Customer Ratings & Reviews

It's perfect for a small to medium sized room. Sound quality is very good, and you can control voice, woofer or surround speaker volume individually. The nicest thing about the system is how easy it is to set it up - all I need was a couple of corner shelves and self-adhesive cord management channels for a grand total of $20 at the local home improvement stores. And about 30 minutes of measuring, drilling small holes and putting up the shelves. After that, all you need to do is to plug in the woofer and the surround speakers, and the system will connect and sync the components by itself! I actually like the recessed main volume buttons; it makes volume control easy in total darkness. One caveat - using Google Assistant to control the soundbar is nice, but be careful using Google to set volume level. I made the mistake by asking Google to set soundbar volume to 50% when testing streaming music. The following day I lost control of the volume by using the remote - no matter what I do, volume stayed the same. For over half an hour I couldn't figure out why and thought that the unit was defective, and then it dawned on me that Google Assistant might be the culprit. It was. After deleting the soundbar from Google Assistant, and then reset the soundbar, everything went back to its glorious working conditions. I believe this is a bug that can be fixed, maybe by a future firmware update? I bought the system when Best Buy had it on a pre-Black Friday deal. I will take this Polk system over its competitors any workday plus Saturday and Sunday. Yes, some of the higher end systems would give nicer sound, Dolby Atomos for example, but it's definitely not $1,000 nicer to me. Particularly for my bedroom use. If you've never used a soundbar before, stop right here and this could be your perfect first soundbar. In my house I have 3 soundbars, a Bose, a Yamaha and this newly purchased Polk. For its ease of setup and incredible value, I will pick this Polk over the other two for bedroom or any small to midsized environment.

First and foremost, I picked up the Polk system when it went on sale for $399.99 at my local Best Buy after seeing they had some in stock on the app. And for that price point it’s impossible to find a system that sounds this great. The system is powerful enough to finally make my 70 inch LG sound as good as it looks. I was looking for a “wireless” system with rear channel speakers and apart from having to plug in the bar, sub, and rear speakers to power outlets the Polk system covered my needs perfect.

Our Bose Soundtouch 300 system died after 2 years. This Polk Magnifi SR was on sale and a fraction of the cost to replace our Bose. We could not be happier. It synced seamlessly with our Sony TV and sounds better than the Bose. The adjustments to the voice channel and surround volumes allow you to taylor this setup to your room.

Solid sound bar - very well built and can get very loud. Does not do Atmos but the Dolby digital 5.1 is certainly good enough. I have been through about 4 different sound bars over the last year and this one is staying in my living room for a long time. Chrome cast works great after a few firmware updates, ARC connection so far very reliable - overall I am very happy with it. One other thing to mention - the subwoofer is quite large and I find myself turning the bass down as it is very powerful - which is usually the complete opposite of what I have experienced with other sound bars. I will take a solid 5.1 sound bar over a less expensive one with Dolby atmos 7.1.2 any day - don’t be fooled by 200 bars claiming atmos - it is not a cheap technology to simulate properly in a sound bar.

Let's be clear; The soundbar itself is never going to sound anywhere close to a left, right, and center channel speaker setup with a real 5.1 AV Receiver. That said, if you aren't setting up a TV in a living room, and you want to fill a room with sound, the ease of setup here can't be understated. You don't have to run a bunch of wires between your speakers here, which makes clean and professional looking setups extremely easy. The sound from the subwoofer and satellites is fantastic, the remote is straightforward, the lights on the bar are clear during the day without being blinding at night, and the variety of input options make installation a breeze even with setups that have a of devices like cable boxes and consoles. That said the Chromecast is a pain to setup with Wi-Fi, requiring you to download an extremely old version of Google Home just to get through it, but casting works just fine with the latest version once initial setup is complete. Also, there's no HDMI 2.1, no eARC, and no Dolby Plus or Dolby Atmos. I can't speak for HDR pass-through either, as the TV I connected this to doesn't support it. You also can't buy two more of the excellent wireless surround speakers for 7.1, which is a huge missed opportunity here. Overall though, all of those are just nitpicks. If you want more audio than your TV offers but less than a full AV Receiver setup, this system will absolutely fill a room with nice surround sound without a bunch of speaker cable mess to try and hide. After using it for a while I highly recommend this setup, especially for bedrooms. Living Rooms should probably have an AV Receiver instead for this kind of money. Still a great system either way.

I’m a big sound guy and all I have to say it is perfect for the money. Very very easy to setup actually way easier then I expected and I’m a sceptic. Great sleek design it’s worth the price you pay. My Dad has a 5,000 sound system and it’s incredible but for 500 bucks this is incredible for the price paid! It’s exceptional

I'm still trying to see if I love it. I enjoy theatre sound & I am learning Polk does not give you constant theatre sound. It depends on what your warching, live tv, movie or You Tube. The rear speakers dont seem to play high volume only on movies.

Im a little old school so im use to the rca separate components surround units but my Polk sounds very good in my man cave

Sound is amazing! setup was simple...I found myself thinking there was more to it lol. Definetly a room filler of pure bliss!

Set this up before Christmas. It was very quick and simple. So far we are very pleased with the sound quality. Per previous reviews we registered our product in case anything does go wrong, such as the crackling some people have mentioned. It was commented that this way you get service directly from Polk. We recommend this product if you are looking for a sleek way to replace the bulky receiver/wired Polk speaker system we had previously. Our system looks much cleaner and less cluttered now.

I recommended this soundbar to my mother years ago after her TV speakers had blown out and was always impressed with the sound output and clarity. When my wife needed something more for the apartment I already knew what to buy. She loves the voice channel adjustability, sound quality, and how well it integrated into the entertainment center.

I have ran into a few issues with this setup, namely it cutting the audio completely on gaming devices randomly. Also after a year the back smaller speakers started to become tinny. I assume I may have gotten a faulty model, but I am not sure. There was also a strange stain on one of the smaller speakers. They were good speakers prior to the issues.

I almost returned the system but could not bring myself to do it. When it works it works great, and now for the rest of the story. Set up was a breeze however I ran into the following issues that persist to this day. - Popping noises from rear speakers, be it interference or the rear channel is not getting enough power from certain 5.1 sources. Two different sounding issues. - Soundbar is painfully slow to sync with any source routed to any of the three HDMI Arc inputs. - Soundbar firmware occasionally locks up and must be manually power cycled when the tv turns of via sleep timer. - The remote is poorly designed with not enough "tweaking" options and an unfriendly layout. Aside form that works great !

Sound excellent! I liked so much, arrived in perfect conditions thanks

Selecting the Polk MagniFi MAX SR 5.1 Maximum Performance Sound Bar System was in part based on Polk’s long-standing reputation for excellent audio equipment, and largely based on the impressive specifications for the system. Unfortunately, it proved to be problematic. Not because the sound bar does not sound good, but rather, because the system has flaws which have been documented since at least 2018. I was initially very impressed by many aspects of the MagniFi MAX system, however the problems discovered during initial installation were frustrating. I only learned of the long history of these issues after I received the sound bar, encountered the problems, and in researching them discovered on Polk’s forums several years of user complaints pertaining to these same issues. The MagniFi MAX is comprised of a sleek sound bar which is 43” wide, just over 2” high and just over 3.75” deep. The sound bar has 7 drivers comprised of 4 – 1” x 3” oval drivers, 2 – 0.75” round tweeters and 1 – 1” round midrange driver for the center channel. The 120VAC to low voltage power supply is an inline unit, with a 50” low voltage cord to the sound bar, and a 59” line voltage cord with a conventional plug to the AC outlet. This avoids a “wall wart” power supply which would block multiple taps on a surge protector. The rear panel of the sound bar is equipped with 1 HDMI ARC output, 3 – HDMI (HDCP 2.2) inputs with 4k HDR pass-through, 1 optical input, 1 – 3.5mm analog, stereo auxiliary input an Ethernet port (RJ-45), and a USB for maintenance purposes. The top panel controls are flush mounted and inconspicuous. The front panel LED indicator lamps are concealed behind the front grill cloth, and are only visible when illuminated. There are additional LED indicators on the rear panel, as well. The compact remote control has a high-quality appearance and feel, provides a full complement of system controls and audio controls, and via CEC functionality, worked with my Sony smart TV without codes or learning. The remote control measures approximately 1.75” wide x 5.75” long x 0.75” thick, and is powered by two, AAA batteries which were included. The MagfniFi MAX system also includes a wireless, Bluetooth connected subwoofer with a down-firing 8” round driver and a conventional line power cord to the internal power supply. The subwoofer measures just over 12” wide, 14.5” high and just over 14.5” deep. Rounding out the system are 2 wireless, Bluetooth connected surround sound speakers each of which is equipped with a 3” round driver. The surround speaker power is supplied by “wall wart” power supplies with 9.5’ long low voltage cables for each speaker. Each compact surround speaker measures 7.75” wide x 4.5” high x 3.5” deep. The surround speakers are marked “L” and “R” for their respective channels. All of the components have a sleek and modern appearance and a solid and substantial feel to them. Every cable which might possibly be needed is also included. A 6.5’ HDMI cable, 6’ optical cable, 6’ 3.5mm plug auxiliary input cable, wall mounting brackets, wall mount templates and batteries for the remote control are all included. Polk also includes a printed User Manual, which most companies no longer provide. The MagniFi MAX system is rated at 180 watts RMS power, 400 watts peak music power. Wi-Fi is dual band (2.4 GHz and 5 Ghz) 802.11 a/b/g/n/AC. The frequency response specification is 35Hz – 20kHz. The system includes three sound modes with selectable preset EQ settings for Movies, Music and Sports, as well as Polk VoiceAdjust Technology to enhance dialog, and Polk SDA Surround Technology to create an enhanced spatial sound experience. True 5.1 channel Dolby Digital and DTS are supported. Speaker setup could not possibly be any simpler or faster. Once the sound bar is connected to the television HDMI ARC port via the provided HDMI cable, and all three satellite speakers are connected to AC power, they automatically pair via Bluetooth. No user interaction whatsoever is needed. Solid green LED lamps on the rear panels of each component confirm active Bluetooth connectivity. The MagniFi MAX must be connected to a Wi-Fi network both for receiving automatically downloaded firmware updates, as well as for enjoying the useful benefits of Chromecast Built-in functionality including wireless streaming from other devices and sources, and for sound bar control via the Google Home app. Connecting the MagniFi MAX to Wi-Fi and configuring and using Chromecast Built-in requires the use of the Google Home smartphone app. However, after very extensive efforts consuming many hours, the MagniFi MAX could never be connected to Wi-Fi with the Google Home app, which is the only means of accomplishing that function. During attempts to configure the sound bar with the Google Home app, once the app found the sound bar via Bluetooth and attempted to connect to the Wi-Fi network, it failed and produced an error message that it could not connect. The process was reattempted numerous times, with each attempt failing in the identical manner. Polk Technical Support was familiar with this problem and has dealt with it numerous times. To rule out the possibility of a problem with outdated firmware, the non-Wi-Fi workaround of connecting the sound bar directly to the network router via Ethernet overnight was attempted and resulted in an updated firmware version installing. After the firmware updated, numerous additional multiple attempts to configure the sound bar and connect it to the Wi-Fi network were still unsuccessful. The following day, the sound bar which was less than 3 days old, became completely non-functional and could no longer be rebooted or reset. The initial problem was that the sound bar could not be connected to a Wi-Fi network and therefore the Chromecast Built-in functionality of the sound bar could not be configured or utilized. Once the sound bar became completely inoperative it required replacement under warranty. Research determined that these are known issues with the Polk sound bar. There are several threads on the Polk Audio Forum dealing with these exact problems, dating from January 2018 through December 2020. Polk support was excellent and replaced the non-functional sound bar. Unfortunately, the replacement sound bar also would not connect to Wi-Fi with the Google Home app despite exhaustive efforts. Therefore, the firmware was updated via the overnight Ethernet workaround, and the MagniFi MAX is being used without automated Wi-Fi updates or Chromecast functionality. Speaker setup could not possibly be any simpler or faster. Once the sound bar is connected to the television HDMI ARC port via the provided HDMI cable, and all three satellite speakers are connected to AC power, they automatically pair via Bluetooth. No user interaction whatsoever is needed. Solid green LED lamps on the rear panels of each component confirm active Bluetooth connectivity. The MagniFi MAX exemplifies “Plug ‘n Play” in the truest sense. The system includes three sound modes with selectable preset EQ setting for Movies, Music and Sports, as well as Polk VoiceAdjust Technology to enhance dialog and Polk SDA Surround Technology to create a superior spatial sound experience. True 5.1 channel Dolby Digital and DTS are supported. When evaluating the three sound modes, it seemed that the Movie mode delivered the greatest wide field, spatial sound coupled with a deep bass effect. The MagniFi MAX demonstrated excellent, resonant bass response thanks to the subwoofer speaker. Across the audible range, the audio sounds clear and undistorted, even at very low and very high volume levels. The sound reproduction is excellent, even in a very large room. The surround speakers contribute greatly to the wide, spatial audio. As an integrated system, the surround speakers, in concert with the 7 driver front sound bar and the large, ported subwoofer deliver excellent audio. Dialog was clear and intelligible with the MagniFi MAX. Dialog audio can be further enhanced with the Polk VoiceAdjust control feature. There is also a Night Mode which cuts bass and reduces volume, while boosting voice (treble) frequencies. The excellent, full featured remote control can be used to select the preferred sound mode (Movie, Music, Sports), adjust bass and voice adjust (treble frequencies), control system master volume, adjust surround speaker volume and/or balance, select TV input and HDMI inputs, control video operations, etc. The front panel LED lamps confirm many user selections. I have been disappointed that the MagniFi MAX will not connect to Wi-Fi, and that one sound bar almost immediately became completely inoperable and needed replacement. There are numerous Internet reports of identical Wi-Fi connection problems and of sound bars becoming inoperable. The speakers intermittently produce spurious sounds. There are also numerous documented complaints of unpleasant popping and crackling sounds from the Bluetooth speakers. It is presumable that many MagniFi MAX systems likely perform properly and their owners are satisfied with them, as well. When the MagniFi MAX works, it does sound very good. I certainly never anticipated that the MagniFi MAX would be problematic and it is certainly disappointing. I was unaware of the issues with this product until after I encountered them. Prospective purchasers will be better informed by searching the Polk Audio forum, other Internet forums and product review sites and Consumer Reports online review. I genuinely like the MagniFi MAX when it is working properly. I am disappointed in the product failure that I have already experienced and the ongoing Wi-Fi connectivity failure. I remain concerned that the replacement sound bar will also fail since it apparently is not an uncommon occurrence. Fingers crossed.

The point of a sound bar is simple to me. First, it should sound better than my TV speakers by adding more immersion and depth. Two, it needs to work seamlessly with what I already have. Three, it needs to have the correct ports. Fourth, it needs to support modern tech. Fifth, it needs to look good and not distract from my home theater look. Sixth, it needs to be easy to setup. In general, this soundbar checks all those boxes. It has good sound, looks sleek, and is easy to operate. First: Sound Quality: This is a mid-fi sound system. For what you get I think it is priced competitively as it has great price to performance. For most people this will elevate their sound to a very solid place. It has plenty of power, but once you start nitpicking, you’ll find it lacks some precision that certain users (audiophiles) crave. Voices were easy to hear in everything (movies, music, TV) whether volume was high or low and even when the bass was blaring, and a lot was happening. So, I never had to use the voice adjust feature. Volume only varied by about 10 – 15 dB. Which is a good thing. That way you can easily hear the quiet parts and not have the loud parts make your eardrums bleed. The soundbar will notify you if you are getting Stereo, Dolby, or DTS sound via an LED on the front. I found that the sound was best when it was on Dolby (as all the movies and shows I happened to watch were mastered in that) over stereo. As when in Dolby it would utilize the subwoofer more while also putting directional sound to the rear speakers. In stereo I didn’t really notice the subwoofer and the rear speakers would mimic the soundbar. Which was cool as it made the sound feel all around you which made for a more immersive experience. I noticed minimal leakage of the sound from the room it was in even at loud volumes. Except for bass as that is hard to shut out. Music in general sounded good. But it lacked emotion and the instruments were accurate. So, I do not recommend it for dedicated listening. As a lot of the nuance of the music is being left on the table. But it would work great to cast your phone or tablet audio to or to have on in the background when doing work or at a party. Second: Seamless Operation I had three issues. The main issue I had was that it would switch sources ever so often so my sound would go out and I’d have to manually put it back on the correct source and then rewind. Other times, when I was looking for a specific source (usually my PC) it would take forever to find it. As it seemed to auto switch to another source, which would turn on automatically via CEC. Last, I had some serious issues with the volume control. As it continuously seemed delayed. I would press volume up/down and about 0.25 seconds later it would change. It would also often go up multiple numbers instead of one at a time. If I held the volume, I had no idea where it would stop. This by far was the most irritating part. However, it worked well for all my remotes (except for my 4k Blu-ray player). I do want to mention that my 75 Vizio 4k 2020 TV does have some firmware issues and the way I had the soundbar setup could have been the culprit for all these issues. As I haven’t seen other reviewers mention these. I was on the latest firmware. Some users were also mentioning popping. The only popping that I experienced was from the Subwoofer when there was no sound playing. It was very quiet. It was very rare for it to do it and only lasted for a second. Third: Ports On the top of the soundbar you have from left to right, power, source, Bluetooth, volume, mute, and voice adjust. On the back going left to right, HDMI 1, HDMI 2, HDMI 3, HDMI ARC, Optical, Aux, Network, Service, Wi-fi reset, sync, and power input. So, in general here I think they did a good job. I like having onboard controls. However, you still don’t want to lose the remote as it allows you to go into “Night” mode, quick switch to HDMI 1 – 3, TV, Aux, or Bluetooth. Along with increase/decrease voice, bass, and volume. Switch to Movie, Sports, or Music mode. And last increase/decrease surround speaker volume and their left/right balance. In general, I’m not a fan of the remote. It looks good. It is also setup well. But the buttons require severe pressure to press and have a horrible membrane feel to them which makes the remote feel cheap. There are no ports on the rear speakers or the subwoofer outside of the port to plug in the power and pairing button. Fourth: Support Modern Tech Unfortunately, this does not support eARC or Dolby Atmos. It does support 4K HDR which includes Dolby Vision. But I wasn’t able to get HDR to work on my PS4 when plugged into the HDMI port. Also, it does not support 4k 120 Hz for the new consoles as far as know. As this came out before that became a thing. Fifth: Aesthetics I think in general this guy looks professional and blends in well. As nearly everyone has mentioned it is longer than most soundbars. But on my 75-inch television it looks kind of small. But it is low profile at 2 inches. The rear speakers are small but pack a good punch and look great. The subwoofer is bigger than the one that my parents have from like 15 years ago. But otherwise, I haven’t seen a subwoofer so can’t compare. But is also sleek appearing. Sixth: Setup I decided that it was best to mount this for my personal setup. Fortunately, they do provide a mount for the soundbar itself, but they do not include screws. You also need to buy a mount or have some shelves to place the rear speakers. Once that is situated setup is easy. Just plug and play basically. Even though my Vizio 4K TV supports eARC I just used the ARC connection as that gave me the least number of issues (again probably my TV and not the soundbar). As this soundbar doesn’t support eARC as mentioned previously. Which used up HDMI 1 on my TV. But thankfully the soundbar comes with another 3 HDMI’s that support 4K HDR (but I wasn’t able to get that to work with my PS4 but my Apple 4KTV and 4K Blu-ray player did work just fine). However, I found it easier to keep my Apple TV, Blu-ray Player, and PS4 plugged into my TV’s HDMI’s. The subwoofer and two rear speakers were a piece of cake to setup. Simply find a power outlet and plug them in and you’re good to go. If you have sync issues you can just press the button on each of them to sync them back up. I didn’t have to do this and it automatically synced the first go round. Overall, setup was easy and straightforward. As for getting it connected to the Wi-fi. This was a bit different. As they don’t have an actual app and instead use Google Home. So, I went into my Google App, then added it through there (which then setup the wireless on the device itself) and then it went through a firmware update that took about 10 minutes. This process was extremely easy and pretty straight forward. Google cast worked great via YouTube Music. As did Bluetooth. Voice commands worked immediately as did connecting and sending stuff through Bluetooth. Due to the ease of setup (assuming you aren’t mounting anything) and it being wireless, it’s a piece of cake to take it to another room and use it there. As you’d simply just move the speakers to the correct place. Power them on and plug in your HDMI cord and bam you’re done.

Great option for a nice sound system for your master will never compare to when you can get with a Bose system or a receiver and surround sound speakers. But this Sound bar is a phenomenal option for a master bedroom that doesn’t have space for receivers and wires and all the other stuff that comes with a sound system.

clear surrounding sound. didn't have the backspeaker problems reported by some other users. Photo below shows how I mounted it from ceiling

Excellent speaker system! I use it for all my bluetooth devices, phone, turntable and TV. If I could figure out a way to play my guitars through it I would get rid of my guitar amps.

Plug and Play worked seamlessly with my Panasonic TV which is from 2007. It was exactly what i was looking for.