Across-The-Board Refinements For One Of The Most Popular Outdoor Speakers Ever Brought To Market
Polk Audio introduced an exciting upgrade of its Atrium lineup of outdoor speakers, bringing across- the-board enhancements in style, technology, durability and ease of installation to one of the most popular outdoor speakers ever marketed.
“Our Atrium line has proven itself as an audio classic, with over a million successful installations since it was first introduced,” said Polk Product Line Manager Al Baron. “When we set out to revisit the Atriums, we looked at everything from the ground up with only one question in mind — how can we make them even better? The results speak for themselves. From the standpoints of sound quality, weatherproofing, reliability and style we’ve really kicked it up a notch and refined these champs to an extraordinary level of performance and value.”
Virtually every aspect of the Atrium lineup is newly enhanced, starting with a smart new design that blends more effectively into the environment. While the speakers are meant to disappear visually, they stand out loud and clear sonically, thanks to a Broad Coverage Baffle that sets a new standard in dispersion characteristics for outdoor speakers. A computer-designed radius baffle maximizes mid- and high-frequency dispersion, bringing a greater sense of depth and detail to the soundfield.
Safe, Simple Installation
The new Atrium outdoor speakers feature Polk’s proprietary Speed-Lock™ bracket, which simultaneously cuts down on installation time while increasing safety. Unlike products that require the installer to hold the speaker at a precise angle while installing knobs and balancing on a ladder, all that is needed to install the bracket is to slide the speaker onto the bracket at the desired angle until it clicks into place, then tighten the knobs.
“Even the most experienced installers tell us that mounting outdoor speakers can be a tricky process,” said Baron. “Safety and performance are a challenge, so we designed the Speed-Lock bracket to address both concerns.”
The Atrium speakers’ rugged new woofers and anodized aluminum dome tweeters were specially designed for outdoor use, and offer sound quality that rivals freestanding and in- wall models. The new tweeters are immune to the environment and provide smooth indoor quality performance with the broader dynamic range needed for satisfying sound outdoors. The woofers feature injection- molded cones and butyl rubber surrounds that provide the perfect balance of stiffness and flexibility, resulting in high efficiency and linear excursion at higher listening levels.
The Atriums pass Polk’s stringent All-Weather Outdoor Environmental Certification program, ensuring durability throughout nearly any weather condition, meeting or exceeding military spec ratings for salt, humidity, corrosion, and temperature extremes. A patented water-resistant PowerPort is featured in the larger Atrium models, which adds higher efficiency and a dramatic 3dB of additional bass output, thus providing the deep bottom end that is missing from most outdoor speakers. This water resistant power port can be installed anywhere a sealed enclosure model can, without any concern for water intrusion.
Thanks to aluminum grilles and brackets, and stainless steel and brass hardware throughout, nothing will ever rust on the new Atrium speakers. The extreme weatherproofing on the Atriums mean they will always look as good as they sound.
The new Atrium lineup consists of six models designed to fit any outdoor installation or application. The Atrium 4 ($199) features a 4 1/2″ woofer and 3/4″ aluminum domed tweeter, while both the Atrium 5 ($299) and 5C ($329) feature 5″ woofers. All three models offer a sealed design and outperforming sonics from their compact enclosures.
The larger Atrium models all feature Polk’s new PowerPort design and advanced injection molded drivers with aerated polypropylene (APP) surrounds. The Atrium 6 ($399) and Atrium 7 ($499) each feature a 1″ aluminum dome tweeter and 5 1/2″ and 6 1/2″ woofers respectively. The flagship Atrium 8 SDI ($300) features a 6 1/2″ woofer and dual 1″ aluminum dome tweeters for an audiophile experience that can be enjoyed in the great outdoors.
Polk’s new Atrium models will be available in February 2010.
