Polk or Tannoy

[dink]

I have my eye on two 5.1 speaker packages, wondered peoples opinions on which ones are best?


Polk Audio TL1600

Tannoy HTS-201

Both are around the same price, I listened to the Polk system in a shop yesterday and they sounded amazing (compared to my Samsung all in one anyway), although prefer the floor standing fronts with the Tannoy bundle. If there are any more around the £350 price range I should be considering then I would be grateful of the opinions.

My plan is to buy these now, and use them with my Samsung Blu Ray player, then buy an AV Receiver around Christmas.

Thanks.

 

[tom_nieto]

My advice would be to wait until you can buy the whole system at once as it'll allow you to listen to different combinations in a shop before buying.

 

[lucid]

The Polks sounding better than your Samsung speakers is not surprise. It's partly that they're better speakers and partly because the electronics driving them are better too.

All-in-One kits such as the Samsung aren't designed to be upgraded. If they were, then they'd be capable of driving 8 Ohm speakers instead of only the 3~4 Ohm units they usually ship with.

The other problem is that the cheap Samsung speakers mask the deficiencies of the Samsung head unit. Even if you could add better speakers, all you'd succeed in doing is showing up the limits of the Samsung amplifier. It wouldn't be a happy marriage electronically or for sound quality.

As for Polk vs Tannoy, that's only really something you can decide on listening. What I would say though is that Polk is an American brand. With respect to our cousins in the US, the Americans aren't great at making compact speakers. That's a British forte; and we kick the world's arse when it comes to compact speakers. (IMO we kick the world's arse in big speakers too mostly ) Now I'm basing the above on what happens in Hi-Fi speakers...and Tannoy is one of the UKs oldest speaker brands with a formidable reputation. When American mags get their hands on British speakers it's usually a bit of a revelation to them. Our stuff is really very very good.

 

[dink]

Tannoys it is then, Ill wait till around Christmas time (when I get the receiver) to get the speakers if you do not think they will work well with my Samsung player. Many thanks for the help yet again