SR6500 Customer Reviews

# of Reviews: 19 Average Rating: 4.95/5 [Submit your own review]

Michael (January 29th, 2009) STRENGTHS: Amazing Imaging! I've never heard my music reproduced so perfectly. They also look awesome! WEAKNESSES: You'll find that the louder you turn it up, the better they sound, so expect to go deaf after a few years. :) REVIEW: I bought a pair of these for my fronts to replace some 4x6 Infinity Kappas and added a PA500.4 amp and an Alpine CDA-9887 head unit. I custom installed them into my doors which had some challenges but the end result worked perfect. You'll need to let these comps break in over a few weeks. Once they are, you won't believe your ears! Absolutely everything is so clear and defined. The music seems to appeal to senses other than just hearing. It's like I can reach out and touch the music. I find myself taking the long way home so I can listen longer. What's even more impressing, is that I haven't configured my head unit with Imprint yet, so I am expecting them to sound even better after that! If I had to choose something that could be improved, it would be the plugs that hold the covers of the crossovers on. They could probably be designed to hold the cover more securely. They feel like they could break easy. Final comments: These are worth every penny!    Matthew Gates (September 17th, 2008) STRENGTHS: Amazingly clear, great midbass, spectacular imaging WEAKNESSES: None what so ever REVIEW: I bought these speakers and went to a local car audio shop to get some kicks made. The guy at the shop kept delaying it, and it ended up taking about 2.5 months. I finally got them in last week, and they are by far the best speakers I've ever heard. I used to have all-round Infinity Kappas, and they are no comparison. I still have them in my 6"x9"s but I tend to always fade it completely to the front because the SRs make the Kappas sound so distorted and harsh. I buying another pair to replace the 6"x9"s. I sit in my car and listen to music at home because it is such a joy. Complete fullness is what you hear from these speakers. Great all-around.    Ryan (June 8th, 2008) STRENGTHS: Strong Mid Impeccable Tweeter response off angle WEAKNESSES: Crossover size (But it does use air-core inductors therefore its negligible for me). REVIEW: After much research and getting reviews from both magazines and others that have heard these, I decided to take the plunge. A few dollars later, I have the best speakers I have heard to date. (Keep in mind I install audio for a living) The first day I got these, I half-a**ed them into the doors of my '07 F150 Extended cab, running through two channels of a JL 300/4. They were by far the worst I had heard. As many people had said (including Polk's "White Paper") I needed to let them wear in a little bit. Within the first week, I was starting to get a bit more mid out of the driver and that progressed on constantly for the next week or so. By the end of the break-in, I was satisfied that I bought these to take the place of my JL XR-570CSi's. But they really shined when I took the time and effort to mount them in the doors correctly with a fully deadened door and mdf baffles. I also then rewired the JL 300/4 into 150x2 @4ohm. Then ran 12ga from the backwall (I mounted the HUGE X-overs there) to the mid and tweet. Thanks again Mr. Polk.    movado (January 23rd, 2008) STRENGTHS: crisp clean great imaging very flat not bright and in your face you can listen for hours with no ear fatigue. no install issues with basket or magnet. WEAKNESSES: plastic terminals on crossover. REVIEW: i have sold car audio for 7 years and polk has been my go to product for mid end and reliable. great sound. but after selling MB Quart and Focal for a while im glad polk came out with these at first i was skeptical but after litening to them they were very transparent did not give me ear fatigue and certain details stood out that other aggressive tweeters exagerate in a car where glass reflects and to compensate for road noise you have to turn it up and other tweeter become harsh after a while. the polk gave me hours of pleasure. great headroom for volume and power. 150RMS and 18db slope 65hz. mid bass is agressive yet accurate. with a good sub this is a winning set up for and person who loves music. even audiophiles would enjoy them even compared to the speakers over $1000.    M.Grant (December 24th, 2007) STRENGTHS: Do you honestly think the wooden box more expensive speakers come in, is free? WEAKNESSES: No buy one get one free offer! REVIEW: I bought the SR6500s having read every review on this site and any other site I could find, but never having heard them. When the boxes arrived, (I got two sets, I intend to use one set as a matched midbass only), the packaging and build quality alone, was enough to make me smile, very high class. I wanted to know what they sounded like in a close to ideal setup, before putting them in the car, as a reference point. So off to the test bench. I took the drivers out of an old pair of Wharfedale S500 house speakers which have a front port and replaced them with the SR6500 drivers, using the Wharfedale crossover to start, and wow, vocals are clear and very natural straight of the bat, I like strong vocals, artists like Cassandra Wilson and Jewel, the SR6500s reproduces every note they can hit with smile inducing ease. Then I wire in the SR6500 crossovers, and trust me although big they play a huge part in the quality that everyone is so happy with. Busy jazz tracks suddenly don't sound busy, but organised and open, background noises such as string plucks and breath intakes are much more detailed, and I'm smiling! So after months of reading reviews and weeks of looking at the boxes and holding the speakers in my hand, I finally got to hear them, albeit on a test bench, and I couldn't wait to get home tonight, to play more CDs. If there is such a thing as a break in period, and bear in mind that the Wharedale ported boxes I have the SR6500s in for testing, are not designed for them, well that means the sound can only get better! Any review you read saying how good these sound is just another review simply telling the truth.    RON (October 25th, 2007) STRENGTHS: CLARITY CLARITY AND YES CLARITY. EXCELLENT ADAPTOR RINGS SO IT CAN FIT YOUR CAR. WEAKNESSES: THE CROSSOVER R BIG. A REAL PAIN TO FIT BUT I GOT LUCKY WITH MY CAMRY THE FRONT DOOR HAD A SPACE REVIEW: SICK SICK SICK . THESE SPEAKERS R SICK. I HAVE A 2002 TOYOTA CAMRY SE AND I PUT THESE BAD BOYS IN IT AND OMG. INCREDIBLE SO FULL AND RICH. I HAVE READ REVIEWS IT TAKES A WHILE FOR THEM TO COME INTO THIER OWN AND THATS NO JOKE. I HATED THEM THE FIRST COUPLE OF WEEKS BUT AFTER A MONTH UNBELIEVABLE. I DONT EVEN USE MY IPOD ANY MORE(WHICH I HATE) B CAUSE W/ CD'S U GET SO MUCH MORE CLARITY . I ALSO BOUGHT A ALPINE AMP W/ 75 WATTS PER CHANNEL. IT WAS GOOD BUT IF U REALLY WANT TO HEAR WHAT THESES BABY CAN DO U HAVE TO GO WITH AT LEAST 150 PER CHANNEL . WHAT A MAJOR DIFFERENCE. SO AS EXPENSIVE THESE SPEAKERS R THEY R WORTH EVERY PENNY I HEAR SOUNDS IN MY MUSIC I NEVER HEARD B FORE. I HEARD COMPLAINTS ABOUT THE BASS BUT FRONT AND BACK SPEAKERS SHOULDNT HAVE MUCH BASS. THATS Y U GET A SUB TO TAKE CARE OF THAT AND IF U LIKE BOOM BOOM GET READY TO GET ONE. I GOT THE POLK 10INCH SR 104 DVC ( SEE MY REVIEW ON THAT 1)AND THAT KICKS MAJOR BUTT. SO GET THESE SPEAKERS THEY BLOW OUT ANY OTHERS OUT THERE INCLUDING MY WIVES INFINITY BOSE.    Kris (September 23rd, 2007) STRENGTHS: Mid-bass, detail and clarity, smooth tweeter, price. WEAKNESSES: Too hard to fault these, I'd have to run them back to back with something costing more than twice as much to be honest. REVIEW: Being an avid SQ fan for the last 10 months, I had been looking around for the last couple of months trying to find a suitable replacement for my Focal 165KP splits. After listening to many high end brands available in Australia, including DLS Nobelium, Morel Supremo, Hertz Mille, Oz Audio Matrix, Rainbow Vanadium, Boston Z6 plus a few more, I decided to go with Polk SR6500. The SQ for the price is unbeatable, and the only speaker I would have bought above the Polk would be the Focal Be kit No. 6, which costs more than twice as much. Detail on the Polk is stunning and they have a nice "edge" to them which I prefer over the laid back warmth of say, the Morel Supremo. Everyone who has heard these in my car are blown away with the sound. Brilliant product.    WCW (May 30th, 2007) STRENGTHS: A very crisp, natural sound. An efficient setup with excellent midbass and most importantly, an incredible tweeter. WEAKNESSES: If this were a perfect world, the crossover would be considerably smaller and there would be no "break-in" period. REVIEW: These are the best component speakers I have ever heard. I own 2 sets of these, powered by a 4X150W Alpine PDX; and the sound that comes out of these speakers is simply amazing. These speakers also sound great when playing DVD movie discs; playin surround. I highly recommend if you're even considering them.    Phillip camp (February 28th, 2007) STRENGTHS: A set of speakers that look and sound like these. unheard of. till now! WEAKNESSES: tweeter protection seems to limit the tweeters output long before it reaches its potential. I hear some sets do this and some don't. wish mine didn't. REVIEW: When i first installed the set, powered by a 300 watt 2 channel amp. i turned em on, turned em up, and was really disapointed. Didn't sound dynamic at all. I could hear em but i couldn't "HEAR" em. Im used to that "smack ya in the face" sound. I knew they may need a break in period. i always thought when speakers break in you may just notice a lil more bass. i learned with this set, that even tweeters need to break in. I noticed more bass, and a lot more of everything else too! at first i thought that no amount of break in time could help these speakers. figured they were just really inefficient. i was wrong. really wrong. the dynamics are stunning now. Its like a new level of "smack ya in the face" sound now. i changed amps and am only using 75 wpc and they still sound way better then they did out of the box. seem to get a lot louder too. i also replaced the tweeter protction with a pice of wire. it didn't seem to change the cross over set point. i know a bunch of people who think thats a bad idea and what not. id rather hear them play at the level they should. i play them loud too, have been for about six months. no problems at all. could be cause i dont try to over drive my amps like lots of people do. if your planning on getting a set or have a new set, be aware of the break in issue. it takes a long time. i've heard some speakers can take 1-2 hundred hours before the suspension starts to loosen up. im suprised more manufacturers dont break in the drivers before they ship em. it would make for a much better first impression. they would cost more, of course. I could go on n on bout how good they sound. but ya never really know till ya hear em. installed properly of course. just know, they sound very good.    charlie (December 7th, 2006) STRENGTHS: very convincing midbass, so much detail, that you realise background singers you never had in most music, and so soo smooth. WEAKNESSES: weakness???? REVIEW: WOW... after hearing the new Oz audio matrix elites, and the hybrid audio legatia's, and the Rainbow power and platinum series', i thought i had truly heard the best speakers in the world today... the polk SR put all of them to shame, the tweeter sounds better than the original Vifa item, and the midwoofers are just incredible, smooth, accurate and lifelike... a real pleasure to listen too, with minimal listening fatigue... the stereo image and the soundstage we achieved in a couple of hours is amazing, and thanks to the phase plugs on both drivers, the level of detail off axis is still better than most speakers iv heard on axis... whatever they have done, they have done it right, the build quality is stunning from the croosovers to the tweeters, all are built superbly, and they all just look so sexual... thank you to Mr. Polk and all the engineers for showing the world that we dont have to spend $4000AU on berilium tweeters cones for great sound... in a world of flashy magnets, and overpriced, overhyped junk, these shine through as the beacon of truth that true audiophile sound can be achieved at a reasonable price through clever engineering... once agian thank you    James Vento (June 25th, 2006) STRENGTHS: Great sound replication, awesome looks, and a terrific warranty that most companies do not offer! WEAKNESSES: 1 - Using components front and rear, you must dedicate the whole car to your stereo in order to have a mounting location for the large crossovers. 2 - Price. Unless you are an extreme car audio enthusiast the price can be a problem, and unfortunately most of the world will not be able to experience these great speakers. REVIEW: These are the most true to life sounding audiophile level speakers I have ever found. I have been a Polk Audio fan for about 5 years now and it is great to seem them finally step there game up to compete with the other high end speaker companies. These speakers are the best sounding I have heard since the Focal Polykevlar series. After speaking with a knowledgeable Polk Audio representative who told me that the Focal Polykevlar series were what they were looking to surpass I believe they have done their job. I believe these speakers will bring Polk Audio to the next level. Way to go on your SR series, I can't wait to see your SR series Amplifiers!    zorz (June 10th, 2006) STRENGTHS: Excellent price , strong midbass when broken in , sharp , clean and well defined highs and a very smooth frequency WEAKNESSES: terminals on the crossover REVIEW: I have had these for 3 months now and they ROCK! It took about two and a half weeks to break in. The midbass is strong and smooth when the driver is properly installed. The tweeters produce a well defined sound. All frquencys roll off smoothly from mid bass , to mids and then highs. Also , the drivers have a very transient responce when placed in a box build using the thiel small parameters. Sound positioning is near immacualte and the tweeter has virtually no delay. I am currently running these in my 2001 honda civic sedan. they have been placed in a custom designed kick panel which is lined with a p/a membrane and sprayed with a naturally occuring laquer - which gives it an even cleaner sound. Destroys Jl audio 650xr , Mb quart q and all eighteen sound drivers. Destroys most focal audio drivers although one of there drivers nearly matches this beauty BIG UPS TO POLK AUDIO    Chris (March 25th, 2006) STRENGTHS: Funny enough, price! For the category you cannot beat this speaker! Accuracy, frequency response and build quality. WEAKNESSES: I have not found any. REVIEW: I replaced my JL Audio set up with the SR6500 and the sound quality is simply amazing. By far the best speaker for the money, who needs Boston or MB Quart? This speaker has the best over all sound of any component speaker I have had in the last 15 years. The sound reproduction is second to none.    Greg Kinat (February 20th, 2006) STRENGTHS: The strengths in this system are simple. It is the best sound you can have for a component set at this price. WEAKNESSES: None yet. I have only had the system for about 2 weeks, so still breaking in. REVIEW: I am a serious car audio enthusiast. I have all JL Audio amps and subs. I have never heard something so crisp and so clean ever before. I have a Jeep Wrangler and it sounds awesome. I have all the EQs set at 0 because it doesn't need any pimping in the sound.    Tim (February 15th, 2006) STRENGTHS: Best sounding speaker I have had in my Explorer yet!! These blow my old Quart Q series out of the water. WEAKNESSES: The crossover is a little large and makes it hard to conceal. REVIEW: In my opinion these might have been what Polk has needed to take them to the next level!!! I have them in my Ford Explorer and they just sound amazing!!! This has definatly gotten me motivated on using more polk in my truck now.    Exalted512 (October 5th, 2005) STRENGTHS: Excellent across the entire spectrum. WEAKNESSES: dont like the terminal screws on the crossover. Unlike most crossovers, the "clamp" thats on the screw that actually compresses the wire isnt connected to the screw head like most are. This causes hard installation in some cases. REVIEW: I have these new components in my girlfriends civic and all I can say is wow. I've always been a big fan of Polk's components ever since the old DB series. Well, they've finally got their foot in the door in the high end car audio market. If anyone has heard their LSi home audio series, these are using basically the same tweeter. They are custom made DST ring radiator tweeters. DST is the parent company of Vifa/Scanspeak. The sound quality is absurbly excellent. Currently they're hooked up to an older RF 500.2 and a Pioneer Premier deh-770. They get extremely loud. The crossovers remind me a lot of the Q series crossovers from MB Quart. These things are all metal aside from the plastic cover. I also love the look. They are very classy, all black with silver accents. One of the cool things about them is you can unscrew the phase plug and mount the tweeter there. They use a neodymium magnet and the zoebel network in their crossovers. As far as sound goes, I was disappointed with the midbass the first time I got to listen to them (for about 20 minutes at 2am in the morning), but the next day with minimal tuning they really came to life. The tweeters were a little harsh at first but have since smoothed out, they were also on the highest setting on the crossover-they still are and sound great. I have yet to really sit down in the car and tune them but in all honestly, I'm perfectly happy the way they sound, I can only imagine what they will sound like after a couple hours of listening and tuning. The midrange is no slouch. They are a more agressive speaker but not to the extent of "in your face" or "harsh." All across the frequency spectrum I cannot detect any flaws. The midbass is great for a 6.5, not the loudest I've ever heard but definitely up there as far as sound quality goes. It has a good presence and again, excellent sound quality. Another nice thing is that they come with 6x9 adapters and four mid spacers(2 per speaker.) The terminals on the speakers are pretty cool too, you can actually screw the speaker wire down much like you would on an amp or just use the regular connectors. All in all, these speakers are exceptional and can compete with any speakers out there under $1100-1300. They are not harsh like quart q's and the tweeter is noticeably better than alpine's type x even though they look similar. Better than JL's ZRs, but I've never been accused of being a JL fan anyway. Kicker's SS series...no comparison. I really can't say enough about these things. If you're looking for a set of components in the $1000 price range, look no further than the SR6500s. BTW, if you plan on putting these in a 2k4 Civic EX, plan on some cutting, but the tweeters fit PERFECT in the stock locations--and the stock location aren't really that bad. Eventually these things will probably be 'glassed into the kicks, but this is great for right now. -Cody    Aaron (September 26th, 2005) STRENGTHS: Awesome sound quality. Excellent build quality. Getting the performance of a $1300 speaker for $750! WEAKNESSES: No surface mount cups for the tweeters. Terminal ends kind of a pain to secure. REVIEW: These are the best speakers on the market. Ive had them for almost 2 months now and they are just awesome. They are extremely neutral speakers and dont color the music much at all. Extreme detail and the tweeters are super smooth. I listen to mostly heavy metal and these tweets handle it with ease and virtually no harshness. The midbass is excellent. They dont have a lot of punch but they sound very smooth and full so they dont thin out when you turn up the volume. It took them a couple weeks to break in properly but once they do youll notice. All of a sudden your door panels will start vibrating from all the extra bass. Heavy guitars sound very sweet on these with the guitars sounding very crunchy. Jazz sounds beautiful as well. Saxophones and other brass instruments are full and realistic. Imaging is spot on. No problem seperating between instruments and all seem accurately placed. The build quality of these is as good as any $1000 set on the market. Im running over 150 watts to each of mine with proper gain settings and they handle it just fine. I have had no reliability issues at all. The crossover is beautiful and extremely well built. Accessing the connections is very easy as theyre all right up front. Kudos for also making the crossovers bi-ampable for a ton more versatility. You get a cool 6x9 adapter plate if you need it along with spacer and all the hardware youd need. You also get a cool thank you letter from Matt Polk which is very cool. The only speaker I like as much as these is the MB Quart Q....which is $550 more!!! Anyone in the market for a high end speaker should DEFINITELY check these out. Highly recommended.    RestrictXXX (August 2nd, 2005) STRENGTHS: These are the only speakers I have heard that make rock and metal come truly alive. If you are a lover for drums, then you'll never hear anything so precise as these Polks. I play drums and the crash and snare sound right on the dot. Even the guitar parts are incredable. They still sounded great just out of the box, I didn't haven't a problem breaking them in. You just have to crank your tunes!!! Very impressed. WEAKNESSES: Lacks a certain amount of bass, but you can use a clean amp like a Alpine v12 to fix that problem. REVIEW: I work as a car audio salesman, and I have to say this is one of the best sounding speakers I have heard. We have dropped MB Quart and got a set of Focal KF components in and these polks made them sound like dirt. I compare speakers all day long, and nothing else can match these. A friend of mine was a dedicated Focal fan until her heard these, now he wants nothing else! These will be the speakers I put in my truck.    Deuce (July 28th, 2005) STRENGTHS: Clean, defined highs, with brightness only attained by a ring-radiator tweeter. Smooth mid-range. The crossover's thumbscrews are a nice touch. WEAKNESSES: Maybe they aren't 100% broken in, because the mid-bass lacked the punch found in the MOMO line and competitor speakers. It feels like the whole dynamic range, or impact, was just off...if only a little. Particularly on kick-bass and fretless bass guitar passages. The thumbscrews on the crossover should've been made of better materials. Not that you'll access them often, but they are brittle. REVIEW: Like a lot of higher end component systems, these took a long time to break in, thankfully the store I was shopping at did that for me. He warned me right off the bat that these would probably take two weeks or more of breaking in. Even in their display boards, these were able to take on speakers that cost anywhere from $100-$400 more, and perform well within those elite groups. That being said, the installer who was helping me said that they sound better in the "compaxial" set-up, which is surprising. Kudo's to Polk for giving installers and more owners that option. I'm guessing that the ring-radiator just makes it that much more difficult to set the stage properly. Not to offend Polk, but a better crossover network with alignment and time correction really makes these perform to their potential. That being said, the tweeters were bright, clear and clean. The mid-bass was smooth rather than punchy. Maybe they still required a little more break in, because the MOMO line's mid-bass gave me a better sense of dynamic impact. After all that comparison, I still plan on getting a pair of these mounted into custom kickpanels. I was going with Boston Acoustic's Z6 model, but I can't justify the price difference, which honestly could be used for a better amplifier.

Customer Rating:

4.95 (from 19 users)
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Expert Reviews:

"Polk Audio has created a set of audiophile grade components that rival some of the best home speakers I've heard in the areas of detail, dynamics and imaging…Kudos to Matt Polk…"
Car Audio & Electronics
December 2005

"Exceptional dynamics and a natural sound balance out the SR6500s at the very top of their class."
Dave MacKinnon
Performance Auto & Sound

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