Polk Monitor 40 bookshelf speakers

[dj02bothell]

Hi, i am still in the decision-making process on which speakers i should get. I am going to upgrade my receiver to the Onkyo 605 and i was wondering if the Polk monitor 40s are good? Do i need to use tower speakers for the fronts? i also plan on getting the Polk cs2. Is it ok if i get 2 pairs of the monitor 40s and use it all around? or is that a bad idea?

[JasonR]

40s would be fine all around, I would look into getting the 60s for fronts for that setup though. If for nothing else, just to match mids and tweeters across the front soundstage.

[doctorsteve]

Originally Posted by dj02bothell

Hi, i am still in the decision-making process on which speakers i should get. I am going to upgrade my receiver to the Onkyo 605 and i was wondering if the Polk monitor 40s are good? Do i need to use tower speakers for the fronts? i also plan on getting the Polk cs2. Is it ok if i get 2 pairs of the monitor 40s and use it all around? or is that a bad idea?

Recent word is that Monitor 50's (the tower version of the 40's) are currently cheaper than the 40's... if so, get the towers. I've got 50's all around... very happy.

[dj02bothell]

can someone explain whats the difference between bookshelf speakers and tower speakers? is there any effect to the sound quality?

[doctorsteve]

Originally Posted by dj02bothell

can someone explain whats the difference between bookshelf speakers and tower speakers? is there any effect to the sound quality?

One is a small rectangle that can sit on top of a bookshelf, end table, etc, or has to be mounted on a stand (which means you have to pay for a stand), or to the wall... whereas, the tower is just that, a speaker elevated by it's own tall (tower-shaped) cabinet.

[tlinnert]

i'm considering get the 60's all around. Is this a better idea than getting the 40's in the back with the 60's up front?

[JasonR]

If you were doing multichannel music I would say yes, for movies no....

[dj02bothell]

Originally Posted by tlinnert

i'm considering get the 60's all around. Is this a better idea than getting the 40's in the back with the 60's up front?

I was wondering about this set-up as well...

[ReggaetonSalsero]

Originally Posted by dj02bothell

Hi, i am still in the decision-making process on which speakers i should get. I am going to upgrade my receiver to the Onkyo 605 and i was wondering if the Polk monitor 40s are good? Do i need to use tower speakers for the fronts? i also plan on getting the Polk cs2. Is it ok if i get 2 pairs of the monitor 40s and use it all around? or is that a bad idea?

the 50's, 40's & 30's and the CS1 all have the SAME decibal rating and go perfect together. The 60 and up, the CS2, they have different decibal rating. It's better to get a set with the same rating. Like 89 for the 50's/40's/30's/Ca1.......after that, they go up in decibal rating. Don't mix them up. U can mix up any of the 50/40/30/CS1.....but when u get a cs2 with a 40/50, now ur decibal rating is not matching. Not cool. I have 50's for fronts, CS1 for the center and 40's in the back.

It's true that the 50's are cheaper than the 40's. It makes NO sense to me but they are. I paid DOUBLE for the 40's but i had no choice because here in nyc, it's near impossible to get 50's, 40's or 30's. There are stores claiming to have them but when u go, they don't. I spent almost 2 WEEKS looking for them in Queens/brooklyn, bronx, Manhattan and i finally got luck the end of the second week with 2 new 50's @ PC Richards cause they found them in the basement in the store. They didn't even know they had it. The 40's, i got lucky getting the last 2 at J&R. I wanted to get 50's all around but oh well.

[Midnightsailor]

Well, Amazon has:

Polk Monitor 40 for $142.22 new (pair)
Polk Monitor 50 for $129.90 new (single)

So, you have to take into consideration that with that deal, you get one Monitor 50 for cheaper than a pair of Monitor 40's. Of course, I haven't checked many other sites so I may have missed some super deals that you guys saw.

[plowmanjoe]

check here: http://stores.ebay.com/Polk-Audio-Direct

[tlinnert]

I just bought an open box polk monitor 60 for $79 off newegg. In the last week I purchased 4 of these for $480. Thats only $120/speaker. When looking into the 40's I had to factor in that I didnt own any stands and would need to purchase those as well. I'm just hoping that 60's all around will sound alright

[Midnightsailor]

Originally Posted by plowmanjoe

check here: http://stores.ebay.com/Polk-Audio-Direct

Thanks for the link man. I'm planning to get some Polk speakers soon.

[Driver_King]

Originally Posted by JasonR

If you were doing multichannel music I would say yes, for movies no....

Why not?

[zweet77]

Originally Posted by dj02bothell

Hi, i am still in the decision-making process on which speakers i should get. I am going to upgrade my receiver to the Onkyo 605 and i was wondering if the Polk monitor 40s are good? Do i need to use tower speakers for the fronts? i also plan on getting the Polk cs2. Is it ok if i get 2 pairs of the monitor 40s and use it all around? or is that a bad idea?

Its a good Idea to have your tweeters at least at head level at your listening position unless you have speaker stands which will add more expense or a place to put your 40's you are better off getting the 50's.Also the cs2 will be a fine center for either set up although It can over power them a little.If you want a perfect match get the cs1 if you might upgrade your fronts in the future get the cs2 it will be fine you just might have to turn down the center channel on your receiver a little.

[JasonR]

Originally Posted by Driver_King

Why not?

The expense doesn't make sense for the what come out of the rears during movies. It does if you listen to a lot of multichannel music though. Of course with the cost of speaker stands it would be close....

[Driver_King]

He got each Monitor 60 for $80. That's a steal. Monitor 60's all around would be best.

[JasonR]

He didn't say that until after my post.

[Skulltap]

I recently purchased 2 Polk Monitor 40 speakers for my living room setup. I have them running off a slightly older Onkyo with a Polk PSW404 sub. While not as detailed as my Axioms, they are VERY nice speakers for the price. I paid $143.00 for them on amazon.com. At less than 50% the cost of the Axioms, they are only about 10-15% less robust sounding. They sound very nice, and mainly use them for music listening. I am very happy and satisfied with them!

[CRMA]

I have gotten all my Polk Audio from 2 sources and never paid retail. I went to frys.com and the link is below and paid 59.00 for Monitor 50's. You will not find a cheaper price. I use them as monitors (fronts) and I got all of my monitor 30's and CSi25 from Polk Direct on Ebay. I have a 7.1 setup and use the 30's for surrounds and rear surrounds. The 40's were huge. They were too big for me to use as surrounds. I have attached links below and I think I paid 75.00 for the pair of Monitor 30's on Ebay. Here is the Polk Direct Link too. Tell us what you end up with!!
http://electronics.shop.ebay.com/ite...=p3911.c0.m282

http://shop3.frys.com/search?search_...lk+audio&cat=0