If you’re short on time and just want the highlights of this article, here it is:
The Polk Audio Reserve Series R200 2-Way Bookshelf Speakers offer a great value for their price point. They are capable of delivering decent sound quality and powerful bass, making them suitable for a variety of settings. The addition of the Polk patented X-Port and Pinnacle Ring Radiator tweeter ensures a broad and consistent sound. The wide range of connection options, including WiFi, Bluetooth, USB, Chromecast, and Ethernet, make it easy to integrate the speakers into your existing multi-room setup.
That said, I would like to see some improvements in the mid-range clarity and definition as well as the high-end brightness. Despite these minor flaws, the Polk Audio Reserve Series R200 2-Way Bookshelf Speakers are an excellent choice for anyone looking for a budget-friendly option for their home theater or audio setup.
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Now let’s get to its bolts and nuts.
Polk Audio Reserve R200 Review: Sound quality
Let me tell you something right off the bat.
The sound quality performance you'll end up getting from a speaker will always depend on your room acoustics - particularly room dimensions and speaker positions.
The impact of the combination of these two is actually so strong that in most cases, it doesn't even make sense to utter a single word on sound quality without speaking of them.
This is also why it's not unusual to see completely different reviews of the same speaker.
In one case the speaker might be placed in a sweet spot inside the room and hence the user might be satisfied. In other cases the same speaker might be ill placed and hence user might even have returned it.
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The point most people miss here is that it mostly isn't even about the engineering behind the speaker itself. It's about where you place the speaker inside which room.
So, in order to solve this problem, I've partnered with Acoustics and Audio Engineering PhD Andrea Cicero from AC Acustica and created Soundton - a simple, 2D, browser accessible online speaker placement calculator.
With Soundton, now there's a way to figure the sound quality of most speakers before you buy them.
Read more about its working principles at soundton.com.
The end colormap provides you the locations with the best (green) and worst (red) acoustics.