Polk Audio RC80i

2010-01-03T17:08:00.000-08:00

The Polk Audio RC80i 2-way In-ceiling Speaker delivers incredible stereo sound to any room in your home from speakers you can barely see, without using any floor or shelf space.

The Polk Audio RC80i is easy to install, requiring only that you cut a hole, feed the wires through, and simply drop the speaker in where it is held in place by rotating cams that safely secure the speaker with no extra assembly or mess. Once installed, the paintable grille and flange allows this in-ceiling speaker to virtually disappear in the room.

The Polk Audio RC80i utilizes a eight-inch dynamic-balance, mineral filled polymer-composite cone with a rubber surround that outlasts cheaper foam surrounds, as well as a one-inch ring-radiator tweeter with a 15-degree swivel mount. The swivel-mounted tweeter is aimable for direct high frequency control that ensures spacious imaging with amazing clarity, and well-balanced sound in any listening position, even off-axis listening positions, rather than in just a small sweet spot. Constructed of rust resistant hardware and durable, moisture resistant materials, the Polk Audio RC80i is safe for use in bathrooms, kitchens, saunas, or even under outdoor eaves, and a glass-filled composite baffle that provides a dense, acoustically inert platform for the speaker's high end components. This Polk Audio RC80i unit features strong composite driver baskets that keep moving parts in rigid alignment, a wide-dispersion design for even sound-coverage throughout even large rooms, and a wall-distance toggle switch that flattens frequency response when installation requires placement near a corner or adjacent wall. The Polk Audio RC80i also features a tweeter-level switch that lets you tailor the highs for your room acoustics, and is timbre-matched to the Polk Audio Monitor Series for seamless, enveloping imaging when used in a home theater system.

These Polk Audio RC80i speakers are great. Installation was much easier because the large, 8" opening you cut into the wall/ceiling makes it much easier to fish speaker wire. The mounting brackets securely fasten to the wall so there is no shaking or rattling. The tweeter can easily pivot to aim at your listening position. These are voice matched to the Polk "Monitor" series speakers, so match with any other RC series in-wall speaker, CS1 or CS2 center channel speaker, and PSW10 or PSW12 subwoofer.

My only 2 complaints, which were not enough to drop the rating, are:
1) The Polk Audio RC80i cutout template turned out to be a tad small, and I had to go around with a keyhole saw again to make it 1/8" larger to fit the speaker all the way. That made it a little messier, but it ended up fine.
2) The Polk Audio RC80i grill is pretty hard to remove, but you only have to do that once, and you want it to fit snugly anyways.
However, I still love Polk Audio RC80i.

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