Customer Reviews

Polk Audio Reserve R400

The Reserve R400 is a great center channel. It really presents a very clear sound and the midrange and bass response is strong. I love this speaker! Shout out to Crutchfield's customer service, they are excellent in assisting you to chose the right speakers.

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Lack Of Improvements Over CSi5 And MTM Design Cripple This Beast

I upgraded my home theater speakers to the ES line with 60s for fronts and 15s for surrounds, but I felt that neither the ES30 nor the ES35 were good options to replace my 20-year-old CSi5 center (a beast in its own right), so I went to the R400 to match the driver size of the 60s. Even though they share almost identical physical dimensions, the R400 is 7 lbs. heavier and seems so much bigger. Seriously, this is just an absolute solid and sexy brick of a speaker with a build quality reminiscent of my Monolith subwoofers. Unfortunately, I was not overly impressed with the sound quality, which is less of a criticism of the R400's capabilities and more of a praise for just how good the CSi5 still is. I ultimately decided to use an ES20 bookshelf speaker in vertical orientation as my center to stay in the same line, match the driver size of my mains, and avoid the pitfalls of the MTM center channel design. I love Polk speakers, but, for being the flagship center speaker of the Reserve line, I'm not really hearing any improvement from what they built 20 years ago with the CSi5, and the fact that they opted for a 2-way design instead of 3-way makes me feel a bit shortchanged at this price point. Honestly, if you can fit a vertically oriented bookshelf speaker under your TV, that really is the way to go.

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Polk Audio Reserve R400

enjoying the sound of polk

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Get some Polk Reserve

The R400 is a marvel at $649 nevermind the $399 I paid from polk refurbished. Paired with my R700 towers my home theater has never sounded better. Crisp highs tight bass and clean articulate dialog.

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Improves Sound Clarity

I had a problem understanding dialogue in many television programs but the Polk Audio Reserve R400 produces a much clearer sound which improved the sound tremendously. It also gives the sound a much more realistic quality.

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Excellent Sound and Value

A fantastic addition to any surround sound set up. Vocal audios have never sounded better.

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Excellent upgrade

Great bass, clear dialogue and high frequency. As others have said, make sure you have the space for this speaker and set a good crossover, I have it set at 60hz on an RX-A4A avr. My only con is I don't like the color of the front grill, wish it was black as this stands out between my Klipsch towers. All in all it's a great center.

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Exceptional Value

I already own an Onkyo NR7100 AVR (I do use Dirac calibration). I wanted a serious upgrade to my existing 5.1 setup (Jamo S803). Polk R700 (L/R) + R400 (Center) + R200 (Surrounds) + 1 RSL Speedwoofer 12S. Room is about 22ft long x 14ft wide x 8ft tall. I thought about going R200's for the front, but I'm not a fan of the cost (or aesthetics) of needing stands in the front. A lot of forum members also said skip the R400 and go straight to the L400 because of the acoustic design choices, but that's about triple the price and I'm not sure if my ears would notice the difference. This was a huge upgrade and I couldn't be happier. 90% of my listening is 4k UHD Bluray or streaming shows, but Qobuz streamed through the PlayFi app sounds fantastic as well. I expect I'll need to upgrade to external amplification (and a new AVR) before I ever need to move beyond these speakers. The wood finish is beautiful (and obviously not real) and although heavy, I was able to set these up on my own without assistance.

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I love my Polk R400!

Purchasing the R400 center channel rounded out my front speakers perfectly. I don't have room for towers, but it works nicely with my R200s, XT90s and HTS12. Now I'm enjoying a 7.2.4 system and couldn't be happier. I've been a fan of Polk Audio since my military days in early 80's.

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R400

I ordered this online its exactly what I dreamed it would be nice quality I highly recommend it .

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High quality product

Research into what's out there lead me to give a pair of these a shot at producing the quality sound I was wanting. Purchased an Emotiva Gen 3, 7 channel Amp to drive big 20yr old Cerin Vega 7series speakers an decided to go with new center units. These went up against 15" front,12" surround and 8" height speakers and hit the mark dead on. They blended in perfectly an produce the clear punch I was looking for. Make sure you have room for them, they're not little toys and put out big clear sound. I'd buy them again.

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R400

One of the best equipment I ever purchased. Almost makes the sound 3D.

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Handles an array of sounds beautifully!

Before I give this review, I have to give a Shout out to Crutchfield - from the beginning they answered all my questions about different Speakers, Receiver's - I chose a Polk Audio System (2) R200's (2) R900's Height Speakers (1) R400 Center Speaker (1) PSW10 Subwoofer (1) Yamaha RX-V6A Receiver. They shipped all the items and were delivered on Time!! And because they took such great care in packing everything (a couple of the boxes were damaged) no harm came to the products. The center speaker has an array of special effects assigned to it and this Speaker efficiently handles all of them. I'm currently Listening to Resident Evil 4K WoW!!! What a Great Center Speaker!!

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Polk Audio Reserve R400

With the center channel being the most important in the home theater set up I chose the buy the best at polk Offered in the reserve series it brightened up the room with clarity ans bass coming from the same unit.

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Polk Audio Reserve R400

Excellent sounding center channel. It's way better watching movies with this speaker compared to my last one. It blends great with my R700s too. Just make sure you have the space to fit this bad boy before you order it.

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BIG - Sounds great

Make sure you check the dimensions on this big boy...I didn't, but I got lucky it it fits great in my setup. I'm very glad it did because it sounds very very nice. It replaced a smaller 20 year old Infinity CC-2 that I've grown accustomed to over that time. The CC-2 is good. The R400 is great. Noticeably warmer and fuller. It blends with my (also 20 years old) Polk R50s.

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Awesome center speaker

This center speaker sounds fantastic. Two R700's are being delivered tomorrow. Can't wait to hear them together.

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Polk Audio Reserve R400

Sound from this center channel is phenomenal

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R400 Targets the High End

My husband and I are avid audio enthusiasts, that span several years of product integration into our lives. Hands down, one of the most impressive dedicated center channel speakers money can buy. In most scenarios, including, but not limited to: uncompressed IMAX audio, bitstreamed DTS-X, Dolby Atmos, and spatial music; Polk's R400 meets or exceeds the performance of 1k-2k+ competitors. Easily integrates with even difficult to match ribbon tweeter towers. We utilize the speaker in a 7.2.4 system driven by Pioneer'a flagship AV LX series, and Emotiva's multi-channel amplifier. We suggest targeting 200Watt+ RMS for higher decibel demands under load. Especially content such as Bladerunner 2043. Where midrange, bass, and treble are well mixed for center channel frequency pushes. Minor adjustments were made after using MCACC/Dirac. Mainly targeting sub 50hz equalization. All speakers in our 7.2.4 reached an equal and sustained 75db with our decibel meter equipment. No further +db adjustments were needed to balance center channel volume above our towers. Outstanding craftsmanship inside and out. Highly recommend this product for even higher end enthusiasts, and much prefer 2-way to 3-way speakers for home theatre, as too many crossovers reduce fidelity and "punch".

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Polk Audio Reserve R400

Perfect match for the R600. Clear dialogue and great bass. Fit and finish is excellent too.

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Polk Reserve R400

The speaker looks great , sounds good and is well build. I have it only for a couple of weeks now therefore I couldn't give it 5 stars because I didn't have enough time to fully experience its abilities.

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reserve 400

This speaker sounds great. Voice are clear and precise. The speaker is large and is heavy. Make sure you have the space for it

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Polk Audio Reserve R400

Very intelligible. Clear vocals on music.

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So nice!

Just got this hooked up - man, even the commercials sound good! And I really dislike commercials. Got the R200's to go with it - beats the old C-V towers I have by a long shot. Dialogue is SO much better than what I had. My friend always asked me to put on CC so she wouldn't miss what was going on. She loves the sound of this speaker. Me too!

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Mind Blowing Clarity

Sound clarity is fantastic. Amazing what a higher end center channel does for movie watching.

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Perfect with the R700's

Bought this center channel speaker along with a set of R700's. Very nice speaker, voices are crystal clear and blends perfectly with the R700's. Would buy again!

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Polk Audio Reserve R400

Have had exclusively polk for 2 decades now. Never heard better.

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Polk Audio Reserve R400

I replaced a nice PSB Center Channel with this R400. I can definitely hear the difference. The R400 is a great Center channel for the price.

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Finally, the dialogue is clear.

Arrived in two days and no damage to the carton or speaker. Sounds great as center speaker. Finally, the dialogue is clear and loud enough.

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Polk Audio Reserve R400

Great sound! Really happy with purchase.

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Powerful and clear

This is the first center channel speaker I've owned where I don't have to constantly fidget with speaker balance and the volume during a movie because I can't hear the dialogue and the rest of the movie is too loud! Vocals are clear and precise.

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Incredibly good

I replaced my Polk LSIM 704c center channel with this one, and all I can say is WOW! The clarity of dialogue on this center is really, really impressive! And the thing I liked most was how it handles male voices, especially deeper ones. It sounded completely natural and accurate at all times, and sibilance with s and sh were perfect. For the money, you can't do better.

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Polk Audio Reserve R400

This is a beast. I was surprised by how big it is. It fully delivers but wow.

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