The Atrium 45 speakers have a wide dispersion pattern, and they're very efficient, operating on as little as 10 watts per channel. They're designed to deliver good sound quality across a large listening area, but Polk recommends multiple-pair setups if you want high sound levels in an outdoor setting, as sound tends to dissipate more quickly outdoors than in.

The speakers' white finish is paintable to match your decor or trim color--you can even paint them green to blend with foliage. Their sculpted front baffle and rounded enclosures minimize diffraction (sound reflecting off of hard edges) for more open and lifelike imaging, and their rustproof aluminum grilles offer 55 percent open area for better high-frequency response than speakers with denser grilles.

Sealed-enclosure (acoustic suspension) cabinets result in taut bass, and the speakers' 2-way design incorporates a 4.5-inch long-throw polymer cone driver with butyl-rubber suspension and a .75-inch dome tweeter with a neodymium magnet to broadly distribute high frequencies. Gold-plated, 5-way binding post terminals will never corrode. The plugs also allow hookups in a range of methods, including convenient banana-plug-terminated speaker cable.

The Atrium 45 meets or exceeds ASTM D5894-UV Salt Fog, Mil standard 810 Immersion and Mil standard 883 Method 1009 8 for salt and corrosion tests.

What's in the Box
Two speakers (each with detachable metal grille and built-in mounting bracket) a user's manual, and warranty information.

Customer Reviews Average rating - 4.5

Rating - 4 Date: 2008-10-14
Content: These are great little speakers. They appear very well made and were easy to install. Sound quality is excellent although as noted by some other reviewers they might be a little bright for certain tastes. I did not want thumping bass outside, just good clear vocals. These speakers certainly deliver.
Summary: Great little speakers

Rating - 2 Date: 2008-10-14
Content: these speakers have a great sound, but my experience is they don't last in the weather, I had to replace both speakers over a period of 2 years
Summary: Speaker life

Rating - 5 Date: 2008-10-06
Content: Own several Polk speakers and love them all.

Mounting bracket is sturdy and well designed to hold speaker in any position. Good job Polk!
Summary: another great speaker via Polk

Rating - 5 Date: 2008-09-29
Content: I purchased these speakers to mount outdoors, under my permanently camped 31' travel trailer. I am very pleased with the sound quality and am surprised at how good the bass response is. Don't get me wrong, you won't mistake these speakers for a 15" subwoofer, but they sound very full and solid for small speakers with 4.5" woofers that I paid only ~$120 a pair for.

I am driving them with an Aiwa CDC-X504MP car stereo that puts out ~20 watts/channel into 4 ohms. Since the Atriums are 8 ohm speakers, I get less than 20 watts/channel. If I were buying an amp, I'd buy one with more power, but I had the Aiwa lying around. My setup easily fills my 30'x20' camper lot with quality sound, however, this setup will not provide ear splitting sound levels.

I was very impressed with the weight of each speaker; I was also impressed with the build quality of the enclosure and the gold plated 5-way connectors.

Overall - The Polk Atrium 45s are an outstanding value. I would highly recommend them.
Summary: Polk Atrium 45 - OUTSTANDING outdoor speakers for a low price

Rating - 5 Date: 2008-09-22
Content: These speakers sound great for the price. I've only had them for a little over a month so i have no idea how long they will hold up or if they will make it through the winter.
Summary: Great product for the price