Polkfest 2012

nwohlford

Definitely a big thanks to everybody involved with planning and running PolkFest today. I am sorry I will miss out on everything tomorrow.

Strong Bad

What a phenomenal day at Polk HQ! It was a VERY well planned and executed tour of the HQ's, complete with demos, talks with the design, engineering and test folks. There was so much packed into this day, but it all ran so smooth.

I'll just pick out a few things that stood out for me...

1. The design and engineering of the new headphones line, especially the Ultra Focus 6000. Obviously, alot of people think...how much design and engineering could possibly go into a small pair of headphones that get shoved into your ears. Lemme tell ya...it's far far FAR more than most people imagine. Personally, I had no idea it's taken to that level. It's quite amazing what they've done with these!

2. The Surroundbar (the model escapes me right now). I was so skeptical of these things since they were introduced, but never heard one. That all changed after the demo we had today. Seriously...REALLY...how they got this thing to actually have stuff whizzing by you out to the sides, above and behind you...yes...BEHIND you, is quite amazing. All of this done with a bar full of small drivers that's in FRONT of you with a small wireless sub. The entire Polk team that designed and built this are to be commended!

There was so much more, but i'll let others talk about it. I have to feed and rest myself to prepare for tomorrow's festivities. Actually, I need to prep myself for that world class reach-around that RT1 promised.

Nhpm510

Okay, when's the next Polk-fest?..I am inspired

MillerLiteScott

What a great day at HQ today!

Everyone at Polk was awesome and showed all of the behind the scenes R&D it takes to produce the speakers and products that we love. Thank you!!!

The new headphones are truly a work of art and sound great. The new surround bar 9000 was pretty impressive. Some how Polk design allows it to break the laws of physics.

I was great to see everyone from the forum. Truly a great bunch. Sorry I had to duck out a little early but I had to get my littles.
Big thanks to Polk for the swag bag. Way cool.

Scott

F1nut

All I'm going to say right now to all you folks that didn't make it....sucks to be you.

disneyjoe7

F1nut wrote: »

All I'm going to say right now to all you folks that didn't make it....sucks to be you.

Hear Ya!

Libertyc

Yes was a great day at Polkfest 2012! So glad I decided to make the trip. Was great to see everybody, and as always Polk rolled out the red carpet for us. A great tour and demos, as well as an awesome lunch and great goodie bag. Thank you very much to all the Polk staff for giving us a great day!

Moose68Bash

Polkfest 2012, my first, was a rousing success -- great hospitality and educational tours by the Polk folks, camaraderie among all the Polkies in attendance, good humor all around, and some very nice gifts to top it all off!

I second MillerScottLite's comments above about the 9000 Soundbar and the new headphones. I've never been a fan of ear buds, but the 6000s break the mold.

The LsiM707s are awesome!

My personal goal was to meet and thank face-to-face some of the long-time Forum participants who have contributed so much for so long, and I was grateful to have been able to do that.

Thanks to Al, Stu, Jon and all the Polk folks who made this wonderful event happen, and thanks to all the Forum members who participated.

Phil

TroyD

Off to a great start...good friends and good audio. In that order.

BDT

cfrizz

Let me add mine and Mark's thanks for a terrific time! The demos were outstanding, and I was beyond impressed by the Surroundbar 9000, and if Mark could have pulled it off, he would have never left the 2 channel demo room with the LSIM 707's. It was great seeing you guys again, I hope you all have fun tomorrow.

Cathy & Mark

reeltrouble1

It was rather nice to play in Patrick's chair....he had barricaded his space but it quickly fell to several Polkies.

dorokusai

Yeah man, great day for sure. I know a lot more of what happens behind the scenes than you folks and the Polk HQ team really REALLY prepares for this when it happens. They go out of their way to accept you oddities of web interest that is Club Polk and are always doors open. This is not just a daily event for them, this is not an open company so you should seriously be happy, hopefully thrilled that this happened if your a newbie. For old folks, you should equally be compassionate to all the work that goes into what would seem like a simple day. The folks at Polk are passionate about the work that happens there and if every year this isn't painfully obvious, your clearly a DefTech fan or some other loser.

What is rare is NO company has done what we have done for 10 years until WE, CLUB POLK!, did it in 2002 with our modest Polkie Russman coming up with this idea on the forum and just made it happen at his own home in Texas. 2003 started to get bigger, due to more user participation and I'll admit cooler when Stu Lumsden(Polk VP of Engineering), Russ(Hoosier21) and Mark(dorokusai) showed up at his door....a total stranger, and said hey man, let's party. It was CLEARLY ON from then and my favorite Polkfest to date since I was lucky to get involved. My wife was livid about me traveling to meet Russ and do this by the way...probably still is to this day. He's been one of my very best friends since that day.

There were others that have also stepped up to the Polkfest plate like myself, TroyD x2, Ohskigod, DisneyJoe and ReelTrouble1 but the grassroots of it all started with like 5 ppl, then 10 ppl....then 20 ppl, then 50 ppl. It's become an animal and a very well loved animal by not only the participants, but again, the folks up at Polk HQ. How often do you have the VP of Marketing or Engineering of Polk Audio say, HEY LET'S HAVE POLKFEST AT MY HOUSE!!. You don't but THEY did.They ALWAYS support us remotely with staff folks coming to these events and every now and then we get back up to HQ when it makes sense to talk seriously about new product and bring it home again.

Polk is home for me, its been since 2003 when I joined the Club Polk forum. The members and community I've met and enjoyed their subsequent company since 2003 CANNOT be replaced. I couldn't choose a better group of absolute random individuals to have met and or insulted.

POLKFEST is a singular event that a lot of you folks cannot understand and it's just.....cool man.

See you tomorrow guys.....and next year.

Love Mark.

RuSsMaN

You guys have no idea how hard it was giving Martin Logan and Def Tech demos today. I made the most of it, and it sounded great - but every time I closed my eyes to listen, I could hear all my friends from Polkfests past, and the memories and the PURE JOY of it all that sticks with you forever. I never served my country, but I hear about the fellowship of being in the Army, the Marines, the brotherhood that is with you, branded on you, forever. That's what WE have. There ain't no fest like a Polk fest. Many imitators and offshoots, but there is only one original.

Soak it up guys and gals. You deserve it. I hope the noobs represented hardcore on this one.

[Deleted User]

It looks like you all had a good time. I wanted to make it down to HQ around lunchtime to meet some of you but I couldn't break away from work. Enjoy the rest of your weekend. Cheers. :cool:

TroyD

Yup, PF is a strange and wonderful phenomenon.....and I can't say enough about Polk's hospitality not just for PF but for everything else the other 51 weeks a year. Brings a tear to my eye. Well, that's actually because Russ just farted, but I digress.

BDT

mdaudioguy

I jumped in here this morning to sing the praises of all Polk's people and say a big THANK YOU to all who made yesterday a WONDERFUL day!! Everybody there treated us like family. The hospitality, the friendly smiles, the sincere enthusiasm with which they all seem to approach their jobs... I have the utmost appreciation and respect for Polk! I will remember yesterday for a long time. Thanks to all who made it happen, all who attended and shared in the experience, and especially, thanks to Polk for the swag!

You guys Rock!

Ed

P.S. I'll be seeing a bunch of you again later today - looking forward to more fun!!

JayCee

My first Polk Fest...what a great event. It was truly inspiring to experience the hospitality and see the passion for audio the folks at Polk have. As others stated above, the R&D department was super cool, finally hearing the Blackstone and LSiM series was uber impressive and the new soundbar 9000, never considered a soundbar, but this thing is amazing.

Meeting all the CP members was awesome. Nice to put the faces to all the names/personalities and thank the folks that have helped me along the way. In a few hours I'm heading back to the weekend festivities and will enjoy good company for a second day.

To summarize, I've always loved Polk products but have a new found respect for what Polk stands for as a company. Great products and great people.

Thanks to everyone from Polk HQ and Club Polk,

John

nspindel

Hey, it's ok, don't worry about me. No, no, no. You guys party on. Have a great time. While you guys are all eating, drinking, and having a grand ole time, I'll just be here at home restoring a vintage set of SDA's. Carry on with your shenanigans, but some of us have speakers to tend to! :cheesygrin:

Seriously, wish I could have made it down there, but I had commitments at home last night and tonight.

In the meanwhile, I just did the bondo work on my CRS+ cabinets (those of you who read my earlier thread on these know that I completely botched the job of stripping off the old veneer, and created a lot of dings in the pressboard cabinets, and am using bondo to fix it on Jesse's recommendation). Tomorrow I will be sanding down the bondo and driving to my sister's house where her husband has an awesome wood shop in his basement, and will be doing all the finish woodwork on the cabinets.

My Dueland resistors are supposedly shipping from Denmark on Monday, hopefully I'll have them first week in October. The resistors are the last piece of the puzzle, once I get those I'm ready for full assembly.

Yes, I'm taking pictures. I'll put up a new thread on these once all the work is done and they're singing.

Have a blast at PF. Wish I was there!

amulford

It's just something you have to experience. It's just cool, ya know?

Tell Russ to get it out before I get there please. Just reminds me of the old days in the slaughterhouse...

Strong Bad

Antny, got the van full of fireworks ready?

I can't believe Stu approved a full re-enactment of the Battle of Baltimore in his back yard. Jesse has agreed to dress like Francis Scott Key and act like he's penning the Star Spangled Banner.

"...and the rockets red glare...the bombs bursting in air...'

Oh geez, there goes Stu's house.

Moose68Bash

dorokusai wrote: »

This is not just a daily event for them, this is not an open company so you should seriously be happy, hopefully thrilled that this happened if your a newbie.

Mark,

I can't speak for all the newbies who attended; only for myself. However, I can say categorically that I both understand and appreciate the hospitality, openness, and generosity of the Polk HQ team. Having worked in a couple of high-tech companies, where product development and engineering are closely guarded assets, I know what it says about the Polk team that they trust us Polkies, even newbies like myself, to walk around and learn from the demos that the experts gave us without even signing a nondisclosure agreement. It shows a degree of mutual respect and trust that have made me even more of an "evangelist" for Polk Audio. Talking with the dedicated employees and seeing how they do their work makes pretty clear why Polk products are so outstanding. They live and breathe the Polk principles, and it shows in the products they deliver. Thank you, all!

Now, I have to figure out ways to get a pair of Lsi M707s for my daughter and a Soundbar 9000 for my master bedroom!

Mark, thank you for all that you did to bring this Polkfest into reality! And thanks to everybody for bringing such a group of dedicated Polk users together, giving them the Forum to communicate easily, and making it fun to hang together and benefit from each other's know how and experience.

Warm regards,

Phil (A newbie with >100 posts!)

Fireman32

Ugh I am ao upset that I was not able to make it this year. I can at least say I was at the last HQ Polkfest and it was a great time. I will be sure to make next years wherever that may be. I cant wait to see lots of pictures.

reeltrouble1

OK, I have several old beer cans full of green beer left over from South Carolina 04, headed to Stu's to party on his front lawn and play beer pong with Abernathy and see if his belly is still made of cast iron.

It's Polkfest, its a Party, if you ain't here, you better mark your calender for next year.....look South to Carolina.

RT1

TheLovelyWendi

Hey honey(s)!
Miss you all--crying in my beer! I know it is a great time and will see y'all next year in Chucktown:razz:! Jesse-- mom says hello to her "boyfriend". And GG you better come south! It's been awhile you know! And AL we have some soju for you!
Drink and be merry!
XOXOXO
TLW

disneyjoe7

TheLovelyWendi,


I'm confused on how this is your first post? Did you change names? I remember you before on the board as????

TheLovelyWendi

could not remember my password...

nspindel

Why's PF moving to Charlestown next year?

Fireman32

Well I can say one thing. If PF is moving to Troy's next year he really knows how to throw a party. And its only a 4 to 5 hour drive for me. Cant wait until next year.

disneyjoe7

TheLovelyWendi wrote: »

could not remember my password...

Oh we can give you a pass for sure, but you know you can reset a password... LOL

JayCee

I just returned from Saturday Polkfest activities. I had another great day...spoke w/a cool bunch of guys, enjoyed tunes on the multiple rigs provided by Stu throughout his house and ate well during the provided lunch and catered dinner. When I left, approx 8 pm, the die hard party boys were just starting a round of shots. Needless to say, the party is still going on and will probably last into the wee hours of the morning. Photos were taken throughout the day by various folks, so I'm sure they'll start making their way to the forum over the next couple of days.

Also, Jon S, Polk's resident photo and AV guru, recorded video over the last 2 days at the request of Polk's parent company. He'll put together a 2 minute video and make it available to the forum. He also recorded CP member's testimonials for inclusion on a new marketing effort that will be available in the coming months.

Finally, a big thank you to Stu for offering up his house for this fine event! He was an absolutely terrific host.