Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get...' According to Forest Gump's Momma, anyway. But with this box of Polk candy, you can be sure that while it's all packed in layers, you know it's a full on 5.1 speaker system in there.

Nestling in polystyrene homes are five speakers, all the same ovoid cross section but two shorties and three longer jobs. There is a selection of plastic mounting brackets, centre stand cradles and wall mount brackets, as well as a pair of what are termed desktop stands.

The three larger enclosures each have two 3.5in drivers in them, with rubbery surrounds and high compliance cones that seem happy to move to and fro a good old way for their diminutive size. Between the two drivers is a silvery soft dome tweeter. Both speaker sizes are described as Dynamic Balance designs. The same drivers are used in the shorter rear versions except that there is only one driver to go with the tweeter.

The porting in all five is described as a 'Powerport' and reminds me strongly of the underside of certain subwoofers. This is because of the thing sticking into the port. First off, the tube that reaches into the plastic baffle of the enclosure is not 'gas flowed' or particularly curved at either end, inside or out, but it does finish on the outside with a sort of scoopy shape, sculpted out of the enclosure. When the cloth and plastic grilles are in place, the exponentially curved pointy bit fixed to the grille is held so it sticks neatly into the hole. This provides a smoother flow of air in and out of the port, to reduce any of the chuffing sounds.

If you design your own bass box with a computer program the results will include the speed of air in the port as well as offering you a computer generated curve of predicted output. If the air movement exceeds Mach One it produces its own chuffing sounds. If however, there is a more pressurised and controlled laminar (or smooth) flow dictated by the port-probing point, this chuffing can be reduced and here has clearly been used to get phenomenal air movement through the port of a tiny speaker system for it to produce bass well above its fighting weight.

As for the bass, you need to take out a second layer of moulded polystyrene and there you will find a cunning subwoofer, lying upon its side. Polk is renowned for making Quart-in-a-pint-pot subwoofers. These are small designs that utterly beggar belief in what they can do with the limited cubic capacity allowed and the, commonly, 6in drivers used. But this is largely based on serious acoustic gain enclosure principles, and good woodwork costs far more than big ugly drivers, so the designs ain't cheap. However, Polk has moved forward to keep this sub bass system up to a reasonably high standard but also allows its kit to compete on a price basis as well as on its reputation as a performer.