Signature series - Best Buy Demo Discussion

EndersShadow
EndersShadow Posts: 17,517
edited December 2016 in Speakers
So I had some time to kill at Best Buy yesterday, and since I was decked out in my Polk polo from @F1Nut, I decided to take a gander and see if my Best Buy had the Signature Series display setup. They did.

So I figured I better check it out and listen to these since they have been getting all kinds of hype.

To start with, I was very pleasantly surprised by how NICE the finish was on these. I really liked the color choice they went with on the vinyl wrap. The plastic bezel also while a bit flashy wasn’t "too" overdone, and personally I like that the allen key screws showed through. All of which could be covered by the grill if it wasn't your thing. I like to rock speakers without the grills when I'm home by myself.

Overall aesthetics on the speakers were quite good. I could see a LARGE majority of folks rocking these in their living room with WAF approval. Heck even I could get these into the house if I wanted.

So doing good in the looks department, now onto the sound.

I hit the Demo button and was FLOORED. They sounded REALLY REALLY GOOD. But listening to a 5.1 setup in a really small space, I kinda expected it. So of course I switched to JUST the bookshelves. Once again I was just straight floored.

The vocals were REALLY REALLY GOOD on these, and they weren't even setup optimally besides being mounted higher up than the floor-standers. The sub they had helped fill in the bottom end, but I turned it off to just try the bookshelves. Again I was impressed. I focused more on the vocals and mid-range I was hearing as EVERYONE should have a VERY CAPABLE SUB IMHO so who cares how deep they dig, although I see they are rated to dig fairly deep.

They did a GREAT JOB of producing vocals that were crisp and clear and just sounded great. Given their price-point I expected them to be more in line with the older Monitor series sound, which I am familiar with having rocked the Monitor 60's for quite a few years.

They were MUCH better than that, and again, at their price-point I was like.....

AlEp8Fj45KPLO.gif

I just kept listening and listening and then looking back at their price and wondering how in the heck they managed to put that sound, into that box for that price.

I am fairly certain the bookshelves have a keyhole mount for wall mounting, but the pictures and documentation on the Polk website *hint, hint* @D2Lo don’t talk about it. If they do in fact, for me that’s a HUGE plus. Most folks buying these (that aren't as picky as us :smile: ) would prefer to just wall-mount the L/R/C for aesthetics and the keyhole mounts are a big deal. I love my LSi F/X as surrounds for just that reason. So if they do have those…. perhaps some mention and a picture showing that feature should be on the website….

Overall I was VERY SURPRISED by their sound. The floor-standers didn’t sound that good to me, but I 100% am putting that down to the fact that the tweeters were shooting into my stomach and they were out wider than the bookies and I couldn’t move far enough back to get centered with them.

Overall I suggest you ALL make sure to checkout the display at your Local Best Buy, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, post your impressions in this thread.

I'd like to thank @D2Lo and the Polk team for another great speaker out there, and for creating that display. I found it very user friendly to switch between the speakers on the display, as well as helpful to actually hear them.

With that said, I'd also like to shake my fist at you in rage as now I'm debating picking up a full 5.0 setup of the Bookshelves and center in the near future for my Father in Law. For the price I don't think there is much that can beat them. And I thought I was done buying audio gear for at least a month or two :disappointed: .. Oh well :grin:
"....not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." William Bruce Cameron, Informal Sociology: A Casual Introduction to Sociological Thinking (1963)
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Comments

  • pitdogg2
    pitdogg2 Posts: 24,481
    edited December 2016
    Lucky dog...
    Our Best Buy has all their speakers on crappy metal shelves that just resonate badly. I can't believe with the new remodel they thought that was going to be more beneficial than the speaker room they had. BTW ours don't and won't carry anything above the TSi price point according to mgmt. I remember when the sold large amps and high end speakers ....and they sold them its not like they didn't. We are now a cell phone TV computer ipod store. Heck their whole selection of CD's and movies is three shelves......But hey we have housewares :(:s
  • oldrocker
    oldrocker Posts: 2,590
    Stopped at a store up north of me, didn't have em, same old stuff.

  • papatom
    papatom Posts: 137
    Take them home, hook them in your setup and you'll be going through the floor. I literally cannot explain how good these speakers are for the price. I've got the S55 as my fronts, S35 as a center and S15's for my rears with my Velodyne DPS-10 sub. Everything just works so beautifully and naturally. Nonetheless, they are lookers. I've already had numerous compliments from friends and family saying they're "gorgeous" speakers.
    Marantz SR5011 / Polk Audio Signature S55 towers / Polk Audio Signature S35 Center/ Polk Audio Signature S15 surrounds / Velodyne DPS-10 / Samsung 60" KS8000 / Samsung UBD-K8500
  • EndersShadow
    EndersShadow Posts: 17,517
    papatom wrote: »
    Take them home, hook them in your setup and you'll be going through the floor.


    While I'm sure they will sound quite good, I'd hope they wouldn't give my LSi's a run for their money lol...

    No my Father in-law would be coming from those horrible little bose split cube things.... so yeah, they would be a BIG upgrade for him lol...

    "....not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." William Bruce Cameron, Informal Sociology: A Casual Introduction to Sociological Thinking (1963)
  • EndersShadow
    EndersShadow Posts: 17,517
    DSkip wrote: »
    S15 has keyholes, the S20 does not. The S35 also has multiple keyholes for multiple hanging. They can double as surrounds.

    I see that now. I was looking at the S20 which makes no mention of it. The S15 pictures clearly show one. I'm going to guess the larger S30 center does NOT have keyhole mounts either on its powerport.
    "....not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." William Bruce Cameron, Informal Sociology: A Casual Introduction to Sociological Thinking (1963)
  • papatom
    papatom Posts: 137
    papatom wrote: »
    Take them home, hook them in your setup and you'll be going through the floor.


    While I'm sure they will sound quite good, I'd hope they wouldn't give my LSi's a run for their money lol...

    No my Father in-law would be coming from those horrible little bose split cube things.... so yeah, they would be a BIG upgrade for him lol...

    Yea no, they don't give the LSi's a run for their money lol. For the price vs. performance the Signatures are incredible speakers is what I meant. :p
    Marantz SR5011 / Polk Audio Signature S55 towers / Polk Audio Signature S35 Center/ Polk Audio Signature S15 surrounds / Velodyne DPS-10 / Samsung 60" KS8000 / Samsung UBD-K8500
  • EndersShadow
    EndersShadow Posts: 17,517
    papatom wrote: »
    Yea no, they don't give the LSi's a run for their money lol. For the price vs. performance the Signatures are incredible speakers is what I meant. :p

    I'd agree, especially since I think I only heard the S15's and S55's, which are the bottom tier bookshelf and floorstanding speaker

    "....not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." William Bruce Cameron, Informal Sociology: A Casual Introduction to Sociological Thinking (1963)
  • DSkip wrote: »
    S15 has keyholes, the S20 does not. The S35 also has multiple keyholes for multiple hanging. They can double as surrounds.

    Geez you'd think this guy sells`em or something ;)
  • I stopped by BB the other day just to listen to the Signature Series. They were damn quiet to be honest but the little I heard sounded great. Tweeters weren't very hot, bass was hard to read as this BB had the demo in an aisle so I had maybe 3 feet of space between them and I. The finish is great on these and the form factor is as well.

    I would say great job on the series! Now just turn down the subwoofer on the demo as mine was so over powered and blown it destroyed my experience (turning off the sub worked but hard to get a feel for bass as described above).

    Now I just want to try the magnifi mini!
    Just a dude doing dude-ly things

    "Temptation is the manifestation of desire which equals necessity." - Mikey081057
    " I have always had a champange taste with a beer budget" - Rick88
    "Just because the thread is getting views don't mean much .. I like a good train wreck doesn't mean i want to be in one..." - pitdogg2
    "Those that don't know, don't know that they don't know." - heiney9
    "Audiophiles are the male equivalent of cat ladies." - Audiokarma Member
  • polrbehr
    polrbehr Posts: 2,825
    edited December 2016
    Was in my local BestBuy this afternoon, and they still don't have any of the Signature Series. Web site says S35 will be available for pickup on 12/29.
    In fact, the guy in Magnolia didn't know what they were.
    So, are you willing to put forth a little effort or are you happy sitting in your skeptical poo pile?


    http://audiomilitia.proboards.com/
  • D2Lo
    D2Lo Posts: 352
    With that said, I'd also like to shake my fist at you in rage as now I'm debating picking up a full 5.0 setup of the Bookshelves and center in the near future for my Father in Law. For the price I don't think there is much that can beat them. And I thought I was done buying audio gear for at least a month or two :disappointed: .. Oh well :grin:

    Awesome! This made our day. I shared it with the entire team that worked on it in engineering, design, and marketing. Glad you are liking what you hear and see.

    We are working on some revisions to the display to make it even easier to use and improve the acoustics. I think we can use a better amplifier and adjust some of the sub settings as noted.
  • EndersShadow
    EndersShadow Posts: 17,517
    I'd be happy to beta test the new model at my local Best Buy anytime :wink:

    Thank you again for what you guys do.
    "....not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." William Bruce Cameron, Informal Sociology: A Casual Introduction to Sociological Thinking (1963)
  • cfrizz
    cfrizz Posts: 13,415
    I went to the BB in Braintree, MA a couple of weeks ago, but they didn't have them in stock. I was told that they were redoing their entire audio section in the first qtr next year and getting all new gear, but didn't know exactly when...sigh!
    Marantz AV-7705 PrePro, Classé 5 channel 200wpc Amp, Oppo 103 BluRay, Rotel RCD-1072 CDP, Sony XBR-49X800E TV, Polk S60 Main Speakers, Polk ES30 Center Channel, Polk S15 Surround Speakers SVS SB12-NSD x2
  • My BB has the new display. It is a real shame it is in an isle where you stand back may be 4' at the most. Nice display but terrible location in the store, which pretty much defeats the purpose.
    2 channel: Anthem 225 Integrated amp; Parasound Ztuner; TechnicsTT SL1350; Vincent PHO-8 phono pre; Marantz CD6005 spinner; Polk SDA2BTL's; LAT International speaker cables, ZU Mission IC's and power cables all into a PS Audio Dectet Power center.

    Other; M10 series II, M7C's, Hafler XL600 amp, RB-980BX, Parasound HCA-1500 amp , P5 preamp, all in storage. All vintage Polk have had crossover rebuilds and tweeter upgrades.

    The best way to predict the future is to invent it.

    It is imperative that we recognize that an opinion is not a fact.

    Imagine making politics your entire personality.
  • mrloren
    mrloren Posts: 2,454
    I have been to two Best Buy's and nothing. I asked about them and one guy said they will have them in mid Jan.

    Tomorrow I will be at my sisters in Shadowridge, right around the corner from Polk Vista location. wonder if I stop by if they will let me have a listen.
    When I was a kid my parents told me to turn it down. Now I'm an adult and my kids tell me to turn it down.
    Family Room:LG QNED80 75", Onkyo RZ50 Emotiva XPA3 GEN3 Oppo BDP-93,Sony UBP-X800BM. Main: Polk LsiM 705Center: Polk LSiM 704CFront High/Rear High In-Ceiling Polk 80F/X RT Surrounds: Polk S15 Sub: HSU VTF3-MK5
    Bed Room; Marantz SR5010, BDP-S270Main: Polk Signature S20Center: Polk Signature S35Rear: Polk R15 Sub: SVS SB2000
    Working Warehouse; Yamaha A-S301, Sony DVP-NS3100ES for disc Plok TSX550T SVS PB2000 Mini tower PC with 400GB of music
  • D2Lo
    D2Lo Posts: 352
    cfrizz wrote: »
    I went to the BB in Braintree, MA a couple of weeks ago, but they didn't have them in stock. I was told that they were redoing their entire audio section in the first qtr next year and getting all new gear, but didn't know exactly when...sigh!

    That would be the new display roll out most likely.
  • D2Lo
    D2Lo Posts: 352
    mrloren wrote: »
    I have been to two Best Buy's and nothing. I asked about them and one guy said they will have them in mid Jan.

    Tomorrow I will be at my sisters in Shadowridge, right around the corner from Polk Vista location. wonder if I stop by if they will let me have a listen.


    Well, the office is closed for the holiday, but otherwise I'm sure we could have worked something out.
  • mrloren
    mrloren Posts: 2,454
    D2Lo wrote: »
    mrloren wrote: »
    I have been to two Best Buy's and nothing. I asked about them and one guy said they will have them in mid Jan.

    Tomorrow I will be at my sisters in Shadowridge, right around the corner from Polk Vista location. wonder if I stop by if they will let me have a listen.


    Well, the office is closed for the holiday, but otherwise I'm sure we could have worked something out.

    PM me please, maybe we can work something out where I can swing over from work in RB at lunch time.
    When I was a kid my parents told me to turn it down. Now I'm an adult and my kids tell me to turn it down.
    Family Room:LG QNED80 75", Onkyo RZ50 Emotiva XPA3 GEN3 Oppo BDP-93,Sony UBP-X800BM. Main: Polk LsiM 705Center: Polk LSiM 704CFront High/Rear High In-Ceiling Polk 80F/X RT Surrounds: Polk S15 Sub: HSU VTF3-MK5
    Bed Room; Marantz SR5010, BDP-S270Main: Polk Signature S20Center: Polk Signature S35Rear: Polk R15 Sub: SVS SB2000
    Working Warehouse; Yamaha A-S301, Sony DVP-NS3100ES for disc Plok TSX550T SVS PB2000 Mini tower PC with 400GB of music
  • msg
    msg Posts: 9,309
    I just saw these at a local Best Buy mini/express kind of store yesterday while picking up a few things for work. They didn't have a full demo set up in a listening space, just the small group of Signatures and T series along with a PSW-108 sub in the speaker aisle.

    Build quality on these speakers is impressive. They're really quite beautiful in real life. I don't know what they had running them, but with the sub engaged, this was a rather impressive little setup, and I think that had these been available when I first got into this three years ago instead of RTi10's, I'm not sure I'd have gone much further in the audio journey.

    In this setup, without the sub engaged the S55s were completely devoid of bottom end, though, and sounded quite disappointing. I'm sure these and the S60s would sound much better with a real AVR, integrated or amp. Reading about Dan's experience above, I have to wonder whether maybe the gear wasn't setup properly for running without the sub, not sure.

    Dan - did you hear them in one of their listening rooms or was your demo also one of the aisle configs?
    I disabled signatures.
  • motorhead43026
    motorhead43026 Posts: 3,892
    edited March 2017
    If it is like my BB the display is in the aisle. So you can't get any further away than about 3'
    while standing.
    2 channel: Anthem 225 Integrated amp; Parasound Ztuner; TechnicsTT SL1350; Vincent PHO-8 phono pre; Marantz CD6005 spinner; Polk SDA2BTL's; LAT International speaker cables, ZU Mission IC's and power cables all into a PS Audio Dectet Power center.

    Other; M10 series II, M7C's, Hafler XL600 amp, RB-980BX, Parasound HCA-1500 amp , P5 preamp, all in storage. All vintage Polk have had crossover rebuilds and tweeter upgrades.

    The best way to predict the future is to invent it.

    It is imperative that we recognize that an opinion is not a fact.

    Imagine making politics your entire personality.
  • They're all pretty crappy displays for any audio products.
    It ain't like it used to be.
    Denon X1200W
    Sony BDP S-590
    Mains Signature S60
    Center Signature S55
    Surrounds Polk RTi-4
  • motorhead43026
    motorhead43026 Posts: 3,892
    Yep, same location.
    2 channel: Anthem 225 Integrated amp; Parasound Ztuner; TechnicsTT SL1350; Vincent PHO-8 phono pre; Marantz CD6005 spinner; Polk SDA2BTL's; LAT International speaker cables, ZU Mission IC's and power cables all into a PS Audio Dectet Power center.

    Other; M10 series II, M7C's, Hafler XL600 amp, RB-980BX, Parasound HCA-1500 amp , P5 preamp, all in storage. All vintage Polk have had crossover rebuilds and tweeter upgrades.

    The best way to predict the future is to invent it.

    It is imperative that we recognize that an opinion is not a fact.

    Imagine making politics your entire personality.
  • rpf65
    rpf65 Posts: 2,127
    Rick88 wrote: »
    Some young people were just trying to get the Polk display to work, also without success. They are currently playing with the Klipsch display, which is fully fuctional... :/

    Doesn't surprise me. The 3 BB within an hour of me really push Klipsch and Denon products hard. Give you a really curious look if you tell them you don't really care for those products. On the positive side, they really don't have any thing else to say.

    Guess that was the end of their sale training seminar.
  • They don't have anything to say because the audio they know is the cell phone and earbuds. When it comes to home systems they are brain dead.
    Denon X1200W
    Sony BDP S-590
    Mains Signature S60
    Center Signature S55
    Surrounds Polk RTi-4
  • mikeyb128
    mikeyb128 Posts: 2,885
    edited March 2017
    Those RF 28's shouldn't even be on the same shelf as Polk. It is the worst balanced, bass heavy, mid-bass bloated, ear piercing horn, piece of garbage I have ever heard.
    2 channel:
    Bryston 4B3, Bryston BDA3, Cary SLP05, Shanling CDT1000SE with parts conneXion level 2 mods, Nottingham analogue ace space 294, soundsmith Carmen MKii, Zu DL103 MKii, Ortofon MC 20 MKii, Dynavector XX2 MKii, Rogue Audio Ares, Core power technologies balanced power conditioner, Akiko Corelli power conditioner with Akiko Audio HQ power cable, Nordost heimdall 2, Frey 2, interconnects, speaker and power cables, Focal Electra 1028 BE 2, Auralic Aries Femto, Black diamond racing cones, ingress audio level 1 roller blocks, JL Audio E110 with Auralic subdude, Primacoustics room treatments.
    Theater:
    Focal Aria 926,905,CC900, SVS PB ultra x2. Pioneer Elite SC85, Oppo BDP93, Panamax M5400PM, Minix neox6, Nordost Blue heaven LS power cables.

  • rpf65
    rpf65 Posts: 2,127
    Like many car stereos from the car next to you at the red light.

    Some people like that sound. Not my personal preference.
  • mikeyb128
    mikeyb128 Posts: 2,885
    rpf65 wrote: »
    Like many car stereos from the car next to you at the red light.

    Some people like that sound. Not my personal preference.

    Can't hit agree enough times.
    2 channel:
    Bryston 4B3, Bryston BDA3, Cary SLP05, Shanling CDT1000SE with parts conneXion level 2 mods, Nottingham analogue ace space 294, soundsmith Carmen MKii, Zu DL103 MKii, Ortofon MC 20 MKii, Dynavector XX2 MKii, Rogue Audio Ares, Core power technologies balanced power conditioner, Akiko Corelli power conditioner with Akiko Audio HQ power cable, Nordost heimdall 2, Frey 2, interconnects, speaker and power cables, Focal Electra 1028 BE 2, Auralic Aries Femto, Black diamond racing cones, ingress audio level 1 roller blocks, JL Audio E110 with Auralic subdude, Primacoustics room treatments.
    Theater:
    Focal Aria 926,905,CC900, SVS PB ultra x2. Pioneer Elite SC85, Oppo BDP93, Panamax M5400PM, Minix neox6, Nordost Blue heaven LS power cables.

  • EndersShadow
    EndersShadow Posts: 17,517
    msg wrote: »
    Dan - did you hear them in one of their listening rooms or was your demo also one of the aisle configs?

    It was just like you guys have seen pictured.

    That was why I didnt try to put to paper any thoughts on the towers. They were WAY to close, and shooting into me nards.......

    The bookies were higher up and I played them in stereo only without the sub.

    "....not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." William Bruce Cameron, Informal Sociology: A Casual Introduction to Sociological Thinking (1963)
  • None of the displays worked at my bb either. Klipsch with Polk, the lights on the buttons just blinked. No sound what so ever, I bought anyway bc I knew it was an upgrade. But God forbid they actually wanted to sell something. They are lucky I can't help myself.
  • lightman1
    lightman1 Posts: 10,776
    Yep. I have perused several BB stores in my travels. A 2' deep display case and a 3' deep walkway if your keister is against the opposite display. Maybe a 6' wide shelfspace to display the Signature line up to the mid towers. Competitors are jammed in left and right in about 18' of shelf space. Three of the four Polk displays were not working and a Band of Cossacks worth of "sales reps" between the stores didn't know how to work "that display". That display......??
    Seems to me that BB has only hired staff that will say "Let me write up this sale for you" instead of saying "OK....I kinda see what you're looking for. Let me help you."
    I had the fortune of seeing and hearing the Signatures before they were "released".
    They deserve better than the metal shelf with cardboard flare on either side in 6' of space.