Customer Ratings & Reviews

I purchased a pair of Polk Monitor XT-20 speakers along with a Sony STR-DH590 Receiver for my home office. I will admit that I own a pair of Polk T15 bookshelf speakers, which honestly are terrible. I decided to give Polk another chance when the XT-20 went on sale. I wanted a basic two-channel speaker setup. I was initially concerned because the Polk instruction manual says the impedance of the XT-20 is 4 ohms. The Monitor XT product PDF from the Polk website says, “Compatible with 4- and 8-ohm outputs.” The STR-DH590 receiver manual says the minimum speaker impedance is 6 ohms. Bottom line, the XT-20s work great with this model Sony receiver. The DH590 is plenty powerful, and I don’t see any signs of overheating. The build quality of the XT-20 speakers is good. In terms of size, they are somewhat large, kind of deep for a bookshelf speaker. They just fit on my desk with not much room to spare. They are plain and boxy looking. I do like the removable charcoal cloth Polk grill though. That adds a touch of sophistication. Thanks to the 6.5” woofer, these speakers pump out some serious bass! I personally found that boosting the mids/treble help balance out the bass, and greatly improve the sound clarity, especially of vocals. On my Sony receiver, Music “Enhancer” sound mode was exactly what these speakers needed to accomplish the required equalization. The XT-20 is more than happy to fill the room with a satisfyingly thunderous, symphony-like sound when you crank up the volume. They are perhaps not as well rounded as my Sony Core bookshelf speakers, but the Polks pump put out superior bass and are happier to blow your hair back when you want to turn up the volume. Did Polk redeem themselves with the XT-20? Yes! The XT-20 is a huge improvement over the flat, lifeless T15. I’m really impressed with the Polk Monitor XT-20. It is good choice if you want a powerful bookshelf speaker with a deep, rich sound.

Wanted to upgrade the speakers used with my turntable setup, and room size limits me to bookshelf size. I think a few folks that reviewed may have either not noticed these are 4 ohms or were unsure of the significance of that, understandable when most speakers sold are 8 ohms and it's a bit of a rabbit hole to go down trying to figure out the difference and impact. Short version is, there's no technical reason you can't connect 4 ohm speakers to any modern amp/avr...BUT...results may vary. These have a frequency response that goes down to 38hz, not an easy find for a bookshelf speaker. So I bought these knowing that my Onkyo 7.2 avr might have issues with them even though it worked great for annoying the neighbors driving the more traditional 8 ohm speakers. When I first hooked them up, yes, vast improvement. But I really had to crank it up higher than I was used to to get decent output. And once I got the output I was hoping for, you could cook food if you put a griddle on top of my avr. After a while the sound started distorting as it heated up and I had to lower the volume. If you look in the manual for the average avr you will probably see it can support speakers with an impedance lower than 8 ohms, but will include a * that it's only for driving 2 speakers, so suround sound enthusiasts need to do their homework. To truly hear the benefits of these Polks they require good sustenance. This was actually the predicament I was hoping for, so I bought the Marantz nr1200, also from Best Buy. It ain't cheap and it's only a stereo avr with subwoofer support, not surround, and was more than my Onkyo 7.2. After swapping the avr there aren't enough words to express how amazing these speakers are. I have a subwoofer attached but the bass response on these is so good for their size I'm not sure it's even necessary. Highly recommend these, absolutely amazing for the price and size, but, if you're getting these to replace 8 ohm speakers you need to leave open the possibility that further upgrades to your audio system may be needed before you can truly appreciate them.

What a great pair of speaker from Polk for around $200 - an amazing deal. I connected them to an old Denon DRA-397 2x80W receiver and the sound is awesome. The highs and middles are very clear and the XT20s punch such a decent bass that I don't plan of even adding a sub. They are loud enough to fill up a large living room with a clear sound even at high volume. I'm sure they will sound even better if I get a better amp and equalizer but I'm happy with the current setup. The XT20 replaced a Bose CineMate II 2.1 system and the sound improvement is very very noticeable. The movies dialogue is so much clearer with the Polk speakers. For music the difference is even more striking, especially listening to jazz. The Bose CineMate was just horrible at everything, I should have gotten rid of it long time ago. I highly recommend the XT20s! Thank you Polk for the great product!

Love these speakers! I have them running off a Sony strdh590. They have plenty of bass for a small bookshelf speaker and nice sparkling highs. Midrange isn’t bad either.

Really nice set at the sale price! Rich low end and more than decent highs. Can take a lot of power without breaking up and are perfect for a medium sized room. Using for music in a spare room. Bass is good enough that I do not really need a sub at all.

Upgraded from powered bookshelf speakers and using a Sony STR-DN1080 to drive. Thought they sounded a bit harsh but placed them closer to the wall and the bass filled in. Now they sound very full and fun. Definitely make sure to play with placement but they hit surprisingly low and fill a small-to-medium apartment space very nicely. Will be keeping these for a long time.

Very nice pair of Polk speakers. Very nice quality and super sound for a smaller unit which I wanted. I paired this speaker set with a Harmon Kardon 630 Twin Powered Amplifier/Receiver. Yes that is a 48 year old receiver. Sound was perfect. I played FM Stereo - crisp and clear on these speakers. Also I used IPOD to play via the phono port and again these speakers were perfect for many reasons including the setup I wanted. Beautiful sound.

Sound quality is great. Perfect size! Super pleased with my choice.

Matching these fantastic speakers with my new LOL Marantz 2220b receiver was a match made in heaven. I was concerned about their size and not having enough bass. I am happythat I don't need to hook up my powered sub to appreciate Metallica, Zep,Travers just to name a few to fill up the garage with the warm classic sounds from the 70's .

Purchased these as ‘open box items’ for small turntable rig I was setting up as a present for my daughter’s 14th birthday. Sound is exactly as expected; that it to say, tight, and a perfect match for the Sony table, and dedicated amp. Would definitely purchase again.

Good purchase and fit well with my furniture. Don' t really have bass to play with my records or mix playing the music loud.

Sound amazing love the as my DJ monitors clean looking and professional too

Added in series with my XT 15. Much nicer bass response.

Really good sounding book shelf speakers. Great price !

These speakers are so much better than the t50s and their towers refined base heavy though but very clear I'm running it off my Onkyo with a Klipsch subwoofer and I got the subwoofer turned off cuz there's really no need amazing if you're looking for something for two channels these speakers would be the ones for you they sound amazing Polk really outdid themselves and they just keep getting better each set of speakers that they continue making it's like if they cut the t50 in half and just gave you tweeter woofer and a port that's pretty much what this is big sound from a medium speaker

These aren't going to beat thousand dollar speakers, but for the under $350 price these have excellent balance, good bass, and good overall sound. Polk's own ES20 are better though, if you can cough up the extra cash.

Love Polk audio. Polk has always focused on providing superior speakers for the working class, like me. And these speakers provide amazing sound quality, especially for the price! I bought 4 of these speakers, center channel, sub, & atmos speakers and paired with a Denon AVR S760H and couldn't be happier! This is for a secondary setup in my basement, and I now find we spend much more time watching movies downstairs. Considered getting a set of the larger towers for my setups front speakers but these do such a great job I just can't justify it. I also have a Polk Flagship speaker setup on my main system that I spent thousands++ on years ago, these monitor series speakers show me Polk still has a focus on quality & value.

Overall a good speaker for the price. Using them in an outdoor poolside bar/shed. Running them with the 25-watt Monoprice amp, plenty of clean, accurate sound with more than adequate lows for leisurely listening.

I bought this pair connected with my Sony STR-DH550 AV amp to enjoy the music, songs and films on my smart TV. I took them when they were on sale. For this size and at the price of less than 200$, don't expect something marvelous or extraordinary; for me the performance is all right and acceptable. One day, I shall try it with more high-quality stereo amp like Nad or Denon to test its potential.

These guys kick! They can handle power very well! Plus even my neighbors down the street can hear these speakers!!