Polk Audio Signature Elite ES35 Slim Center Channel Speaker, Stunning Black

I wasn't expecting much in clear vocals from a small center speaker with six 3-inch drivers. This one surprised me with vocal clarity. When building a home theater sound system, you should always build from the inside out. First the center speaker, then mains, then surrounds. The center is so important because 90% of TV/movies is dialog and 90% of the dialog comes out of the center speaker. Don't worry about "timbre matching" ie using speakers all from the same company, always get the best center speaker you can afford. The Polk has high quality sound, and high quality goes with everything. The Polk ES35 combined with a couple of small bookshelf speakers was chosen to replace an expensive L/C/R sound bar that just had a tinny sound. It is powered by a new Sony AN1000 in a 3.1 setup. Space was a major issue to fit it under a 55" Sony TV in an enclosed space. The Polk fit perfectly my needs and it completely blew the soundbar away in every way it could. Music, dialog, bass, clarity. The speaker is all plastic but I would rate it as well-built. It had a good heft to and the plastic was not thin and cheap. It is rear ported but because of the design of the port, there is a small cage that sticks out of the back about two inches or so. You can put this speaker flush against a wall or in an enclosed space and the cage gives the port room to breath. Anyone wanting to hear better clarity for voices from their TV will like this unit. It does exactly what a good center speaker is supposed to do, allow you to listen to the TV without having to turn the sound all the way up. It's clear at all levels, even low sound levels. Anyone looking looking to replace TV sound or even a sound bar this is a major upgrade for $350. I can easily recommend it.

I’m extremely happy with the Polk Signature Series Elite ES35. From the moment I set it up, it impressed me with both its sound quality and its appearance. Dialogue is clear and well-defined, even at lower volumes, and it blends seamlessly with the rest of my system for movies, TV, and music. Vocals sound natural, and there’s a nice balance that keeps everything easy to understand without being harsh. The design is another big plus. The ES35 looks sleek and modern, with a clean finish that fits perfectly into my setup without drawing unnecessary attention. It feels solid and well-built, which adds to the overall premium impression. Overall, the Polk ES35 delivers excellent performance and style. It has noticeably improved my listening experience, and I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a high-quality center channel speaker that sounds great and looks just as good.

High quality somewhat affordable center, it performed outstanding for me in my 7.1.0 home theater set up!

First, the speaker comes packaged properly with styrofoam all the way around the speaker on each axis, and the speaker is wrapped in a protective cover. You can rest assured that your speaker should not be damaged when it gets to you. Mine was in perfect condition, and the USPS was involved some of the way. The speaker comes with a Manual that includes every speaker in the Elite Signature Series, which is nice. The speaker comes with a wall mounting template, rubber feet, and a registration card with your serial number in tiny letters. Registering the speaker on the Polk Audio Website was a pain because there is no designation for the White ES35. I just had to choose the Black ES35, and in the note, I put that it is White. Then my Password didn’t work. I’m not sure if the registration has its own login section or not, but after a bit I finally registered the speaker. I have a white wood entertainment center and this Polk ES35 looks beautiful sitting on it. I may need to raise the TV a half inch, I’m going to break in the speaker first while I decide. The ES35 comes with a nice Magnetic cover. I’m not sure I will use it because the speaker looks so good with it off. I’ll update after a few months. The speaker sounds great, but I need to break it in for 20 to 30 hours at lower volumes. The bass on this speaker is amazing. I’ve never had this much action on a center channel before. I can already hear how much range my old center was missing out on, and voices are so much clearer and full of range. Definitely happy so far….

Let me first say that I am an acoustic suspension guy, I was never drawn (very much) to ported speaker designs. That being said, there are design advantages to a ported design. The ES35 is small in size (about 4 x 6 x 24 inches). I am using the ES35 with a projection TV where the space under the screen is limited. I couldn't use my old center acoustic suspension speaker as it is too large. Summary: The ES35 has sturdy construction and is well build. I installed it on ordinary drywall. Wall mounting hardware is not supplied, but that's fine with me as I usually discard any provided hardware and buy my own superior fittings. The ES35 is a decent sounding speaker of compact size. It appears that I can blend the ES35 into my surround sound system (mainly by adjusting amplifier gains). The clarity of the ES35 is good, but I am not sure if the speaker muffles voice or not. For situations like mine, I would say that the ES35 is a buy. Maybe for other people and other situations, the ES35 would be a decent choice no matter what size limitations may exist.

Nice, much smaller than my old Cambridge Soundworks center channel and so was able to install it in front of my TV. Sound quality seems good so far, goes well with my Polk speaker towers.

After swapping email with Polk Audio support about a recommendation to replace a 20-year-old Polk center channel speaker, I went with one of these Polk Signature Elite ES35 Slim units and I am so glad I did. The rep was correct that the sound from this would pair nicely with my existing tower speakers and my surrounds. I have been pleasntly surprise by how good the sound is from such a slim center channel. In fact, I like it so well, I am thinking of replacing my towers with two more of these and wall-mounting them. My only negative regarding this speaker is that I have had difficulty using it with a speaker mount designed to mount above or below a mounted TV. The hardware on the mount just would not work well with the built-in brackets. I specifically wanted this to be connected to my existing TV mount so that if we move the TV to the left or right, the center speaker would turn with it. That said, it can easily attach to a screw or nail on a wall or be placed on a TV stand/hutch. Again, it sounds amazing paired with a Denon AVR.

I'm a Klipsch guy but wanted white speakers for the sides of my great room to blend in a bit. The 1500 sq ft room is shaped like a home plate so the sound design was a bit unique. I wanted to be able to spread the midrange wider vs a single woofer/tweeter design...probably more in my head than true function but it worked great. Another thing that's probably fine but I'm not a fan of plastic keyhole mounts, especially on this unit since the keyhole mounts are a part of the bass port design. I ended up mounting these from my wall/ceiling using 5.5"L x 4"H x 1.5"W J Lip Shelf Brackets attached to Mount It articulating 2/4 screw speaker mounts with some 1/4" bolts and lock nuts, painted white. The lips of the bracket hold them just fine without strapping them. I used little round, flat silicone pieces between the speaker and bracket so it doesn't scratch the cabinet. The cabinet has a wood grain look and looks fabulous. I'm running these on a 7.2 set up with floor speakers and 2 subs. These Polk ES35's hold up their own and happy with them. Good highs and the ported rears created good bass/mids. You'll still want a subwoofer to round out the lows.

heel tevreden, alle tonen zijn aanwezig zelfs bass, in de juiste proportie, dus zeker geen spijt van mijn aankoop

Very good centre speaker

Suono pieno e ricco per apprezzare i dialoghi dei film. Ha cambiato la percezione del suono del mio impianto surround ed ha completato in modo perfetto il mio sistema composto interamente da diffusori Polk Audio collegati ad un amplificatore 7.1 Yamaha. Non lo avrei detto ma cambia davvero la fruizione dei contenuti multimediali multicanale. Da tenere presente che il diffusore ha un'impedenza di 8 ohm, quindi deve essere collegato ad un amplificatore adeguato.

Correspond en tous points à ce que j'attendais. Le son est limpide, les voix sont claires. Je trouve cette enceinte centrale très belle, elle s'intègre bien dans mon système home cinéma et elle délivre un son bien meilleur que la centrale Yamaha de 1996 qu'elle remplace dignement. Produit bien emballé, livraison rapide, livreur sympa.

kvaliteten.