Polk Audio Atrium 8 Outdoor Speaker with Powerful Bass (Each, White), All-Weather Durability, Broad Sound Coverage, Speed-Lock Mounting System

I bought a **pair of Polk Audio Atrium 8 SDI speakers** for my **back patio expansion**, and they have been **nothing short of incredible**! The **beautiful design** blends seamlessly with my outdoor space, and they are built to withstand the elements. I paired these with a **SunFire amp**, and the **sound quality is simply awesome**—rich, clear, and powerful, even in an open outdoor environment. Mounting was **easy**, and the build quality feels **top-notch**, exactly what I expect from Polk Audio. I’ve been a **Polk Audio fan for almost 40 years**, and their **reputation for quality and durability** is well-earned. I still have an **older set in my garage that’s over 20 years old**, and they still sound fantastic—**which is exactly why I chose Polk again**! If you're looking for **high-quality outdoor speakers** that will last, these are a no-brainer. **Highly recommend!** 🎶🔥

I purchased these as replacements for outdoor speakers that were installed on a new-to-us house, but that were no longer working. I bought the white version, and they compliment our home's exterior trim color nicely. Installation was a breeze -- each speaker is bolted to the house with two wood bolts, then attach the wire, and that's all there is to it. In my case, I am using a dedicated "left" and "right" speaker setup, so I cannot address how well these work when they are wired with both left and right speaker wires. I can say that you need to slide the switch/contact cover over on the back of the speaker if you are wiring them as "left" or "right" like you would for normal speakers, or else the sound is quite a bit softer. This makes more sense when you look at the unit itself--but there are two ways to wire each speaker, so follow the directions for your application and you'll be fine. As you'd expect, there is not a ton of bass to these speakers, however when connected to a home-owner quality sound system (Sony), they sound quite good as an external speaker, and better than ones that we had at our previous house. I'm hopeful that I can get at least 5 solid years out of these speakers in order to justify the price. We'll see how that works out, but I think Polk quality is quite good for my purposes, and I have confidence that it has been money well spent.

These Polk Atrium 6's really are a great sounding set of speakers. I embarked on setting up a "Zone 2" set of outdoor speakers on my back patio, which will eventually run off a spare Marantz AVR (SR5009) that I have in the garage, daisy-chained to a Marantz 8802 in my living room. I really wanted to take some time to compare some speakers before making a decision, and decided to try the Polk Atrium 6, Klipsch AW-650, and two speakers from OSD - the AP640 and AP650. I disconnected my beloved B&W CDM-6NT tower speakers and hooked each of the candidate speakers up to a great sounding Jolida tube amp with Denon CD player, running each of them through jazz, various rock, and country selections including Stan Getz, live Allman Brothers, Dave Brubeck, etc. I pretty much ruled out the OSD AP640 right away - they were very hollow and underwhelming for my taste. The AP650's were better (IMO), perhaps tighter (enclosed box) but still seemed to lack some bandwidth, and the low-end just wasn't doing it for me, although I realize these are small outdoor speakers and don't expect to shake any windows with them. Had I bought them by themselves, I probably would have liked them better but they just didn't stack up to the Klipsch or Polk's. I really liked the Klipsch AW-650's, but trying them side by side with the Polk's, my ears couldn't help but prefer the Atrium 6's. The Atrium 6's just did it for me - warm, crystal clear, neutral sound across the spectrum and surprisingly I like their lower frequency response over the Klipsch AW-650's, which have a larger driver in them. I ended up leaving the Polk Atrium 6's hooked up in my living room last night, switched them over to my Marantz AV-8802/Outlaw Audio 5000X (AVR & amp) system, and watched some programming on Netflix. Using the Atrium 6's as my Right/Left channels, they did well paired with my center channel and subwoofer, and this morning I'm still enjoying them immensely - they're back on the tube amp, and playing Miles Davis, Kind of Blue, in the other room while I type this. Horns and piano are remarkably clear from here (50' away), and string bass is very natural and enjoyable - I can hear it very clearly even with the amp running at low volume in the other room. As a side note, I passed on the Klipsch AW-650's but did like them - I think if I were placing speakers in a larger outdoor area, perhaps to send sound across a pool and larger patio area, I may have kept them instead. In the end I just really preferred the natural, intimate sound of the Polk Atrium 6's. If I had anything negative to say about the Polk's, it's nothing to do with sound but rather with what I see as a design oversight on the speaker connections themselves. If you prefer to use banana plugs, over the binding posts, be forewarned that there isn't a whole lot of room to plug them in - the speaker connections are recessed in the back of the speaker and even though they're angled slightly, there isn't much room between them and the speaker enclosure - I couldn't use my banana plugs to hook them up without feeling like I was going to bend or break something, so opted to use the binding posts instead. Not a deal breaker but seriously this should have been addressed in engineering. Nevertheless I HIGHLY recommend giving these a try - happy listening!

Speakers appear well made. I have only been using them for a short time, so long term durability is something I cannot comment on. However, for a compact speaker they sound great and put out a surprising amount of bass. I was able to drive them quite loud without break up or distortion. I also like that they are 8 ohms which makes them pretty standard and compatible with virtually any amplifier.

I got these as well as a pair of Atrium 5s to compare. I set both pair up with my indoor McIntosh Pre and Amp and auditioned them for a few hours. The bass on the 5s had a sort of artificial sound lacking definition. The 6s sounded really solid and reasonably flat with the Tone controls bypassed on the pre-amp. I liked the compact size of the 5s and they would have been easier to mount under the eaves on my deck to replace some worn out Mirage speakers I had that sounded great. But I was worried about the bass. The 6s are much heavier and larger and more expensive. But I think they are worth it. Once I got them installed and played a set of tunes I use for setting up speakers (Fagen / The Night Fly, etc), the reinforced bass, with them now much closer to the wall than they were inside, was a lot. Now connected to a nice Marantz Pre and Amp, I may need to cut the bass and treble 2-3db to get a flatter response. The A6 can cover a large area and deliver plenty of bass. I don't like over the top bass and prefer a flatter audiophile EQ, and these do that easily. I think the A5s may have worked, but the character of the bass sounded odd, so I never mounted them outside to try. Even reinforced by the wall, I don't think I would have liked them as much. Beyond that, they were fairly easy to mount - the brackets have notched detents, so they don't spin freely, which is nice - my old Mirages used to sag after a while. Overall, the sound seems mid-range weak, bright, and a little bassy. My old Mirage speakers sounded better, but they are no longer made. That said, I think I can dial them in pretty well with the treble and bass controls on the pre-amp.

For years I had Bose speakers on my sailboat but they are now so expensive. I got these and they are holding up well so far and sound good

I purchased these for my outdoor cabana pool bar and attached them up under roof just a couple inches away from direct rain and hooked them up to my dual zone Yamaha audio receiver with 18 gauge wire (could have used 16 gauge but wanted to be able to conceal the wire the connection in the back of the speaker is the screw binding posts with the hole that allows for wide variety of gauges). These are bit wider than my Bose 151 and look nice, but not as sleek looking as the Bose, but I prefer amazing sound over looks. (they loo Before I bought these I spent hours researching technical detail on several speakers including the previous Bose 151 that I just bought without research and solely because they were BOSE, never again. I actually first bought the Yamaha AS-390 and I blew one of the speakers with Santana. I returned and decided to use my computer engineering background and actually do research like I do for virtually every thing. Some Tech Specs: The reason I chose the Atrium 6 instead of the Atrium 4, or 5 is because the 6-8 are not sealed but ported, Polk cause this there PowerPort Bass Venting. Some how they designed it to be weather proof even with the port. The mid/woofer: 1 - 5 1/4" Diameter (13.34cm)Dynamic Balance Aerated Polypropylene Cone with rubber surround. Tweeter: 1 - 1" Diameter (2.54cm)Anodized Aluminum Dome Tweeter with Neodymium motor structure The Frequency response: is 50Hz-27kHz, 8 ohms, they recommend 10-100 watts a channel of Amplifier power. They weigh 5.4 pounds and measure 11 11/16" H x 7 11/16" W x 8 3/4" D (amazon dimensions were wrong.) They swivel 180 degrees and can be mounted at downward angle. Test: Technical specs only go so far, you have to hear/see them to really know how a product works. I tested these bad boys with Lynard Skynard and Santana. 1st zone is my bose(under the deck a good 100 feet)and 2nd zone is my Polk. Don't get me wrong the Bose are great, but they have have a major flaw. NO BASS. Highs and Mids are great. I put up the first song slowly increasing the volume afraid I was going to blow the POLK's like the previous Yamaha speakers to Santana. I reached to Max volume with no distortion and great Bass, I was just in awe that such small spears were producing such amazing bass while still keeping the Mids good. Then I turned the Bose zone on and stand in the middle of both of them and the Polk were so much better I was sold to Polk instantly (Bose could handle max volume too no problem). I don't ever need to go that high as I had my neighbor come outside and ask me why I was blasting speakers at 10:30 pm at night on a Tuesday. (our closest neighbors are close 600-800 feet away) Real life usage: Christmas eve party came and these bad boys took some punishment, loud music, Football games (hooked up to TV) and especially Karaoke. We had a spontaneous Karaoke war with a neighbor 3 houses down on the Christmas eve party. They could hear use perfectly and we could barely hear them. The next day he came over to wish me a Merry Christmas, but his real motive was to ask me about what speakers I was using. I jokingly told him I couldn't tell him because then I would have to hear his karaoke and I barely heard his Boo's yesterday. Then I brought him inside and showed them to him. He said he was going to buy them since he was impressed at the quality of how clear our horrible voices sounded. Anyway for around the same price as the BOSE you get more bang for your buck with these. I'm assuming the whole line of atrium must be amazing. I chose the black ones cause my Bose speakers are white but have turned to an off white over the years. So far so good, will update the review if any issues issues arise. I highly recommend these speakers.

I ordered two sets of these speakers and I absolutely love them for my deck and pool area. The sound is great and I am very happy with my purchase.