Polk AudioReserve R200 Large Bookshelf Speaker for Dynamic, Detailed Home Theater Audio, 1" Pinnacle Ring Tweeter & 6.5" Turbine Cone Woofer, Dolby Atmos & IMAX Enhanced, Wall Mountable, Black

I listened to far too many speakers to list here before buying the Polk R200. The R200 speakers are a must audition for any serious music listener. I had to listen to the KEF LS50 as it was so dominate for many years. This speaker was at the top of what I would spend. The LS50 at twice the price has excellent mid and treble but too bright to me, and lacking the bass quality of the R200. I also auditioned Wharfedale Denton 85th and was surprised to hear the bright treble. I did liked the sound quality of the upper/mid range of the Elac unified 2.0 UB52, but compared to the R200 the Elac lacked bass and sounded thin. The R200 has a beautiful full sound that is easy to listen to all day. It is not harsh and will not cause ear fatigue. The sound stage is wide and imaging is excellent. You can listen to these speakers with a wide listening sweet spot. You can sit stand or be off axis of center and still hear a great imaged sound from both speakers. The instruments are right there in my room. It is amazing. I like jazz and Oscar Peterson on piano and Ray Brown on bass have never sounded better before the R200. The clarity and details especially of the bow on the upright bass are beyond what I have heard from speakers this size. These speakers are heavy and solidly built. I prefer listening to them very slightly toed in and with the speaker covers off. Another great thing about these speakers is that you can listen to your old recordings such as 50's - 80's and also hear them at their best. This was important to me as I have a large collection of analog and digital music. Many upper end speakers are too revealing of poorly recorded music. Whether listening to classical, jazz, rock, easy listening, folk etc (analog or digital music) they will sound great on R200 speakers. I listened to Deep Purple "Machine Head" CD and it sounds fantastic. These speakers can also Rock. I hear details in all genres of the music that were missing before. I listen to these speakers in a near distance position of 9ft. They very good soft as well as well as loud. Believe me I know how hard it is to decide on the next pair of speakers to purchase. I am very excited listening to the Polk R200 and every time I turn this sound system on I hear amazing beautiful sound. These speakers disappear from the room as I enjoy the sound of the performance. I highly recommend the R200 speakers for their outstanding sound quality, but also that they compete far above their price range.

I was aiming to wait a few months in before reviewing these speakers however they’re good enough to review within a few weeks of ownership.Bass is excellent I ran a frequency test and could hear the frequency start to fall off around 35hz. But is still audible at 30hz. When it hits 29hz you can hear the bass start to really dissipate. The bass is clean and thunderous. Not at all muddy or distorted. Also the bass does not drown out the treble or mids at all no matter how loud I’ve turned them up.Mids are clean and non fatiguing. Mids and bass preform correctly without sounding like they’re drowned out at loud volumes. The sound is not warm or forward but just neutral.Treble. Well treble is very detailed. Not bright or harsh just very neutral and pleasant. Depending on your stereo equipment treble can sound a bit sharp on the esses with female singers however all together this is a very smooth tweeter with even sound distribution. sound is not colored at all. Just very pleasant.These speakers are very power hungry. You’ll want an amp capable of running 4ohm speakers. I gave these a shot on my onkyo budget receiver and the receiver was running extremely hot within a few minutes. However after plugging them into a 150watt emotiva power amp and processor the amp runs cool to touch at any volume level.Speaker built quality is great and modern with it without the grip. The magnetic wrap around grill protects the entire top of the speaker and front from dust and the magnets they used are very strong.These speakers are a steal at this price I’m very happy with the performance and extremely low distortion. After about 10 hours they really started sounding amazing.

The first thing that jumped out at me was the very clean and detailed mids. Female vocals in particular sound very expansive. There is a nice texture to the bass. Highs are smooth and airy.They respond well to EQ, I like to use my Schiit Loki to give them more of a V-curve. Modern, well recorded tracks from Tidal come out sounding the best. I use them in a stereo near field set up, with the speakers about 4ft to each side of me. Believe it or not, it works very well. My R200's are situated pretty close to the corners of the room and they do not sound bloated or boomy at all, so I see no reason to chose the smaller R100.The cons-The sound from the tweeter is very directional, projecting a narrow cone of sound. If you have them aimed right at you, you are in heaven and this works great for me as I want to listen without disturbing others. However I could see this being problematic in home theater applications where you have more than one listener spread out in multiple seating locations. Used in a larger home theater they might work but in a small one the sound field will be too narrow (within 20 degrees of center) to cover all seating positions. This unfortunately may mean the the whole Polk Reference range may not be the best choice for small home theaters with more than one seating position. I haven't tried them in my home theater though, I'm only basing this off what I have observed in my stereo set up. If you are dead set to try them don't let me stop you.The only other con is on some songs (less than one percent of my faves) the sound lacks the bite of my JBL Studio 530's. This manifests itself on the Wallow's track 'These Days'. The is a Rickenbacker guitar in it that has a delightful buzzy distortion to it played over the 530's but with the R200's it falls a little flat. This may mean that the R200 is not the best rock speaker for some.I think this speaker is fantastic value for money and will be appreciated by those looking for clean, detailed sound with a bit of a punch. In a month the white and walnut finishes should be available as well.

Excellent sound, buy at closed eyes ! Worths every penny !