The Polk SurroundBar50 is the largest of the sound bars in Polk Audio’s SurroundBar series.  The 51” long shell holds a total of nine 3.5” drivers with composite cones and a trio of ¾” silk tweeters. The SurroundBar50 takes advantage of Polk’s Front and Rear Stereo Dimensional Array (SDA) Surround Sound technology.  Using SDA, Polk Audio’s surround sound bar line is able to create the illusion of sound coming from all angles, enabling a virtual surround sound experience.  Front SDA Stage Array uses a pair of drivers, in addition to the standard left and right sound channels, to expand the sound stage.  Rear SDA projects sound around the listener, and completes the 360 degree wrap around.While other sound bars do promise a similar experience, they tend to use the reflective surfaces of a room to bounce sound to the listener.  ...

Imagine this scenario: You've just graduated top of your class from a well-known college of loudspeakers. You aced all your courses and now you're ready to set the audio world on fire with what could be akin to the next Klipschorn or LS3/5. Job offers pour in, and you accept one with an up-and-coming speaker manufacturer. You stride into work Monday morning ready to do anything, when the boss calls you into a meeting and asks if you'd like to take the lead on a.... before he can finish, you've already volunteered and have visions of greatness dancing in your head. Then the sentence is allowed to air. “I want you to design a 2-way passive speaker in a cabinet no larger than 9x6x6.” Your smile lessens. “It needs to work with a range of equipment, from the newer digital ...

I was skimming through a recent audio catalog that I receive regularly and was struck by the dichotomy of some of the listed products. There were complete turntables for less than $400, and even at the price touted to re-create music in a way that digital never can. On the digital side, there were CD players also under $400 that drew admiration from certain reviewers as absolute steals, with performance that belied the price tag. For contrast, I noticed some cables that cost upward of $9,000 and wondered who was buying them. I'm guessing that most folks – even those with income to drop nearly 10 large on a set of cables – are bargain hunters. We want value, and aren't afraid to pay for it, as long as the performance backs up the cost. One of the best ways ...

Small, two way monitors have traditionally been revered by those who sought precise stereo imaging in smaller rooms, and by those whose listening tastes leaned towards a smaller scale. There was the usual trade off; the lack of any real bass weight and compression at much higher volumes.  Those who worshipped at the alter of classic BBC monitor sound were content with the warm, velvety midrange, at the expense of much musical information in the frequency extremes.Much has changed recently as many speaker designers have overcome the usual shortcomings of mini monitors. Advances in cabinet construction, drivers, and electronics have provided a canvas for some companies to produce smallish two ways that offer the usual strengths, while greatly, if not in some cases, eliminating the weaknesses.There are a few speaker models available that can play plenty loud without strain, offer ...

The home theater craze has ushered in the development of associated products nearly unimaginable 30 years ago. For those of us who grew up on two-channel stereo and terrible TV sound, the advent of video formats such as Betamax and VHS were our introduction to home theater. Those days now seem like ancient history, and even the most devout advocate of vintage gear would admit that the DVD format is superior in every way to the old tape cartridges. And without the DVD, our home “movie theater experiences” would be pretty dull. My first home theater set-up was pretty typical of the time. It was 2005, and I opted for a surround  system, with a 5.1 receiver and four (two front, two rear) floor-standing speakers and a subwoofer. I remember running wires under living room carpet and trying to keep ...