Polk Audio Shakes Up Home Theater with In-Ceiling Speakers, and In-Floor Subwoofers

At CEDIA Expo in Denver last week,

demonstrated their new RTS-100 in-ceiling loudspeakers ($1199.95/each, available now), the first of their kind to be THX Ultra-certified. Mated with two of their CSW100 in-floor subwoofers ($525 each, without amplifier/crossover modules), the system provided totally stealth, totally discrete 5.2-channel surround sound.

I was impressed with their soundstage width, but more so with the front-to-back image created by the system. Watching an excerpt from "Master and Commander, the Far Side of the World" on a DTS sampler DVD, the system lent a believable sense of space and depth to the scene. If the walls of your home theater or living room are adorned with artwork, or, say… windows, or if your chosen viewing/listening location doesn't even have walls, then this in-floor/in-ceiling combination may be just what the home theater doctor ordered.

Polk also hinted at, but did not disclose details of, an impending redesign of their entire subwoofer line, which they expect to show at CES in Las Vegas this January. Polk's Marketing Manager Paul DiComo told me that the work they've been doing on electronic room correction will "blow my socks off." Fortunately, Vegas is usually warm enough that I'll survive, with or without socks.