If you’re short on time and just want the highlights of this article, here it is:
In conclusion, the Polk Audio XT20 two-way bookshelf speakers are a great choice for people who are looking for a good sound quality, plenty of connection options, and a wall-mountable design. The XT20s offer a great sound quality that is capable of playing music and movies beyond the range of human hearing, as well as a clean, open midrange and punchy, responsive bass with low distortion. The speaker’s nickel-plated binding posts guarantee a direct, lossless connection and their removable, precision-fit grilles minimize sonic interference.
The XT20 also comes with Bluetooth 5.0 for reliable streaming, a 3.5 mm auxiliary input and output, and other connection options. I was really impressed by the connectivity and audio quality of the XT20s.
However, I do wish that they had a bit more clarity, as well as a bit more bass. While the XT20 produces a good amount of bass, it’s not quite enough for my liking. I also wished that the high-end clarity was a bit more crisp and detailed.
Overall, the Polk Audio XT20 two-way bookshelf speakers are a great choice for people who are looking for a good sound quality, plenty of connection options, and a wall-mountable design.
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Now let’s get to its bolts and nuts.
Polk Audio XT20 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.