Home > Consumer Reviews > Polk Audio Atrium 45 All-Weather Speakers (Pair, Black)

I bought a pair of these a couple of years ago from Crutchfield for just under $200. We had a back porch with outdoor fireplace built onto the house and wanted to have music without having to use a portable stereo boombox. I had some unused stereo equipment available so I ran some long lengths of speaker cable from the den to the roof beam of the porch. I started out trying to utilize a pair of small bookshelf speakers I had on hand but they sounded dreadful out there. I went shopping for some "made-for-the-outside" speakers and the Polks looked like they would fit the bill.

I wasn't expecting much from these speakers, in all honesty. Trying to get good sound in such an open place was not something I thought to be possible. I was wrong.

These are great little speakers and they put out a lot of sound for their size. The backyard in a city residential area is not the place to listen to the dynamic range in symphonies or operas, but popular music comes across extremely well. Despite the small woofer, there's a good deal of bass reproduction here. For more bass, Polk makes some larger outdoor speakers but the 45's are less obtrusive than larger speakers would be for my application.

I have the speakers mounted under the shelter of the porch roof so I can't comment on how weather-proof they are for the long run. They have survived two years of some record high temperatures, some below-freezing temperatures and a lot of extreme humidity without a problem. If you mount them in the sun and the rain and the snow, I'm sure they will have a shorter life.

I highly recommend these speakers if you have an outdoor-living space where you would like to listen to music.

We purchased these speakers for our outdoor pool area. They were installed in the corners of a covered porch area approximately 12' by 8'. The sound is clean and surprisingly loud. They are powered by a denon receiver and get about 50 watts per channel. We also installed an in-wall volume control knob outside to adjust the volume without going inside. Picked it up at Radio Shack for $35, and well worth the money for the additional convienence. In my opinion, unless you're neighbors are x-rockstars or driving distance away, these speakers are all you need for an outdoor patio/pool area. Great product!

These speakers are perfect for outdoors and has much better performance than I expected. What I read/heard from other reviewers is true.
It has very good volume and bass response.

I couldn't be more satisfied with my Polk Atrium 45 outdoor speakers. We hung two speakers outside for music on our patio. The speakers are positioned under the roof overhang. Being black, you can barely see them there and they are sheltered from the weather. They are fed from a small CD/DVD/reciever in our living room. The sound is excellent. If you can't hide these speakers somewhat, they may be a bit big. If you can tuck them away somewhere, you can't lose. Great purchase.

I put these speakers in an outdoor pool area. The mounting brackets are solid and allow you to rotate the speakers for the optimal listening position.

I'm not an audio expert but the sound quality and construction are decent and certainly worth the price I paid ($110). I have indoor, floorstanding Polk speakers for my home theater. The fact that they have been great has led me to stick with Polk until it's proven to me that there is something better out there (at least in this price range).