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The AMR130 uses 4 identical satellites for each of the front and rear left-right speakers. In theory this allows for an even sound field for movies, however we really liked how the AMR150’s multi-driver front satellites allowed for its increased musicality. The center channel speaker is a newly designed unit specifically tailored for placement on your monitor or desktop. It’s worth noting that Polk designed the center channel with a rear sliding easel stand that allows you to adjust the vertical angle of the speaker so that it is perfectly aligned to your listening position.

The center channel is also designed to be wall mountable – it has built-in keyholes for easy wall mounting. To complete the package, Polk includes 2 wall mounting brackets for the satellites – you simply affix the brackets to your wall, and then snap the satellites in place. Unlike Midiland’s innovative wall mounts, however, the Polk wall mounts are not adjustable and force the satellites to point in only one direction – straight ahead from its mount point. This makes it difficult to properly position the speakers in awkward rooms where the listening position might be in an unusual location.

All the satellites except for the front-left speaker have hardwired cables that are connected to the subwoofer using spring-clips; the front-right satellite, being the control module, connects using a DIN connection. As far as controls go, the front-right speaker only controls volume and front-rear fade. Bass settings and the power button are located on the subwoofer. In actuality the front-right speaker can also turn the speakers off when you turn its volume knob all the way to the off position, but we are loathe to use this because you lose your volume preference, and also because the subwoofer itself is still on.

Installation options are varied – however, if you want 5.1 sound, you must have a 5.1 soundcard such as the GameTheaterXP/Philips Acoustic Edge/Santa Cruz family or an offering from Creative or from a myriad of other companies. If you have a stereo only soundcard, the speakers do come with a splitter cable so that you can have simulated 4.1 sound (though the rear channel will be nothing more then a mirror of the front channel).

We did all of our testing with the excellent Turtle Beach Santa Cruz. Unless otherwise statead, the card was set to 6 speaker mode.