PLEASE resurrect high end car speakers and PLEASE make a shallow mount subwoofer

Toy Civic

If anyone at Polk Audio is actually reading this, please resurrect a high end car speaker set meeting or exceeding the specs of the discontinued SR6500, SR5250, and SR subwoofers. Also please produce a high quality shallow mount subwoofer.

I'm a serious audiophile and have been a Polk Audio owner and fan since the 1990's for the home and for a few cars. I currently have a set of SR6500's since 2010 and absolutely love them. If something happened to them such as theft or damage, it's nearly impossible to get another set. The mid level MM6501's are fine for many, but not good enough for serious listeners.

Perhaps the best thing to do is redesign and re-introduce the SR front components. However, I would really like to see a 3 way system option using the design philosophy from the SR front components, perhaps with a 6.75 inch midbass, 3.5 to 5 inch midrange, and the same ring radiator tweeter. I drive a 2004 Honda Pilot with the 6.5 midranges low in each door and my leg blocking much of the midrange output. My tweeters are currently molded into the small sail panels by each door mirror. I could properly fabricate, mold, and position a mounting location for a 3.5 to 5 inch midrange in the lower A pillar plastic panel and use a high pass crossover point in the 300-500 hertz range depending on midrange size.

I used to have a Polk MM104 subwoofer in a small sealed enclosure. However I wanted 100% of my cargo space back. I fabricated an MDF/fiberglass enclosure in the factory subwoofer location with 0.42 cu ft internal volume sealed enclosure with an Alpine Type R SWR-T10 shallow mount subwoofer. My total external depth was only 4.25 inches meaning 3.5 to 3.75 inches of internal top mount depth. The MM104 subwoofer was too deep or else I would have kept it. My Alpine subwoofer setup has superb sound quality down to 28 hertz and reasonable SPL exceeding 120dB with 300-500 watts. I believe with the right engineering, Polk Audio can meet or exceed the Alpine shallow mount specifications.

Polk Audio specializes in speaker technology and is an American made brand. Most others are Japanese or European. Stay competitive and elevate sound quality, not diminish it.

Thanks

WLDock

The high end car audio market has been tough for about the last ten years. Polk has seen its share with low sales and company ownership changes, etc, etc.


Don't hold your breath that the SR line will return anytime soon...

nguyendot

If you can submit a market analysis that shows a demand great enough to warrant production, I'm sure they'll listen. Otherwise the market is down and if there's no money to be made they won't make the product. High end car audio is really dead nowadays with most cars coming with acceptable audio and many even mid range cars coming with what would be considered hi-fi a decade ago. I used to be in the scene with all Focal components and clean amplification. Then I got my car with Logic7 and honestly - that's all I need as it sounds good and fits with the car well.

WLDock

nguyendot wrote: »

I used to be in the scene with all Focal components and clean amplification. Then I got my car with Logic7 and honestly - that's all I need as it sounds good and fits with the car well.

Yeah, I had a FOCAL 3-way set myself....back when I was trying to build a show car to compete.

Anyway, I have to agree about the level of OEM systems. I was a bit shocked at how bad the system sounded in the Chrysler Pacifica generation CUV and how much better the system was in the Dodge Journey generation CUV. More than enough fidelity for the average listener in just one generation of improvements.

MacLeod

nguyendot wrote: »

If you can submit a market analysis that shows a demand great enough to warrant production, I'm sure they'll listen. Otherwise the market is down and if there's no money to be made they won't make the product. High end car audio is really dead nowadays with most cars coming with acceptable audio and many even mid range cars coming with what would be considered hi-fi a decade ago. I used to be in the scene with all Focal components and clean amplification. Then I got my car with Logic7 and honestly - that's all I need as it sounds good and fits with the car well.

Focal, Hertz, DLS, Hybrid Audio, Dynaudio, Seas and Morel all make high end car audio speakers and have forever. If they can, I dont see any reason why Polk cant. I get it that there isnt that much demand for high end car audio speakers, but there is apparently enough out there that you can still sell some and make a little money. Hell Pioneer's Stage 4 line is as good as anything on the market and it doesnt get more mainstream a brand than Pioneer.

There is also a marketing aspect to it. Focal makes superb sounding high end speakers so a lot of people buy their lower end stuff because of that. If their higher end speakers are the cat daddy, then the lower end will be high quality as well. If Polk is only making speakers midrange and below like Kenwood, Kicker or Rockford Fosgate, theyll only be considered a midrange and below brand like those 3 as well. Ive been hanging out on car audio forums for over a decade now and thats pretty much how its thought of. A lot of people were buying the Momo line when the SR's were out simply because they were widely known as among the best speakers on the market (proved by yours truly using them against the best brands in the world) but ever since DEI essentially killed off Polk's car audio line, their reputation has gone down as well. You rarely see Polk mentioned in recommendations other that those looking for $100 coaxials and then its with 3 or 4 other brands usually followed by "whichever is cheaper".

So yeah, I dont understand the total neglect of the car audio segment from Polk aside from the $100 entry level stuff especially when they were once considered one of the top brands available and their home audio speakers still are. Like I said, there are plenty of brands that have been offering extremely high quality speakers and are still going. Some brands like Morel, Seas, Hybrid Audio and Dynaudio ONLY offer high end stuff and theyre still in business.

Ill be using my SR's til they rot. Im still competing with them and Im still winning most and finishing high in others. Im going with kick panels this season with my SR5250 mids in them and the SR6500 mids in the doors as midbass. Ill be a loyal Polkster til the day I die even if they drop the car audio line completely and this forum becomes all but a memory but I do dream of the day when they decide to get into the high end market again.