Polk FXi5's

[mrm081561]

I'm thinking of buy a pair of Polk FXi5 surround speakers. Has anyone had any experience with them?

 

[Buckeyefan 1]

I auditioned both the FXi5 and FXi3 and ended up buying the FXi3's based on usage and wall placement. They are spectacular sounding. My friend has a full 7.1 setup of Paradigms and was anxious to hear my new setup. He wanted me to play the FXi3's by themselves. He couldn't believe the tight bass and highs from such a small speaker. The beauty is dual soft dome tweeters. They are extremely smooth, and envelope your room. I recommend wall placement since they are dipoles, mounted at ear level.

 

[20to20K]

Roger that...

I too auditioned the FXi3($299), FXi5($499), and also the LSiFX($899) with the rest of my Polk set up and I saw no advantage of the higher priced models over the 3's. I must admit I listen to multichannel music rarely. My surround usage is primarily for movies and the FXi3's perform plenty well enough for me.

If I was more of a hardcore DVD-A/SACD guy I may have opted for the outrageously expenisive LSiFX...but that was not the case.

Hoisting and mounting the FXi3's was not easy by myself. If you go with the 5's you will probably need help mounting them on a wall.

Hey Buckeye...do you have your 3's set on bipole or dipole? Have you experimented with both?

 

[Buckeyefan 1]

Mine are set to Dipole since they are even with my loveseat and at ear level. I guess they recommend Bipole when you place them behind you. Bipole will play louder - and is much better for music, but Dipole gives that "helicoptor fly-by effect" when playing 5.1 or matrixed HT. I've tried them both ways, and honestly, don't recognize that much of a difference.

www.polkaudio.com/home/technology/bidipole.php?category=6&speaker=355