Upgrading..where's the new line??

mantis

ok,
I don't want to offend anybody here,I've owned Polk's for a long time,They have been in my family for 20 years.But times are changing for me anyway.I heard the new psw550,it sucked.The new lsi are nowhere to be heard in any of the 30 audio store's around here(Pa just outside of Philly).I'm growing tired of my RT line rt1000p's,cs400i,rt35i's,fx500,psw450.Its a nice system for not alot of money,It works ok for 7.1,but they just lack good detail,depth,clean and cear midrange,crystal high's and solid lows.The sub is a good peice for the money but it stops there.I don't like the psw650 as it is hard to place,It doesn't hit that well,nothing like the old psw1200(now that was a great sub).I'm building a new house and my basement is getting a stand alone theater...the Polk's are going to be left behind.I'm gonna use the room as 2 channel music as well as 6 channel SACD AND DVD AUDIO.
I'm going to upgrade into a new company....Vienna accoustics.They are musicial,non powered tower speakers...The Beetovens.simply put..breathtaking.I feel these speaker's are unmatched in there class,the tweeter is so clean and clear,it doesn't sound like it has driver's more like a Martin Logan.
I would have loved to challange this speaker with the rt3000p's,but they are no where to be found as well.I listend to them long time ago but I don't remember them moving me the way the Vienna's do.
Dan

codsey

relax in your discovery.I still own polk speakers.

codsey

i'm interested in your thoughts!As I have numerous different loudspeakers.

Aaron

I agree that Polk needs to release the LSi line and have a good dealer backing. Unfortunately I don't think this will happen over night. Most hi-fi shops don't carry Polk, so it will likely take some convincing (e.g. good reviews and customer requests) for them to pick up the LSi line. I'm in the same area, and it doesn't seem like anyone is going to carry the line. Wee Bee Audio in Lancaster may carry them.

I'm also in the same boat as you. I'm seriously considering upgrading my speakers and have been listening to a variety of speakers. I think Polk will be hard-pressed to better some of the speakers that I've listened to for the money. Those Beethoven speakers you're talkign about run about $4500 if I'm not mistaken. I doubt you'll find any Polk speaker that will compare to those. Incidently I listened to the $2550 Mozart's today and wasn't impressed. I listened extensively to the Sonus Faber Concertino bookshelfs first and then switched to the Mozart's. I listened to them for about 30 seconds, and that was enough. The Concertino's were FAR superior and cost $550 less. I was tempted to listen to the Grand Piano floor standers, but $3200 is out of my price range at this point in time. I'm sure you get a pretty nice discount, though, don't you? Lucky ****!

Aaron

juice21

getting spoiled everyday at work by those vienna's, eh? they are a great sounding speaker, a little steep for me right now. if the polks are getting left behind, i have a perfect place you can 'leave' them, only 45 minutes away...:D

BTW, where are you building your new home?

jcaut

Polk needs to release the LSi line and have a good dealer backing

Most hi-fi shops don't carry Polk, so it will likely take some convincing (e.g. good reviews and customer requests) for them to pick up the LSi line

You know, not to get back on the "Polk at Fry's" topic, but I think that things like that are the main reason that more of the reputable HiFi shops don't carry Polk nowadays. Either that or the profit margin is not high enough for them. I understand about exposure to more people, and all. Personally, I think that Circuit City does well for Polk on that front, but the line needs to be drawn. It's hard the get the respect of reviewers and maintain a "high quality" reputation if your products are sold at places like Fry's, Wal-Mart, etc.

The better HiFi shops around here used to carry Polk, but most seem to have abandoned them around the time Circuit City started carrying them. The LSi's should have what it takes to compete well in their price range. The RT series should do well as a high quality, budget alternative. That scheme seems to work for Paradigm. But I think Polk is going to have to "win back" some of the higher-end dealers that they've lost over the last several years. Expanding the mass-market dealer network is NOT going to help with that.



I know this has been gone over before, and I'm not bashing Polk..... Just providing a little customer feedback.

Jason

TroyD

I look at it this way......Before I go out to buy something, obviously I have a good idea of what I am going to spend and generally look at products in that price point.

I think if a person has it in mind that they are going to drop say, a grand on a good quality pair of bookshelves, if he does a bit of research, probably is going to start at a nice Hi-Fi shop looking at B&W. That guy isn't going to BB, CC or Fry's anyway. So in that scenario, I think that Polk is doing the right thing with the LSi's.

Now, the average dude looking to assemble a HT rig, more than likely is on a fairly limited budget, knows that whatever is at the boutique hi-fi shops is out of his price range. He is looking for bang for the buck. So he goes to BB, CC, Fry's or wherevever. He probably won't even set foot in a hi-fi shop. Already, his choices are pretty much JBL, Infinity, Bose, DCM, KLH, Sony, Yammie etc. If Polk takes the eliteist path, they are just losing sales. I think that Polk has done the smart thing. By Matt's own admission, his goal is to put Polk speakers in as many homes as possible and he is doing just that.

My point is that we are talking about two separate groups of people here. On the forum I think we have probably a bunch that fall somewhere in the middle, but the middle group is fairly small, in my opinion. This is where I think Paradigm has choosen, I think, unwisely. They are aiming all of their products at a very small group of people. Jcaut, I think that you are correct in saying that Polk loses some sales by having their products in the mass retailers but the number of lost sales would be exponentially more if they didn't.


Troy

Aaron

Jcaut, don't forget that the Polk RTi25 won the Stereophile Budget Product of the Year award. I also posted a pretty glowing review of the RT3000p's from a contributing writer for Stereophile awhile ago. I have faith in the LSi line. I think that if it's as good as Polk's saying it is, then the rest will take care of itself. It will just take time......and I'm an impatient SOB.

Aaron

jcaut

I don't disagree with any of that. All I'm really getting at is: I think it's hard (maybe not impossible, but hard) to take a brand two directions (ie. sell it everywhere). People associate the brand name with a particular "image" of the product. Mass marketing is obviously good for Polk, saleswise. It's good for people who would ordinarily be shopping the DCM- KLH- JBl, or even Bose stuff, to be able to compare that crap to a quality speaker. But it does make the shops that carry better quality products reluctant to pick the line up (even the top-notch models like the LSi's.

I'm glad that Stereophile gave the 25i's a chance. Maybe they'll look a little closer at other Polk products as well. I've noticed some good Polk reviews in Sound and Vision lately, too.

Like Ron-P in the other thread, I hate to see Polks at places like Fry's and Sam's because I feel that it hurts their reputation, in general. Places like Circuit City are a notch above those others, in my opinion. I'm not a marketing person; I'm a water plant operator, so I may be off base. That's just my opinion.

Micah Cohen

'Kay guys, I left my dark cave of an office and did some digging for you. LSi is out there. It is, inside sales insists it is. A small but growing group of dealers does have it.

Who's got it and where are they? I don't know.

Ken does, tho. Give a quick call to Customer Service and ask them to have a look at the LSi dealer list (it's somewhere on our INTRAnet). Tell em where you're calling from and see if there's an LSi dealer near you.

Do I love you or what?

MC

wangotango68

there is a GRAND total of 0 dealers in indiana! i guess that screws
us.

scott:mad:

TroyD

any way to get a hold of that list and post it??

Troy

Aaron

Well, I just got off the phone with Ken. It looks like there is one LSi dealer in PA, but unfortunately it's at other end (Pittsburgh) of this very wide state. There's a dealer in Hazlet, NJ which is about 80 miles away from my college. Perhaps during the next semester I will make the journey.

Aaron

mjk91383

...absolutely no dealers in georgia, closest one is in north carolina.

joe :mad:

LordSpeakaMinch

I hope the wonderful folks in Polk's marketing department are very well paid. They certainly know how to whip up demand into a fever pitch.

Do you think for one minute that a speaker manufacturer the size of Polk would not have their dealer network for the new LSi line already in place? Especially considering the fact that this new line is so "important". Just wait and see: When the marketing gods in Baltimore perceive that the pent up demand is at just the right "temperature", LSi's will magically appear all over the place to cool things off. Maybe, if they (the dealers) play things just right, they'll be able to sell a few at well over list price to rabid consumers WHO JUST CAN'T WAIT.:p

So sit back, relax, let things simmer down. Keep your ears in your pants for a minute. Don't get jerked around like Pavlov's dog.:cool:

Um, by the way, in case you have me mistaken for some frustrated "Polkie" sitting on the edge of my seat waiting for the latest and greatest from Matt, think again. I have no axe to grind. Take a look at what is currently occupying my villa:

SDA SRS 1.2TL
SDA 1C (2 pairs)
SDA 1B
SDA CRS+
CS 400i
PSW 650
RT 55i
RT 35


In a year or so I'll probably pick up a pair of LSi9s off of Ebay or Audiogon just to round out my collection.

mantis

Wow,
you guys didn't kick my face in for my post!I can respect that.I work for Tweeter(used to be Bryn Mawr stereo)and we used to carry Polk's untill 1996.After that ,we picked up Boston acoustics.Which I think that the rt line smokes all of there speakers.Now over the years we have aded great speaker lines and lost a couple of good ones as well.The Vienna line is the most matched line that I have ever heard.I install them on a regular day to day as I am an Home Theater Installer.I have heard just about every speaker made.The Vienna may seem expensive to most of you guys in here because Polk offers a nice product for a low price.The rt3000p's where close to 4000.00,I think about 3800.00.Thats alot of money.
When you intall home theater systems from 9000.00 up to 300,000.00 dollars, your modest system(mines about 12k)It doesn't WOW you anymore.Before I worked for Tweeter,I neve considered spending 4500.00 on 1 pair of speakers let alone 50,000.00 on my new system.It's just very hard when you love musc and movies like I do and hear Wilson audio,krell,Martin Logan,Vienna,Sonus Fiber,ETC go in the houses I work in.My taste for good gear has grown alot over the past 2 years.Just last year I ws planning,and in the beginning of this year upgrading my system to the rt5000 system.But afte hearing the Vienna's go in different home's with different gear,be so consistant with there sound.I hav personally demo'd these speaker's from the top of the line Mohlers to the bottom of the line Hayden bookshelf speaker's.Theyall have the same tonal qualty down to there low limts.Simply amazing.I haven't heard another complete line that can do that.You can match them up anyway you want and It will sound amazing.
Here's what I'm building for my new Theater.....
Mains................Beethovens
Center..............Maestro
surround..........Waltz or Haydens
Suround back...Waltz or Haydens
Sub...................Rel StormIII
This speaker package will be powered by a Pioneer Elite vsx49tx THX ULTRA2 FLAGSHIP RECEIVER.
I picked this receiver over the Denon avr5800,Integra9.1,B&Kavr307 and everything on the market under 6,000.00 dollars.I would realy like to go seperates like the Integra research Preamp and amp,Or Proceed Preamp and amp,but that will over shoot my budget as I'm building the room as well as upgrading the complete system.
The New Pioneer Elite vsx49tx is nothing like the last years line.It sound's like seperates.as killer power,and for 4200.00 it smokes every reciver made.I know it's alot for a receiver but you really need to here this beast go.By the way it weigh's 64lbs.
Video is another post but if anyone is into it ,I will go into detail of the complete system I'm building for theater as well as multiroom audio and video all over my house.
Dan

TroyD

You are more than welcome to your opinions, I don't think anyone would have a problem with that. Actually, I haven't heard any of the new BA speakers but I have had in the past a pair of A100's and A40's that my brother now employs and I dug them. Very sweet.

Man, I could see where being around all that high dollar gear could spoil you though. I dunno, I still think I would give some serious thought to separates. In for a penny, in for a pound. Something like the Sunfire preamp/amp combo....

Man, I would love to hear all about it.

Troy

Micah Cohen

The LSi dealer list grows every day. It's not an automatic thing, these things. I have been rallying to get it posted or at least put in as part of the Dealer Locator feature. I'll keep you informed.

MC

shrek001

I have had my polks for a long time and have never had any complaints and had my friends buy them on what they have heard at my house, now that i have upgraded my reciever(denon avr5800) the polks don't impress me any more, they sound muddy and unclear and the bass boomy!! I have definative tech bp3x for rears and put on five channel stereo and listened to the tweeter in the def's and they killed my polk fronts... maybe it's time to ditch the polks??? love em, hate to leave 'em.. I know it's not my reciever, the 5800 is a monster!! maybe a good pair of b&w or energy would sound good? any opinions?? by the way is it me or do the subs on the polks seem a bit boomy and can't handle all that much?