The sound quality is excellent for the price. I added the Powered SuWoofer PSW350. Altogether they sound great, and...I have had them for about 17 years, so they are durable. The cones have no issue. Had Pioneer CS-922s before these, but the foam dry rotted at about 15 years, and bought a repair kit for them. It worked well.

No weaknesses that I have uncovered over 17 years.

Amazing clarity, thick, rich deep bass while not too sluggish sounding. You still get that nice punchy mid-range bass to fill out the overall frequency range. I have always wanted to own Polk audio home speakers and am thoroughly pleased with the r40s. I have Installed whole house audio/video and have been able to see many high end brands of speakers. Polk, in my opinion, is the best!!

No weaknesses that I have seen.

I am a guitarist composer and have a very good ear for music. I was in the guitar business full time for over 10 years and have sold many acoustic guitars and I specialized in archtops...........both vintage and modern. II understand tone and I am an audiophile and have owned many speakers in all price ranges. I love polk audio and I am blown away by these R 40 speakers. The thing is you need decent cables.....not just speaker cables and you do not need to buy the super pricey stuff but I think many that have owned these speakers did not set them up right and have lousy cables in their system I get great bass.....well defined and tight bass but these speakers have the most beautiful midrange voice with definition and clarity while also creating space around the notes. For jazz and acoustic guitar they sound like you spent $2500 for great speakers. The thing is just like a guitar......... you need to be educated about tone and balance and you need to set them up right. I have owned $3000 Paradigm Speakers that sounded good but their is a magic about a 5 1/2 inch woofer.....especially two of them and I am not the only one who has said it. If you have a decent system and set these speakers up right they willl give you goose bumps and punch way above their price. I paid $160 for them from my brother who bought them new as I could not be happier but being a guitar player and speaker nut I am always chasing another guitar and have 5 sets of speakers in a small place. The creamy and buttery "voice" of these is just beautiful and they retain definition. I would say to anyone that has these get some decent speaker cables and decent rca and learn how to set them up and it will be night and day.

Great sound, if you have an amp, the bass even sounds good.

None for the price I paid!

First off, killer deal from a pawn shop. Sometimes, you just get lucky like this. I paid 65$ for the PAIR! lol Awsome. I'm a college student and I've got a (kinda) small bedroom. I've got these R40's hooked up with my RM6800 5.1 set, running from an Onkyo 602. Great, great, sound for the room. Killer even. I've got a Samsung 23" LCD HDTV as well, with my Sony DVP-NS75H Upconverter DVD Player. I absolutely love my setup. Couldn't be happier!

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Infinity, Bose, Cerwin Vega, Harmon Kardon, Sony, Onkyo

Everything

Nothing

Chirpie needs to clean his ears and try these speakers again.Why in the world would you compare hundred dollar speakers to thousand dollar speakers? Duhhhh!These speakers are great,your the problem.Im not going broke looking for the passion in someones voice.

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Polk R30s also Excellent

For the price, you get what you pay for.

For the price, you (again) get what you pay for.

I have to admit, I bought these speakers realizing that they were a compromise to what I'm used to hearing. My brother had just married and I let him have the B&Ws we had bought together. The problem with these speakers (and the R50 that I upgraded to, hoping there was a big difference to be had) is they strike me with such an average sound that it's hard to describe. The bass is OK, a little muddy. The mids aren't warm or silky, they're just represented well enough for you to know they're there. And the highs are 'gimmicky' in nature. In a home theatre set-up, these weaknesses are as immediately apparent, but the second you throw in a Patricia Barber CD, you'll notice that there's no passion to the recording. I've been auditioning speakers since, ( B&W Nautilus 805's, and Linn Ninka's are high on my list now...) and will part with these as soon as possible.

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In this price range: JBL, Advent, Atlantic Technology, Cerwin-Vega, Yamaha Other Price Ranges: Dynaudio, Sonus Faber, Theil, B&W, Linn

Professional Look, Excellent midrange and tweets. Price!

Lack bass, but thats not what their made for :)

I was looking for a set of front floor speakers that would compliment a Sony A/V reciever with a Sony 5 disc and JVC DVD player, and Im 21 and in college so price and quality are two hard things to put together. These R40's by Polk Audio came through really nice. Great professional look, and outstanding mid and highs for movies and metal music. The speakers were designed soley for mid's and high's and that is what they deliver. Must own a subwoffer to make these work to their potential. They're an excellent speaker for the money, I would recommend them anyday!

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Listed Above.

YOU DONT FEEL BAD WHEN U THROW THEM OUT!

THEY BLOW,,,CANT HANDLE POWER,,,BLEW MY RECEIVER

THE ABSOLUTE WORST,,,IT BLEW MY RECEIVER 3X,,,,HAD THEM FIXED TWICE ,CAME BACK UN-REPAIRED,, COMPANY ANSWER,,,"IL SEND U PARTS U PUT THEM IN," WOULDNT EXCHANGE,IM AFFRAID TO HOOK THEM UP TO RECEIVER.

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NONE ,,,NOTHING IS THIS BAD...I PURCHASED KLIPSCH THEY ARE GREAT!

bass response looks nice

blaring tweeter

An upgrade from what I had, it was in my price range. What is that price range??? It's called "I have two daughters." It's alright as long as you aren't too particular about highs. It's bass responce is pretty good. The literature sayd down to 40Hz, but I say that is being nice. It's achilles heel is its tweeter. I won't bother giving the theory as to why it isn't so hot, now only apparent after I have listened to it for some time. It just blares too much. Perhaps I am asking it to fill too big of a room, but who knows. It is a good front speaker for home theater, but my main love is music. Classical!

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jbl infinity other polk

Doesn't take much floor space, clear mids and highs. Clean conservative look. Cheap price ($99 each at Fry's)

harsh sound at high volumes.

These speakers are an excellent value. Good highs and midrange at moderate volume. They become harsh at high volume. Decent base although a subwoofer improves their sound quite a bit.

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JBL, Sony, Yamaha