Polk Audio OWM5 or OWM3 - Multi-Function Loudspeaker - Demo

[mantis]

Dan, the OWM5's have been shipped out to you.

Got them Friday well packed.

[mantis]

What's up all?
I kinda finished my review of the OWM5 speakers . I plan on keeping here for a few more days before I send them to the next person which I will need the shipping label or address of where they are going.

Ok enough with all that lets get into my review shall we?

It snowed here in Lower Bucks County just North of Philadelphia and I had nothing better to do then connect up the OWM5's and give them a serious listening. Ok so thats not a bad thing to resort to reviewing speakers. It's what I do and love.
I have a few systems around the house and decided to use my house system to test these flat guys out. it consists of a Sony receiver , Jamo speaker selector box , Onkyo Tape deck , zone 2 feed from the theater system for anything I want which in this case I used the Apple TV in Apple lossless recording quality. I use Audioquest cables in the system.
So I have a workout room in the basement where I currently have a pair of Atrium 45's . They cover the space well and I enjoy them. I decided to disconnect them and replace them with the OWM5's. At first when I did the swap I hated the OWM5's right off the bat. They sounded like a really cheap speaker. I was shocked that they sounded so terrible. I figured as they have been used by other members they would be fully broken in. So I left them play and I went on with my workout. I use my iphone to control the apple tv. I have a workout playlist that I had running for about 45 minutes. I changed it up and put on some Minnie Driver "Hungry Heart" to hear some female voice. I had to stop working out and sit and listen to the OWM5's so I could judge them more accurately.
My Speaker selector box is a Jamo as I noted and I reconnected the Atriums back in for a A B vs demo with Minnie Driver singing for me. I noticed the mid range on the OWM5's where more pronounced . The Atrium 45's mid range lacks clarity and punch the OWM5's have. Kinda cool. I also noticed the tweeter sounded more blended on the OWM5's over the Atrium 45's. Another shocker.

Ok so they don't have good low end , understandable as they have limited cabinet space and are flat. I have a older polk psw300 that just sits around so I decided to connect it via left and right preouts for a pure stereo integration. I found that 100hz seemed to blend pretty nicely. Under that and they seem to have a hole in the low bass above that they tend to bloat.
Onward to more and more musical selection I threw everything I had at them from Jazz to crushing death metal. What I noticed is they are a pretty balanced speaker. They played everything I gave them and didn't really shine or fall on any one given music genre. Thats pretty assuring as one who might use such a speaker might have many different tastes.

To make this review slighty short I'll wrap up with some thoughts. First off these are not high end speakers. They don't have a high end clarity to them. They lack detail and control. They also try to dig a little deeper then maybe they should. They also tend to be on the bright side. All this is perfectly fine due to there price point. They also have excellent mounting options. You basically can mount them any way you want or where you want. I have not ran them as theater speakers but judging from there musical abilities they will make most very happy. I would use them in a nice budget system with a good quality sub. I liked the older PSw300 with them. It really made them sound pretty damn good considering what they are and how they are shaped.
Fit and finish is average to good. I'd say for the money they are well built. Anyone who is looking for a nice cheap yet musical speaker that can go just about anywhere needs to check these out. I was thinking my bedroom doesn't have a surround system in there. I just have a pair of in walls(polk) for house music. I would like to add a full 5 speaker package with these and my psw300 sub in there and a nice Pioneer ELite vsx21 receiver. This would make a nice well balanced bedroom system.

[dorokusai]

OWM5 ready to roll....what about the OWM3 Sal?

[dorokusai]

This demo is a couple people from ending and once they end, they're done. If you haven't spoken up yet, do so now.

[comfortablycurt]

Hmm...I'll jump in on this one.

I'm doing away with my HT right now...but when I get back into it, I may end up going with smaller speakers. Something like this might work well. I'm also trying to talk my mom into upgrading the crappy Sony satellites in her HT. These are small enough that they might be acceptable for her...lol

You should already have my shipping info for a few other demo's...I can send it again if you need me to though.

[Disc Jockey]

OWM3s showed up today. Everything looks good so far.

[dorokusai]

I emailed labels to Mantis for Jimbo.

[Disc Jockey]

email some labels to me too and I'll get mine passed along.

[mantis]

I emailed labels to Mantis for Jimbo.

They are on their way to Jimbo.

[jimbo1421]

They are on their way to Jimbo.

Thanks mantis. Would you PM me the tracking number? I am looking forward to trying these as a sixth channel with my SurroundBar 42.

Jim

[dorokusai]

Demo closed until further notice. Current shipping arrangements will be processed.

[dorokusai]

OK, give me a couple days to get caught up but we're moving forward again.

[jimbo1421]

The OWM5 pair arrived yesterday in good shape with all the parts. They are currently functioning as a sixth channel with my SurroundBar 42. Can anyone recommend a good movie with Dolby Surround EX to check out?

Jim

[dorokusai]

Labels sent to Steve for Comfortablycurt.

I see a few Illinois based folks....if you guys are close enough that you could meet up instead of shipping, feel free to do so. Just let me know. It would save Polk a few bucks.

[dorokusai]

Jimbo - I sent a label for you for Mufsoman(Scott). It's dated out a week or so, ship it when you've gotten a solid demo. No rush but I was doing other labels anyways....

[jimbo1421]

I plan to ship it around March 19, OK?

Jim

[dorokusai]

Perfect.

[Disc Jockey]

Speakers were dropped off yesterday and are on their way to Curt.

DJ

[mufsoman]

Great to hear my turn is coming up soon!! Jimbo, let me know when they're on the way so I can watch for them. Thanks

[comfortablycurt]

The OWM 3's arrived at my house today. Haven't gotten anytime to play with them yet...but I've got them unpacked.

Looks great! I'm only going to be using them on the included stands, but the mounting flexibility of these is phenomenal!!

If there are any other Illinois people demoing them...I don't mind driving a bit to do a hand off.

I'll report back with some impressions when I get some listening time in.:)


Thanks Polk!!!

[metalink]

Hello Polk fans,

I'm a newbie here and have been considering these speakers (omw3 or 5's).
I have a Onkyo 706, ps3 fat, a new C6500 Samsung blu-ray, Polk Rti55, CS400 and fxi300's in di-pole for the rears. I just did the switch out to the Onkyo and I find myself lusting for 7.1. I would love to find some old fxi300, fxi500's or maybe fxi1000's. I've looked very hard to find a set of these to complete my system for 7.1 but no luck so i thought I would try the OMW3 or 5's for the side and fxi300 for back rear. I like the idea of fxi 1000's because they match my rti55's perfectly. Do you think I should worry so much about this. Please tell me your thoughts and suggestions. Greg

[Disc Jockey]

I wouldn't worry too much about timbre matching for the surround speakers. You will probably be very pleased with the sound of the OWM's and they have the advantage of a wide variety of mounting options, which may prove useful for your application.

You may get some more responses on your question if you start a new thread in the Speakers forum as opposed to having it buried in here. Welcome to Club Polk!

[comfortablycurt]

I've just about wrapped up my demo of the OWM 3's...I'll get a review up shortly.

Let me know the shipping arrangements.

Like I said...if there's anyone local, I don't mind driving a bit to do a hand off.

[jimbo1421]

The OWM5 are on their way to mufsoman. I will have a review up this weekend.

Jim

[jimbo1421]

My review of the OWM5 has been posted in the review section and also here:

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/show...78#post1304378

Jim

[comfortablycurt]

Well...I'm still waiting on shipping arrangements...so I'm spending some more time with them in my HT. I think I'm going to try using one of them as a center channel for a while...

[mufsoman]

The OWM5's arrived on Thursday from Jimbo. Dorokusai, where are they going next? Send me the labels so I can turn this around fast. thanks

[dorokusai]

I've sent labels to Curt & Scott for Messiah & Mrbofus.

[Serendipity]

Doro,

I'm living on campus right now and I won't get home until mid-May, so I was wondering if you could move me down the list / let other Polkies in line demo this first?

[comfortablycurt]

Doro-Still haven't received the shipping labels.

That's fine though...I'll spend as much time with the OWM3's as I have to.;) They're working quite well in my HT setup.