What do you guys think of Polk Audio speakers?

[Adam]

...as humans we tend to use price as the most basic sign of quality, whether it is true or not.

I'll sell you my speakers for $10k. Each.

 

[cfrizz]

The LSI's are Polks Top of the line speakers. ie high end, better sound & performance over their other lines.

Your idea of high end ie B & W is attributed to what? their price? Who cares. I have never heard any of their speakers that I would like to own, simply because their metal tweeters give me a headache after about an hour.

Who sets these performance standards? What is the criteria based on?

All of this is subjective. People like what they like. I base my likes upon what is pleasing to 1. my ears, 2. my eyes, 3. my wallet. So long as the speakers meet MY performance standards that is all that matters.

I don't give a rats *** about what any magazine has to say about Polk, or any audio snob who scoffs because of the price of the speakers.

My ears like what they hear from Polks, They have been in business for over 30 years and have a great reputation for value & performance, and outstanding customer service.

For me, that is all that is important.

 

[WmAx]

Let's see.... a solid resonance free design(both in terms of the cabinet system and internal acoustic space/volumes) is one critical factor.... and simply .... no full range speakers exist at a low price point with this feature of which I'm aware. This is just one relevant factor, but it's a critical one for a high performance speaker(and the 802 meets all factors, btw, for a high performance monopolar speaker).

It's really irrelevant if one likes a truly neutral speaker like the 802D in it's natural state/response(which btw does not have a metal tweeter.. but that is a myth in any event about metal tweeters.... ). I don't like the sound myself as it is. But hey.... when you start out with such a neutral speaker, you are able to get just about any sound you want out of it with precision DSP EQs. Something very few speakers in the world can offer. The main issue with true neutral speakers is the dead flat treble. In reality, it needs to be gradually tapered down to sound natural as measured from the listening position - and this is not my opinion - it's based on multiple credible perceptual studies. But anyways, the speaker offers a true neutral starting point and full range, low distortion, dynamic capability. I'm not aware of any speaker by Polk offering any such neutral performance. In fact, most companies don't offer any speakers suitable.

One can, in specific instances, modify a speaker that offers a certain set of performance characteristics, but not all of them, to later include all of them, thus converting it to a high performance speaker. Why not at least a few manufacturers go the full tilt at a reasonable price point.... I really don't know.

-Chris

 

[JerryLove]

Your idea of high end ie B & W is attributed to what? their price?
Read his sig: his statement that 802Ds are high-end is based on their ability to accurately reproduce sound.

Who cares. I have never heard any of their speakers that I would like to own, simply because their metal tweeters give me a headache after about an hour.
The 802D is differentiated from the 802S by the diamond tweeter (what the "d" stands for)... and you can't know what speakers you've never heard do to you.

Who sets these performance standards? What is the criteria based on?
Ideally: a series of microphones set on and off axis in an anechoic chamber. In reality: the best approximations the guy with the mic can manage.

I believe Chris likes to stick accellerometers to the speaker box to measure resonance.

All of this is subjective. People like what they like. I base my likes upon what is pleasing to 1. my ears, 2. my eyes, 3. my wallet. So long as the speakers meet MY performance standards that is all that matters.
So if you love McDonalds, then McDonalds is "high-end food"?

You are absolutely correct that you should buy what makes you happy: but let's not call a big mack a rib-eye steak.

My ears like what they hear from Polks, They have been in business for over 30 years and have a great reputation for value & performance, and outstanding customer service.
Some good reasons to buy Polk.

For me, that is all that is important.
I'm trying to reconcile "I don't care what a magazine says" with "they have a great reputation and that's important". I'm not having luck, but it's late.

 

[Quickley17]

I liked all of your answers except for the rib-eye part because a) i love big macs and b) Unless we're talking grass-fed beef, a marbled USDA prime rib-eye is just another con job pulling a hood over everyone's eyes and convinicng consumers that characteristics of an inherently unhealthy animal are worth money.

But I guess this sort of plays into the conversation of what really qualifies something as "high-end".

 

[JerryLove]

The analogy survives the "Big Mac" test: because no one says that you need to prefer high-end (though in the case of speakers: high-end can be equalized to reproduce other speaker's sound). So liking Big Mac more is fine.

That a mass-raised ribeye isn't high end, while making my choice bad for the analogy really does well re-enforce the point that so many don't even know what high-end is. (in this case: me with meat).

While there may be some nuanced differences: I suspect that the meat-loving community agrees that I have no idea what high-end meat is... though now I'm curious to find out. I wonder if there's a meat-holics site that won't be gay porn.

 

[djreef]

I find that "high-end" or "low-end" really seems to be in regards to how much the equipment costs. If it is more expensive than my current equipment, I kind of half0mindely throw the "higher-end" tag on them and vice-versa. Not saying that's right at all, but it just kind of happens, as humans we tend to use price as the most basic sign of quality, whether it is true or not.

Yea, it's all kinda relative.

DJ

 

[Matt34]

I really like the old SDA models and some of the newer stuff like the monitor 70 are a good performer for what they are going for on newegg.

 

[BudgetHT]

Pretty lame argument guys.
You're comparing what? A $7000(looking at prices I found on google) speaker to a $500-$600 speaker. I've never heard the B&W 802d but I can imagine at that price point they are truly "high end".
I know if I spent 7 grand on "a" speaker and it sounded like a $500 speaker I would be very disappointed.
Polks are great speakers for there intent and market. I have a pair of the Monitor 50s that I just paid $199.00 for the pair. Am I happy with them? Sure. They are way better than what I had. Are they "high end"? No of course not, but they were a great deal and sound great(although they are a little bright), but I don't think I would try to compare the Polks to the B&Ws.

 

[JerryLove]

I'm not sure who "guys" are here. I only see one person arguing that the Polk are high-end (and by extension that the quality of sound should be similar).

You seem to be hacking a straw man: the most negative thing said on Polk was "it's OK for its price point". Other than Cfrizz: who said they should sound comparable or picked on Polk unfairly?

 

[termin8ted314]

So for $2000-$2500 there are better options for speakers and a sub.

 

[Matt34]

So for $2000-$2500 there are better options for speakers and a sub.

Only you can quantify "better" but yes there are a lot of options in that price range.

 

[walter duque]

I have had the SDA 1's and they where a very good speaker at the time. When Polk started off I think he made a good speakers. It's not a speaker I would buy now. I guess over the years our sound preference changes. For the money you would spend on Polks I think you can buy better speakers.

 

[cfrizz]

I'm not sure who "guys" are here. I only see one person arguing that the Polk are high-end (and by extension that the quality of sound should be similar).

You seem to be hacking a straw man: the most negative thing said on Polk was "it's OK for its price point". Other than Cfrizz: who said they should sound comparable or picked on Polk unfairly?

Excuse me but I said NO SUCH THING! I said that Polk's high end speaker (in terms of cost based on all their speaker lines) was the LSI series. Nor did I say that their sound was comparable to any other speaker. Most certainly not comparable to B & W. Polks are far more PLEASING to MY ears.

All speakers have their own sound, you find the one that suits your ears & get them.

You can throw all the mumbo jumbo crap you want about neutral sound, but if that neutral sound isn't pleasing to ones ears, it's meaningless.

 

[JerryLove]

The LSI's are Polks Top of the line speakers. ie high end

I only see one person arguing that the Polk are high-end (and by extension that the quality of sound should be similar).

Excuse me but I said NO SUCH THING!

Sorry. I thought when you said that the LSIs were "high end", that you meant they were "high end".

Nor did I say that their sound was comparable to any other speaker. Most certainly not comparable to B & W. Polks are far more PLEASING to MY ears.

Given the context of someone arguing that we were wrong for saying LSI was as good as 802D, your statement that they are better would be consistant with what I said (though I understated you).

You can throw all the mumbo jumbo crap you want about neutral sound, but if that neutral sound isn't pleasing to ones ears, it's meaningless.

Can you find out where I said otherwise? Can you find out where someone else said otherwise.

Yes. "accurate" is such a mumbo-jumbo word: I can see why you don't think it's a good way to define "high end": But if the speakers reproduction of a violin sounds like a violin, and you don't like it, then you don't like the sound of a violin. That's hardly the speakers fault. But I've said repeatedly that you should buy whatever you like.

Please feel free to continue hacking that straw man.

 

[PENG]

So for $2000-$2500 there are better options for speakers and a sub.

It is always possible to have 'better' options, but I think if you are okay with the entry level Polk Audio speakers you should give the LSI a listen. Their ring tweeters do sound better than the tweeters in their RTi series ones. if you can stretch your budget to $3,000 you may be able to get a pair of LSI9 for L/R, the LSIFX for surrounds and LSiC center to complete a nice 5.1 system.

Such a system is not going to be as good (just my opinion) as one based on the Paradigm Sig series, or B&W 800 series but to me, it will be superior to one based on the popular Paradigm Studio series speakers as an example. The LSI series are designed to sound neutral, suitable for classical music listening.

 

[PENG]

Sorry. I thought when you said that the LSIs were "high end", that you meant they were "high end".
Please feel free to continue hacking that straw man.

Can I do some hacking too?

I thought she meant the LSI were Polk's high end line relative to their other product lines such as the RTi, R, M, and T series. Surely you are not nit picking just being a little sensitive.

FYI, I am pretty sure PA engineers intend to make the LSI series as neutral and accurate as possible instead of boosting certain treble range to impress the average person with has not experienced live classical concerts. I heard the LSI7, 9, and 15 quite a few years ago and was impressed but I wasn't equipped to run 4 ohm speakers at the time so I bought the RTi38 instead. The RTi38's sound pretty decent too unlike other big box speakers at similar price points and I have no intention of selling them.

 

[JerryLove]

Can I do some hacking too?

I thought she meant the LSI were Polk's high end line relative to their other product lines such as the RTi, R, M, and T series. Surely you are not nit picking just being a little sensitive.

Apparently not as you responded to what I actually said

I might tend to believe that I made that misinterpretation: but it's hard to in light of the portion of her posts where she attacked Chris for his claim that the LSIs were not high end, and for his defining of the 802D as high end.

If I believe she meant "LSI is the high end of the Polk line", then Chris would be correct in calling the 800's the high end of the B&W line (same interpretation); and her response makes no sense.

But perhaps there's something I'm missing. I certainly have no desire to equivocate what she ment. As to sensitive? If you mean to the language see my explanation above. If you mean emotionally: it's all acedemic to me. I've never heard the LSIs and have no idea what they sound like. I have no particular love of B&W nor hate of Polk, and my own rig is mostly Paradigm, PSB, and "soon" custom.

 

[PENG]

As to sensitive?

I meant nothing, just hacking. Now understand this, if you read her post and the way Chris (who I respect) first responded, you can then understand how a person could be set off, and the rest is history. I mean, nothing matter after. Chris can be funny, sometimes... Anyway, I can't take too much risk (kind of double this time) so I am going to watch TV now.......

 

[jonnythan]

I have a full set of Polk speakers and they are without question the best I could have done for the money (pair of R30s for $60, pair of R15s for $50, CSi25 CC for $50). They're certainly not great, but they are good enough that the vast majority of people couldn't tell them from something 20 times the price. Movies sound great, TV dialog is clear, and they are entirely decent for music.