Polk L200 Speaker Demo Reviews

Intro

I will not go into a lot of rehashed details that others have already covered but the L200s arrived very well packed. The speaker design is simplistic reminding me of the original monitor series from a time when I was first discovering audio. I liked the new binding posts and the jumpers that are used in this series as opposed to the previous series from Polk. I do not have a lot of experience with monitor size speakers other than my Usher BE-718s which have been the only monitors I have ever owned. So it was nice to get to listen to a pair of monitors outside of a show like AXPONA for instance.

For the purposes of this demo, I kept this in 2 channel only. My listening are is 13X13. The gear used is Monarchy Class A Monoblocks, a John Miller Tomcat Preamp with Telefunken 12AX7 tubes, PS Audio Perfectwave DAC, playing FLAC files, Tidal or CDs through a Sony DVP-7000. Speaker cables and ICs are by Analysis Plus. I did not use a sub in this demo. I used the Usher stands for the L200s.

Sound

The L200s play almost everything well. The highs are clear, sharp, and detailed. Mids are smooth and accurate. The bass is respectable for a speaker this size. The L200s image well placing the singer and musicians on the soundstage. Like others have said, female vocals shine. In fact, I feel female vocals are what this speaker does best. The vocals for Temptation by Diana Krall were dead center and silky smooth. The piano was nicely detailed and vocals sultry on Patrica Barber's "Invitation." With male vocals, “The Door” by Keb Mo were also centered and airy. Acoustic guitar was detailed. These sounded fantastic on Chris Jones’ “Road House and Automobiles” album. The bass is respectable as long as you keep the volume lower. I normally listen between 75 and 80 dbs. The bass became a tad loose on “Mystery” by Miles Davis when turned up.

If there is a criticism like others have mentioned is the more demanding music, the speaker can lose clarity and may put out some distortion. The harmonica on Junior Wells “What My Momma Told Me” sounded a little edgy which made me reach for the remote to drop the volume. For heavier rock, such as Dream Theater’s “Untethered Angel” the song begins to break up a little at high volumes. The electric guitars on Judas Priest's "Necromancer" became mushy when going to 85 db.

The only speakers I have to benchmark the L200s against were the Ushers. I did not want to put them against my SDA 2.3tls because they are two completely different speakers. I wanted to keep the demo as a monitor evaluation in nearfield. So in comparing sound quality against the Ushers, the L200s pleasantly held their own until pushed. The vocals were thicker and the bass was heavier on the Ushers for “You Don’t Know How it Feels” by Tom Petty. The opening guitar is more forward on “Communique” by Dire Straits with the Ushers. The L200s are slightly more efficient though. The sound stage is a little wider with the Ushers. However, the imaging with the L200 is very similar. The Polks were not embarrassed at all sound quality wise. The Ushers are several pounds heavier and slightly larger and are more pleasing to look at. A point to remember is the Ushers retailed for quite a bit more than what the Polks are going for.

Conclusion

The L200 is a fine offering from Polk. From what I have heard of the Legend Series, they are my favorite speaker line Polk has released since the Monitor/ SDA series. However, the price has me feeling the same way about the L200 that I did when I heard the L800 this past fall. The price places Polk in a very crowded field where there are a lot of great speakers in this price range on the new and used market. So I question how well they will sell. While I think these are nice speakers, I do not consider them a value which is what I have always considered Polk---a great “bang for your buck” speaker.

I want to thank Jesse for putting this demo together. I enjoyed my time with these speakers. I would say they are a recommended speaker by me.