Customer Ratings & Reviews

This is my second Polk Sound Bar. The sound is amazing for the size of the device. The sub makes deep rich bass for music or movies. Quick easy installation including the wall mounting system. Couldn’t be happier.

Great sound easy to set up, would recommend this to friends and family.

I knew I got a good system when the sales associates - at the drive-up, no-touch store front delivery area - yelled out, “you got an AWESOME speaker system. Best one out there. I just got the same one!” I concur. I admittedly have been pondering ordering the SR1 wireless rears, but the sound is so crisp out of this bar that I may just stop there. Carefully placing the subwoofer will give even the biggest of rooms booming, clear sound. The voice-only volume control is simply amazing. No more pegging the TV volume to hear those quiet lines, and then blowing your eardrums out moments later. I haven’t even mounted it yet. I might not. Get this soundbar system while it’s at this amazing price. You will love it.

Easy set up and use. Great full bodied sound that improved even more with the optional surround sound rear speakers. Well worth the price. Polk has always put out top quality products and this one is no exception.

Ive been looking at this system for a while. After finally deciding to pull the trigger I was pushed really hard to purchase another brand. Im glad I didn't. Even at the store I thought these speakers had a more pure sound and better simulated surround compared to other "preferred" brands. I was told these don't sell well and I had to travel to another store for pickup. Connection to my LG TV was seamless. Even the TV remote integrated without any additional input. I will be purchasing the satellite speakers at a later date. Well worth it in my opinion

By far the best sound bar on the market for under $600. It has exceptional sound quality for sports, movies, music etc. many features to support mobile device connection.

I bought this as an open box item to which it works perfectly fine. Don’t expect earth shaking bass from this subwoofer it rather fills or balances out the room. The clarity of the sound bar itself is not bad for what I paid but keep in mind I bought this for $200 open box and it is not worth a penny more in my opinion. If you need something to fill out a bedroom because of lacking t.v speakers this would be your best bet.

Sound quality is great however there are a few features that I am not satisfied with but for the price point ( as it was on sale) best sound bar out there at this price point and I spent weeks doing research and I was upgrading from a Samsung 2.1 channel sound bar in which I just want more and this does exactly that plus I can add rear wireless speakers a bonus yay.

The sound bar format, to me, has never been as good of a solution to home audio needs as the 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound solution with a dedicated audio receiver. In fact, I can honestly say I've always been a bit of a snob when it comes to sound bars. However I wanted a better audio setup for the bedroom and my wife strongly discouraged me from running wires all over the place so a soundbar it is. And to be quite honest we don't watch TV a lot in the bedroom so perhaps a soundbar was a better solution. Selecting Polk was fairly easy based upon reputation and reviews of previous sound bars on CNET. And if I was getting a soundbar I was determined I was going to get one of the best. When I received the Magnifi MAX it came in a huge, guitar type shaped box which was like..//wow, this thing is..big.. and indeed it is big for a soundbar in terms of width, so be aware of that. Right now we only have a 32" HDTV in our bedroom and this thing is nearly twice as wide so, for now, we are not going to mount it below the TV. I think this would fit nicely under a 40"+ TV though. So be aware if you have a smaller TV it may look a bit odd since the sound bar itself is so wide. Setup up was pretty easy, it took me about 20 minutes and most of that was simply rerouting HDMI. The system does come with some basic documentation and also comes with a mounting pattern you can use for marking the wall to make sure you can mount it correctly the first time. Getting started on the actual setup I ran the HDMI ARC from the TV to the Magnifi MAX, then ran my DirecTV receiver directly into HDMI 1 and the Xbox 360 to the HDMI 2. I then played some audio and everything worked, the subwoofer was already paired up with the soundbar out of the box. Next, I downloaded the app for the Chromecast from iTunes for my iPhone and iPad. Getting the app going was fairly straightforward but I'll admit that I was a bit disappointed to see that I was unable to cast video from my phone in Chrome to the tv considering the Magnifi MAX supports video output. However, I can say that all audio apps that I tried worked quite well. Using Spotify to cast some AC/DC Back in Black using the special music mode (which changes the soundbar from 5.1 to all-channel stereo) made quite impressed with just how loud and how perfectly clear it was. In fact, I never fully reached the full loudest because, well I've lost enough hearing from loud music...LOL If you're worried this soundbar may not be loud or clear enough, you have absolutely nothing to worry about!! Now, I will tell you that the most time spent on the setup was getting my DirecTV remote programmed to turn on the Magnifi MAX when we turned on the TV. To Polks credit the Magnifi MAX remote did control my 8 or 9 year old LG without any programming. However, getting DirecTV's remote to work correctly with the Polk was a source of some trial and error (note that is on DirecTV not Polk for not correctly updating their software for the remote). The strangest part of the setup on the DirecTV remote was that in DirecTVs software it did have a Magnifi MAX and I selected it and everything worked beautifully EXCEPT it wouldn't turn on the Magnifi MAX when I used the DirecTV remote to turn everything on. This was most certainly going to be a real issue because I knew my wife would not want to mess with turning on the TV/DirecTV and then finding another remote to turn on the Magnifi MAX, and honestly neither would I. I finally was able to get the correct combination for DirecTV by just selecting Polk Audio, "I don't know my model of soundbar", and then going through the options until I found out option #7 worked beautifully. Most of the other options did work on all aspects EXCEPT turning on the TV but option #7 did everything so option #7 it is. Be aware that when you turn on everything using your DirecTV remote you must aim it fairly straight at the Polk or it won't turn on. Now how does it sound? Well I must admit it didn't blow me away just listening to regular TV. It sounded good and I was pretty happy with it, especially the voice option to enhance voice. But at this point I was wondering if this was really worth the $500 price tag. It's not until we fired up The Orville that I became a true believer that, yes indeed this most definitely *WAS* worth the entry fee. Holy cow, the ship sound in the background fully immersed you and felt like a full on surround sound setup. And the bass was super bass. But despite so much volume and bass the soundbar provided utter clarity in dialogue. But the best was yet to come...I took it into my game room and hooked it up to my new Xbox One X on my 4K Samsung to see how it would handle 4K gaming. I really wanted to put it through the 4K paces in order to ensure the soundbar was able to not only process everything correctly but also did not introduce any lag in gaming. Setting it up here was super easy as well and I was up and running in about 10 minutes. After everything was setup I fired up some Assassins Creed Origins on the X and WOW!! The sound was amazing...it seriously rivaled my 7.1 setup that cost thousands of dollars more. And sadly, I imagine it may sound just as good if you buy the rear wireless speakers for another $149 (or just buy them for another $100 more when you buy this is what I'd strongly recommend, hey if you're already into this for $500 might as well go the full on monty). I have no clue how a sound bar can throw such directional sounding audio out from one source but it works. It's not going to do Atmos unfortunately, but I'll be darned if it doesn't do a great job of doing positional sound nonetheless. Next I fired up Fallout 4, a classic game from a while back in which I still enjoy. This game demonstrated simply incredible bass. I mean the bass is so good it makes me wonder if I don't have my home AVR bass setup correctly! When I fired a nuclear weapon at a Behemoth I really felt like I was firing a huge nuclear rocket. The bass was scary and made the game incredibly more immersive. If you don't have anything but TV sound you have no idea just how much you are missing out! After playing for a bit more I began to think "this may not be a good sound bar for an apartment" LOL. Thankfully there is a nightmode though which basically equalizes the volume so you don't get those super loud highs. Now as for the three different modes on the Magnifi Max - most of the time when you use the Magnifi MAX you will be using the Movie/TV mode and while I covered the Music mode above I will say that the Sports mode is probably something most of us will use less frequently. Basically it ups the volume for announcers and the like. I used it briefly during some NFL playoff football and didn't notice a huge difference and figured I'd just go back to the Movies/TV mode since I didn't want to forget the setting and leave it in Sports mode. The 4K video processing works great but I will say we did have one issue. While the wife and I were watching a movie on the Xbox One X using the Magnifi MAX we saw a couple of instances where the screen went black for a moment and we would see a bit of flickering. The wife said it "wasn't a big deal" but it was driving me nuts. I was thinking that the Magnifi Max was to blame and started to get worried. I thought it could be a cable issue though so I removed the HDMI cable going from the Magnifi MAX to the TV HDMI/ARC and replaced it with a newer HDMI cable which resolved the issue. Not all older HDMI cables can support 4K so be aware. Do not go and buy an expensive HDMI cable though, you can find good 4K compatible HDMI cables online for under $5! Also, using the video passthrough will not introduce issues with lag in gaming. I played for two days and never noticed any. So whats the verdict? The verdict is YES! That's what the verdict is. I have a newfound respect for soundbars after using the Polk Magnifi MAX for a full week. I can honestly say that they are nearly a replacement for a full on audio surround sound 5.1 or 7.1 system with a receiver and although not cheap at $499.99 MSRP it will still end up being thousands of dollars cheaper than going the AVR with speakers route. Not to mention the inordinate amount of time that setting up an audio-video receiver takes, running the cables, optimizing, etc. This is a serious sound solution to anyone that is looking for one and does not want to spend the time and money to setup a full surround sound setup. I'm stunned, STUNNED at just how well this soundbar did at everything I threw at it. Honestly if this supported Atmos and I didn't already have so much money wrapped up in speakers, cabling, stands, etc this would be something I'd seriously consider using in my home theater room every day. Yes, $500 or $600 isn't cheap but honestly this is a huge value for what it delivers and many folks out there are going to find it is more than enough to avoid setting up a complicated AVR and speakers, not to mention going that route will cost you at least three to four times the cost of this soundbar. It's quite simply an incredible value! Pros: very easy setup, nice remote, chromecast built-in, extremely loud, tremendous bass and high clarity, voice mode really helps enhance dialogue, delivers true 3D surround sound somehow, amazing AVR replacement Cons: no Dolby Atmos, no Chromecast video casting Recommendation: HIGHLY RECOMMEND - Definitely buy if you're looking for a super high quality, fantastic sonic solution that is worthy of replacing a dedicated surround sound system. Also, I'd strongly recommend that you buy the $599.99 version that comes with the rear wireless speakers. Because once you hear how incredibly awesome this system is you will want to buy them to complete your system. I certainly plan to.

Item small but big sound awesome quality well worth it

I was impressed with the sound in store and when I got it home and set up it totally blew me away!! Setup is soooo simple and the wireless subwoofer pairs to the soundbar all on it's own. The subwoofer is down firing so you feel it as well as hear it.

Bought this on sale back in 2020 and then purchased the 2 wireless satellite speakers online. For the last year this setup has been absolutely amazing. Amazing surround sound, deep base, just great quality at a great price.

I brought back the Sony hts5000 due to it being steep on the price. (1500) Of course it was better but I'll have to say this Polk food not disappoint. It actually has better bass and gets louder than the Sony did. I'm very pleased with the purchase!

Amazing sound. Good bass. Love the system. Overall the best system I've owned

======= Summary ======= The Polk MagniFi Max soundbar system is powerful, flexible, easy to setup & control, and delivers great bass with full high-quality audio. ======= Design & Connectivity Options ======= The Magnifi Max is a simple, cleanly designed, and robust home audio system with its 180W 43"-long soundbar (with 5 audio drivers) and its beefy 160W wireless subwoofer that measures 14.54" high, 12.11" deep, and 14.62" wide. The system blends in well with my TV and living room furniture. I chose to place the soundbar directly in front of my TV and it looks good. Should you want to, the box comes with mounting brackets to wall-mount the soundbar. The Magnifi Max comes with plenty of connection options. Behind the soundbar, you'll see 3x 4K HDMI ports, 1x HDMI ARC port, 1x Optical, 1x Ethernet, and 1x 3.5mm AUX. It is also packed with useful wireless connectivity options such as Bluetooth and 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wifi (2.4GHz & 5GHz) with Chromecast built-in. Setup was simple and easy since the box comes with all the necessary cables (except ethernet). My 55" 4K Samsung TV has an HDMI ARC port so I used that and it has made syncing very easy between the soundbar and my TV. The soundbar turns on and off via my TV's remote control and the TV remote can also adjust the soundbar's volume levels as well. In order to change audio profiles & customize Bass and Voice Adjust levels, however, you have to use the remote provided by Polk. With the Polk Remote, you can toggle among the Movie, Sports, & Music audio profiles. You can also change audio source between TV ARC, Optical, and AUX. There is also a Night Mode button that lowers bass and boosts Voice clarity without increasing the master volume level. I activated the Chromecast functionality of the soundbar by opening the Home app (by Google) and following its installation prompts. The MagnifFi Max was automatically detected & setup was easy-peasy. Casting music to the soundbar from apps such as Youtube Music, Spotify, and Google Play Music worked flawlessly. Polk did a great job providing many different connectivity options that all work smoothly and effortlessly. ======= Performance ======= With the MagniFi Max's 400W power output and great factory tuning by the folks at Polk, everything I played on the soundbar sounded great. Polk calls their surround sound technology "Polk SDA surround" and its benefits are clearly heard and felt when watching movies. Their marketing claims of "immersive" and "multi-dimensional" sound live up to the hype and marketing speak. Sounds arrive in different layers and are well-separated, really enhancing the viewing experience. And the Polk Voice Adjust technology does a fantastic job at boosting the clarity and volume of spoken dialogue that can sometimes get drowned out by other sounds. As for music playback, MagniFi Max does an excellent job here as well. The audio is loud & clear, bass is punchy, clean, & hard, and the vocals & the instruments come through with great coverage and fidelity. ======= So is it any good? ======= Absolutely~! With its slim height form-factor, different mounting options, multiple connectivity options, and truly great surround sound technology, the Magnifi Max deserves shelf space in everyone's home entertainment system. Both movie- and music-lovers will definitely love it.

I’m going to start off by saying that any issues I experienced with the Polk MagniFi Max sound bar were for the most part self induced. Our newest television, a 4K UHD with rear-firing built-in speakers, is a prime candidate for an audio upgrade with a sound bar/subwoofer combo like this Polk. This is especially true since I struggle quite a bit with dialog in a lot of programming and the MagniFi Max features “VoiceAdjust” technology to enhance vocal content. This TV’s primary source material is from a DirecTV Genie Mini. This TV was previously hooked up to a competitor’s voice-enhancing sound bar (without a subwoofer) via an optical audio cable and the source devices were all hooked into HDMI ports on the TV (this sound bar did not HDMI pass-through as the Polk does). The TV has one HDMI jack with ARC (audio return channel) and three other HDMI inputs through which other components were hooked up. We also have a television with a sound bar/wireless subwoofer, and another TV utilizing an audio-video receiver, so in my defense, I am not a complete buffoon when it comes to audio and video equipment. However, I am not in the nerdy-hobbyist camp either. When I first connected the Polk, I connected an HDMI cable between the ARC labeled jacks on the TV and the sound bar per the directions in the accompanying Quick Start Guide, but left the DirecTV input directly to the television. I got no audio from the Polk…until I plugged in the digital optical audio cable. Things then worked as I expected them to, but I would get an annoying high-pitched screech for a fraction of a second when I changed channels using the DirecTV remote or when dropping out of rewind or fast-forward into play on DVR recordings. I then moved the HDMI connection from the Genie Mini from the TV to one of the HDMI jacks on the back of the Polk and no more screech. I now decided to remove the digital optical connection, and I still got output from the Polk. Great! Obviously there is more to getting all of these computers (they are no longer simple TVs, speakers, and antennas) to communicate properly with each other. Next I tried to use one of the streaming apps on the TV and…no audio from the Polk. Hook up the optical cable again, and I now get sound, so I guess that needs to stay connected. I tried various other combinations of HDMI/optical hookups in my quest to find audio/video nirvana, but won’t detail them here. I did finally get rid of the screech after calling Polk’s support line and they told me I should have the TV’s digital output set to “PCM” rather than “DD”…see, self-induced issue. This is kind of like the Cliff Notes version, and I struggled with the set-up longer than I care to admit. The manual that comes with the MagniFi Max is labeled “Quick Start Guide”, but is about a quarter of an inch thick booklet. It turns out only 20 pages of 95 are in English. Off to Polk’s website in search of a full User Guide, but the only support that currently appears for this product is a downloadable “info sheet” which is just an electronic advertising brochure. To be fair, Polk does offer email and phone support which I eventually used, but I am still a little disappointed with the lack of a more thorough manual for a device that has as many connections, features, and potential pitfalls for novices - and I like to think I am a little ahead of the average consumer when it comes to this kind of stuff. This sound bar system has a feature that I was not aware of existing in this kind of equipment in that it has Google Chromecast built into it. I downloaded the Google Home app onto my iPhone so that the sound bar could check for a firmware update, and for the fun of it I set up a Spotify account and streamed music through the MagniFi and I must say this part of my experience worked much smoother than setting up the TV connections. Did the sound quality match my dedicated 2-channel stereo system, no it didn’t, but the Polk is a big improvement over any portable Bluetooth speaker I have ever used with my phone and it should be a great feature for anyone looking to integrate their entertainment systems as much as possible. The wireless connection that automatically happens between the sound bar and the subwoofer has worked flawlessly, no matter how many times I interrupted the power supply to make changes in the sound bar to TV connections. Build quality of both components is top notch, with fit and finish befitting this price point. My old eyes would have preferred a little more contrast with the button markings on the remote and on the sound bar - the gold on black background, tiny print could easily be improved upon. The sound bar communicates visually to you through a series of colored LEDs on the front of it (it does not offer any on-screen graphics). They are kind of cryptic at first but eventually you find yourself referring less and less to the manual. Polk describes the sound bar as “low profile” so it doesn’t block the TV’s remote sensor, but by the same token this keeps the mid-range drivers to a relatively small size. The sound bar is 43 inches wide and this will make it hard to fit between the feet of smaller televisions that don’t use a central pedestal base. It would have been nice if Polk would have included some optional feet for the sound bar to raise it 1 to 1.5 inches so that television stands/feet could pass under it, especially since the bottom of it is not completely flat which makes it a little difficult to improvise elevating it slightly. The sound quality of the MagniFi Max is vastly superior to the built-in speakers of most any current-era flat screen television. Anyone considering a sound bar purchase really should consider a system with a subwoofer to get maximum enjoyment from their television and this Polk will not disappoint on overall sound enhancement and performance. People with issues of hearing dialog on the television will find this sound bar especially beneficial as I did. To cut down on remote control clutter, the sound bar is able to learn commands of your other remotes such as volume up/down and mute so that you can hide away the Polk remote. This programming worked flawlessly by following the instructions in the manual. Besides the remote, the MagniFi Max comes with wall mount brackets, and all of the cabling you may need to integrate it into your current system without having to buy any additional parts or accessories. The only reason I am not giving this product a full five stars is because the User Guide could have been more thorough regarding features and connectivity thus making set-up a little less painful.

The soundbar was packed well to ensure that no damage occurs during transport. After spending a few hundreds on a premium soundbar it is great to know that no damage happened during its journey to your home. Easy setup for me but I still took some time to review the manual. After I hooked up everything I paired it with my Google Home app and had to wait for a quick update. The magnifi Max has built in chromecast so you can have other speakers with chromcast sync together to create true home surround sound when listening to music. I watched a movie with the magnifi Max connected and I’m impressed with how good it sounds. With just the soundbar and subwoofer my room sounds like I have more speakers. I can only imagine if I pair it with the rear speakers sold separately. I own a home so I can use it more freely without worrying about neighbors but with just a push on the night mode you can eliminate that worry. I think the default presets are perfect for me but I’m sure I’ll do other tweaks later. This soundbar by Polk just became my primary soundbar because it sounds that good. I would not change a thing except for probably the size of the subwoofer but again it sounds great. Greats: The premium sound The remote Easy setup Voice adjust Chromecast built in Option to add speakers Night mode TV ARC Flaws: None at the moment Bottom line is this is probably the best soundbar to date that I’ve experience. If the price is not an issue for you I think it is worth it for the sound and it will look great on your wall or tv stand.

Overall, this sound bar delivers more than i could ever imagine. Ive never owned a sound bar before but can tell you that its worth it. A few feature that have really made this item worth while in my opinion. First, Set up. When unboxing this item, it immediately struck me how well assembled the packaging and instructions were. Im not much of a tech head so i was as first a little hesitant to begin set up. I didnt need to worry. The super easy to read instructions walked me through how to set up the sounds bar based on my current set up...i thought i was going to need to play a guessing game. This was as immediate boost of confidence. The second main feature that i have learned to really enjoy, oddly enough is the remote. I game with this sound bar as it provides exceptional sounds qualify and hard hitting bass. The remote that it comes with has voice control along side regular control, this makes hearing voices or more treble related sounds easier if i choose to do so. This might not seem like a major pro to some, but those gamers out there know just how important this actually is. All in All oustanding sound, which bass that shakes my entire house with an easy to set up how to guide after unboxing. Great piece of tech here and wroth the buy.

Bottom Line: I would highly recommend the Polk Audio MagniFi Max for anyone looking to upgrade from their TV’s built-in speakers or from an older/inferior sound system. Pros: fantastic sound, ample connectivity options, built-in Google Chromecast, unobtrusive status lighting, very useful Voice Adjust and night modes Cons: remote buttons are too soft/squishy, might use a lot of electricity Review: Built-in TV speakers are mediocre at best. As picture quality has improved, the stock audio experience has actually gotten worse. I’ve owned various home theatre systems in the past, and the Polk Audio MagniFi Max is easily the best sounding system I’ve owned and likely one of the best soundbars on the market. All of the cables you need are in the box, and setup is easy and straightfoward. I had no issues using the HDMI passthrough, and the wireless sub connects to the bar automatically. The power light is a dim amber that is barely noticeable; the status LED lights (which convey volume, balance, and mode) are bright and easy to follow, but they completely shut off once you’re finished adjusting the settings. The top of the bar offers a set of control buttons, which is useful if you’re using it as a music speaker in your living room. Design-wise it’s sleek and unobtrusive, except the center speaker, which is labeled ‘Voice Adjust’, is encircled in silver plastic, which is a little distracting. The system offers fantastic sound, and I was particularly impressed by the balance of highs, mids, and lows. In the past, I’ve found that many systems produce good lows and highs, but the mids tend to get washed out. The system also features three preset equalizer settings that help better tune the audio. Perhaps the most useful feature, however, is Voice Adjust (the remote includes separate buttons for it), which allows you to manually adjust the volume of the dialogue. I can’t rave about this feature enough, since dialogue is a consistent problem for home theatre setups. I only have two minor issues with the system. First, the soundbar wouldn’t power on when I connected it to my power strip (all of my other devices run fine off of it). Instead, I ended up having to plug it directly into the wall to even get the AC adapter to light up. It makes me wonder how much power the bar will end up using. Second, the remote is well laid out, but the entire face of the remote is made of soft rubber that is common in remote buttons. Overall, the whole remote just feels soft/squishy to me.

I was Using a very nice surround sound, with lots of bass. This one however is mind blowing, and I’m totally shocked at the sound it delivers. Mids, highs, lows, it’s all there. The sound from the sound bar alone is great, but when you add the wireless subwoofer it’s amazing. Packaging was solid, product arrived in great condition.