived with the older RT5000 set for a bit. I think the LSiM is a really nice speaker line for Polk. Between the 703, 705, 707 Polk offers slight variations to the sound signature. Polk put a lot of their engineering into this line. The 706 center and 707 towers measured ±1.37 dB and ±1.49 dB from 500 Hz to 20 for example. However, the 705 and 707 do get up their in price. There are so many other nice speakers in this price range....I'm sure some are swayed by other brands.

Anyway, the new Signature line is supposed to pull from their past and present engineering but offer not as hot of a top end as the RTi line. Given the price, they are worth a listen for those shopping in that $500-$1300 price range. I think many Best Buy locations offer them now I for one like the look of the walnut finish and think they sound nice for the price.
Interesting, I may add the new S series stand-mounts to my list to see if they are right for the price. ;)
 
wldock

wldock

Enthusiast
Currently, I pulled an my old Polk RT1000 set out of the basement into my family room. I sold my Polk LSiM703 / LSiM706 combo and my Chane A3rx-c / A2rx-c because I'm supposed to be building the Speaker Design Works Statement II mains and center. I'm not sure if that is going to happen as my cash and time is short due to my ongoing home remodel. I'm thinking about a set of the Signature S60 in walnut while they are on sale. So far the feedback on them has been good. I listened to them at Best Buy but its was a little hard to get a good listen in given the layout of the display.
 
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Klipschhead302

Klipschhead302

Senior Audioholic
Their old reference II series was piercingly bright, both the lower end models and new premier models are not, they're very accurate and everything sounds good on them. I'm using the R-15m bookshelves in a 20'x12' room and can effortlessly achieve reference levels with very little distortion. I've got a very long detailed review including lots of measurements in the works.

The new series is all of the good things about klipsch (high sensitivity, effortless dynamics, huge sound stage etc.) without the bad such as painfully shrill brightness.

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My 160M's are on the front porch right now (UPS finally dropped them off), they will be front wides and when the RF-7 III's come out they will replace the RF-82's which I'll place somewhere, no idea yet.
 
M

Mark of Cenla

Full Audioholic
I also prefer the Polk RTiA1 over the Pioneer SP-BS22LR. I have compared them using the same amp, source, and music in the same environment. For a mere $187 for the pair, I love my Polks. Peace and goodwill.
 
j_garcia

j_garcia

Audioholic Jedi
$187 a pair is $87 more than the BS22s. And for $230 you could have had AAs. There's always something else out there.
 
Pogre

Pogre

Audioholic Slumlord
My 160M's are on the front porch right now (UPS finally dropped them off), they will be front wides and when the RF-7 III's come out they will replace the RF-82's which I'll place somewhere, no idea yet.
I just looked up those RF-7 III's. Those are some serious speakers. Dayum.
 
E

<eargiant

Senior Audioholic
$187 a pair is $87 more than the BS22s....
True - but the over the top hype about the stock 22's back then had them supposedly competing with speakers costing several hundreds of dollars. Believe it or not, I only paid $59.99 (brand new on sale) for my set and they were outta here within 2 weeks. To me, they actually sounded like $59 speakers.

That's why I always trust my ears and not what I read on a forum or graph.

As for the original AA Monitors, that's a different story. They actually sound like what I expected the stock BS-22's to sound like based on all the praise the 22's were getting. My suggestion to anyone that currently owns the stock BS-22's and is a bit handy, do yourself a favor and upgrade them with Dennis' mods. The mids & highs will sound much, much better.
 
Y

yepimonfire

Audioholic Samurai
True - but the over the top hype about the stock 22's back then had them supposedly competing with speakers costing several hundreds of dollars. Believe it or not, I only paid $59.99 (brand new on sale) for my set and they were outta here within 2 weeks. To me, they actually sounded like $59 speakers.

That's why I always trust my ears and not what I read on a forum or graph.

As for the original AA Monitors, that's a different story. They actually sound like what I expected the stock BS-22's to sound like based on all the praise the 22's were getting. My suggestion to anyone that currently owns the stock BS-22's and is a bit handy, do yourself a favor and upgrade them with Dennis' mods. The mids & highs will sound much, much better.
Graphs have been pretty good at predicting how a speaker sounds in my experience.

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j_garcia

j_garcia

Audioholic Jedi
Graphs have been pretty good at predicting how a speaker sounds in my experience.

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Graphs give us an idea of how a speaker performs, not exactly how it sounds.

I liked the BS22s. They aren't perfect, but you can't expect them to be perfect at ~$100 and compared to other $100 speakers, they're still good. Yes there are more expensive speakers that aren't as good, but I would not say they're competing with everything that is ~2X their price.
 
Y

yepimonfire

Audioholic Samurai
Graphs give us an idea of how a speaker performs, not exactly how it sounds.

I liked the BS22s. They aren't perfect, but you can't expect them to be perfect at ~$100 and compared to other $100 speakers, they're still good. Yes there are more expensive speakers that aren't as good, but I would not say they're competing with everything that is ~2X their price.
I'm referring to timbre and accuracy, a flat graph predicts a flat and accurate sounding speaker, while a bright sounding speaker will have a bump in the high frequencies, etc.

I do agree though, I have a pair of Klipsch R-15m's and Icon KB-15's, they measure somewhat similarly as far as frequency response goes, yet the Icon's sound sloppy and smeared while the Reference series sound tight and controlled. This still shows up in distortion graphs and waterfalls though, with the Icon performing much worse.
 
Y

yepimonfire

Audioholic Samurai
My 160M's are on the front porch right now (UPS finally dropped them off), they will be front wides and when the RF-7 III's come out they will replace the RF-82's which I'll place somewhere, no idea yet.
Keep in mind the timbre is going to be different between the RF-82s and the 160ms, while they still have a klipsch sound signature, the RF IIs are likely to blow them away with brightness.
 
D

dafirst

Junior Audioholic
Monitor Audio has some really good looking speakers and most on here would steer you that way over Polk. Just not much love for Polk on this site. What Polk does do fairly well is offer a good sounding speaker for an attractive price, it all depends on your application and your personal taste in sound. I recently added a pair of Polk signature series S-55's to my set up and they have exceeded my expectations. Very accurate and crisp
Yes!! Polk Signature series are great. That what I have setup at my job for demo without a Sub and these speakers are great!!! We using the 55 series and the 15 for surrounds. They are hooked up to Yamaha Receiver Rx-V381. We just got a deal with Klipsch too and I'm leaning toward the RF-280f. I wouldn't want to spend much on amplifiers.
 
Seth=L

Seth=L

Audioholic Overlord
Well not to point out the obvious, the big difference between Monitor Audio and Polk Audio is that the name is slightly different. You'll notice that Monitor Audio has the word "Monitor" in it. This is confusing to some because Polk Audio has a series of products named "Monitor". Oddly, Monitor Audio does NOT have a series called "Polk". However, this is a minor quibble I'd not concern yourself with.

Polk Audio is part of a multinational conglomerate that owns many brands, many of which specifically deal with audio equipment. Audio conglomerates are ruling the roost it seems these days. Funny thing is when you go to Best Buy and look at speakers the most independent designed product on the shelf is probably Sony. Black is now white and up is down.

Monitor Audio is still it's own company (for now) and is headquartered in the UK. A many of their products are still built in country with a few being outsourced to China (pretty standard stuff these days). With Monitor Audio you'll get a bit more pride in ownership. The fit and finish of their products is exceptional.

Polk Audio is mass market...stuff, aside from their upper tier LSI/m series, they're not a product I give much consideration. This, is just my opinion.
 
Y

yepimonfire

Audioholic Samurai
Well not to point out the obvious, the big difference between Monitor Audio and Polk Audio is that the name is slightly different. You'll notice that Monitor Audio has the word "Monitor" in it. This is confusing to some because Polk Audio has a series of products named "Monitor". Oddly, Monitor Audio does NOT have a series called "Polk". However, this is a minor quibble I'd not concern yourself with.

Polk Audio is part of a multinational conglomerate that owns many brands, many of which specifically deal with audio equipment. Audio conglomerates are ruling the roost it seems these days. Funny thing is when you go to Best Buy and look at speakers the most independent designed product on the shelf is probably Sony. Black is now white and up is down.

Monitor Audio is still it's own company (for now) and is headquartered in the UK. A many of their products are still built in country with a few being outsourced to China (pretty standard stuff these days). With Monitor Audio you'll get a bit more pride in ownership. The fit and finish of their products is exceptional.

Polk Audio is mass market...stuff, aside from their upper tier LSI/m series, they're not a product I give much consideration. This, is just my opinion.
If you scour through reviews on their lower priced models, every single one of the except for their ultra cheap T series manages a true +-3dB measurement, even their small plastic OWM3 speaker. The crossovers are well built, the cabinets are properly damped and pass the knock test, and the fit and finish is professional. The idea that it's cheap mass market garbage is nothing more than an opinion that's not rooted in facts. Just like everyone assumes Klipsch's new lower priced reference series are rebranded copper colored versions of their cheap best buy Icon series, despite the fact I've got frequency response measurements and distortion measurements of both to prove that isn't the case.

Polk speakers are budget speakers, and whether or not they should be considered as a solution depends on the buyers needs and budget. If someone asked me where they could get a pair of towers that can fill a large room with undistorted sound for under a grand, I would most definitely include polk audio into the lineup of options. If someone asked me where they could get a speaker that can be used for atmos without cutting holes in ceiling, I would certainly recommend polks owm series, as it's the only brand that makes a speaker that can be mounted to a ceiling with nothing more that a couple of speakers hanging screws or damage free picture mounting strips. The only product I would recommend against from their lineup is their subs.



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