Polk audio Reserve R200 Large Bookshelf Speakers (Black, Pair)

T he Polk Audio Legend L100 is one of my favorite compact speakers. When I reviewed it in Issue 308, I concluded that it was not only well-crafted and superbly musical; it also represented a terrific buy in its class and beyond.

40 speakers in my house this year. These R200's are a stand out. Well balanced and respond well to EQ. The sound you get is very dependent on the rest of your audio components. A cheap receiver will likely = thick and muddy sound. Given a quality amp and DAC, they are sublime.

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  Well defined and ample bassNeutral characterNever offend but yet preciseGoldilocks character and huge value

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  Needs good amplification to get it's bestTop end needs some extra EQ but they do respond if asked. (Buy a Loki+)Not the best for home theater. Would need a very capable receiver to drive these well. Narrow dispersion from tweeter (~20 degrees) would limit seating options.

I paired these with an Audiolab 6000A integrated amplifier. The quality of the audio from this pair is excellent, albeit warm. It took a few months for me to get used to the difference in sound between this pair and my old arrangement (a Yamaha A-S301 and pair of KEF Q100 speakers).

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  Great bass extension for the size, sound fine mounted on side walls.

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  I'll bet floor standing speakers will rock a lot harder.

Upgraded from 20 year old Polk speakers with R200's and R100's. Very nice spatial sound, crisp highs but never harsh. Wonderful vocals and great depth on guitars and pianos. Bass is excellent. I have these paired with a new Polk subwoofer. Really enjoying the new sound.

Great sounding bookshelf speakers. Have them set up in my bedroom. Amazed at the quality of the bass. Overall clean and full sound. Using an Emotiva BasX TA-100 receiver to power them.

Almost too much speaker to 'waste' on surrounds. Easily could drive a very nice system. Great sound with quite a bit of bass.

Awesome sound!

The reviews are true: These speakers are outstanding. I'm using a $70 class D amp (Loxjie A10) to drive them and they sound better than my Kef LS 50 set!

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  Awesome bass, midrange and highs.

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  For the price? None

Like the reviewer before me, I have had 530s, 4.1s, 4.2s, DBR6.2s, 570s, Denton 80th 85th, Diamond 225, DFR 52, Klipsch 51m, DT SM65s, Diamond 11.3s. Only the 530s, 4.2s, and 85ths are in the class of the R200s. That review is spot on!

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  EverythingThey will pound some bass with power

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  Did not have them sooner

These speakers are fantastic and very consistent for all types of sound. You can turn up the volume to 90dB and hear no distortion for the music I tried it with (movie soundtracks, classical, electronic, rock). The grill on the front is magnetic which is very convenient.

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  Best bookshelf speakers I could find the for price.

I actually tested this vs some kef ls50 metas. They outshine the kefs in the bass/midbass area wile the kefs outshine them slightly in the midrange. These are less than half the price of the ls50's so it was a no-brainer to get these.

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  - Very nice overall tone to this set.- Nice lows for a speaker this size- Great bang for the buck- tweeters sound in between a soft dome tweeter and ribbon tweeter, so no harshness, and is definitely my preference- fairly neutral sound overall

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  - picky about tweeter placement. The sound can change quite a bit when you shift horizontal sitting position. Vertical position is not as bad but still a bit noticeable.- finish looks good(white) but, observing it up close, you can see it is only ok and they skimped a bit on it to save cost.