Polk S60 Floor Standing Speaker - Black

Let me start by saying that last year, I purchased a pair of Polk Audio Monitor 70 Series 2 for my home theater set up in my basement and still believe them to be excellent speakers at an outstanding price. I like the Polk Monitor 70's so much that I considered just buying another pair for my living room HiFi/home theater setup. However, two things drove me to purchase the S60's this time around: first, the price of the Monitor 70's increased, and more importantly, I saw that these Signature 60's were on sale ($700 for the pair). So I did what any rational consumer would do, I went with the better deal on the S60's and so far I love them. I added the S60's to a 5.1 set up - replacing the front channel speakers - so that I could listen to music in plain old school powerful stereo. These are Bi-Amped to my Yamaha Advantage receiver that delivers 95 watts per channel. The bi-amping does make a noticeable sound difference, especially with opening up the high-frequency range. If your receiver can assign two channels to bi-amp, you should really do it. If you have a receiver with a calibration mic, definitely use it in your initial set up to ensure proper phase control and distance. Once the initial set up is complete, spend the time to manually adjust your receiver settings. If you are using a separate subwoofer, one tip to consider is to adjust the receiver crossover and EQ settings in the receiver and set these speakers to small - which will focus more of the receiver power and dynamic range to them to help deliver a noticeably more balanced, straight, and satisfying sound across their sound spectrum. Though controversial, there is some physics behind this tip as it is more efficient to let lower frequencies be handled by a separate powered sub rather than sending full-range power to these speakers only for the low-end sound to roll off. Let this speaker do what it does best and power them in the upper end of their dynamic range and leave the sub to do what it does best and I believe you will hear the difference. In pure stereo 2.0 mode, these speakers do an outstanding job across the full acoustic spectrum. So far (after nearly 2 years), here is the report card I give them: 1) Sound imaging and detail reproduction: A 2) Voice and dialogue articulation: A. 3) Clarity: A. These are hi-fi speakers of the old breed that can be cranked up and deliver impressive sound at high power without breaking a sweat or distortion. 4) Highs: A. These signature speakers can get up as high as 40 kHz and believe me, you can hear these tweeters shine with vocals and horns. 5) Midrange: A. Most of what you hear happens in the midrange which is where these speakers shine. I am a big fan of the Polk cascading array design (making these S60's a more a 2.5-way design than a pure 2-way design). The net result is a very graduated, natural, and perfectly blended sound all the way through the S60's response range - which is very wide. 6) Sensitivity: A. The S60's are very efficient and don't require me to crank up the volume... just know that they can produce a reliable sound image with varying amounts of power without becoming muddy, boomy, or distorted. 6) Construction, fit, finish, and quality: A-. The S60's are nicely designed, aesthetically pleasing, and very well built with good insulation and internal bracing to dampen resonance. However, I will ding Polk here on the fact that though the finish is modern and contemporary - it is a veneer, which just seems a little unimpressive and I do wish these came in a piano gloss finish. However, Polk made these Signature Series speakers using quality components and excellent build. These S60s look as good as they sound and I am very satisfied with their construction and quality. 7) Bass: A. These S60's have outstanding and authoritative low-end sound. The bass they bright, clean, and solid - with just the right amount of punch for low-frequency effect. In stereo mode you definitely do not need a separate subwoofer; however, in the home theater mode, a separate sub does add a noticeable bit of authoritative impact on the effects. Don't get me wrong, you definitely can feel the superb bass output with these, but as I seriously doubt that it is physically possible for any floor standing speaker to produce LFE in home theater mode to match a powered subwoofer. But again, in pure stereo music mode the S60's shine throughout a very wide acoustic range to deliver a very natural, detailed, accurate, balanced, and blended sound. All-in-all, these speakers deliver the rich and genuinely true hi-fi stereo sound that I expected. I am completely delighted with these speakers and feel that you might have to pay a lot more to find a better set of speakers anywhere. The S60 Signature Speakers are worth every penny I paid and then some. All the best!