Polk Audio Atrium 6 Outdoor Speakers

Terrible, cheap construction

POS binding post snapped off, not even finger tight. Waste of my time and money. Unbelievable.

Happy!

A clear improvement to my patio audio!

Great sounding speakers

These Polk Atrium 6's really are a great sounding set of speakers. I embarked on setting up a "Zone 2" set of outdoor speakers on my back patio, which will eventually run off a spare Marantz AVR (SR5009) that I have in the garage, daisy-chained to a Marantz 8802 in my living room. I really wanted to take some time to compare some speakers before making a decision, and decided to try the Polk Atrium 6, Klipsch AW-650, and two speakers from OSD - the AP640 and AP650. I disconnected my beloved B&W CDM-6NT tower speakers and hooked each of the candidate speakers up to a great sounding Jolida tube amp with Denon CD player, running each of them through jazz, various rock, and country selections including Stan Getz, live Allman Brothers, Dave Brubeck, etc. I pretty much ruled out the OSD AP640 right away - they were very hollow and underwhelming for my taste. The AP650's were better (IMO), perhaps tighter (enclosed box) but still seemed to lack some bandwidth, and the low-end just wasn't doing it for me, although I realize these are small outdoor speakers and don't expect to shake any windows with them. Had I bought them by themselves, I probably would have liked them better but they just didn't stack up to the Klipsch or Polk's. I really liked the Klipsch AW-650's, but trying them side by side with the Polk's, my ears couldn't help but prefer the Atrium 6's. The Atrium 6's just did it for me - warm, crystal clear, neutral sound across the spectrum and surprisingly I like their lower frequency response over the Klipsch AW-650's, which have a larger driver in them. I ended up leaving the Polk Atrium 6's hooked up in my living room last night, switched them over to my Marantz AV-8802/Outlaw Audio 5000X (AVR & amp) system, and watched some programming on Netflix. Using the Atrium 6's as my Right/Left channels, they did well paired with my center channel and subwoofer, and this morning I'm still enjoying them immensely - they're back on the tube amp, and playing Miles Davis, Kind of Blue, in the other room while I type this. Horns and piano are remarkably clear from here (50' away), and string bass is very natural and enjoyable - I can hear it very clearly even with the amp running at low volume in the other room. As a side note, I passed on the Klipsch AW-650's but did like them - I think if I were placing speakers in a larger outdoor area, perhaps to send sound across a pool and larger patio area, I may have kept them instead. In the end I just really preferred the natural, intimate sound of the Polk Atrium 6's. If I had anything negative to say about the Polk's, it's nothing to do with sound but rather with what I see as a design oversight on the speaker connections themselves. If you prefer to use banana plugs, over the binding posts, be forewarned that there isn't a whole lot of room to plug them in - the speaker connections are recessed in the back of the speaker and even though they're angled slightly, there isn't much room between them and the speaker enclosure - I couldn't use my banana plugs to hook them up without feeling like I was going to bend or break something, so opted to use the binding posts instead. Not a deal breaker but seriously this should have been addressed in engineering. Nevertheless I HIGHLY recommend giving these a try - happy listening!

I'd buy again

Very low bass,but better for the neighbors that way.

Megan Hedley

July 25, 2025

Banana Plugs ? No Problem!

Lot of people complaining about the lack of clearance to allow installation of banana plugs. Grab some angled ones, remove post plugs, and enjoy the tight fit…

Great sound. Easy to install. March colors perfectly.

So glad I purchased these. Sound great in my backyard. Easy to install. White isn’t super bright so it blends in nicely. Far superior than the previous black speakers (not sure of brand) we had in terms of sound quality and aesthetic. Recommend the Atrium 6 vs Atrium 5 since these have bass ports for richer sound.

Warmth, realism, and decent base extension.

Very pleased with the full range sound quality. I upgraded from Yamaha NS150 speakers for a 5hz greater low frequency extension. The speakers are a bit larger than the Yamaha and seem to provide more realism, warmth, and fuller sound. I installed in the corners of my deck gazebo and use a powered sub for additional low frequency support.

Great sounding patio speakers

Easy to install and connect these speakers and they sound great on my patio.

Decent Sound for the $$$

I got these as well as a pair of Atrium 5s to compare. I set both pair up with my indoor McIntosh Pre and Amp and auditioned them for a few hours. The bass on the 5s had a sort of artificial sound lacking definition. The 6s sounded really solid and reasonably flat with the Tone controls bypassed on the pre-amp. I liked the compact size of the 5s and they would have been easier to mount under the eaves on my deck to replace some worn out Mirage speakers I had that sounded great. But I was worried about the bass.

The 6s are much heavier and larger and more expensive. But I think they are worth it. Once I got them installed and played a set of tunes I use for setting up speakers (Fagen / The Night Fly, etc), the reinforced bass, with them now much closer to the wall than they were inside, was a lot. Now connected to a nice Marantz Pre and Amp, I may need to cut the bass and treble 2-3db to get a flatter response.

The A6 can cover a large area and deliver plenty of bass. I don't like over the top bass and prefer a flatter audiophile EQ, and these do that easily. I think the A5s may have worked, but the character of the bass sounded odd, so I never mounted them outside to try. Even reinforced by the wall, I don't think I would have liked them as much.

Beyond that, they were fairly easy to mount - the brackets have notched detents, so they don't spin freely, which is nice - my old Mirages used to sag after a while.

Overall, the sound seems mid-range weak, bright, and a little bassy. My old Mirage speakers sounded better, but they are no longer made. That said, I think I can dial them in pretty well with the treble and bass controls on the pre-amp.

Great Sound At Affordable Price

Arrived in original packaging - new in box. Delivered as promised. Sound great. Can play loud if you have a powerful amplifier

Great sound, powerful!

Awesome speakers. These are some big boys. They can fill a large room up no problem. I have them in a 3 season room very happy!

J. Alba

June 21, 2023

High quality product outdoor speakers

Polk, synonymous with quality. Description is accurate and non-exaggerated. Installation is straight forward but more importantly the sound is excellent. We use these for our outdoor patio and the sound is excellent, highs, lows and range with bass doesn’t loose its robust sound. If you feel the price is high your wrong. Worth the price to have great sound and knowing these bad boys were made well have comfort in knowing they will last many parties and relaxing evenings in your backyard!

0:16

Choose location wisely. Sound differs

Wired them up. Sound pretty good in our backyard. Paired them with a fosi audio amp. Hopefully they hold up with time.

The best

We ordered 6 of those speaker for out church, and they do the job.

0:33

Overall great

They sounds great, could have a bit more bass but after messing with the eq on the overall system these speakers do produce a great quality sound. Easy to mount as well.

Great Sound for Outdoor Patio Speakers

They sound great outside in my BBQ patio with Open space and gets everyone dancing and Party mode, I give the speakers a 5⭐️

1:02

They sound great! Good Bass

Easy to install and look great. Much cheaper than Bose bust sounds as good. The brackets are made to fit almost anywhere and connections are easy to get to. Super easy the adjust in the bracket after install.

JSmith

May 11, 2021

Great sound, easy to install

Fantastic sound with great bass. I’m an audiophile and I’m very impressed that these are true outdoor speakers. Paired these with the Fosi BT20A, a great combination for anyone’s back yard.

Great sound and coverage, nice bass!

Replaced a pair of Bose 151 and a pair of Atrium 5s with 2 pairs of Atrium 6s. Talk about an improvement in sound, especially the low end. Really great speakers

Highly recommend!

These speakers are truly amazing! I've been looking for something loud for my pool deck and started with the bose 500 which was garbage then some lantern-looking Bluetooth outdoor speakers which didn't get loud enough but then settled on these and....WOW. Highly recommend pairing with Fosi 5.0 Bluetooth receiver because the bass, treble and volume knobs really bring out the performance.... really can't even go more than 60% without worrying about the cops showing up! Lol. Love the easy mounting brackets and just used some wood screws I had laying around to install.

Incredible sound quality, especially for outdoor speakers

I could not be happier with this product. I recently built an external 16'x20' patio and firepit area for my Maine vacation home. I debated putting in a Sonos system on the patio but since I had to run power to the patio anyway, it seemed foolish to spend additional cash for that system when I could easily run speaker wire to the speakers. After much research and evaluating systems on line, I landed on these Polk Atrium speakers. I was originally going with the Atrium 5 but decided to scale up to the 6 version given the volume I intended to cover. From the moment I turned the speakers on, I was blown away. The sound quality was incredible. I played a Billy Elish song and her voice was fluid. You could here the highs and lows and every nuisance in between. It made the hairs stand up on the back of my neck it was so good. Thank you Polk Audio, I will be looking for other places to put a set of these speakers.

Good speakers

These speakers sound pretty good for general purposes. I got these speakers to use on my deck/covered area. So far, I have listened to them indoors and they sound pretty good. I will have to check back in a year or two and add a review about how they hold up in the weather. One of the reasons I got these was for the ability to take them off the bracket and store them indoors in the winter. The mounting system works pretty good for that.

There have been some complaints in the online reviews that the terminals on these speakers are too crowded to accept a banana plug. I found this to be true, and it looks like they have added a cap to cover the end hole on the binding post to prevent you from trying. The cap is removable but you still can't insert a banana plug into the end due to the angle and the enclosure. You can put the banana plug through the side of the binding post and tighten the post down, however this is not ideal. (see pictures). I'm going to just go with some bare wire connections, and perhaps put a bit of solder on the end to keep the strands from fraying out.

Overall, I like the speakers, would buy again.

Shannon

July 9, 2020

Love for our get-togethers!!!

My husband bought two of these for our outdoor kitchen area which is covered but the rain can still blow in on them a bit. We’ve used them many times and the quality is really great for the price; however, my husband wants to add a subwoofer to them! Personal preference! He hooked them up and I didn’t hear any complaints from him with the ease or process. They are adjustable so we can turn the speakers toward the yard or in toward the sitting area. I love them! Let’s see how long they last!!

Good sound, poorly designed connection.

As another reviewer mentioned, don't plan on using banana plugs with these. Pictured is a dual banana plug (a canonical Genrad 274-MB, which defined the genre). They need to make the recess larger, or angle the binding posts more.

Not really an issue if permanently mounted, just use spade lugs, or even clamp the wire. But if you want to move them around, that's much more difficult than simply using a dual banana plug.

Dinged one star for poor design.

Babul A. Mukherjee

July 19, 2018

Wow just wow

I can’t say I’ve ever been a fan of Polk. But my oh my, these are just about the finest outdoor speakers available for the price I think!

I have these powered on my covered patio by an ancient Sonos ZP100, and they are wonderful. Because of where I had to put the speakers, I am glad I had EQ and Balance settings. With a few tweaks they sound so rich and full, and they have only been playing for 2 hrs so far.

I opted for the Atrium 6’s to get the lower bass and I had a bit more budget. I’m so glad I got these!!!

Plenty of greaty quality sound for the pool area!

Large outdoor area coverage is great! I bought outdoor 14 gauage buriable wire, 4x4 deck posts and bored through them each way for a seamless look. Then i buried the posts and cemented them. I have 4 of these atrium 6 speakers with an underpowered receiver and they still sound great!

0:15

Awesome speakers and MUCH better than Bose at a cheaper price!

I originally bought a pair of Bose 151SE speakers for my garage, well I was quickly disappointed with there lack of bass and sound quality. I returned them and bought these Polk Audio Atrium 6 speakers (for less money than the Bose ones) and WOW they sound so much better. I've had a full polk audio 5.1 speaker system in my living room for a while now and loved them, I wish I woulda just bought these initially for the garage before trying the over priced Bose ones. Only down side compared to the Bose, is these are reasonably bigger/bulkier, but there mounted high on the wall/ceiling in the garage so that doesn't matter one bit to me. Great purchase and great quality, no complaints here. I'll definitely be buying another set for my shop once I build it! Oh and FYI, I'm running them off of an Insignia NS-STR514 Stereo receiver... So far so good.

Update: Had these for quite a while now, survived coldish winters and a very hot summer, and I crank them up on a regular basis, and they still sound perfect. I still havnt built my shop but I bought a camping trailer recently and I'm about to install these on the trailer (to the frame rails under the trailer) and run them off of a marine grade 4 channel amp connected to an Alpine deck I already installed inside the trailer. I already know that IF I wanted too, I can blast out the campground with them lol. Great product great quality and sound, if you want aweso. E sou d ant a good price outdoors, just buy these, you will not be disappointed!

Excellent choice for outdoor use.

I really like these speakers. I mounted them horizontally under the soffits on each corner of an uncovered deck, so they are fairly well protected from the weather. We live in the NW and we have long winters (Nov-April) with lots of rain so I like the fact that the speakers can be easily removed from the mounts and stored inside during the winter. I have them connected to a SONOS CONNECT amplifier in the house so I can manage the music selection and volume via an iPhone SONOS app while I'm on the deck. The sound is excellent, exceeding my expectations. I know I'm going to enjoy them.

Very good mids and lows

Sound is what i expected.

Good Outdoor Speakers

They sound very good... I have 2 pair hooked up on a covered back porch for a 5 channel surround system... front and rear... i use a pair of Atrium 4's (that I already had before) for the center channel...they have good bass, but a sub would help, They are great for what i need... Which is a medium surround system that sounds good and clear; that can handle the weather in Florida heat and humidity.. They handle decent power and sound sound clean... Plus I've had trouble even finding a descent (POWERED OUTDOOR) sub-woofer...