Important Specs Overview
Speaker type: passive, 2 way, back-ported
Continuous power handling: 45 W*
Peak power handling: 150 W
Impedance: 8 ohms
Sensitivity: 89 dB/W/m
Frequency response range: 43 – 25k Hz
Unit weight: 17 lbs
Unit dimensions: 8 x 12 x 15 inches (width x depth x height)
Warranty: 5 years
*When nominal/RMS power isn’t specified by manufacturer, we use an approximation of ~30% of the specified peak/dynamic power for comparison purposes.
Review And Discussion
The TSi series is yet another complete lineup of affordable home-theater speakers produced by Polk. It includes two variants of bookshelf speakers, the smaller TSi100 (reviewed here), and the larger TSi200, the main difference of the latter being that it has a double woofer dedicated to the low crossover, which isn’t all that common among 2 way bookshelf speakers.
Power and efficiency wise they’re fairly middle of the road, probably best served for middle-field listening, but they might not get loud enough in large rooms. And while the double woofer looks neat, the fact remains that a 2-way bookshelf speaker is inevitably limited in how well it will reproduce the bass, thought the response floor on these is actually quite good. This isn’t an issue if you’ve got a subwoofer though, and we do generally recommend using one in conjunction with 2 way bookshelf speakers, unless you really feel you don’t need the bass.
The design is pretty boilerplate – a washed-wood black MDF cabinet with a sheen finish on the top, which is a somewhat interesting aesthetic contrast. The exposed drivers do look nice, if you choose to leave them uncovered, but otherwise these look like a run of the mill budget speakers. They’re quite large and heavy for 2 way bookshelfs, likely due to the accommodation of a 2nd driver. Polk offers 5 years of warranty coverage on its passive speakers, which is pretty top of the line.
Our Overall Take, As Compared To The Competition
We really wish we’d see these go for cheaper, and we’re honestly surprised they aren’t currently given the age of the TSi series. It’s hard to go wrong with a Polk loudspeaker, but, it’s hard to recommend these when there better options within the same price range. Klipsch’s older generation reference bookshelf speakers (reviewed here), are still popular and quite good, and they offer much more power for the same price. Yamaha’s equally old but still popular NS-6490 (reviewed here) is also big and bulky, but has a built in subwoofer with its own crossover via a 3 way design, and will function better as a standalone speaker. You might also consider Polk’s budget tower speakers as an alternative, which are excellent, and they too have dedicated subwoofers – the Monitor 70s (reviewed here) are one of our favorite overall home theater speakers.
See the TSi200 bookshelf speakers on Amazon (affiliate link)
See our current picks for the overall best budget bookshelf speakers
