Customer Reviews: Read 40 more reviews...
 Crystal Clear Highs........ January 24, 2005
21 out of 22 found this review helpful
Let me start by saying that I was looking for a pair of speakers to replace my Bose 701's. I love my Bose, but I felt that they were lacking in clarity on the higher end of the sound spectrum. So I decided to make them the front speakers of my home theater system, where the lack of high end sound clarity isn't as noticeable as when you are just sitting down listening to your favorite CD's. After much research I went to my local electronics store with a particular speaker in mind. I had decided on the Infinity Primus250. I was pleased with the highs that the Infinity's delivered, but before leaving I decided to listen to the Polk Monitor 50's because they were in the same price range and I know that Polk makes a quality product. After alternating listening to both speakers with a variety of music styles I was torn. Both speakers would have been a welcome addition to any home system, but the Polk speakers seemed to offer just a little more clarity on the higher end. The vocals and instumentation of the music seemed just a bit more alive with the Polks. I was right. When I got them home and hooked them up they sounded as good as they did in the store. So although I would not have been wrong if I had bought the Infinity's, I'm glad that I decided on the Polks. I hope this review has been helpful.
Sound and Price October 21, 2006
13 out of 14 found this review helpful
These speakers produce a beautiful sound for a very beautiful price. I just bought a pair of Monitor 50's to go with my sound system and home theater. The high end is crisp and clear, and the bass is clean, with no "booming" distortion. I compared these speakers to comparable floor-standing, 2-way Sonys, and the Polks outdo the competition with clarity and immaculate sound. The price at ABC Warehouse beats the cost quoted on Amazon, as I paid $175 for each one. Don't waste your time looking around. If this is your price point, these are your speakers.
 Not bad at these prices... May 15, 2008
12 out of 15 found this review helpful
The Polk website lists these babies at a whopping four hundred sixty bucks MSRP...now if you're paying anywhere near that, I'd say you're nuts because there's far better speakers available at that pricepoint. Luckily the street prices on the Polk Monitor line keep dropping, perhaps due to fierce competition from both high-quality Internet-direct manufacturers like av123, Ascend, SVS, Hsu, etc. and as more speakers are now produced in cut-rate China, such as the Usher Audio S-520. At the one hundred thirty bucks shipped each price that Amazon currently has them at, however, this is an excellent value---mainly because these being floorstanding rather than bookshelf speakers, you don't have to spend any money on speaker stands, which would start at around eighty to a hundred bucks and negate any price advantage of bookshelf speakers.
The Monitor 50 is basically identical to the Monitor 40 in terms of not only having the same two 5.25" mid-woofers and 1" silk tweeter, but surprisingly the much larger cabinet of the 50 does not seem to give you any extra bass extension: both the 40 and the 50 are listed by Polk as going down to 57Hz, which means that having a powered subwoofer is highly recommended, especially if you are using these speakers for home theater (DVDs)---and particularly if you watch a lot of big-budget action flicks where the subwoofer really makes or breaks your system, particularly in a large open space.
For critical music listening, the Polk Monitor is decent, but hardly anything to write home about. That's "critical music listening"---wherein one sits in front of the speakers and listens intently to the nuances, details, balance and tonality of the musical output, in contrast to casual listening where you're perhaps preparing a meal in the kitchen at the same time, or dusting the furniture, etc. Critical music listeners, look elsewhere, and be prepared to spend at least two hundred fifty to four hundred dollars for a truly good pair of bookshelf speakers such as the Infinity Beta 20s or Ascend CBM-170s.
For everyone else, meaning those who mainly watch DVDs, TV, and play video games, the Monitor series will be plenty adequate. The silk tweeters give you decent detail, the 89db sensitivity means that you don't need some massive super-powerful amp to drive these, and the double-woofer d'Apollito (midwoof-tweeter-midwoof) design of the Monitor 50 and 40 will give you a nice full midrange and room-filling output.
Polk Monitor 50s live up to expectations January 17, 2007
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
and then some. They really bring the home theater experience to life. To me sound has always been the bigger part of movies. A great visual display can only do so much, even on the big screen in a "real" theater, but when you feel the thunder in your belly, that's something else again.
They are clear on the high end and can handle the low ends just fine!
I'd recommend a pair of these to anyone looking to upgrade.
BTW for some reason I had to buy these on a per item basis, I did buy two, would have been silly to buy just one, unless of course I was into Sunflowers.
Clean, Strong Sound June 7, 2006
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
I just picked up a pair of these off of Crutchfield, and they sound terrific. I tested them out vs. the Infinity Primus 250s, and although the Infinities had more volume, the Polks just sounded a lot cleaner. They're a good price for really high quality speakers, you won't be sorry.
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