R300

by Charlie Harman, June 7, 2009

Strengths:

Plenty Loud, good highs and midrange, easily fills any room with sound. Great for movies and music alike, especially when paired with a Polk Sub. Low Price.

Weaknesses:

Not a whole lot of bass but easy to overcome and blends well with a sub.

Review:

Bought these on sale and boy was I amazed after I hooked them up! They sound incredible and on par with other much more expensive speakers. Bright, crisp highs, Smooth lows and mids. Can handle lots of volume without distortion and will fill any room with sound. I crank these suckers up almost daily without worries. Only reason for 4 stars is that they don't put out a whole lot of bass but hey, that's what a subwoofer is for!

by rbirtwistle, February 11, 2007

Strengths:

Best tower speaker available in the price range. I tried out several others, nothing came close. The heavy MDF cabinet blocks all colorization of sound. Direct radiated sound projects very clearly and smoothly to front. High quality fit, finish, floor spikes and 5-way posts included.

Weaknesses:

Slightly lacks brightness in the midranges, which is actually desirable for the surround channels. Would not recommend using for main channels as the sound is mellowed slightly for use in the surround channels.

Review:

Bought four of these speakers to support the surround rear channels in newly built Onkyo 7.1 system. Easily fits into tight spaces along the wall. Paired up with the JBL Northbridge E90 3-ways as mains. Use a separate subwoofer to provide the deep base notes, as the amplifier blocks low bass to the surround channels anyway. Setup the amplifier to roll off the deep bass to these speakers for best sound. The 6 1/2" size is best for midrange and upper bass notes. Tweeter sounds clear and crossover blended well.

by jc.kanth, January 16, 2009

Strengths:

Perfect Bass, Crisp & clear highs, mids smooth and wide soundstage.

Weaknesses:

None

Review:

One of the most awesome & marvellous sounding speaker. I have listened to higher priced speakers of other popular Brands. But, this R300 has outbeaten all of them in Sound Quality. I have connected to RXV-995 Yamaha Receiver. My gratitude & Hats off to Mr.Polk & each member of his organisation for coming out with such a fine sounding speaker and for their contribution to music lovers.

by justin lee, December 25, 2007

Strengths:

great bass for small systems,dont take up alot of space,great for highs,low distortion rate.

Weaknesses:

none sofar

Review:

this product is great for the price.I just bought a pair of these at Fry's Electroic on sale. So far these are great sounding speakers and love polkaudio products,and this is one of them.if you are looking for a quick starter sound system but want something that adds quality.then these are definently the speakers

by craulston, April 13, 2007

Strengths:

sound quailty, style, price if purchased correctly

Weaknesses:

a little wobbly, could use some feet to steady them a little better.

Review:

I bought these in lieu of a “home theater in a box” package because of first the great pricing, second the overall look and lack of speaker stands, and thirdly the sound quality. The sound quality was the greatest surprise of all. The salesman in the store was really pushing me towards the HTIAB but when I insisted on hearing these I was immediately sold. Their sound quality by their selves even without a sub was better than the HTIAB I almost box. I purchased four of these, a Polk CSR, and a Polk PSW111. These are great alternative and gave me the flexibility to purchase the center channel and sub that I wanted instead of what was in the package.

by Harold, July 14, 2008

Strengths:

Sound very good even with bad receiver. Clear sound and not overwhelming.

Weaknesses:

Bass is not awsome but it was work

Review:

simply awsome.

by Adam M, September 23, 2009

Strengths:

Bass for a small woffer

Weaknesses:

Can get a little distorted in mid-range

Review:

Great speakers!! They have great low bass and clear highs. I have fallen in love with them. Put them in a 10x14 bedroom and they will shake the walls. Added a 10" subwoofer and now i have the perfect system in my room.

by clay, September 1, 2006

Strengths:

Weaknesses:

Review:

its kinda hard to rate these due to the fact that they're not in stores yet but they deffantly look much more stylish then the old R30's. thumbs up!

by Jim Hesketh, March 6, 2007

Strengths:

Overall good sound. Small footprint. best when coupled with a subwoofer.

Weaknesses:

Tweeters sound just a bit tinny. Not as efficient as I'd like them to be.

Review:

Good speaker for the price especially when you can find great deals on them. Good sound when coupled with a powered subwoofer. I have a pair of R300's paired with a Polk PSW 10 sub. Again, when you can find them at a good price, they will provide great sound if your not an audiophile with an unlimited budget.

by Dave Ray, March 24, 2007

Strengths:

-Simple, stunning aesthetics. -Rear-ported to allow your walls to better reflect bass -Tweeter is crisp, undistorted. -The 6 1/2" driver produces quick, tight, smooth bass -Heavy construction -AMAZING PRICE!

Weaknesses:

-Tweeter can become tinny sounding at times.

Review:

I used to consider my KLHs great speakers.... DOH! What an idiot I was. I picked up an Onkyo TX-8222 reciever and these speakers for a great price at hhgregg. I was blown away at how well these speakers perform for the price. They take up very little room and are very heavy to keep balance and minimal vibrations from the driver. They have the standard black wood grain look which couldn't be better. The driver is accented with a silver border held in the enclosure by allen screws that add to its aesthetics. Simply put, worth every penny and can be a great upgrade to many similar or lesser systems.

by Al, May 10, 2007

Strengths:

Open soundstage, not too harsh, warmer sound than M50's, small footprint.

Weaknesses:

None for this pricepoint.

Review:

The R300's have a nice, open soundstage. They are more of a back-row speaker, rather than an in-your-face front row speaker. I was pleasantly surprised by their effortless, smooth representation. Add on top of that their incredibly small footprint and handsome construction, and you have yourself a winner. Just goes to show that Polk, from their lowest priced models up through their line...deliver a quality product. You won't be disappointed.

by polktiger, December 14, 2006

Strengths:

Great value speaker. Great entry level product that will fullfil the needs of most consumers.

Weaknesses:

None really - it is unfair to compare to high end speakers, they are not designed to replace a set of RTis or LSis.

Review:

I bought these to augment an existing system used primarily for music, and I am very pleased. I purchased them on sale at a significant discount to the full retail price based on a advice from the "Club Polk Forum." For the price, they are hard to beat. Great little floorstanding speakers!

by ryan bain, September 13, 2007

Strengths:

sound quality is great. thats all that matters with speakers. tweeters are not 'tinny'! stop pretending you know what that means!

Weaknesses:

none. they sound great. price great. the end. better than my previous jbl set costing double what these cost. thanx polk im now loyal 2 u!

Review:

5 stars because of price.; the quality is outstanding for the price i paid. great clarity and good bass response for 6.5 in spkrs. got 4 of these babies brand new on clearance. also got center to voice match set. sub next to round out system.have had sony,kenwood,pioneer,jbl etc. these are the best.

by Paul H Aube, January 12, 2008

Strengths:

Impression of audio strength. Very good for ambient use. Stable on floor.

Weaknesses:

Not to be used for movies.

Review:

The R300 is a very good audio component for budget-oriented needs. Used in a 15x15 basement room, it emits a well distributed spectrum. You can identify the "wisper sounds in the back of the room".

by Jamie In Sacramento, CA, April 16, 2008

Strengths:

High quality audio performance with style and blends easily with any home theater system.

Weaknesses:

Height may be an issue if your using near a sofa or a seat, not the tallest speaker on the menu.

Review:

These two speakers are being used as Large Surround R&L speakers. Perfect, compared to the satellite style Sony's, on speaker stands, for the past 3 years. Going to use the 7.1 feature, finally! I should get another set of these R300's in a few weeks, to complete the 7.1 set. Perfect speakers for the small to medium HT. Even better, when I'm playing music now, and I put the setting to 6 speaker stereo, the volume is even more impressive with these two joining in! Thanks Polk Audio for making a high quality, inexpensive product.

by Gerard, October 11, 2009

Strengths:

CRYSTAL CLEAR sound blended well. Takes up very little space

Weaknesses:

None

Review:

My wife bought these for me as a Christmas gift last year! Great sound. Had them in my media room for about 10 months now. Switched them out with the R50's for more bass

by Mr. Bates, November 11, 2012

Strengths:

High's and mid's are definitely better than I expected them to be......great speaker!

Weaknesses:

Haven't found any, pair them with a subwoofer and you have yourself a great set of speaker's without the high price tag!

Review:

Best speaker by far in it's price range. I researched it's competitors for approximately 3 weeks before deciding on a pair of these R300's and they have not disappointed. The high's are crisp, the mid's are clear and the low's are average for a speaker of this size.....definitely want to pair them with a subwoofer.....the sound is great and i'm still in the break-in period! Now I'm awaiting the R150's to arrive!

by ryan cooper, November 1, 2007

Strengths:

very loud, deep bass, crisp highs, screw tight wire attachments, and won't take up a lot of space

Weaknesses:

none

Review:

I bought these speakers brand new on sale.. Could not believe how great they sound... Crisp clear highs, with deep bass also...I bought a pare of polks a couple years ago and returned them for infinity's, because they got distorted at high volumes. that is not the case with these speakers, polk has really stepped there game up!!!! i love them

by Dave, March 3, 2010

Strengths:

Good all around and bass is very good given how negatively others on here have said it would be. Maybe they are using inferior equipment? Sounds bassy (is that a word?) enough to me.

Weaknesses:

Priced too closely to the tsi300, which is allegedly a superior speaker...

Review:

Words cannot describe how good these sound paired with my NAD 304 integrated AMP (35 watt continuous with 120 W dynamic power into 8 ohms). I am not much of an audiophile per se, but these are worlds better than the Infinity SM82s I replaced these with.

by anthony troutman, September 1, 2012

Strengths:

price wattage size sound looks

Weaknesses:

fried both tweeter listening to nine inch nails at moderate to high listening levels. Polk replaced them explained to me it was my fault cause didnt give them 30 hours bfeak in time and my treble hpf needed adjusted but they still fixed my stuff and nicely educated me. ty polk support...

Review:

I enjoy them very much with a wide variety of music clean like fresh air in room. The range for a two way is impressing then factor the nice boxless bass detailed highs rich warm sound from a dome tweeter and 6.5 mid bass woofer.... wow...

by dillyboo, February 15, 2013

Strengths:

Outstanding value. Small footprint. Almost believable.

Weaknesses:

Somewhat colored sound. Too warm for my tastes. Needs equalization.

Review:

My setup: Sherwood receiver, R300s, Panasonic blu-ray player. Audio sources: CDs or Flac files Musical Preferences: Practically EVERYTHING I would rate these speakers as very good because they are almost convincing. Pianos sound real, percussion is somewhat mechanical, guitar is pretty good and vocals are very nice. While listening to the R300s, if I close my eyes, I can almost believe that the performance is live in front of me, but I can tell it is somewhat mechanical in the sense that the music is a bit colored. However, for the money, these speakers are kick harse. You simply can't beat the value if you're on a budget. Believe me, you will enjoy them, even if you can only afford $300 on speakers. They will keep you satisfied until you can afford an upgrade. I think the only thing I don't like about them is that they aren't bright enough for my tastes, but I think that's subjective as I read another review saying they are too bright. So I would suggest you audition them before buying just to be on the safe side. I give them a 5 star rating based on the value alone.