🔥 Buy the Polk Reserve R200: bit.ly/PolkR200AMZ 🔊 Download the Uncompressed WAV: bit.ly/PolkR200SoundDemo Watch the Full Review of the Polk Audio Reserve R200's: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-fYy21OWMHmU.html My Speaker Leaderboard: bit.ly/SpeakerLeaderboard Disclosure: The Affiliate links above earn me a commission if you purchase using those links. This is at no additional cost to you. Polk sent these free for me to review. They have not reviewed this video prior to release.
I've had the chance to listen to these in person at an Audio show and they're legitimately amazing speakers for the price. Like, you CAN do better if you really try, but these have a particularly pleasant quality to their sound that I really appreciate.
@Roy R, I've also been a Polk fan for years, I started with RT series back in the day with RT55, CS400, f/x500 and PSW450, then moved to LSi25, LSiC, LSi f/x, followed by LSiM 707 only for music until 2019 when I got the L800 and moved the LSiM 707 to my HT and added 706c, 4x702f/x. Good value speakers.
They sound pretty good. I listened with my Sennheiser HD650 headphones. It would cool if you could review the KEF R3 or the new Wharfedale 12.2. I know you already reviewed the 12.1.
The Polk Reserve R200 sounds fantastic...but a bit expensive... a comparison with Kef LS50 META might be interesting because they are about the same price range...and these also sound fantastic
@@joentell Hi Joe...you are right...the Kef are quite a bit more expensive...I downloaded the soundfile...it caused an earthquake in my speakers...awesome
@@TheRazorgermany Yeah, I get a bit more room gain than I would want. I usually resolve that with DSP (DIRAC) which easily tames the bass. I didn't want to do any DSP for the sound demo because that might not be fair. I know DIRAC would take good sounding speakers and help them get closer to great.
Well, all i have to say here is this,.. There is not many times that we listen to a demo of a set of speakers that sound extremley close to the original track. I think that should tell you all you need to know about these Reserve R200's!
A little DSP and you can reduce the cabinet resonances, and restore the studio impact and presence, but they sound nice with a straight amp signal as well. Very nice.
@@joentell yes they just appeared glad they became in stock today . Surprised all of the reviewers epsecially zero fidelity agree on these. We will see! Thanks for actually measuring them it's important info
Great demo Joe. Though its complicated to reproduce the exact scenario, you have did a really good job. The Bass does get a bit dispersed and reverberating (May be due to room), and the treble seems... boxy? constrained? I don't think the treble is airy. [Using Fiio E10k, BB off on ATH M50X]
The treble response of any speaker gets lower the further you get from a speaker. That's normal. If the treble sounded equal to that of the original recording, that may be a cause for concern as that might be perceived as overly bright and a measurement of the speaker itself would probably show a rising response. If I sat closer to the speakers, the treble response would likely be more similar to the source. Try it with your speakers. Play some familiar music. Then keep backing up. What drops in volume first, the bass, midrange, or treble?
@@AmbientWanderer I am interesting to know if the R200 is better then the new Klipsch RP600M II version ? The R200 are 4 ohm speakers do they hard to drive ? Thanks , by the way my power amp is ADCOM GFA 555 MK2
Nice demo, Joe if i might ask you how does this treble of polk compare to an ATM if have heard one ? the specs are promising but I wonder if polk handles micro detail and has that airy sound or not ? The specs sounds promising but its hard to get an opinion over youtube
Hi Can i ask how do these compare with Denton 85? because based on your leader board Denton 85 is ranked higher and i would like to know the reason why. hopefully you could advise thank you!
How do these compare to Wharfedale Diamond 12.1 or 12.2? Which speaker would you suggest to buy in the 500 1000 range? Choosing between Quad S2, Elac Unifi 52, Diamond 12.1 or 12.2 Or something in the similar price range.
These have an extremely similar tonality to the Wharfedale Diamond 12.1. I haven't tried the 12.2. Check out my full review of both the Diamond 12.1 and R200. They're both excellent choices. The Wharfedale's are less expensive, but you can't go wrong either way.
How should I read this, Joe? Listening to the comparison on the Cambridge Audio Melomania, the original track is much tighter, fuller in the lower-mids and have a tighter bass. Is this about right?
I'm thinking of buying the Polk audio r200 I currently have floor-standing speakers, how do I feel about the lack of bass? I hear a lot of electronic music with a lot of bass
Hi, Im buying my first speakers for music and movies. My choices are B&W 603 s2, ELAC DFR52, FOCAL CHORA 826 and POLK RESERVE. any suggestions on these? THANKS! everytime i research i add new models to my shortlist LMAO
What do you think? That gives you an idea of what it sounded like to me in my room. Keep in mind, I usually use DSP (digital signal processing) to tune the sound, but I didn't for the purpose of this demo.
@@joentell For me it sounded fantastic👌 But I can't judge the finer points as you do. You must have marked it higher on your List but not above the best ones😀
I went and listened to your demo of the wharfdale 12.1 and they don't sound good in the demo to me. Did you use a different mic? The bass of the wharfdale sounded bloated.
I sat further back near the wall in the Wharfedale one which causes more "bloated" bass. I will start recording then from this distance from now on since I don't use DSP room correction to keep things fair.
I don't really get it I'm listening to this on my Sennheiser 6xx ofc the original track sounds better because I don't understand what subjective opinion I could achieve on these listening tests on how a speaker performs. I do like your Content Joe ofc :) have helped me out.
The original should ALWAYS sound the best. Imagine a case where it didn't. This is to give some perspective of how the speakers sounded in my room as I was evaluating them. It gives you an idea of the tonal characteristics relative to the original. I have frequency response graphs on my full review. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-fYy21OWMHmU.html Just take this as one data point to help you get a better idea. If I say something has too much treble, and you can hear that in the recording, well, that gives you just a bit more insight.
@@joentell Great explanation, thank you for taking the time to reply. Going through my thoughts I did believe the speaker lacked a response in the lower region but then again this type of speaker will run with a subwoofer so I have to take that into consideration. I do like that you include measurements which is going above and beyond and you always explain to the listener instead of saying buy this, or this is the best speaker. I did recently watch the baby SVS video and was pleased by its performance and that you including the graph to show performance, however, as you mentioned it doesn't replace big subs so i would miss my Arendal 1961 1s if I had the Svs mini :) keep up the good work.
I think a lot of reviewers are in love with the idea that they can or should convince someone to take their advice. Having been in sales most of my life, being able to convince someone shouldn't be a surprise to anyone who knows what they're doing. In actuality, it's a big responsibility! You need to be careful with any influence you may have. So instead, I hope to help people make better decisions for themselves. What I like shouldn't necessarily determine what you like.
@@joentell Exactly that, you are doing the right thing :) never sell out for a quick buck not worth it. I got some svs prime elevation delivered today going to ceiling mount them I'll make sure not to fall off the ladder :) 😀