Polk Audio TSi100 Bookshelf Speakers (Pair, Black)

These speakers look amazing and sound even better! I think the wood grain ones look better, but the black ones matched the rest of my Polk speakers and the furniture in my room.The looks:The top is a nice shiny piano black. The speakers are slightly larger than the average bookshelf, They are definitely deeper than most speakers this size, but height and width is normal. They really do look nice and are decently heavy. The rest of the speaker is typical wood grain black but they are nice and thick.The features:It has a nice wall mount bracket with rubber bumpers towards the bottom that keeps the speaker away from the wall a bit and straight. The bracket is metal and very secure. You can use banana plugs on the screw in posts, just remove the covers from the top of the posts.And most importantly, the sound:My first impression was, "wow". I just got these, so they are still breaking in. But these speakers have a very natural sound to them. I absolutely love the sound of these TSi 100 speakers. very clear and crisp and surprising bass for a bookshelf. These blow away the Fluance AV-HTB Towers (which I returned) and the Sony SS-MF550H tower speakers they replaced. If you have more money, I would maybe suggest the TSi 200 speakers for more bass (especially if you have no subwoofer) but these work great as mains for my 7.1 system. My setup:Polk Audio TSi 100 (these): Main speakersPolk Audio CS10: CenterPolk Audio R15: Side surroundsPolk Audio RM6751: Rear SurroundBIC America V1020 10" down-firing subwooferThese are hooked up to an Onkyo SR-706 receiver and the speakers are placed 6' apart at ear level on either side of my 40" Samsung LCD. The room is 10x12' and I sit on the bed on the middle of the room. the side surrounds are 5' away at ear level at my listening position and the rear surrounds are 6' apart at ear level and I tried making it so they are perfectly even with the mains. To get the best sound, generally you want speakers to be at ear level or slightly below (thought some speakers sound better with toe in, or other alignments).In stereo mode, I put on Journey's "Separate Ways" and the keyboards, guitar, and vocals were unbelievably natural and clear. The stereo imaging of these speakers is exceptional. The fact these speakers had no break in time is amazing and it will only get better from here. They are not as bright as the R15's (though the character may change once they are broken in) but they sound better overall and have a very natural sound. Everything sounds as it should! I think the R15;s sound amazing too but definitely think these sound more natural.In 7.1 (Dolby Prologic IIx) mode, I played it again and wow...the system as a whole sounds amazing! But these speakers capture every sound and wow, so natural. I like listening to music in 7.1 surround (little odd to some maybe, but that's my preference.)Keeping it in 7.1, I played VNV Nation "Solitary" and wow...these speakers make the song sound way better than my former Sony/Fluance setup. I expected them to, but these are some of the most natural sounding speakers I have ever heard. My friend has $500/each Klipsch speakers and I would not trade his speakers for mine! These speakers are a steal for this price!Acoustic, Rock, Slow, Electronic, video games, and movies; these speakers do it all. These are some of my favorite speakers and pretty unbeatable in this price range. I have heard Sony, Klipsch, Onkyo, Bose, Infinity, Fluance, and Apherion audio. The only ones I would prefer to these are the Apherions but they are much more money and not that much better. The Klipsch are too bright (sound good but too bright after a while) and all others did not sound as good.The bottom line? Buy these now if you want some amazing speakers for a decent price. There are better speakers, but you will spend a lot more for them. For a bigger room, you may want to go with TSi towers (300, 400, etc.) but with a subwoofer, these have a lot of bass for a medium sized speaker.I hope this review was helpful, I will update this in about a week or two, then they have had more of a chance to break in.

I got an Onkyo S3400 all-in-one 5.1 home theater system with a receiver and everything as a gift. I don't have room for the rear speakers so I figured I should get some decent bookshelf speakers to replace my L&R channels. Polk's center channels are too large for my current setup, so really the only thing to upgrade were the left and right channels.I could not be more pleased. These bad boys sound EXTREMELY crisp, even at high volumes. The best part is the clarity--you don't need to blow out your eardrums just to hear all the fidelity of the music! I also have to say, after taking the front grilles off, these guys look so much cooler. I LOVE watching the woofers wobble back and forth when I throw on a bass-heavy song. They don't have a ton of bass, at least not the kind of bass that creates an atmosphere, or a presence - that's what the subwoofer is for. My crossover frequency is at 150Hz, the max my unpowered subwoofer can do.I feel like I'm hearing new depth in all my music. I have some decent headphones (Sennheiser HD280s) that I use with a portable Fiio E5 amp, but for some reason my stereo system sounds so much better. Perhaps it's because I'm not restricted by a cable.The quality of these speakers really blows me away. Even after having them for 3 weeks, my ears are drowned in pleasure every time I throw some music on. It probably limits my productivity. I can really get into the music with these guys. If you had any doubts, cast them aside. These are the perfect balance of size, sound, and cost.EDIT: Was gonna write a review to say how amazing these sound after 8 months and found out I already wrote one! Everything sounds fantastic on these speakers. Throw a subwoofer into the mix and you have an extremely immersive experience. I cannot get enough of them. The highs are so crisp. I'm listening to Infected Mushroom right now -- I highly recommend something like this for these speakers. Stuff like pop, rap, or rock don't do them justice. Find some trance or dance music. That's where these really shine. The soundstage is engaging, like you're in the song. It doesn't sound like it's in front of you, or around you -- you're IN the song.You deserve these speakers.

I'm very pleased with these speakers. I'm using them as the front speakers in a 7.1 setup with a Polk S35 as the center speaker (and older KEF speakers as the surrounds and subwoofer). Could not be more pleased with the performance. They are crisp and clean, but have enough bass that, along with the S35, a sub is not critical (but is valuable to have for best performance). The build quality is excellent, and the size is nice and compact.I tried the ES15 and ES20 and, while they are technically better, these Tsi100 provide me with 95% of the performance but at a much nicer price and a more compact size. It integrates very well with the ES35 center even though it's a different Polk speaker line. I'm using an Onkyo receiver.Very pleased with all aspects of these speakers -- a solid 5 stars.