Polk Reserve R200 Bookshelf Speakers Black

Product Information

If we start at the top, the really good news is that the R200 is really well balanced here. I'm almost a little sorry that writer's colleague Stig Arne did not get a chance to experience these when he stopped by Sommerhuset in Fredrikstad last autumn, because he has a distinct aversion to what he believes is a notorious trend with excessive treble to give a impressor effect, especially in tripod speakers. I do not have quite the same opinion that he has, but still share the view that a number of speakers could have had a slight attenuation in the treble reproduction. And with the R200, this is not a phenomenon at all - the treble appears to be neutral and well balanced. What I miss compared to some significantly more expensive models is the latest word in sophistication in the treble. I experienced this as a little better in e.g. Triangle Comète 40th that we tested last year, both at about double the price. Not to mention the Triangle Signature Theta at more than four times the price of R200. What speakers would be the next level up that are still good value relatively. Would I really notice a big difference, since my ears aren't trained. We kept them on light duties for a week to warm them through while deciding on positioning, settling on solid stands toed in slightly to keep their pointy tweeters at ear height and directly at our ears. This spinorama also tells us that the R200 appears to be mostly free of major resonances that color the sound; this would show up as a bump that stands out in each of the top curves, and can contribute to a speaker sounding boomy or having a grating sound at specific frequencies. Knowing for sure would require an anechoic chamber or advanced tools I don’t have access to, but within the resolution of my system, the R200 performs admirably.

It allows you to compare the performances of different speakers before even laying your ears hands on them. All these words are just to reiterate the headline; the Polk Reserve R200 is not just a fantastic deal — it’s a really solid speaker at almost any price. Though no one can guarantee you’ll like a speaker, I can at least tell you that you’re getting more than your money’s worth with the R200. Its refreshing to see such thoughtful engineering on a speaker in this price range.The source code under Pierre Aubert's work is licensed under GPL (General public license). He didn't perform any of the measurements himself, and instead he compiled all of them into one place, so that makes sense. Fortunately, now we have the Spinorama data for a bunch of quite popular speakers. Pierre Aubert put all this untidy data together and put it into https://www.spinorama.org/. This is a stunning source. Pretty valuable stuff from him right there. And what entirely flabbergasted us on completion of our review was the price, which we did not know until the end. We’d have put them at least double the actual price. So in addition to being marvellous standmount speakers, the Polk R200s are a bargain. This isn’t the cleanest horizontal directivity I’ve ever seen, but the vast majority of the speakers that perform better have a narrower soundstage. There’s usually a trade-off between soundstage width and precision, and the R200 toes the line expertly. Among wider directivity speakers I’ve tested, only the Focal Chora 806 performs better. The reserve series was launched at the end of March 2021, but before we delve into this series, which is the second best in Polk Audio's hierarchy, we will take a look at the flagship series that was launched just over two years ago. POLK AUDIO LEGEND

It isn’t flawless — few speakers are — but the R200 is a prime example of sensible design decisions to maximize sound quality at a reasonable price. You won’t find crazy newfangled technology or materials here, just carefully thought out engineering. R200:A little extra weight and depth in the bass compared to most tripod speakers. At the same time, it is liberating to drop the treble boost that many other bookshelf speakers serve. Like the treble, the midrange / bass driver is also an element with distinctiveness. Turbine Cone is produced in the material Foam-core injection-molded cone, and is claimed to have a property that improves stiffness and damping without adding unwanted mass. These irregularities in the diaphragm surface are added by cutting some sections early during the production process, and Polk Audio claims that they provide a smoother frequency response.

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Our pioneering turbine design delivers a significant increase in cone rigidity without increasing mass. This innovation means the woofer can move with increased accuracy and speed to deliver enhanced sound resolution, enabling you to experience a breathtaking level of detail in your music and movies. The bass is undeniably what impresses most with these speakers. Here, there is a well-balanced bass that extends further down in the register than the stated frequency response would indicate. And there is as much depth and precision as the amount of bass that impresses - giving an imprecise boost in the bass is rarely successful, and is not what we get here. The R600 is otherwise equipped with 2 6½-inches set up in a 2½-way configuration, where one Turbine Cone element plays deeper than the other. In theory, with complete 360-degree anechoic data on a loudspeaker and sufficient acoustical and geometrical data on the listening room and its layout it would be possible to estimate with good precision what would be measured by an omnidirectional microphone located in the listening area of that room. By making some simplifying assumptions about the listening space, the data set described above permits a usefully accurate preview of how a given loudspeaker might perform in a typical domestic listening room. Obviously, there are no guarantees, because individual rooms can be acoustically aberrant. Sometimes rooms are excessively reflective (“live”) as happens in certain hot, humid climates, with certain styles of interior décor and in under-furnished rooms. Sometimes rooms are excessively “dead” as in other styles of décor and in some custom home theaters where acoustical treatment has been used excessively. This form of post processing is offered only as an estimate of what might happen in a domestic living space with carpet on the floor and a “normal” amount of seating, drapes and cabinetry.

The Polk Audio Reserve Series R200 2-Way Bookshelf Speakers offer an enjoyable listening experience, making them a great choice for music enthusiasts and home theater enthusiasts alike. They are capable of handling loud volumes easily, so they are a great choice for more demanding users. I explain what all of this means in the spinorama section of my measurements guide, but we can focus on a few key things here. Speaker Stands: Stands bring your bookshelf speakers to ideal height (rule of thumb is to have the tweeter level with your ear in your listening position), helps stability and acoustical isolation. The speaker features a two-way design with a 6.5-inch mid-woofer and a 1-inch ring radiator tweeter. The ring radiator tweeter has a more narrow dispersion pattern in the higher frequencies compared to a dome tweeter design, so it is recommended to aim the speaker directly at the listener, without toeing it out or facing it towards the room. Here the R200 also shows very good performance. There’s a bit of a dip around the 3 kHz crossover —where the woofer hands off the sound to the tweeter — but this is common among speakers with separate woofers and tweeters. The R200 performs almost as good as any speaker I’ve measured on this metric as well.R200:The bass is very well reproduced, and goes surprisingly deep. Siri Gelein's vocals are not bothered by sibilants as many other speakers present. Keeping in view the above scenario, what are my best options for an integrated amplifier to hook up with the Polk R200? I am happy with the Audiolab, I too was keen between Marantz or the Audiolab but I prefer neutral sound. BTW I had these paired with the QA3050i. Happy to answer more questions if any.

These Turbine Cone drivers have also been adopted in the unaltered version from the Legend series. That is - it applies to the 5 ¼ and 6 ½-inch versions - the four-inch in the R350 and R900 is not available in the Legend series. POWER PORT + X-PORT The models that were kindly lent to us by Neby Hifi were a pair with the middle floor models R600, a pair of the largest stand speakers R200, and the center speaker R350. Both the R600 and R200 speaker pairs were primarily reviewed as speakers in a stereo setup. But they were also tested as an AV setup together with the center speaker R350, a Klipsch R-110SW subwoofer and a pair of Linn Classik configured as Top Rear speakers in an Atmos setup with Onkyo TX-NR696, with Linn LK100 as external power amplifier for the front channels . Base surface area of a loudspeaker may become a determining factor when the space in your room or desk is limited.

Polk Audio Reserve R200 Review: Connectivity

This is why Spinorama was apparently groundbreaking news for audio industry. Hence in the mid-late 2010's, most brands and magazines began publishing Spinorama measurements, despite the challenges of making such measurements. R200:impressive bass from a bookshelf speaker. And Beate's vocals are free of sibilants, unlike some other speakers. R600: Insanely good double bass, in fact throughout the frequency range. One would almost think that this came from the Reserve R700 with double 8-inch! R600: Here it is once again the bass that impresses initially, but without it becoming too intrusive for that reason. At the same time very good detail reproduction up in the register .