Polk Audio RC85i 2-Way Premium in-Wall 8" Rectangular Speakers, Perfect for Damp and Humid Indoor Placement - Bath, Kitchen, Covered Porches (White, Paintable Grille), 1 Pair

I was really impressed with how easy these were to install. The user's guide clearly walked me through the process even though these were the first in-wall speakers I've installed. It also comes with a very handy template to ensure it's a "cut once" process with no regrets (or spackle). Since there's a lip on the frame you don't need to be worried about making a perfectly smooth cut through the drywall since the rough edges are hidden. I was torn between these and the RC80i model. Both had identical tech specs on the Polk site. What sealed the deal in terms of the RC85i model is that it is a bit more shallow than the RC80i (depth of 2 and 7/8 inches for the RC85i versus 3 and 1/4 inches with the RC80i). More importantly, the tweeter assembly on the RC85i is a bit different. According to Polk, the tweeter in the 85i has a plate underneath it that helps project the sound. This is not found in the 80i. But the proof is in the sound, and these sound wonderful. I'm using them in a basement wired to a Denon AV receiver in the LR. While the sound can't compete with the Kef's I have in the LR, the Polks sound far better than I expected given the price. Very pleased! They also are very aesthetically pleasing. The grill is nicely made, and can be painted. As with installation, clear and detailed instructions on painting the grills are in the user's guide. Good sound, good looks and good price - can't ask for more! Highly recommend.

Love, love, love these speakers. They changed my movie watching experience. It feels like I’m actually there in real life when watching movies. They sound better than the speakers at my local theater. They are an excellent value for the money as well. Being able to paint the speaker grilles makes it so I don’t even notice them. They look fantastic. They are a great value for the price. I never imagined they would sound this good at this price. They work very well. II highly recommend for them your home theater room. Very simple installation.

Update from 2021 Still love these. Was going to buy another pair for my living room. I had a bit of a shock. I paid less than $170 for the pair in 2014. It's $280 now. Compounded 7.5% annual price hike, that's way faster than inflation... Initial review from 2014 I put these in wall in my bedroom, powered by a Yamaha amplifier/receiver. I use them as plain stereo to mostly listen to classical music. They are extremely clear and precise, well balanced and rather neutral in tone. Quite pleasant and a great deal for the money. I also have the ceiling mounted Polk 60s in the attached bathroom and while I really like these, the wall mounted 85s, when listened in immediate comparison, make the 60s sound slightly metallic and less defined. I put thermal insulation and bubble wrap behind them to try and minimize any reflected path. Also oriented the tweeters towards ceiling and angles of the room for a more natural feel. I did not see any difficulty in the installation. The little plastic legs work just fine (as others have mentioned, give them a slight turn the other way first, so as to loosen the leg, and then all is good. The toughest part of the entire deal was removing and then putting back the grid. Rather annoying, took several attempts, but very feasible. Even though I mounted them in a colored wall, I left them white. Seems to work well and there are white accents in room anyway. If you plan on painting them, there are several steps to keep in mind (spray painting the grid - after removing the felt from inside; putting the attached plastic protector as a replacement to the grid prior to painting the perimeter). Nothing too complicated, but spray painting can be tricky (needs equipment, etc). Would definitely buy again.

I thought I would give you my painting experience. I read extensively online and decided to try the Prevail sprayer to color match to my walls as that seemed to be the common suggestion. That was a waste. It was a mess, it sprayed horrible, I strained it and thinned it several times starting at 3 to 1, and going to 5 to 1. I gave up and threw the sprayer away. Out came the foam roller, bingo worked awesome: * I was using Porter paint (color matched to my walls) with no thinning * keep the roller fairly dry - this was a standard white foam roller from Home Depot * I rolled the frames and the grills * if you plug holes in the grills, roll it with a dry foam roller and it sucks the paint right out. * I had a couple holes that were plugged and the roller would not unclog, but a little canned air worked well. * I painted six speakers in about 30 min, they look like it was a factory paint job They come with plastic covers for the speakers for painting so you do not need to mask them which makes this a quick project. Sound * Not great at music. for casual low level listening it is fine, if you want to rock i would only give a 5 out of 10. * Great sound with Dolby 5.1 on movies. I am using 3 RC85s for left right and center. I was concerned about what it would be like after listening to music, but I am very impressed for the money. If you take money vs quality for theater listening it is a solid 9 out of 10. * I have matched them with RC60i speakers for the rear I would give the same review on them. * I am driving them with a Yamaha RX673

Bought these from Amazon 1-1/2 years ago and had them in storage till I decided to do a little audio system in our master bathroom. Installation was very easy, even though I had to use a grinder to do the cutouts. I do not know what everyone is talking about when they complain about the six screw locks that it comes with? I found them actually very convenient and easy to work with. Once everything was installed, the sound went on and one speaker sounded amazing, BUT the other speakers tweeter was not working at all. I tested the bad tweeter on the good speakers crossover board directly, and it proved that the tweeter itself was bad. I kept the speakers in storage without ever moving them or banging them, so this is obviously a manufacturers defect. Since my Amazon warranty is obviously expired, I went online to try and purchase this tweeter, and after a long search, I found the RD0086-1 tweeter on sale for 70 DOLLARS!!! The cost of this little plastic encased tweeter is actually MORE expensive that the entire speaker brand new - WITH the tweeter included!!! So forget that option. Warrant is no good, so I guess I have to just buy another speaker altogether. But wait... to top it off, these speakers come IN PAIRS, which means I am now forced to buy TWO speakers, just because one tweeter is bad! That REALLY annoys me to no end. I am back to square one and having to make the entire purchase all over again because one plastic encased tiny tweeter is bad from the factory. The only thing on my end that was wrong was that I had to wait 1-1/2 years to do the actual install, which allowed my warranty to expire. I could not help that in this case. So, as far as the speakers goes, I have to still give it a full 5 stars for the great sound they produce for the money, the ease of installation and the great Amazon service. The fact that I got screwed in this case is I am sure an aberration, so I will not factor that in. Every great product has its day, and I guess it was my turn. I am going to reorder these again, and am sure they will work just fine this time. But for the little I have heard the one good one, it does have clear highs, deep bass for their size, and just a nice overall sound. Imagine my updated review when i get TWO speakers working together at the same time? Lol Keep you guys posted... Pete

Sound quality: After plenty of research on "affordable" in-wall and wall-mounted speakers for use in a home theatre, I settled on the Polk RC85i without hearing them. Amazon's customer reviews were a big factor. At first I bought just a pair from Amazon to make sure I liked them. I installed them into my drywall and wired them to channel "B" of my receiver with "A" powering my much more expensive floor-standing tower speakers. Toggling between A and B I could hear a dramatic difference with the RC85i's covering the frequency range better than the pricey towers and providing exceptional stereo imagery. I had friends and family close their eyes and tell me which they preferred and unanimously they chose the RC85i's (and were unanimously surprised -- Seems most people expect large, prominent speakers to sound better than nearly hidden in-wall speakers). I have now purchased 5 pair total, using 2 pair for front mains (gets me to 200 watts RMS per channel), 2 pair for side surrounds (1 pair for each row in the home theatre), and 1 pair for rear surrounds. At Amazon's price, which was always the lowest anywhere, I have completed my home theatre at a fraction of what I expected for sound this good. Of course one should not expect these to handle the lowest of the low end, and when paired with my subwoofer it's perfect to my ears, but with the subwoofer off they are still impressive for their size. Installation: Instructions are simple and easy to follow. If you can cut a hole in your wall to the necessary dimensions and feed a wire, anyone can install these speakers tightly with no air leaks or rattling. My installation was in new walls and I used Polk's "pre-construction" brackets. I can see their merits if you have a professional sound company doing the precision speaker locating and an everyday drywall company coming in later -- The pre-construction brackets will force the drywallers to cut the hole where it's needed. But for do-it-yourselfers, the brackets are a waste of money and time. Appearance: If you had matching paint, they would be almost unnoticeable. Very little protrudes from the wall surface -- I'd say 1/4 inch. Their grilles conceal the speakers for the most part making them look inconsequential. And isn't that the reason for in-wall speakers? I'm seriously considering getting more for elsewhere in the house now. *** Update July, 2013 *** I've used these regularly for 2 years including plenty of very loud music and movies. They have never once distorted and still sound as good as when they were new at any listening level. My two pair for mains (therefore 200 watts per channel) are perfectly clean all the way up to where it becomes uncomfortably loud, so I have never reached their limit. And when watching 5.1 movies, even the loudest transient sound effect is crystal clear and undistorted. I'm still completely impressed.

Just finished installing the Polk RC85i into the wall, well actually finished 2 hours ago. I just couldn't turn off the Yamaha that these are attached to because I am amazed at what a difference these speakers have made to my listening experiance! I installed two of these as my rear/back 7.1 speakers. My living room is open to the kitchen/breakfast area so it's a large room. We watch movies in there, total room size is about 15'X30'. I know there is still a 'burn-in' period I have to go through, but I can already tell a huge difference. Before I go on and on about how great these sound, be sure you cut out the drywall with at least a 1" clearance beyond the template that is included. I had to install these over some cabinets horizontally and actually had a hard time locking them in place. This is my fault not a problem with the speakers. I guess I could have gone with the 6.5" instead but wanted the lower frequency range. Yes the Sub takes over at 80Hz but...yeah. The speakers have excellent highs and lows, went through various genres and all sound great, I was really looking to get more mids and lows from the rear speakers. When we are in the kitchen we turn on the 7.1 stereo for music on the Yamaha RX-671 (also amazing!) and wanted better sound in the rear part of the room. The smaller yamaha 2.5" speakers were way too small, while we had good highs, it sounded like I had headphone speakers for my rear/back. Now with the Polk, the sound is full and rich. The vocals have that mid bass sound so it sounds real and not like a speaker. Don't hesitate to get these, they are worth every penny. Easy to install and sound great! I really wish I could provide a sample of what my room sounds like now and I know you'd buy these without a second thought! Receiver Yamaha RX-V671 Center Polk CS20 (Large but amazing!) Front Sony SS-F6000s Sides Yamaha NS-AP6500M (old HTIB) I know I need to replace these!

We purchased our house and it came wired with a whole home speaker system with in-wall speakers throughout. One spot that they missed however was the attached garage, so I ran some speaker wire out there and wanted to go for some in-wall units to match the rest of the house. I purchased the two pack of these and have both controlled by a Niles in wall volume control (shown in picture). They're easy to install and include a template to trace out on the wall. I used a Milwaukee oscillating multi-tool to cut out the drywall which works very well. I'm no audiophile but these do sound fantastic and have impressive bass for being so low profile. I just bought two more to fill in some "dead spots" in the house. Great speakers!

The install was super simple if you follow the one necessary rule: Measure, verify , measure and verify again, and again and again BEFORE you cut into the wall. I am pleased with the sound (some adjustments on my receiver) as these replaced some large floor taking speakers that my wife did not like visually. Now I have front and rear Polk Audio, Mission center, Energy powered subwoofer run via my Denon receiver. Yes I like and yes I recommend these speakers.

COMPRE HACE 3 AÑOS LAS MISMAS BOCINAS Y A LA FECHA FUNCIONAN PERFECTAMENTE CON EXCELENTE CALIDAD Y NITIDEZ, POR LO QUE QUISE PONER EXACTAMENTE EL MISMOS SISTEMA EN OTRA ÁREA. LAS RECOMIENDO 100%

I used them as rear channels for my Home Theatre, they sound great and punchy, installation is easy.

Great sound and faithful reproduction. Bass a little light until boosted on the equaliser some. Then the woofers did their job well. Cranked em half way up on my 2 x 50 w amp; no distortion even on pretty high volume. All in all, an excellent buy. Look great installed too.

Good looking product, good sound quality but one big minus for clips. You have to be careful when mounting the speakers to the wall because they are from plastic and only work when you have space inside the wall around 1 inch from left and right side otherwise the clips will not help you, you have to think about redesign mounting clips to keep speakers from the top and bottom because they are useless for this kind of the mount in the wall.