ZDNET’s key takeaways
- The Polk Audio Atrium 5 speakers are available for $325 a pair, offering a sleek and weatherproof design.
- These speakers have a crisp, detailed, and surprisingly deep sound profile.
- You’ll need an amplifier for these speakers, making them less convenient than using a Bluetooth speaker.
While plenty of folks use portable Bluetooth speakers for their outdoor listening needs, they’re not the most practical choice if you’re setting up an outdoor environment at your home and want something more permanent.
With the weather getting warmer, now is the time to invest in an outdoor speaker system. If you’re willing to go with a permanent solution, the Polk Audio Atrium 5 speakers are worth considering.
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The speakers are designed for those building a system rather than those who want something quick and easy. They require an amplifier to work, and connect to that amplifier through good ol’ fashioned speaker wire — like most audiophile speakers. No wireless setup, and no power cables.
As someone who considers themselves an audiophile, though, I don’t mind the extra work at all. Here’s why my investment was worth it.
Sleek and understated design
I’m a big fan of colorful, vibrantly-colored tech, but if there’s one place I want something a little more subtle, it’s outside. I want speakers that blend into the environment. After all, outdoor speakers should be heard, not seen.
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OK, maybe I’m taking things a little too far. You can still see the Polk Audio Atrium 5 speakers, obviously, but with their understated design, there’s less focus on looks. The speakers come in either all black or all white, and they should look great in any environment. On the front, there’s a mesh speaker grille that covers the 5-inch woofer and three-quarter-inch tweeter. It’s interrupted only by a small Polk Audio logo toward the top.
The speakers come with mounting brackets already installed, and you can use them to mount the speakers vertically or horizontally to a wall or other surface. The mounting brackets are quite nice and connect very easily to the speakers themselves, ensuring a secure installation. Polk Audio calls its mounting system the “Speed-Lock Mounting System,” and it makes it easy to secure the speakers to the mounts, even with one hand.
The only other thing on the back of the speakers is the binding posts for the speaker wire, which you’ll need to supply yourself. If you’ve never used speakers like this before, note that you’ll need an amplifier for them, too.
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Again, I really like the look. It’s understated, but the speakers still look premium and durable. Polk Audio says that they’re “All-Weather Certified,” which in this case, means that they’ve gone through a series of military-grade certification processes for water and corrosion. They should be able to withstand even relatively extreme weather conditions, within reason.
Powerful, crisp audio
The Polk Audio Atrium 5 is only one model in a lineup of Atrium speakers. It just so happens that the Atrium 5 has a five-inch driver, but the others in the lineup don’t take their model name quite as literally. There’s also a smaller Atrium 4 (with a 4.5-inch driver), an Atrium 6 (5.25-inch driver), and an Atrium 8 SDI (with a 6.5-inch driver).
Put simply, the larger the driver, the deeper the bass response — that’s just physics. Despite being the second-smallest speaker in the Atrium lineup, the bass response on the Atrium 5 isn’t bad at all.
To be clear, if you actually want a full-range audio experience, you should still get the Atrium Sub100, which can be used alongside the Atrium 5 speakers, extending the bass. That said, I wasn’t able to test the speakers with that subwoofer and still found the audio to sound powerful and rich. Kick drums were decently impactful, and while you may not get some of those ultra-deep sub-bass frequencies with these speakers alone, you will get good bass in general.
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Perhaps the best thing about the speakers, though, is how they performed in the high-end. Again, most will want to use the Atrium 5 speakers with a subwoofer, but you won’t buy additional speakers to enhance the high-end response like you would the low frequencies. Thankfully, you’ll get plenty of detail and clarity in the high-end, helping make music sound crisp and exciting.
The speakers also get quite loud, which is more important with outdoor speakers than with indoor speakers. Audio can’t bounce off walls and resonate outdoors like indoors, but the Atrium 5 speakers are still able to fill a decent-sized backyard with audio.
ZDNET’s buying advice
If you’re looking for outdoor speakers, you can’t do much better than the Polk Audio Atrium 5 speakers at this price range. They’re crisp and full-sounding, and while it’s a good idea to buy a subwoofer for them if you want extra depth, most people can do just fine without one.
If you don’t plan on buying a subwoofer and don’t mind spending a little extra cash, you could go for one of the larger Atrium models. If you’re sold on a Bluetooth speaker with plenty of bass and volume for small outdoor spaces, consider the Bose SoundLink Plus.