- Excellent response over the entire frequency range: 25 Hz to 25 KHz: bass is tight and palpable, midrange is highly detailed and present.

- Highly efficient - they will maintain imaging at very low volume levels

- Capable of driving you out of the room and sounding excellent while doing so! More than enough capacity to cause hearing damage in almost any sized room.

- Polk still provides replacement drivers!

- They're big. I happen to like big speakers, so for me, this is a strength :-)

To be perfectly honest, all the monitors out there are getting a little old. If you get a pair and keep them for a reasonable amount of time, be prepared to replace something, probably a tweeter (~$50 shipped for a replacement from Polk). Some audiophiles contend that the crossovers (determines what frequencies the different drivers see) should be redone at some point as well, but that's certainly not vital.

They were produced in the late 80s, so they're covered in faux wood vinyl or something that does a poor job of imitating wood. This is completely unrelated to the sound, so it doesn't matter unless you have to contend with a significant other.

I picked these speakers up over thanksgiving from my grandparents, who bought them in the late 80's / early 90's after my parents bought a pair. They used them for a while then retired the polks to their basement upon getting a surround system, where they sat unused and unloved for several years. They cleaned our their basement recently, and not realizing what they had, were going to throw them away if I didn't take them! (Talk about a heart attack)

I'm currently driving them with a Carver HR-752 receiver @ 100 W RMS / channel. I'm in a 12x20 dorm room at college, and these things will sing until my eardrums bleed! The quality of the sound is simply staggering, all the way from 25 Hz earthquakes to an ear-splitting 25 KHz, regardless of the volume level.

The music I play is just about everything: pop, rock, classical, organ, new age, and the Polks handle it all with ease. Organ music is especially difficult to reproduce accurately, but it sounds fantastic on these speakers - turn them up enough, and it sounds like your room is suddenly filled with a several-hundred rank organ. The amount of bass they will produce with a FLAT EQ is unreal: I often find myself turning the bass DOWN! How often does a college student do that? There is simply no need for a subwoofer, and I honestly think adding one would make it sound worse!

Turn these speakers up past your average listening level, and they really start to shine - female vocalists especially seem to jump out of the speakers right in front of your face. The midrange that so many others gushed about really is fantastic. It's hard to describe in words, but the moment you hear it for yourself you'll know exactly why so much is said about it. It's a feeling of "Oh, wow! So this is what a speaker should sound like!"

Currently the tweeter in the left speaker is dying on me, so the sound is certainly below their potential, and they still sound stunning. Polk still sells replacement drivers however, so even should you break something it's not the end of the world!

As far as comparing them to other speakers, the only thing I think that could compare would be Polk's famed SDA series, and even then the Monitor 10s could give the lower-end ones a run for their money! At this price, there is simply nothing, nothing, that can compare with the Monitor 10's combination of imaging, power, low end, and midrange.

One last note: you absolutely MUST get the stands or your sound quality will suffer. If you want to make your own, the front of the speaker is 9.25" from the floor, and the back is 8+7/8" off the floor. Those are the only really critical dimensions.

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Heard/lived with: 2 pairs of Monitor 10Bs, Boston Acoustic bookshelf speakers, Bose sub/sat system.

Built like a tank,very durable,rubber sorrounds on woofers wont rot. Fuse protected tweeter.Heavy non-resonant cabinet.

Non at this price!

The Monitor 10's are a great speaker,nice imaging,good highs and bass.One the best used bargains out there.They are not placement sensitive.One quality I can describe best about these speakers is that there is a live feel to the performance.The sound sounds about 8 foot high and 5 foot deep.I guess you might consider this the imaging.I dont remember ever hearing any speaker with this kind of soundstage.If you are on a tight budget and want a great speaker,try these,you wont be disappointed!

Customer Service

Dont know,never had to replace anything yet.

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Radio Shack mach 1's,DCM kx-12,Bose 401,Old Genesis, Advent original large speakers.

Sound quality, craftsmanship.

None, as of yet.

Went to an estate sale, saw these speakers, not that familiar with the quality, but knew they were decent. Checked them out before I paid for them by taking off the covers and looking for any 'problems'. They looked OK, hey, for $50.00/pair, I'll buy them, you know what I mean? All I can say is, I had 2 dudes immediately take an interest in them, I had to stand by them while my wife paid so no one would steal them from me.
OK, a $50.00 risk, as they were not hooked -up to check out first. They looked new.
They even came with stands. These would complete my retro stereo system, a 70's Pioneer receiver purchased for $4.00 from an earlier estate sale, along with my 1977 Kenwood turntable. (my wife wanted to play albums). OK. Brought them home, wiped them down, looked almost new, hooked everything up, and... they are the best speakers I've ever owned! I immediately checked-out what others had to say regarding quality of sound, I am very happy! No, I'm not an expert, but they DO sound excellent!

Customer Service

N/A

Similar Products Used:

JBL, Bose.

Good sound for the price Fluid midrange Good bass response

Too big and boxy for some (not me though!) Build quality is questionable (but not for the price) Hard to drive (debatable)

These polk monitor 10a speakers, built between 1979-1982 (as far as I know) are my first ever home audio purchase. What I wanted from these speakers was a full, robust sound and good bass reproduction without having to buy a subwoofer. I also wanted to be able to play music LOUD without loss in sound quality. I listen to independent hip hop, some rock music, classical, jazz, and other various things. I also use them when I watch movies. Visually, these speakers are not that appealing. The 10B speakers are nicer looking than my 10As as far as I'm concerned. With the cloth grills on though, they do not look bad at all. And the dual 6.5 inch mid-range drivers look pretty cool. The sound is definately full - covering the whole frequency range well. The high end is very subdued in comparison to what I'm used to, sometimes too subdued. The midrange is real fluid and to me, sounds very realistic. The bass response is good...not great. It can go pretty low (not like a high quality powered subwoofer). The bass response is not room shaking...but contributes to the overall satisfactory sound from these loudspeakers (and GREAT sound for their price). I think these speakers are pretty hard to drive though. My pioneer vsx-608 is supposed to put out 100 watts per channel in a 5 channel set up. When there is a lot going on in a particular song...the reproduction of the sound gets a little bit mashed up. The bass response also becomes slightly weaker. However, this became less of a problem when I hooked them up to a Rotel integrated receiver with the same power ratings as my pioneer except it was a 2 channel receiver (pioneer probably messes around with their power ratings a bit). Even with a high quality receiver hooked up, the sound quality was not dramatically increased. My conclusion is that for the price ($150 is what I got them for used, I believe they originally retailed for $600 for a pair) these speakers are quite good. The build/construction is not impressive. The binding posts are of low quality and often come loose on my pair (I will replace them). I don't know how long the butyl rubber surrounds will hold up if I use them on a consistent basis). Only time will tell. The cabinet is made out of press board with a fake wood finish that is easily scratched and is peeling in some areas. But, for $150 dollars, any misgivings can be mostly ignored. In the end, the sound quality, powered by an inexepensive receiver, is quite good. I am not an expert in home audio. These are just my thoughts and observations. One additional thing. If there is any reason to purchase polk audio speakers, it is because they have incredible customer service. I really don't know if they are still making good quality and good sounding audio products, but they have one of the most helpful and attentive customer service staffs I have ever dealt with. Great people!

Similar Products Used:

None yet

Will let you know

Will let you know

Oh My God!! I just returned from a yard sale where I purchased the Polk Audio speakers from an old man who had no clue what he had!! I got the Monitor Series 10 pair, PERFECT shape, for $40.00!! No that is not a misprint. I replaced a pair of Monitor Series 2 for them on my stereo and Oh My God!! I also run a pair of Fisher STV-430MA and already have some angry neighbors and roommates. (A definate sign of good sound!) So, have not "run them around the block" yet, but the immediate response is "COOL"!

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Fisher STV-430MA

manly sized speakers only the srs series will impress you more,incredible highs and acoustics from the cabinets and a strong relay wich will let you push without worrying about blowing tweeters.(they cut out turn off for a minute then start playing again)madonas like a prayer listen on these youll love

6 inch drivers will knock when you push these speakers added a energy sub to get more bass and to take strain off of drivers also you need clean power to run or they will clip (added a nad power amp to my surround to push these speakers )very demanding of clean power

you cant beat these speakers for the highs .put in any female vocalists and crank it up you will swear shes breathing in your ears .tweeters were cutting out ,emailed polk they sent me some new relays ,i put them in and WOW do these things push im still looking for anything that sounds close for even twice of wich these are worth.

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bose acoustomass series(sold)jbls(sold)

Wonderful reproduction and power handling ability. Tremendous value for the price.

Absolutely NONE!!!

I LOVE these speakers!!!!!! I bought them somewhere around 1979'. I very actively searched, both physically and reading techy reports,and reviews by audiofiles(which I am not) for more than 6 months. I had a limit of twice what I paid for the 10's, so they were also an awesome value(back then Polk put their money in the speakers and crossovers,not cabinets and advertising!). I auditioned many speakers(DCM Time Windows, Dahlquist DQ 10's, Maggy's etc., and even the big folded horn corner Klipsch's(which were to rich for my blood). I kept coming back to the 10's because they sounded tremendous, the $500 price tag was just icing in the cake! These polk's have great stereo imaging, and sound stage(boy did that sound like an ad), they seem to create a presence, while remaining mostly transparent. Early on it was rock and roll, but that gave way to superbly reproduced classical, the 10's can do it all! Some day I will probably sell them(boo-hiss) because of room constraints and my wifes nick-nacks(if you're married, you know what I mean, or you lie a lot, ha ha)but it will be like giving up a member of the family. I have a Sub-sat surround system, because of the above mentioned lack of room, and they sound "pretty" good, but not the roomy presence of the 10's, especially in the midrange. These are the Greatest speakers that I will ever own!! Let's see.....if I could get rid of the entertainment center and a chair, ahh a plan in the making.

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What similar products can compare?

Deep, tight bass. Very articulate imaging & smooth highs. Also capable of being driven to ungodly levels of power without distortion.

Kinda big & not sexy-looking. (Who cares?)

I am in love with these speakers! I'm currently running them as part of a vintage system with a 512 watt Marantz 510R power amp, Phase Linear 2000 Series II preamp, Dual CS-5000 turntable, DBX Subharmonic Synthesizer, AudioControl 10 band EQ, Sony 3-head cassette, & Pioneer CD player. It is just about impossible to get these speakers to sound "sloppy". The bass is deep and rich, and SUPER tight! These are the best speakers I have owned (I also have a pair of Bang & Olufsens, and have had old Ultralinears, Advents & JBLs.) They have precisely detailed imaging and smooth highs. Very nice indeed. Recently I heard a pair of $9000 Dunlavys at an area high-end audio store, powered by Krell amps & CD player. Maybe I'm not golden-eared enough, but there didn't seem to be a big difference between the Dunlavys and my lowly Polks. If you ever see a pair of these babies, get 'em while you can. They are fabulous!

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None that I've owned have come close.

Great Imaging, solid base, good quality

not good for really loud rock and roll

bought these speakers new in 1991. They still sound great after all these years. I am running them with a Yamaha integrated amplifier and a Nad c541i changer. Until I can find a speaker that sounds better, will keep the 10 b's

DETAILED MID-HIGHS, GREAT SOUNDSTAGING, STRONG YET TIGHT LOW END. SWEET SOUND SOUND SOUND!!!

BIG, OLD, AND NOT 'COOL"

Bought these at a pawn shop I worked at a few years back. I seen MANY speakers go through that pawn shop, JLB'S, HIEL'S MAGGIES, Yamaha's, Bose, etc, buT these old 10 b's Blew them all AWAY with rock solid bass, and a detailed high end with great sound staging. Recently I bought a new HK THX 5.5 reciever, and thought I'd "upgrade" so I bought a Dynaudio 122-c center, nice, a HSU 10" Sub, very nice, a pair of older polk mini monitors for rears, again , nice, and TRIED to replace the 10b's with $a pair of $850 Epos 15's, SORRY NO WAY! The Epos had NO bottom end, Next a pair of $2500.00 Silverline SR-17's, a beutiful speaker, which I liked, but NOT LOVED liked my 10b's! So the SR 1's go back to the dealer, and the 10b's STILL RULE FOR GREAT S>O>U>N>D> PERIOD! At ANY PRICE, HAVE YET TO HEAR A BETTER SPEAKER! EVER! UNTILL I DO I KEEPING THESE OLD GIRLS. WHY WOULD I WANT TO PAY ANY MORE MONEY TO "DOWNGRADE" AND LOOSE THE GREAT SOUND I ALREADY HAVE? THIS JUST AGAIN GOES TO SHOW THAT NEWER IS NOT ALWAYS BETTER. I, like alot of other reveiwers here believe that POlk's design, inovation, craftsmenship, and quality have gone in the flusher in recent years, in favor of mass production and higher profits. But let that fact not refelect on what once was a great company, and a fine loudspeaker, the Polk Studio Monitor 10b. If you can ever get a chance, please take a listen to this model and judge for yourselves. IMHO Howie hpince@attbi.com

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BOSE, JBL, KLIPSH, YAMAHA, DYNAUDIO,SILVERLINE, EPOS, HARMON KARDON.