Polk Audio RM30 System

The third aluminum entry in our lean speaker spotlight, Polk Audio's RM30 system features satellites likewise designed to accommodate a variety of setups, including wall mounting. At 6.5 inches deep and about 6 inches wide, Polk's sats are a good deal chunkier than those in the Infinity and many other wall-friendly systems. But Polk gives you another installation choice: both the RM30 satellites used for the front left/right channels and the RM302 center speaker come with plastic bases for table or stand mounting. The other components of the system I tested were the RM101 satellites, a tiny two-way speaker that worked well for the surround channels, and the compact PSW404 subwoofer. The RM101 sats come with hardware that lets you mount them to a wall or attach them to Polk's SA-2 stands ($89 a pair).

Setup I installed the RM30 system following the same template as for the previous two. The main difference was that I used a pair of my own stands to support the RM30 left/right front sats. Doing so required using the plastic base supports that Polk includes with the speakers. These provided adequate support, but build quality was kind of flimsy - I worried about bumping into the speakers. Those concerns extended to the subwoofer, which, though solidly constructed, sits on four tiny plastic feet loosely attached by nails. There are no threaded holes for inserting carpet spikes or other, more substantial forms of support.