Update: Polk Wireless Surround, In-Ceiling Series

By Joseph Palenchar -- TWICE, 8/16/2010

Baltimore - Products previously announced by Polk are on their way, including a one-chassis wireless-surround speaker system and in-ceiling speakers in the company's Vanishing Series.

The wireless solution is the $399-suggested F/X Wireless Surround, which could be the industry's first wireless single-chassis speaker system to reproduce two to four surround channels. Originally slated for shipment earlier his year but now due in October, the amplified F/X sits on a floor, table or shelf behind a couch. The 8.13-inch by 19.5-inch by 7.75-inch chassis contains four 2.5-inch drivers, a 5.25-inch woofer, 100 watts of amplification, 2.4GHz transceiver, active Polk Digital Logic technology, and Polk's Controlled Dispersion Array driver placement to bounce side- and back-surround information off the walls and ceiling to deliver an enveloping surround field with directional cues. It can be placed against the wall, with a couch a foot from the wall, the company said. It also delivers convincing surround if placed under a table as long as the table's sides are open.

 In its Vanishing Series, the company plans December shipments of six three-way in-ceiling models previewed at January's CES and originally targeted to ship in the second quarter. Like their previously announced in-wall counterparts, which are now due in October, the in-ceiling models feature slim 3mm bezels, grilles that protrude only 7mm from the sheetrock, and micro-perf grilles backed with a fine-mesh scrim to appear as unobtrusive as possible. Unlike the in-wall models, the ceiling models reduce their footprint without sacrificing bass output and extension by mounting an oval woofer to a behind-the-ceiling tube that in turn fires through a 15-degree-angled baffle. The angled baffle is also home to the midrange and tweeter. The in-ceiling speaker with 9-inch oval woofer delivers the surface area of an 8-inch round woofer and fits in the cutout usually required for a traditional 6.5-inch speaker, the company said.