Price Paid:  $450.00 from eBay

Summary:
I've been jockeying speakers and speaker groups around for years and these are definitely the best surrounds I've ever used. Barely used by the previous owner, I set them in bipole mode and movies like Blue Crush and Saving Private Ryan are outstanding, while 5 channel music is clearly better in bipole. I still have a Frankenstein monster of a setup with 3 brands but they're all 6.5" drivers now and a Polk Csi40 center is a good match for these. Believe it or not these surrounds determined that Polk will be my home theater brand, for now at least, as I think Polk has done it best. I suspect the current model FXi50 are similar but I couldn't find them in white. These in white look good on the wall; I didn't want big 'ol black speakers stuck up there. I tried that it was bad decor, and many surround speakers have a footprint that is too wide for the wall I put them on. Even so, the sound is terrific and I don't know why you would have to pay more to get great sound.

Strengths:
6.5" speakers allow you the option to set them as 'large' as they can handle lower frequencies. Bipole/Dipole switch. White looks cool on the wall, its presence is unmistakeable but not overwhelming

Weaknesses:
Quite heavy. You really need to mount to the framing, not the wallboard. It should come with a real wall bracket instead of a single screw.

Similar Products Used:
Phase Tech, NHT Super One, No Name

Price Paid:  $430.00 from Circuit City

Summary:
When I learned that Polk was discontinuing my current line of speakers, I had to complete my setup before it was too late. Main: Polk RT55 Center: Polk CS400 Sub: Polk PSW150 Now all of the drivers and tweeters are perfectly matched. 8 6.5" drivers and 7 1" tweeters, all exactly the same. It makes a world of difference. Before, I had my rear channels turned down pretty low because they didn't blend well with the rest of the channels. Using them much at all seemed to create two sound stages instead of one. In my auditorium the rear speakers are closer to the listener so it tended to dominate. Not only do the speakers match the timbre of the main speakers, but they also hold there own quite nicely. I could actually switch off the center, left, and right and still have excelent sound. I have yet to decide if the dipole or bipole setting is best for the current configuration. The Bipole mode is definately more localized, but slightly more detailed. With the rears mounted pretty high on the walls, they sound better in the dispersed dipole surround field for theater sound. For music, I tend to run in a 5-channel stereo mode for which bipole operation seems to balance the sound between the front and rear. Its kind of ironic that now my RT55 mains are the cheapest speakers in the setup. Ahhhh... I love my rear channels ;-)

Strengths:
Clean crisp sound that matches the rest of my Polk home theater.

Weaknesses:
The wiring posts have been cripple so as not to accept bannana plugs. Also, with how close these things mount to the wall, using any sort of monster wiring plug is difficult. I ended up using the gold plated, braided, flex-tip variety on the end of origonal monster cable. This forces the wires to point up and out from the center of the speaker while still in the plane of the speaker's rear wall. The wires then curve around and meet before hanging straight down toward the floor. (makes a heart shape)

Price Paid:  $375.00 from buyundercost.com

Summary:
These speakers live up to the polk audio name. I love the bipole/dipole switch. I use them in dipole. They match seamlessly with all my other polks especially since they all use the 6 1/2 inch mid/woofers. the sound is clean and clear and they handle a brosd range of power. Capable of getting really loud and work great in 5ch stereo and dts mode on the onkyo.

Strengths:
design, build quality, timbre matched with all polks.

Weaknesses:
none yet

Summary:
Excellent value and performance. I'm using 4 as a complete surround in a 7-channel system. The quasi-dipole design works better than a true dipole (like the RTfx's or LSf/x's)for DD/DTS/Multi-channel music in my small (13x16) room. Speakers are large, but are easy to mount with a single screw into a wall stud. Earlier report that the trilaminate tweeter has not changed since CS-300 is incorrect. Polk reformulated the mix of vapor deposited aluminum and stainless steel on the new "i" series which provides a smoother, less peaky response up top.

Strengths:
Excellent tonal balance. Good LF response w.o. sub. Quasi-dipole design.

Weaknesses:
None really, at this price.

Similar Products Used:
Polk RTf/x, LSf/x, MS10i, MS20i.

Price Paid:  $334.00 from on-line

Summary:
Purchased these a couple of months ago and I am very pleased with the sound of these speakers. Although they are a little big I did manage to mount them to the sheetrock with some heavy duty hollow wall anchors.I researched the bipole/dipole speakers for about 2 wks before deciding on this model with the help of a writing by Tomlinson Holman called "DIPOLAR confusion". I stumbled onto this on the internet one day a it helped a lot! In my research the collective ideas were that bipole/dipole speakers were only good for use in systems where someone was still using dolby pro-logic. I find that not true at all!! I took a week or so moving the spkrs. around the room from the sides to the rear and finally decided to place them about 3 ft. from the back wall and about 6.5 ft. off floor. This set-up seems to provide the widest sound stage and not too localized that a direct firing spkr. would. I also purchased the new Sony dvp-nc650v cd/dvd/sacd player. Talk about fantastic sound!!
I can honestly say that these spkrs. are well worth the money. As far as what I paid, the 334.00 was for the pair in white but the place I bought them does'nt seem to sell Polk spkrs anymore. Polk is one of these manufacturers that PRICE FIX their products.The only way to be a distributor for them is to sell them at what they want even though some of these on-line guys are selling more units for them and the manufact. are still getting the same price for each unit no matter what the retailer gets. SEEMS LIKE SOMEONE SHOULD CALL the government and get them for price fixing!!!

Strengths:
amazing sound!!,switchable bi-di pole.

Weaknesses:
a little big and heavy but thats all I can find!