Home > Consumer Reviews > Polk Audio Monitor 30 2-Way Bookshelf Speakers (Pair, Black)

I bought these speakers to compliment a new flat-panel TV in our living room, I chose the Monitor 30's because of their compact size along with Polk's good reputation for sound quality. They are fine little speakers, but are noticeably lacking in mid-range sound, even when accompanied by a sub (they are currently hooked up with a Polk PSW-10 sub). They offer great highs and the sub combination obviously supplies plenty of bass, but the lack of mids is distracting. My Athena AS-B2's sound WORLDS better and can be had for the same price elsewhere online. The Athenas are larger than the Polks but the sound is much, much richer and more versatile overall. Bottom line, the Monitor 30's are decent if you can find a good deal and if you need to save space.

I have had the Monitor 30's for almost a year now and am incredibly impressed. Great bang for the buck (paid $140 on sale at CC). I am using these as fronts in my 7.1 surround set up, with Polk M10's as the surrounds and a Pioneer VSX-1018 avr and Sony 40S2010 LCD. I am still using a crappy jvc htib 60watt powered sub, but am planning on treating myself to a Avs123 X-sub for Christmas. :) Anyway, I am here to talk about the Polk M30. My set up is for a 15'x17'den. That's a fairly small room and I have a wife that agitated with overpowering sound (yeah, my love for audio equipment does not always over well). Although I would have loved to go for a floorstanding speaker, I agreed to stick to bookshelf size to keep my wife happy. The M30 certainly fit the bill. They have a clean, accurate sound with excellent highs and mids. The sound is linear and smooth, with a warm tone. If you like a brighter sounding speaker, these probably aren't for you and you might be better off with the Infinity Beta series. As far as bass goes, on my radio shack SLP, they drop as low as 50hz, which is pretty decent compared to most of the bookshelves I have heard and better than the specs indicate. Still, these speakers, by themselves don't produce enough bass depth for stand alone duty. You will need a decent sub that can make up for what the M30's lack and, given the m30 range, setting the crossover on the amp at 80 is the way to go with these babies.

These speakers are designed for a tonal match with all other speakers in the monitor line and the M10's are perfect for satellite duty. I would recommend spending a little extra for the Polk CS1 center over the CSM (returned it). As for a sub to match, CNET likes the match between the Polk PWS10 with the Monitor 30s (used in their test). I auditioned the PSW10 and felt it was lacking umph. I preferred the sound of the Velodyne VX-10 or Dayton 120 (although I am going to take the advice my audiofile friends and go for the Avs123 sub-x for $200).

The bottomline, the Monitor 30 is a high quality bookshelf speaker for a fair price. If you're a hardcore audiofile looking for paradigm and definitive bookshelves, the M30 isn't going to work for you. However, if you're looking for a nice sounding speaker but don't want to spend $800, these are ideal. Certainly, they blow away anything from sony, pioneer, yamaha and Bose etc.

Just bought a pair of these, coupled with a 10" Subwoofer also from Polk and the combination is great - fills a 14 x 28 room with full sound that's true and beautiful. Couldn't be happier for the price.

For the past 5 years I had built a system composed of polk speakers for the front and center channels, but never got around to puchasing the rears. I instead used a pair of infinities i had received from a relative at no cost. Those rears both blew and after several months of annoying flutter sounds, I made the decision to get some new rears, preferbly polk. I wanted a speaker that sounded great, yet didnt blow a hole in my pocket, leaving me with regret. So i did what i loved to do; research. When it comes to home theatre equipment, I find alot of joy in the research as well as shopping for the best price. If your a fan of electronics, im sure many of you can relate. So, I came across several polk models worthy of the buy, one of them seemed to expensive, the other too cheap and small. The M30 was perfect size for the price. I took a stab at it without even listening to it, because I trust polk audio. Once I installed them and listed, I was blown away. They needed a little fine tuning, but thats it. I could hear every detail in 5.1 surround without being over powering. They sounded much better than my old infinitys. Bottom line, buy these, they are a perfect addition to your home theatre.

I purchased these speakers for both music and to use as temporary front speakers for my dvd movies. These speaker boxes are quality built and very solid. The highs are excellent and allowed me to hear highs I never heard before in the movies. For the lows, the speakers are a bit boomy from the rear ports. After reading a review of another user with the suggestion of stuffing the port with a sock, I filled mine with foam. This made the bass nice and tight and also improved the mids as well. The bass that comes from these little speakers is pretty amazing and was much more than I expected; however, don't expect earth-shattering bass from bookshelf speakers of any kind. If you purchase these speakers, you won't be disappointed.