DTS:X immersive audio content places sound where it would naturally occur in space, creating lifelike, multi- dimensional audio. DTS Neural:X upmixer offers heightened realism for legacy content. Instead, it comes with a pair of genuine surround speakers and a subwoofer, all of which connect wirelessly. While it isn’t sonically perfect, the Max SR does offer a decent compromise for people who can’t fit a full-on surround system into their lives. On the top are the essential controls: power, source selection, Bluetooth, volume up and down, and mute. There are also dedicated buttons for VoiceAdjust – Polk’s clever tech for adjusting the volume of speech without affecting the level of other sound effects. We test every soundbar we review thoroughly over an extended period of time. We use industry standard tests to compare features properly. We’ll always tell you what we find. We never, ever, accept money to review a product.

Polk Audio Introduces New MagniFi Max AX Sound Bar Systems

And as a not-insignificant final bonus, the MagniFi Mini AX proves a very good soundbar/lozenge for music listening. A great deal of music sounded highly enjoyable, the bass continuing to be a strength here as well, and the system could be taken really quite loud without the usual musical distress that soundbars get into. We found it tempting to notch up the bass one or two points with those extra volume controls on the remote control, but that could cause some material to become overwhelming: the underlying bass content of RedBone’s The Witch Queen of New Orleans (streaming via AirPlay from Apple Music) was overcome by a weird swampiness in the lower ranges until we returned the bass to its neutral position. It’s pleasing to see a significantly different solution from one of Sound United’s brands; we’ve noted recently one Polk soundbar which shares nearly all attributes except an HDMI input with a near-identical bar from stablemate Denon, and such shared solutions do little to encourage interest in and loyalty to a particular brand. If there is one area where the soundbar failed a bit, that would be in its surround activity. The soundbar does try to create a multi-dimensional immersion bubble but with no rear speakers it can do so much with what it has. If you really want surround sound you will have to either buy the optional rear speakers kit or go for the Polk Audio MagniFi Max AX SR bundle that is the same soundbar with the rear speakers included. Sound United, a Masimo company, was founded in 2012 with a simple mission – to bring joy to the world through sound. Today, we are one of the world’s largest portfolio audio companies and home to several legendary audio brands—Denon ®, Marantz ®, Bowers and Wilkins, Polk Audio, Classé, Definitive Technology, HEOS, and Boston Acoustics ®. Each brand boasts its own philosophy and unique approach to bringing home entertainment to life. One-touch modes optimize the systems for movies, TV, or music, while Night Mode turns down the bass to reduce potentially disruptive bass sounds and Polk's VoiceAdjust technology ensures that voices are intelligible above the rest of the audio. Connections include 3-in/1-out 4K HDMI ports with eARC, as well as an optical input. A subtle OLED display on the front panel shows your adjustments but dims when not in use.

What We Think…

SECRETS of Home Theater and High Fidelity was launched in 1994 as the first major publication offering serious audio/video journalism on the Internet.

Magnifi Max AX SR | Polk Audio UK

With Wi-Fi certification, Polk Audio devices provide seamless and stable wireless connectivity, enabling easy integration into your home network for high quality music streaming and wireless control. For our review we decided to use the pass-through capabilities of the soundbar so we connected our Zidoo Z9X media player and PS5 in two of the HDMI inputs and from there to the TV we had at hand. Obviously we can’t get 4K@120Hz gaming through this connection but for 4K@60Hz it is more than sufficient. Also we shouldn’t forget to mention the unit’s wireless capabilities as it features built-in WiFi (802.11a/b/g/n/ac) along with Bluetooth v5.0 which ensures better and more stable connections.Polk, a Sound United brand, is an award-winning designer and manufacturer of high-performance loudspeakers. Founded in 1972 on the premise that everybody deserves great sound, Polk is the market share leader in premium home theater speakers in North America, and is a leading manufacturer of sound bars, headphones, wireless speakers, mobile and marine speakers and amplifiers, and other high-performance audio products. Besides, there are more ways to play, thanks to the Polk’s Wi-Fi connection. This enables AirPlay 2 and Chromecast streaming, while there’s also Bluetooth, although no indication of any high-quality Bluetooth codecs, so use the Wi-Fi streaming if you’re able. Things fall down with the integration of the sub, as the soundbar doesn’t extend quite well enough toward the bottom end and neither does the subwoofer attempt to meet it halfway. It probably won’t bother you during most TV viewing, but on occasion it can be too obvious that a certain sound is coming from the sub rather than just the system as a whole. You don’t want a subwoofer to be a distraction, but you also don’t want to turn it down so much that you might as well not have it.

Polk Audio MagniFi Max AX Review (5.1.2 CH Dolby Atmos Polk Audio MagniFi Max AX Review (5.1.2 CH Dolby Atmos

Inputs: HDMI eARC, optical digital, 3.5mm analogue, USB-A (service only), Wi-Fi, Spotify Connect, AirPlay 2, Chromecast, Bluetooth (SBC, AAC) Big respect for Polk. I have heard a couple of their speakers and most recently the Signa S4 but I never tried the MagniFi series. I like them really and having such affordable prices make them a far more affordable brand than some other very known names in the filed. Excellent review you got there, keep up the good work! Kind regards Erica Reply After having tested most of Polk’s low budget Signa series the MagniFi Max AX feels like a big step forward in terms of cinematic performance and immersion. It feels like Polk took everything that made the Signa S4 such a fan favorite product and added more features and capabilities for the more demanding consumers. I've never understood how I would benefit from wireless surrounds. They still have to be plugged in for power, and copper audio wires from a receiver can be virtually any length (since you can cut them yourself) and are so much easier to run under carpets or along walls. With the bluetooth surrounds, that power cable is going to be a pain to compromise between where the speaker should be placed vs where the outlet is, right? The unit comes with a music mode so we opted to use that for this part of our testing. But as we always say, choosing a specific sound mode has to do a lot with the personal preferences of each user so we strongly advise you to try them all and decide for yourself which one sounds better to your ears.

Summary

Upgrade your home theater with height speakers to unleash a fully immersive 3D audio experience, or engage all speakers to create a 3D audio sensation from legacy content even without height speakers.

Polk Audio Debuts MagniFi Max AX and MagniFi Max AX SR Dolby Polk Audio Debuts MagniFi Max AX and MagniFi Max AX SR Dolby

There are two ways to connect the main unit to your home Wi-Fi network. Those with Apple devices will find the Polk waiting in the Wi-Fi menus ready to be set up as an AirPlay speaker, while those with Android devices (or Apple, if you like) can use Google Home to bring the Polk into their network of smart products.With Terminator: Dark Fate, the car chase in Mexico has proved a problem for some soundbars in terms of protecting dialogue from the cacophony of special effects. eg my LG Soundbar + satellite speakers sounds great and is mostly robust, but once a month or so it refuses to wake up when the rest of the system wakes up, so I get audio through the TV until I power cycle the soundbar.