The Polycom SoundStation is Polycoms most used product in the conference room. The SoundStation uses a standard analog phone line, and is recommended for 4-7 Participants. The Polycom SoundStation has three integrated microphones and 360 Degree pickup using proven technology. Full-Duplex capability allows the local and far sites to interrupt each other without hesitation inside a call for the best end-user experience. Experience full-duplex conferencing today.
Polycom SoundStation Conference Phone
Meet all your teleconferencing needs with the full-duplex Polycom SoundStation. This conference phone is ideal for small- to medium-sized rooms containing one to five people. With conventional, half-duplex speakerphones, only one party can speak at a time without clipping off the other party’s voice. Echoes and howling can further disrupt your conversations and lead to costly misunderstandings. But because of the SoundStation’s full-duplex operation, you can speak naturally and hear both sides of the conversation clearly.
The SoundStation ensures high sound quality with three microphones and a digitally tuned speaker for 360-degree coverage of an office or conference room. Polycom’s Acoustic Clarity Technology uses digital signal processing with analog telephone lines to eliminate the clipping and fading that plague most speakerphones. This technology improves speaker and microphone performance over the full bandwidth of the telephone line–300 to 3,500 Hz. Other features that boost sound quality include dynamic telephone-line and dynamic room-echo cancellation, signal depression, microphone switching, and digital filtering of voice signals.
The SoundStation has a full alphanumeric keypad for dialing, with a mute button and a flash key to access functions like hold, conference, and transfer. There is also a jack to plug in a tape recorder. Dual-colored LEDs signal phone status, and other controls include a ringer volume, speaker volume, and microphone mute.
The SoundStation works with any analog phone system or with an adapter (sold separately) for digital phone systems. It comes with a wall module, 25-foot power cable, 7-foot telephone cable, and a one-year warranty.
5 Stars Extremely happy
The product I purchased is everything as advertised. It shows slight use signs as described – but works great and I am happy do repeat a transaction with the seller again.
3 Stars Product Good – RMA support S…L…O…W
The product worked rather well for about 8 months with occasional use. Though it saw only light occasional use it failed (no power, no reason why). I called to have it returned via RMA and was promptly issued an RMA number on October 2nd (10/2).
Things became very busy for me and I expected to see the unit any day for the past 4 weeks. Nothing came in. Today (11/2) I called to find out why the replacement unit had not yet been returned. I was told that it had been received on (10/10) and was ready to ship. I was also told that for purposes of “stock control” RMAs were held for 30 days before shipping. I was told that the unit (even though it was ready to ship) would not be shipped until 11/10 but never fear! It would be shipped via 3-day Air. Whoopee! (sarcasm).
As I do the purchasing for my department and have done better than 10 RMAs this year I have NEVER had a product take so long to be replaced nor dealt with a company that seems to have a punitive “hold period” on RMA cases. We have been without this conference phone for more than 4 weeks and will be without it for another 2 weeks before receipt of the replacement unit. All the while, no conference phone.
To sum up. I’m not at all happy with this company’s RMA policy. I don’t expect next day service but for a $300 phone I expect much better service than I received.
4 Stars Decent speakerphone for the money
No question about it, Polycom make the best speakerphones. This particular model is a compromise; its better than many phones but far from the best that Polycom can do. Here’s the scoop.
This model uses three microphones (one in each corner of the triangle), all of which remain active the entire time. Depending on your room acoustics and where you sit/stand, you may sound like you are talking from inside of a deep well (kind of a hollow echo). Better Polycom models (like the Soundstation Premier) avoid this by only leaving one microphone active at a time, and with higher quality components and circuits. For example, noice canceling circuit to to remove background noise, a feature lacking in this model.
That said, you may still be happy with this model, as it costs a whole lot less than the Premier version and is way better than the built-in speakerphones included in many desktop handset units. To decide you need to consider how important the quality of your conference calls is, and what kinds of acoustics the room that you’ll be using has. If you need the best, go with the Premier, otherwise this is a solid model.
5 Stars Wonderful speakerphone
After getting frustrated with typical multipurpose phones (handset, speakerphone, answering machine, caller ID, potato peeler, and inflatable raft all in one) I went looking for an excellent speakerphone. This gets my highest recommendation. The sound is clear, the ability to carry on a two-way conversation without noticable pausing or clipping is wonderful, and the system is compact and easy to use. One slight caveat: though the microphones are sensitive enough for everyday use and the speaker can be turned up loud enough to make the party at the other end of the line clearly audible, there is a certain threshold below which you cannot hear the individual at the other end of the line – in this case, a handset can be superior. (I didn’t downgrade this system from five stars for this, though – all speakerphones seem to have this problem.)
5 Stars Definitive Speakerphone
I’ve never been inside a major company that used a speakerphone other than this one. Great full duplex sound. Expensive, but worth it.
Polycom 2200 07142 001 Soundstation Vtx 1000 Cnfrc Phn with vtx Wideband Voiceandgain Ctrlw mic
The Polycom SoundStation VTX 1000 with Acoustic Clarity Technology is truly a leap in voice conferencing technology. It is the world’s first conference phone that automatically adapts to each meeting environment, providing high fidelity voice clarity for all participants. With the SoundStation VTX 1000, conference call participants can speak at a normal, natural conversation level and be heard clearly from two-feet to 20-feet away from the microphone – even in large conference rooms. And, when two SoundStation VTX 1000 conference phones connect on a call, the phones automatically connect in VTX Wideband mode, resulting in extraordinary clarity. SoundStation VTX 1000 is the voice platform for the future. No wonder Polycom is the #1 choice in conference phones, worldwide. This product includes a subwoofer.
4 Stars Works well, good sound
This seems to be a quality, well-made product and the sound is very good. I’m not sure that the sub-woofer is all that useful, but I would recommend this for small/medium-sized conference rooms. The satellite microphones are a big plus. Our employees like it.
4 Stars as far as I can tell – the best of what is available
I bought the Soundstation VTX 1000 to replace an older original model Soundstation Premier. The conference room it was being used it in was about 30 feet by 20 feet. Plus, there were lots of hard surfaces (windows, drywall ceiling) that contributed to echoes. Other parties reported they we were inaudible when using the old Soundstation. With the VTX, other parties say they can hear us better, but personally, I think it’s still not great – but I think that’s more a function of the room dynamics than the phone itself.
5 Stars Ultra-quality communication tool
We are a small company that frequently gets short-term contracts with much larger companies. That means we have to ramp up quickly, communicating with executives and other contacts we may never meet personally, and may only work with for a short time.
Before we got this phone, we tried to use the tinny, inadequate speaker-phone feature on our AT&T business phones. We often had to ask people to speak up and repeat what they said, and people sometimes had trouble understanding us. When you need to build a working relationship quickly over the phone that’s a problem.
Since we got this phone these problems are gone. Conference calls go faster and smoother, meetings are over sooner, and our communication with clients is better. Great sound quality is that important.
And great sound quality is what this phone has. It not only makes people’s voices sound clearer, it makes them seem more human and present. You can hear subtle tone-of-voice changes that might be missing from a conventional phone conversation, but can really make a difference when you’re trying to negotiate a contract or close a deal.
The only downsides to this phone are:
1) It’s a conference phone, not a desktop phone. It has minimal features, only supports one line, etc.
2) With the subwoofer, power supply, phone lines etc. there are a lot of wires. Use a couple of Cable Turtles to organize them or they’ll drive you wild. In a good design choice, only one cable goes to the unit that sits on your conference table; the woofer stays on the floor next to the power supply.
3) The price is pretty high. Many people will probably be more than satisfied with one of Polycom’s lower-priced products, which I have used and are also excellent. But when communication is key to your business, it’s worth spending more to have the best, and this phone is it.
Polycom 2200 07880 001 Wireless SoundStation 2W Non Expandable
Wireless Conference Phone. 2.4GHz WDCT DSS Radio. Up To 150′ Wireless Range. 50% Increase in Mic Sensitivity. Free Shipping On All Orders!
