Speaker Questions

Magnepans are great speakers. Certainly some of the best in their price category. But they need high current amplification and a very natural sounding signal (tube preamp helps)… so good cost of speaker… but support electronics must be up to it.

Hello. I am looking to get some new speakers but I am on a relatively tight budget. WAF is important for me in the buying decision.

I have found a pair of Polk Audio S50 towers for $200 each and that seems like a good deal, but I don't really see any Polk Audio on the recommended lists. Not even in the WAF section. I would prefer a Tower speaker, but I suppose I could go with some good bookshelves on stands.

Here's what I'm considering;Polk S50 Towers (White)Polk S30 Center (White)Polk ES15 Rear's (White)Polk RC60i In Ceiling speakers (for atmos)

All in, I can get this for about $880. It SEEMS like a good set, though I have nowhere to listen to it locally. I really like the aesthetic and haven't had any arguments from the SO yet.

That all being said, the fact that these don't come "recommended" in any of the buying guides has me worried that I am doing myself a disservice by not looking at other speakers https://showbox.tools/ https://speedtest.vet/.

I don't see ANY white towers anywhere near that range, but there are some bookshelf ones. More specifically, I could get the KEF Q150's for L & R at $300/pair, but then I don't know where I would be able to go from here for center, surround, and atmos speakers. Would the KEF Bookshelf be better than the polk tower? I'm in need of some guidance here.

Thanks!

I got this,..

Just go with the Polks; the S series sounds fine. From what I can gather, you are trying to build out a multi channel system and the Polks with be just fine for that. At under a grand with the need for white and visually appealing there won’t be a ton of options. What are you planning to do about a sub? If you aren’t going with a sub you will want towers as mains to get any real bass output.

Modern Polks usually aren’t on recommended lists (E.g. Stereophile) because they are consumer grade and not really in the considersation set of most audiophiles. Not to say they sound bad or anything its more that they are too inexpensive to be taken seriously. This is changing somewhat with their recent Legend series. Some folks here are spending more on a pair of cables or a phono cart than what all those Polks cost combined.

P.S. Polks (RT400s) were my first real speaker purchase back in the mid 90s as a teenager. I loved them and they are what got me into audio. I had to buy one at a time since I couldn’t afford a pair all at once; the sales guy helped me out since I was a kid making minimum wage and saving up for my system piece by piece. I still have those speakers and bust them out to enjoy them on occasion.