Reserve R350 Review over at ASR

Hansvelton

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/polk-reserve-r350-review-center-speaker.27535/


Some aspects were praised, but overall they found a few key faults with it...

vader540is

So how does one combat with comb filtering

VR3

Blah blah blah, for the money is a fine speaker.

Emlyn

vader540is wrote: »

So how does one combat with comb filtering

By listening to more than one speaker in mono at a time in a home theater system. Maybe toss in a subwoofer too. It always cracks me up when the posters on ASR post things like "OMG, that speaker must not have had an ENGINEER working on it."

Pretty graphs and charts though.

Hansvelton

Yeah the hatred is a bit strong over there for sure.

vader540is

so my CSIA6, one speaker would play a lil bit louder then the other, iirc that would help with comb filtering?

TroyD

So, isn’t the purpose of a center channel to solidify the center? By definition.....that means that there are left and right speakers to ameliorate the issues this guy has?

Now, I’m guessing he measured first and listened second so I’d wager his listening was colored to validate the measurements.......and if I’m not mistaken, most center channels are two way MTM designs,

Crackpot.

F1nut

By listening to more than one speaker in mono at a time

That's how he listens to every speaker. It's ridiculous!

invalid

What does ASR stand for a stupid review?

Hansvelton

invalid wrote: »

What does ASR stand for a stupid review?

I mean in all fairness, some of their measurements and so on seem useful or informative to me, but the subjective comments are what I have issue with.

jbreezy5

TroyD wrote: »

So, isn’t the purpose of a center channel to solidify the center? By definition.....that means that there are left and right speakers to ameliorate the issues this guy has?

Now, I’m guessing he measured first and listened second so I’d wager his listening was colored to validate the measurements.......and if I’m not mistaken, most center channels are two way MTM designs,

Crackpot.

L/R speakers won’t ameliorate the problems of this center speaker, because they do not deliver the audio signal that goes specifically to this channel.

Perhaps the room correction built in to most modern AVRs can bring some improvements, but even then horizontal MTM is undesirable for center speakers.

As you mentioned, most center channel speakers exhibit the same measurable/audible flaws of this one, so I would say it’s not a Polk issue; it’s an issue for most manufacturers.

Broadly speaking, for best center channel performance, the speakers either need to be one of the following: concentric designs (i.e. Kef, Vandersteen, Tannoy), 2-way with a single active woofer and a single passive radiator flanking the tweeter (i.e. certain Phase Tech and Boston Acoustics designs), or 3-way with tweeter centered above midrange flanked by two woofers (i.e. certain Wharfedale, Revel, and other brands do this).

The last option still has horizontal dispersion issues to my ears, since the dual bass drivers in these designs often still cover some overlapping midrange frequencies.

jbreezy5

Ran out of time this morning before work, but wanted to reference a Polk design (since they graciously host this site 😉) that is a “proper” center speaker:

https://th.bing.com/th/id/R.c5f64aca1c4a175b59789e0d51113499?rik=DZ7p83Hwdp1fJw&pid=ImgRaw&r=0

F1nut

I've got no complaints about my modded CSiA6.