Polk Audio Signature Series S30 Center Channel Speaker (2 Drivers), Surround Sound, Power Port Technology, Detachable Magnetic Grille (Discontinued by Manufacturer)

I added the S30 as the center channel in a 5.1 setup. I have an old Yamaha HTR 5830 that came as part of a HTIB about 15 years ago, and these along with the Polk S55's replace the small satellites and center. Everything is much more clear and detailed, I am quite pleased. Granted it is not hard to hear major improvement on my old setup, but the Yamaha receiver does put out nice power to drive these Polk's quite well. I still have the old Yamaha subwoofer and 2 surround satellites that will be upgraded soon, along with a new receiver from this decade. I plan to go Polk S10 for the surrounds next. Movie night is awesome with these, the whole family agrees! I do still feel I need the subwoofer for lower bass hits though, at least with my setup. It isn't bad when the sub is off or anything but just misses that deeper boom.

For a center channel speaker it really looks and sounds great! Like a 30 lb product so its nice anz hefty. Especially great for party music or modern pop. See my pic; I like it so much I put it in my art cabinet!

My first project when I retired was to build an excellent dedicated home theater. After completing the room, I tried many different speakers. The Polk Signature Series sound the best and surpass other brands costing far more! Polks speakers feature a tweeter made of a softer material than most other brands and produce a richer, fuller, less harsh sound. I went with S20 bookshelf speakers for the font left and right (after trying towers from others), and this center channel blends perfectly. Dialogue is crisp and clear. The speakers do take about 30-40 hours of use to break in; out of the box, I was not impressed, but now, they sound excellent! Plus, for all my Polk speakers (2 bookshelves, 4 in-ceiling, 2 surrounds), the cost was less than a single tower from most of the other companies I evaluated.

I paired Sony SSCS8 center channel speaker with Polk S55 towers for a year. I was mostly happy with the Sony speaker. Since I liked my S55 towers, I decided to get "Polk S30" center channel. I have it for about 2 months now. I stream movies mostly from Netflix. And I was very disappointed with Polk S30 first. Male voices (specifically male bass voices) are not clear. The auto correction software on my receiver improved things but still not satisfying at all. The Sony center speaker did better job on wider range of vocals. Then one day, I realized when I was watching movies on a Blu-ray disc that Polk S30 sounded much much better including bass male voices.In summary, if you use high quality audio source such as Blu-ray disc, you will enjoy S30. If you are streaming, save yourself money and go with Sony SSCS8 center. The primary reason, I purchased S30 is that I have already had S55s. The polks are powered by Yamaha RX-V675 in my system. I would give 3.5 stars but there is no such an option. Polk S55s get 4 stars from me. But you can do better for the same price with internet direct companies. Hope this helps.---Update-1 on Mar 24, 2020: I reduced my rating to 3 stars after using it several months for the concerns I mentioned earlier.---Update-2 on Nov 6, 2022:This speaker is performing much better than what I initially experienced. I am very happy with it right now. Followings apply not only to my whole HT system, but particularly to S30. These are what made huge difference in the quality and clarity sound coming from S30: I bought an Yamaha TSR-700, which has multipoint calibration microphone (8-points), and It allows me to set crossover fluency for individual speakers. Now, my HT system sound amazing even with streaming movies. All the problems I had with S30 disappeared (I have not been fair, it was calibration issue not speaker issue). For this reason, I am changing my rating from 3 stars to 4 stars. Why not 5 stars? I am confident there is another central channel out there that can perform better. I am not sure if at this price point though. I would recommend S30 to anyone (at least try). Very recently, I also added an external amplifier for LR front channels. I believe that taking some of the load from AVR made my S30 sound even clearer.

This is a upgrade to the CS10 center I bought 6 years ago. The price of that one was $99.00. This S30 cost $230.00. Sound is like food. My tongue tells me if my food is good, better or best. So my ears tells me if this S30 center is better It is! Other brands may be better. the price was right. The look was right. So I never tested others.

This thing is a great center channel speaker. I'm using it with S15's as right and lefts. And 4 S10's for surround and height speakers. The system sounds great. My room is pretty large so at some point, I might upgrade to tower speakers but this setup is great so far. I chose the S30 instead of the S35 because it has the same size drivers as the S15's. I think it's a better match for my setup. It is a very large speaker so make sure you check the dimensions before purchasing. The voice quality of this speaker is very crisp and clear.

Performs better than the s35 for less money. The s35 sounds constricted on lower bass frequencies in larger rooms at high volume. As if you were funneling it through a narrow tube. The s30 has an unrestricted bottom and the low bass such as low octave male voices sound airy and open. It doesn't look nearly as classy as the s35, and the s35 isn't a slouch compared to other centers, but falls short of the larger drivers in the s30.One note with regards to blend with large towers, the s35 seems wider but creates a slight void in the LCR sound stage. The s30 seems to project a slightly narrower image, but blends more seamlessly with my s60s. For large rooms where high output is needed towers and the s30 should be preferred.

Excellent center speaker. I did a lot of reading on the internet before choosing this center speaker over the Polk S35. It has now arrived and it sounds great. Same tweeter as the S35, but two 5.25" bass/midrange speakers instead of six 3" bass/midrange speakers on the S35. Polk's specs say same high end range as S35, with lower bass range than the S35.

I love the center, well design, great audio quality. Take a moment to ensure the dimensions will fit your place, this is a big item. Love the magnetic grill.

Tamaño grande para ser una bocina de canal central, realza excelente el sonido de las voces, con buen sonido, claro sin distorsiones! Polk audio vende calidad y más en esta serie.

Abbinato a una coppia di Polk s20 e sub basso 942, wow, un po’ ingombrante di dimensioni, ma ne vale la pena

Ein wirklich sehr guter Center-Lautsprecher vom Aussehen und Klang. Polk Audio sollte man sich merken. Betreibe Ihn in Kombi mit Polk S60 Front und S15 Surround. Einfach herrlich.

Wie oben in der Überschrift schon dargestellt, zeichnet sich dieser Centerlautsprecher durch einen typischen Badewannensound aus, der zwar im ersten Moment ein dynamischen Klangbild vorgibt, sich aber dann doch beim längeren Betrieb als Effekthascherei herausstellt, da die Tondarstellung stark auf tiefe Bässe und ausdrucksstarke Höhen ausgerichtet ist.Für den derzeit verlangen Marktpreis und zum Einstieg im Mehrkanalbetrieb sicherlich nicht schlecht, wer aber bei einem Centerlautsprecher auf ein ausgewogenes und natürliches Klangbild setzt, sollte zu anderen Centerlautsprecher greifen, die in weit höheren Preisklassen anzutreffen sind.