Polk Audio 265-RT 3-way In-Wall Speaker - The Vanishing Series | Easily Fits in Ceiling/Wall | High-Performance Audio - Use in Front, Rear or as Surrounds | With Power Port & Paintable Grille - Black

Used to round out our surround sound Polk Speaker System. Blend nicely as in the wall speakers and has amazing sound quality! Sound quality and detail is so clear, we sometimes get startled by the sneaky sounds in movies, so does our dog. You forget they are in the wall until the movie starts. They look upscale and our neighbors are jealous.

Great for my living room theatre use.

Husband is really happy

arrived fine. sound very good with the right amp.... but... if you want it to sound not as flat...build a box enclosure for it.... sounds better with a box enclosure...Polk used to sell one specifically for these speakers..... but many are making one similar themselves.. you really need a good amp to push them to get the sound they were designed for out of them . remember these are mid bass and high speakers..... so dont expect a lot of low base out of them

I must be missing something here based on the other reviewers. Solid build. For the cost, these are basically what you are paying for in terms of sound and receiving a little more in terms of features and build quality. They look very clean when installed properly. So overall above average value. I knew I would be sacrificing a little with the lack of enclosure on the rear but overall impressed with how its managed. Definitely not blown away but not crying about it either. Definitely recommend tossing some audio insulation around the rear of these. Its cheap, youre ripping your wall to shreds anyway and it goes a long way. Sound is well balanced but definitely requires a sub to complete any kind of true depth, as with pretty much any in-walls for entertainment systems. You defintely need to tweak your receiver settings to get these to your liking. Play around with your levels until you say ahhh, thats it. Default usually isnt the winner. Read the couple paragraphs in the manual regarding the 2 wall distance and tweeter filter as well. The wall distance switch matters most and for most its going to be over 2. My tweeter filter is on given the acoustics of the room, but presumably most people will want it off. The sound itself, once tweaked (Im using a brand new Denon receiver) is what you would expect from a speaker that costs this much. The other reviewers...I dont know. I just dont agree with what many have said in regards to the final product. They sound good but I am not doing cartwheels. The room we tossed them in definitely wasnt getting the GoldenEar budget which is why I purchased them. At the end of the day if you can spend a little more I would look at in-wall enclosed or ultra slim on-wall options or Speakercraft makes some reasonably priced 3 ways that plop in your wall just as these do. Overall I am not disappointed but not going crazy like many other people here. No my objective to be a Debbie Downer but wanted to give a more realistic review than what is posted here. I know I would have appreciated reading it.

Impressive

HI ALL - wanted to share my successful project with the 265RT series speaker. Executive summary: huge risks but excellent sound, great looks, great instructions, lots of drywall dust. Take your time planning. My original setup was a 200 lb 65 LCD flanked by wall mounted 3-way Polk towers. I just purchased a 100 lb 75 Samsung from BJs and began the planning. The TV was going to be wall mounted on my flimsy 24 apart metal-studded sheetrock. The Polk tower sound was good so wanted to match them or better, but big boxes were off the table. I did not want to cut huge holes in the sheetrock so I looked at a few wall-mount speakers like the Martin Logan SLMs. Problems: 1) they are not local (never purchase speakers you cant listen to) 2) expensive 3) 120 > 25k response (no bass!). TV: I bought a 2x 4 piece of 1/2 finished plywood ($20 Home Depot) and bolted it onto two studs using washers and Driller toggle bolts, then bolted a MountIt ($35 amazon) TV mount with lag screws and washers - TV done. Speakers: Was still in a conundrum about the on wall vs. in-wall, but then I found 3-way Polk in-walls (Amazon) with great ratings so I took a chance and bought 3 for a LCR. After mounting the TV, there were studs in the way for the L/R speakers so I mounted all three horizontally under the TV a la a soundbar. The tweeters are steerable and I doubt they are narrowly focused so the only concern was: it would sound like a soundbar. I checked/recheck measured/remeasured and then cut the first hole. OMG the dust - really bad, like overspray you can vacuum. I would have cut the holes first and covered the area had I realized. Even after the checking I managed to mount one slightly off to the left. I recommend knowing 100% where the studs are (I used tape on the wall), then cutting a peephole to view what will lie in front of the sawblade. I came within microns of an AC cable and steel bracket on speaker 1. Build quality of the 265RT: superb. The sound and the look is excellent! The 265RT is mildly bright and the mid driver is really a highlight for me. Bass is accurate and just enough for most music and movies to not need a subwoofer - my goal. I have a SVS tube subwoofer and BASH amp (Amazon) for the low frequencies. The risks cannot be overstated: cutting large holes in the wall to find a stud, wire or worse, a TV pulling off a wall, or crappy sounding speakers is an unacceptable outcome. Spend ten times the install time to plan your project, diagramming and mocking it up on the wall with masking tape. edit - after one week after Sound is still excellent. Bleed through sound behind speakers to the next room is quite high, thinking of soundproofing and foaming the backside sheetrock. Could possibly help bass as well (old Polk towers pumped noticeable output through bass port, these not so much). Screens are nice but overhang by over .25 inches, so I had to move two wallplates. The highs are very focused which is a problem for some stereo programs/music - I am experimenting with surround modes and so far DTS NEO sounds excellent - really blasts stereo content especially voices, timbre is superb. The BASH 300 arrived and works very well for the SVS 46 tube subwoofer. There is no IR control so the AVR controls the BASH volume. FYI having all the amps behind the wall using an IR extender (dual band from Monoprice) works well, one does have to remember how many remote (Harmony 650 - excellent remote we have 3) button presses does what as there is no OSD. Mounting the IR eye right under the TV mean absolutely no missed commands. Bolting a TV to the wall and hiding speakers/amps does result in a wonderful clean look, the TV appears to be suspended midair. Several sound compromises were necessary but already the old TV + stand seems archaic. There is no doubt in-walls are a substantial compromise coming from Infinity Reference, Mission, and Polk tower speakers, but being late middle aged means my priorities have changed (it wasnt the wife who dictated the new layout). Fan noise from the Comcast box irritates me. A TV on a stand looks cluttered. Big box speakers sound great but we are not 20 and they dont look cool anymore. A floating TV and hidden speakers are a perfect fit today. The recovered floorspace is sweet and the rats nest of cables is a fading memory.

The speaker looked as if it was heavily used. It had broken tabs and a cracked board, so the speak didn’t work. The kicker was that the speaker grille was painted already. Not some how anyone had even looked at this speaker to verified it worked.

These speakers sound amazing. Im not set up to do a true A/B listening test, but to my ear, these are as good or better than the B&W in wall speakers I was considering for about twice the price. The magnetic thin bezel and grill looks and functions great.

In wall speakers work perfectly for a none audiophile. Speakers installed on a stone wall and look great.