Polk Woodbourne review
Strong Bad
Posts: 4,278
Now that i've had 2 months to break-in, test and tune my Woodbourne, I figured i'd give a writeup and review on it.
Having dismantled my 2 channel rig and redesigned my living room, I still wanted something to bring some sweet sound, yet be compact in size to my living room and dining room area. Enter the Polk Woodbourne. Since my plans for the living room includes a large flat panel TV, the Woodbourne was located to the dining room (as shown in the photo).
From an aesthetics standpoint, the Woodbourne is gorgeous! The very clean, classy and somewhat simplistic look blends in perfectly with everything. There's nothing cheap looking though about it. No cheap plastic look! Just a few controls on the front, dead center along with the "Polk" logo and that's it. The rest are on the back, out of sight. Weight wise, it's 17.5 lbs, but feels more than that to me. Again, there's nothing cheap feeling or looking at all about the Woodbourne! Oh, in terms of WAF (Wife Acceptance Factor), you married boys shouldn't have much of a problem fitting this in with the wife's decor...HOWEVER...being single, I can only speculate.
Performance wise, I ran the Woodbourne for several hours each week and sometimes more on the weekends for the last couple of months to give it a break in. I have mine connected to my home network via Wi-Fi, utilizing my iTunes library via Airplay while mainly controlling it through my iPad Air. Once the Woodbourne is connected, it shows up as an Airplay device on the iPad, tap to connect and rock on! It works very well! Taking a step back, during the break in period, I experimented with the various EQ settings within my iPad. After going through them all, I settled on the EQ setting "ROCK." Having the EQ off left the bass a little muddy, the mids a bit out of control and the highs a little harsh. Most others didn't sound quite right either. "ROCK" unexpectedly settled everything into place quite nicely.
With that said...the Woodbourne rocks! I've listened to my friend's B&W Zeppelin along with the Bose Wave's at the store. Forget it, the Woodbourne crushes them! It's very clean (again, when the EQ is setup properly on your device) and powerful. Lowend performance is a surprise considering the Woodbourne's size. Polk engineers did a great job with the internal amplification and equalization to squeeze out that lowend. Mid range and high's are excellent and well balanced (for a third time, when your iOS device's EQ is setup properly).
Although I do miss my 2 channel rig, the Woodbourne is a very welcome addition to my home audio. It's design and construction are first rate and classy. Performance is excellent from a device of it's size. With regard to Airplay "radios", this one is definitely at or near the top of it's class. If you're in the market for a device like this, then go for the Woodbourne and skip all the others.
Having dismantled my 2 channel rig and redesigned my living room, I still wanted something to bring some sweet sound, yet be compact in size to my living room and dining room area. Enter the Polk Woodbourne. Since my plans for the living room includes a large flat panel TV, the Woodbourne was located to the dining room (as shown in the photo).
From an aesthetics standpoint, the Woodbourne is gorgeous! The very clean, classy and somewhat simplistic look blends in perfectly with everything. There's nothing cheap looking though about it. No cheap plastic look! Just a few controls on the front, dead center along with the "Polk" logo and that's it. The rest are on the back, out of sight. Weight wise, it's 17.5 lbs, but feels more than that to me. Again, there's nothing cheap feeling or looking at all about the Woodbourne! Oh, in terms of WAF (Wife Acceptance Factor), you married boys shouldn't have much of a problem fitting this in with the wife's decor...HOWEVER...being single, I can only speculate.
Performance wise, I ran the Woodbourne for several hours each week and sometimes more on the weekends for the last couple of months to give it a break in. I have mine connected to my home network via Wi-Fi, utilizing my iTunes library via Airplay while mainly controlling it through my iPad Air. Once the Woodbourne is connected, it shows up as an Airplay device on the iPad, tap to connect and rock on! It works very well! Taking a step back, during the break in period, I experimented with the various EQ settings within my iPad. After going through them all, I settled on the EQ setting "ROCK." Having the EQ off left the bass a little muddy, the mids a bit out of control and the highs a little harsh. Most others didn't sound quite right either. "ROCK" unexpectedly settled everything into place quite nicely.
With that said...the Woodbourne rocks! I've listened to my friend's B&W Zeppelin along with the Bose Wave's at the store. Forget it, the Woodbourne crushes them! It's very clean (again, when the EQ is setup properly on your device) and powerful. Lowend performance is a surprise considering the Woodbourne's size. Polk engineers did a great job with the internal amplification and equalization to squeeze out that lowend. Mid range and high's are excellent and well balanced (for a third time, when your iOS device's EQ is setup properly).
Although I do miss my 2 channel rig, the Woodbourne is a very welcome addition to my home audio. It's design and construction are first rate and classy. Performance is excellent from a device of it's size. With regard to Airplay "radios", this one is definitely at or near the top of it's class. If you're in the market for a device like this, then go for the Woodbourne and skip all the others.
No excuses!
Post edited by Strong Bad on
Comments
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Saw my first one at RC Willey's a furniture and electronics store in SLC last week. Didn't get a chance to listen to it but it looked like a very high quality unit.Home Theater
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Very helpful - thanks for the review.
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Units like this are becoming very popular.
Only units Ive had the chance to listen (install) to are the Sonos play1, play3, play5 and the B&W Zeppelin, Z2, A5 and A7. I gave the Samsung DA-E750 a listen at best buy.
I like the idea of good sounding wireless speakers. They are great for guest rooms, offices, kitchens and just about anywhere you want music.
you stated that the Polk crushed the Zeppelin. The Zeppelin is a piece of junk. Looks stupid and I think it was B&Ws first attempt at making a small portable unit.B&W CM9Classé Sigma
