what is your opinion of the polk f/x wireless rear surround soundsound speaker?

ECGnovice

I realize the Polk f/x wireless rear surround sound speaker has been out for awhile now with mixed reviews at best. It does not seem to be available by as many dealers as other polk speakers. For those who have tried it, what are your thoughts? Are you happy with it?


I am considering it because I can not run wires to my home theater in my basement. In addition, it is intriguing because when it is not in use I can possibly put the speaker away since I have young elementary school age children who use the basement for the playroom.

My home theater unit is against one wall with my couch in the middle of my room. I could place the f/x wireless speaker on the floor behind the couch and if necessary run an extension cord to the backwall outlet which is a few feet from the couch.

My 3.1 setup consists of :
Onkyo TXSR608 Home theater receiver, Polk Audio RC85i Pair 8" 2-Way In-Wall Speakers, Polk Audio CS20 (BK) Center Channel Speaker, Infinity PS210 Powered Subwoofer.

Based on my setup, do you think the f/x wireless is a viable option for rear channel surround?

Can you please also tell me if you are happy with it. if you are not happy with it, have you found a better solution?

Thank you in advance for your input.

EndersShadow

ECGnovice wrote: »

I realize the Polk f/x wireless rear surround sound speaker has been out for awhile now with mixed reviews at best. It does not seem to be available by as many dealers as other polk speakers. For those who have tried it, what are your thoughts? Are you happy with it?


I am considering it because I can not run wires to my home theater in my basement. In addition, it is intriguing because when it is not in use I can possibly put the speaker away since I have young elementary school age children who use the basement for the playroom.

My home theater unit is against one wall with my couch in the middle of my room. I could place the f/x wireless speaker on the floor behind the couch and if necessary run an extension cord to the backwall outlet which is a few feet from the couch.

My 3.1 setup consists of :
Onkyo TXSR608 Home theater receiver, Polk Audio RC85i Pair 8" 2-Way In-Wall Speakers, Polk Audio CS20 (BK) Center Channel Speaker, Infinity PS210 Powered Subwoofer.

Based on my setup, do you think the f/x wireless is a viable option for rear channel surround?

Can you please also tell me if you are happy with it. if you are not happy with it, have you found a better solution?

Thank you in advance for your input.

I am confused, why cant you run speaker wires along the floor and/or ceiling and then on the wall like I did in my setup? They make cable runways that stick to drywall and are paintable for exactly this reason.

ECGnovice

EndersShadow wrote: »

I am confused, why cant you run speaker wires along the floor and/or ceiling and then on the wall like I did in my setup? They make cable runways that stick to drywall and are paintable for exactly this reason.

Unfortunately, my wife is against the idea.

polk500

Good day,
I have had the F/X for close to a year now; it?s not part of my main rig it?s on the main floor and I didn?t want to mess around with wires or I would get the evil eye from the wife.

So anyway after reading the manual and tweaking several times I must say that I?m quite pleases with it. Is it as good as the say FXI A4 no but close for a wireless surround I think it does a great job.
Cheers Roger

pitdogg2

ECGnovice wrote: »

Unfortunately, my wife is against the idea.

Time for a trade-in:eek:

EndersShadow

ECGnovice wrote: »

Unfortunately, my wife is against the idea.

Even if you can barely see it like this?

dekuda

Those look nice. You did a great job and I bet they sound nice.You sure you couldn't use another pair?

ECGnovice

They look great. You did a wonderful job of installing them. However, aesthetically my wife would not let me put speakers on another wall. (My front speakers are in wall and the entire unit is also against a wall )The front wall and listening area is off limits to the kids for playing but behind the couch is the kids' play area. Thats another reason the wireless surround is potentailly appealing.

So, does nayone else have experience with the f/x wireless rear surround speakers?

ECGnovice

As a follow-up, I pulled the trigger on the f/x rear surround. I bought it from a reputable online retailer. I had my guy help me set it up. I experienced the issues others have reported in other threads on this forum and in other forums about the speaker-strange popping noise, loud white noise, sometimes the sound in old movies of someone turning the dial on a radio transmitter, etc, the speaker turning off very fast when there was no rear surround from the source, and a noticeable delay of sound when there was an effect in a scene.

However, after reading on this and other forums like amazon that Polk redesigned the transmitter, that these issues were resolved in the new transmitter and that Polk would send a replacement brand new redesigned transmitter if I contacted them, I called Polk custmer service, technical support and customer service.

Guess what? Polk sent me out a replacement redesigned transmitter immediately without requiring a swap. It seems that my transmitter was manufacutured before the change in design. So far, after several days of use, bluray player movies, sporting events, regular cable movies and shows broadcast in 5.1, I am not having any of the issues with the replacement transmitter. It works great and the speaker seems to come to life immediately. Even if there are a more than a few minutes without effects, it stays on. When i first play a movie or start a cable show, the rear comes on immediately. Does it sound as good as wired rear surrounds with seperate speakers? Probably not. However, it makes a noticeable, tremendous difference in the sound compared to what I had before I added the speaker.

Street388

hey ECGnovice,

I'm in the same boat as you were with the wife and her not allowing me to put speakers up. So now I'm looking into the f/x speakers but like some feedback for those who has them.

Also where do you have the speaker in term of placement?

ECGnovice

The replacement transmitter has worked like a charm. My one suggestion would be to buy from Polk directly if the price is similar to a retailer since Polk will have the replacement improved transmitters. I have mine placed behind a couch on the floor just like in the ad. However, the speaker itself must be plugged into an outlet. I run an extension from the outlet to the speaker and remove both the speaker and extension cord when not in use.

jkg123

Just a thought, don't they make the paper thin speaker wire that you can stick to the wall and paint over?

Street388

ECGnovice wrote: »

The replacement transmitter has worked like a charm. My one suggestion would be to buy from Polk directly if the price is similar to a retailer since Polk will have the replacement improved transmitters. I have mine placed behind a couch on the floor just like in the ad. However, the speaker itself must be plugged into an outlet. I run an extension from the outlet to the speaker and remove both the speaker and extension cord when not in use.

Thanks for the reply, that's about same spot I'm looking at. The couch is in front of the kitchen island and on the wall there's an outlet. Don't know if I would be moving the speaker when not in use.

I'll check the Polk website and see if the price is the same as Amazon.

stretchl

Nice work there, Dan!

swanlee

I got a replacement transmitter and it has the same issues as before. I hope I'm not stuck, how can I get the new transmitter?