Polk reserve or Paradigm premier

M

My2k2vette

Audiophyte
Judging by the glowing reviews I don't think I can go wrong with either of these. My question is based on the center speaker. This system will be used almost entirely for movies and I can't bring myself to spend on the L400. Plus, thr finish won't match lol.

Question: Paradigm Premier 800f/600c/P65v2 surrounds or Polk Reserve r700/r400/V 65 RT? The 3 way 600c seems to be the obvious win but looking at the polar response I'm not sure. I've had no luck finding an r400 polar response to compare.

All comments welcome!
 
j_garcia

j_garcia

Audioholic Jedi
You need to listen to them to decide ultimately. Specs can't exactly tell you whether or not you will like how they sound.
 
}Fear_Inoculum{

}Fear_Inoculum{

Senior Audioholic
I can't speak to how the Polks are, as I've never heard them. But being a Premiere owner (800F/600C), I can tell you that I love those speakers. That 600C Center is a beast.
 
S

shadyJ

Speaker of the House
Staff member
I like the Polk Reserve towers more, but I like the Paradigm Premiere center better. If you can't swing for the L400 center, I would go for Paradigm, unless you do a lot of two-channel listening. There probably isn't much of an advantage of the 600C center over the 500C center, by the way, if you are going to use an 80Hz crossover point.
 
M

My2k2vette

Audiophyte
I would love to A/B compare them however there is no one around here that has them (in Canada). So, I'm stuck taking a best guess and ordering online.

Thanks @shadyJ for your input. I could probably swing for the L400 but the non-matching finish would drive me crazy lol. Polk really messed up by not providing a 3way reference centre.
 
C

Chesapeake HT

Junior Audioholic
I’ve got the entire Reserve setup for my 5.1.4 system. R700s, R400, R200s, and x4 R900s; all in the brown . The R700s are incredible. I had (technically still have, for sale!) the R350 for center duty. I know some people dislike the speaker layout and I understand the reasoning from a technical perspective, but it was a perfect fit for my initial layout and I think it sounded really nice. Of course we sit on a 3 person couch with the cc about 8’ away and angled up, so probably within the “sweet spot”. I upgraded to the R400 due to a nice open box deal and had to make some speaker stand adjustments to accommodate it. I will say that it is a better sound, a deeper sound, but I don’t think it was night and day over the R350, at least at the MLP. The R200s as surround channels were night and day over what they replaced (ES10s) and listening to some Dolby digital music is such a treat now! Obviously I’m pulling for the Polks
321BD0F4-73E9-4126-A32C-E3B32DE703B4.jpeg

(with R350)
4360BFE4-0376-458E-9A68-733B2C4BF94E.jpeg
 
AcuDefTechGuy

AcuDefTechGuy

Audioholic Jedi
I would love to A/B compare them however there is no one around here that has them (in Canada). So, I'm stuck taking a best guess and ordering online.

Thanks @shadyJ for your input. I could probably swing for the L400 but the non-matching finish would drive me crazy lol. Polk really messed up by not providing a 3way reference centre.
Just get the L600 towers and L400 center. :D
 
K

Kel108

Audiophyte
View attachment 58987
(with R350)
View attachment 58988
[/QUOTE]
Chesapeake HT - where did you get those different size benches. In considering the L400 center I would need something like that as the L400 height of 9.5 inches would not fit in the opening of my glass shelve tv stand. The paradigm 500c and 600c would though. I am debating getting the r700 with L400 or 800f with 600c. Too bad I just missed an incredible sale at Polk forum on 600l and 400l at 40% off
 
C

Chesapeake HT

Junior Audioholic
Chesapeake HT - where did you get those different size benches. In considering the L400 center I would need something like that as the L400 height of 9.5 inches would not fit in the opening of my glass shelve tv stand. The paradigm 500c and 600c would though. I am debating getting the r700 with L400 or 800f with 600c. Too bad I just missed an incredible sale at Polk forum on 600l and 400l at 40% off
[/QUOTE]

I made them. The top is an engineered red oak stair tread from Home Depot. I routed the sides and back to match the front nosing of the tread. Sanded and stained. When I had the R350 in there, I used table leg attachments and short legs (one in each corner and one center board), also from Home Depot.

With the R400, I obviously needed more clearance. I used the same top from before, and then I made up some legs using 2x10s and some additional bracing in back and at the corners. Took a bit of patience and work, but I like how it turned out.

Actually the tv stand is a modified ikea piece that I removed the center drawer and added a secondary structure to support my AVR and tv on top. All probably over engineered, but I’m not concerned with things sagging!
 
M

mtrot

Senior Audioholic
If you can find the Polk LSi M706c center speaker in good used condition, you may consider it. It looks pretty much like the L400 to me. You may be able to get one for ~$300-400.
 
J

jmoore2779

Enthusiast
I am also in the same internal debate. I have alot going on in my head about these speakers. On one hand I'm a big Paradigm fan, the obvious choice here are the premiers. On the other hand, I had the opportunity to hear the polks first hand and they were very impressive, but I am skeptical of Polk because other than the legendary line, they havent released anything that interests me in the past 20 years. In fact I've tried to like Polk a few times, but everytime I gave them I try, I was disappointed.

This is harder than it has to be because as much as I'm biased to Paradigm, I have heard quite a few times that they are pretty flat, meanwhile the Polks have a very nice warm sound to them which brings movies alive. I've begun to think the Paradigms aren't the best for home theater use, but the 3 way sealed 600c is the wrench in the mix keeping me from confidently choosing Polk.

The Polk center (R400) is only 2 way, and ported, same as my current center which is a driving reason why I want to upgrade in the first place. Center soundtracks arent as clear as I wish them to be due to muddied mid range, and the speaker being too close to the wall which messes with the port frequencies. However, the R700's seem to be the better choice over the 800f's in regards to the warm sound and better price, but again it's not that simple because the 800f's are easier to drive, and have higher build quality and I was told by my local Audio shop that the Polks sound incredible, but need alot of power. I have an external amp for the LRC witch is 90w per channel 3 channels driven, plenty for the Paradigms, but may not be enough for the Polks based off the Audio shop was feeding them 130 watts, about 50% more power than I can.

I know my ears are the end all be all for my setup, but there are so many variables that cancle each other out that I can't really find an edge for either speaker here. I guess I'm asking for opions for which is better for home theater? Do I go with a Flat response 3 way sealed center, or a warm 2 way ported center? Is it an easy to drive, flat response, high quality tower, or a power hungry warm bass tower? All opinions are welcome, thank you.
 
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