A speaker's most important feature is of course the sound, but there is nothing wrong with a nice exterior to go with it. Polk's Camden Square presents euphony in unusually nice clothes.
Polk Audio Camden Square
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Sound Quality - 78%78%
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Features - 70%70%
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Ease of Use - 88%88%
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Build Quality - 78%78%
SUMMARY
Polk combines great sound with good looks in a really good way. Camden Square is easy to use, and thanks to the battery it works equally well in the garden as in the living room.
Nice sound.
Good battery life.
Few inputs.
Somewhat laid back sound character.
A sensible wireless speakers almost always have a role to play, and as we have seen they come in all sorts of different shapes and colors. Polk Audio is relatively new on the wireless portable speaker market, and this time we have borrowed their little speaker, the Camden Square. According to the manufacturer it should be the perfect speaker for sharing music and keep the festivities going, but it is also excellent on a plain bookshelf a regular Tuesday evening.
Pretty Exterior
Camden Square is, obviously, square in shape, and two of its sides are dressed in black leather, while the other side must do with a black plastic mesh. On the right side there is an auxiliary input and power supply, which seems a rather ill-conceived placement. The reason that the back is kept clean is to allow it to be placed upright on a bench as well as lying flat. The top is slightly domed and consists of a sort of meshed metal, and at its center sits a well designed panel with buttons.
The sound quality stands up well against other speakers in the same size. The midrange offers fine detail, and the treble is crisp and clear. The bass is of the thinner kind, which to some extent depends on where you placed the speaker. The speaker's problem is that it can not play very loud, which is sad since it is marketed as a party speaker. The sound is more than enough for a small, quiet room, but in a larger room with people conversing it is easily drowned out by the sound of the 'competition'.
Durable Battery
Polk also offers a smart app, DJ Stream. You create a party in the app, which then your party participants can connect to with the condition that they downloaded the app. In this way you will avoid people crowding around your phone to select the music, now everyone can add songs to the playlist from their own phone.
Another ‘party trick’ would be for Camden Square to have a substantial built-in battery under the hood. Our measurements show that the battery lasts about 24 hours, just as mentioned in the specifications, unless you crank up the volume too much.
Conclusion
Polk Audio's Camden Square is a pleasant acquaintance that isn´t flaunting either functions or connections. It shines, however, with both design and sound quality, even if the volume level is not exactly impressive for a party speaker. The speaker's Achilles heel is the price tag, and you may have to shell out almost $300 for a unit.
GET IT ON eBay!
- FEATURES
- SPecIFICATIONS
- Full range high performance drive units-two left and two right full range drive units include rubber surrounds for long life and 19mm voice coil for better control.
- Passive radiator acoustic design-A pair of optimally-sized rectangular 2" x 3" mass-loaded passive bass radiators, installed on opposing faces of the enclosure, provide extended bass weight and impact.
- Full Complement Bass (FCB)-Below approximately 200 Hz, all drivers reproduce identical summed monophonic (L+R) signal, for optimal bass reproduction with minimal distortion.
- DJ Stream is Polk's app, created just for Camden Square. With the app enjoying music is more interactive and more enjoyable. With the app, anyone can get the party going as the DJ Host. Three more phones can connect and play music too, as Active DJs.
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