Home > Consumer Reviews > Polk Audio RC55i 2-Way In-Wall Speakers (Pair, White)

The livingroom in our new home just doesn't have a place for free-standing speakers due to the floorplan (very open to the rest of the house, with a fireplace in the front corner). This ruled out using my existing (high-end) theater speakers (large towers).

I went to the local big-box store, and the only set of in-wall speakers they had that I thought were worth buying were a set of Klipsch that came in at $600 per set. I almost went for them, but after measuring I found they were about 2" too wide for where I needed to install one of them. The $300 Infinity set sounded horrible. They didn't sell Polk Audio or Boston Acoustic, which was actually what I wanted to look at.

So ... I figured at $140 from Amazon, the RC65i's were worth a shot. I'm glad I did - price vs. performance these are an excellent set of speakers. Decent dynamic range, and actually a surprising amount of bass if you don't have a subwoofer (though I recommend having one - you can only get so much out of a 6" speaker).

Now ... are these "amazing" speakers? Well ... no. They do not compare to my aforementioned towers. Those towers were also $900 a piece. They also are not nearly as good as the $600 Klipsch in-walls I looked at. If you think you're going to get amazing clarity and dynamic range for $70 a speaker ... you're going to be disappointed.

What these are is a great everyday speaker that will sound decent to most people under most conditions. They are a *slight* bit muddy, but not for the price range. That's the thing you really have to do is compare them to other speakers you could buy for so little money. And even some that cost a little more - the Infinity set I listened to at the big-box store was twice the price and didn't sound any better.

It also helps if you have a good receiver that lets you control the dynamic range being sent to your speakers. I have a high-end Yamaha that allows me to cut the low frequencies out of the main channel and only send them to the sub (12" powered down-fire). Doing this, you get rid of most of the "muddy" issues.

Summary: Can't beat them if this is how much money you want to spend. Period. I liked them so much for my application that I ordered a set of rc55i (the smaller ones) and installed them for the back surround channel. When I finish the basement I'm thinking of getting some of these (rc65i) to use for the back-channel.

I purchased a pair of these in-walls for a pool table/game room area I am building in the basement. My receiver is an Onkyo 805 7.1 home theater system and these will serve as stereo/audio part for only that room. I have never owned Polks or in wall speakers for that matter and listened to them at the big box store before purchasing these through Amazon. I was really impressed at the audio quality. I also didn't want floor standing speakers, but didn't want to sacrifice audio quality either so these speakers filled the bill.
No back boxes are necessary, the speaker is designed as an "infinite
baffle" type and only requires that the front and rear moving sound wave
are isolated from each other. Polk recommends to maximize the sound quality, you place a modest amount of a sound absorbing material, such as Polyfil (a synthetic cotton-like material found at craft/fabric stores) inside the cavity before installing the speakers. Supposedly, this will absorb the rear moving sound wave and reduce mid range coloration. I think insulation also works just as well. I haven't done this yet and they still sound excellent!

Super easy to put in and fantastic sound. Followed everyone's advice and stuffed the cavity with insulation....taped the wall with Scotch blue painters tape..and scored the paper of the drywall with a razor before cutting with a small drywall saw!

I had wall studs on both sides and I almost returned the speakers because everyone says it will not work. If you are just a little bit handy you can solve the problem. Here is what you do. Cut your hole in the sheet rock making sure to take it all the way to the stud. Remove the screws in the side of the speaker along the stud. Take a small metal saw, or hack saw and cut the plastic tabs off the back of the speaker that hold the sheet rock grabbers. Be careful not to hit the wires or speaker itself in this step. It does not have to be pretty as you will not see this area. You also do not have to cut it right at the base, you can leave about 1/8 to 1/4 inch height on the speaker tab and still flush mount the speaker on the wall. Now, back on the wall, you will have enough space to screw a small piece of 1"x2" wood along the stud behind the sheet rock line. Use the original screws to attach the speaker to the wall into the 1x2 on the stud side and the original sheet rock mounts on the other. I just did this with these speakers and they look and sound fantastic. I have no doubt I have voided the warranty but I am not worried about the speakers lasting less than one year. I hope it helps.

OK quality of the speaker itself, but the installation method is horrible. The little screw locks are poorly designed. There should have been longer screws or something to keep the wall/screw locks from falling off inside the wall. Once you install the speaker there is no going back, you can not manuver the screw locks into a position to take the speaker out of the wall. I would research other speakers to find ones with a better thought out installation process.