Polk Audio MC80 Ceiling Speaker Review

Jul 28

Continuing on with our latest reviews of ceiling speakers we have the Polk Audio MC80 8 inch ceiling speaker in for testing and review this week and put it u against some of our other models from Klipsch. The MC80 follows a similar design ethos to the others but offers something a little different in the mounting and positioning of the tweeter.

Specification

Model: Polk Audio MC80

Type: Flush Ceiling mounted speaker

Drivers: 2 - 1x 8inch full range woofer + 1x 0.75 inch multi directional tweeter

Impedance: 8 Ohms

Power Per Channel: 20-100 watts

Size: 9.735 inches x 3.687 inches

Color: White with paintable grill for customization

Build / Design

From the outside, the MC80 looks like any other ceiling speaker. It’s a round shape that sits flush when inserted in the space cut in your ceiling. From there you should only see the speaker grills and none of the internals. The speaker grill comes in white only but the surface is paintable so you can color match them to your room.

On the inside, (with the grill removed) things look a little different than other similar speakers mainly due to the mounting of the tweeter from an arm. This arm suspends the tweeter over the top of the woofer and allows for directional positioning of the tweeters only. Other speakers like the Klipsch CDT 5800-C-II and Herdio HCS418 allow for the woofer to also be directed but it seems Polk wanted it to fire directly down in the MC80.

Build quality and finishing are excellent. The refinement of the design to the tweeter arm in combination with the materials and components used makes the MC80 feel like a premium product.

The mounting of the capacitors and fuses to a separate circuit board as opposed to directly on the frame inspires more confidence where the housing plastics also seem very high quality.

I like that there is no branding on the front grill and that a generous border is included to make it mount easier in the ceiling.

Sound

I have installed a lot of Polk MC80’s and there are usually two separate use cases in the majority of homes.

One is as part of a true multi-room audio system where the speakers are connected to a central hub and control. This allows you to have music all through your home without the need for having bulky speakers lying around. It’s a seamless design but ofter the problem in these cases is distortion and lack of bass. The Polk Audio MC80 handles both of these wells and shows where they excel over cheaper models.

Music on the MC80 sounds robust and full with good vocal clarity and a hint of warmth making them very musical sounding. There is no uncomfortable treble spiking and it’s a very relaxing speaker to listen to. It obviously won’t compete with a dedicated audiophile sound system but given its positioning and discrete nature, it sounds fantastic.

When volume is elevated past 80% these things get incredibly loud, to where I would say far past the point of comfortable listening. Of course, the source will dictate volume but the MC80 goes unbelievably loud before suffering distortion.

Bass is very hard-hitting. It’s still worth getting a separate subunit but if you're not getting crazy they are very punchy with the mid-bass and display adequate sub bass given its limitations.

The second area I see a lot of these MC80’s being installed in is as part of a Dolby Atmos surround system. I have seen 5.1 and 7.1 systems as well as seen them mounted in all sorts of weird arrays in people’s home theatres. For this, they are simply amazing. They provide great clarity on voices and good imaging so things don’t sound congested. Keep in mind that in this scenario some attention should be placed on both room and sound planning to get optimal results so we suggest getting an experienced fitter to install them.

Negatives

Expensive compared to Klipsch & Heirdo
You can’t direct sound from the woofer

Positives

Extremely clear sound
Works well for music and video
Excellent build quality
Paintable grills with no branding

Final Thoughts

Though more expensive than other ceiling-mounted speakers we have reviewed in the past the performance does show a significant leveling up of fidelity. They are one of the better models I have tested and seem to be popular with our clients who use them in a variety of situations. You can go cheaper of course and there are lots of good options out there but if you care more about sound than cost these are worth checking out.

Official Website of Polk Audio MC80: www.polkaudio.com

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