Sneak Peek

D2Lo

We did a lot of research into wood and simulated wood at these price points. We were able to develop an engineered solution that looks and even feels like real wood, but also allowed us to shift more BOM cost over to better drivers so the product out performs expectation. All of the competitors in this range are use poor quality vinyls. These guys slot in above the T-series, effectively replacing multiple other lines so we have a cleaner Good and Better story at retail. The line is quite large though, so some of the product will be at Best Buy, some of the line will be reserved for more HiFi specific shops.

On the American HiFi, our products are designed, engineered, and voiced in San Diego and Baltimore, which is more than I can say for a lot of other brands. They are produced in Asia, in the same region as all of our competitors. We do as much of the work in the US as possible and balance making the highest performing product we can at the best price we can. The amount of months put into designing, engineering, and voicing these is incredible.

I know most of you guys are more interested in LSiM or RTiA, or our more vintage products. Though I think it is important to keep you in the loop on all of our new products. As I mentioned in the SDA convo, I am starting to play with another line that would be directly in your sweet spot, so I'd love to know what makes a beautiful cabinet to you?

Upstatemax

So if you're saying that these are slotted above the "T" series, I can assume these are below the RTi A's?

Or is that one of the lines that's being replaced? It seems to be a stale line at this point...

hochpt21

Michael, I appreciate your feedback to our feedback.

Speaking for myself I do appreciate the interaction lately. When the forum switched software, it really felt like Polk was intentionally trying to alienate us.

I have felt much more cared about lately which definitely re-affirms my loyalty to the brand.

I like the mention of replacing multiple lines, as I feel there is a whole lot of clutter currently offered in Polk's budget region.

Thanks again...

D2Lo

Upstatemax wrote: »

So if you're saying that these are slotted above the "T" series, I can assume these are below the RTi A's?

You are correct. we are moving up the line... so you know what I'm thinking about next... :-)

D2Lo

hochpt21 wrote: »

Michael, I appreciate your feedback to our feedback.

Speaking for myself I do appreciate the interaction lately. When the forum switched software, it really felt like Polk was intentionally trying to alienate us.

I have felt much more cared about lately which definitely re-affirms my loyalty to the brand.

I like the mention of replacing multiple lines, as I feel there is a whole lot of clutter currently offered in Polk's budget region.

Thanks again...

Great, I'm glad you feel that way. A lot of us read the forums. I happen to be a little more chatty so I guess I'm the one who typically posts, but I like to read more than I write on here as well. I think the forum is really about you guys so we don't want to make it overly corporate. We don't always get the balance right so these seems a little better based on your feedback.

I agree with your perception on the line. Ideally I'd like to get us to a clean good/better/best strategy, it takes time. 4 years in we have a full T series at the entry slot packing a lot of performance bang for the buck. That line has been really well received and is doing quite well out there, hopefully making new audiophiles. Now Signature taking up the next slot north. You guys will get all the nitty gritty details on these next week after the CEDIA press release. I think you will impressed by them. I've A/B'd them next to everything in their price class and a lot of things above. Matt, Stu and the ARAD team (Advanced Acoustics Research And Development) put a lot of love into them.

On the cabinet, there ares one really nice details that you can't see in those S&V adds that I'm looking forward to showing off next week. It is a very black baffle, I think the grey you guys are getting form the scan of the S&V ad is in part the scan and in part the fact that the baffle is very matte, while the trim plate that surrounds all the drivers is a piano gloss black, so the contrasts is matte to gloss is making it seem grey in that image. Of course my team did the industrial design, so I'm biased of course! You will have to check them out in person.

Upstatemax

D2Lo wrote: »

You are correct. we are moving up the line... so you know what I'm thinking about next... :-)

If you're planing a new RTi series, that would certainly get my attention!

BlueFox

D2Lo wrote: »

As I mentioned in the SDA convo, I am starting to play with another line that would be directly in your sweet spot, so I'd love to know what makes a beautiful cabinet to you?

Aluminum with massive internal bracing.

http://magico.net/Marketing/Press_Releases/M3_PR_2016.pdf

But keep the price a little below $75K.

mikeyb128

BlueFox wrote: »

D2Lo wrote: »

As I mentioned in the SDA convo, I am starting to play with another line that would be directly in your sweet spot, so I'd love to know what makes a beautiful cabinet to you?

Aluminum with massive internal bracing.

http://magico.net/Marketing/Press_Releases/M3_PR_2016.pdf

But keep the price a little below $75K.

Gorgeous speakers!

D2Lo

Sorry for the typos above, was typing up a quick response in between meetings... and now it is too late to edit so I'm stuck with them!

F1nut

Now you know how we feel about the stupid edit time restrictions.

lightman1

Play nice, Jesse. They were sold "The Best Ever!" Software.
But this DiTullo(?) guy...I like him.

haney

Reminds me of the QAcoutics speakers.
https://www.qacoustics.com/floorstanding-speakers.html

haney

Thank You ! Had a account from back in 2009, guess I lost it in the forum change.

lightman1

Haney.....welcome back.

F1nut

Michael, to address your question as to what makes for a beautiful cabinet. That is going to vary widely. Personally, I love the look of the original SDA's with the wood end caps and cloth sides. I also like the look of many other speakers with nice veneers or a gloss piano black finish. I hate oak, horrible looking wood that is best burned in a fireplace.

lightman1

Fair enough. 1b has place in my heart

tonyb

F1nut wrote: »

Michael, to address your question as to what makes for a beautiful cabinet. That is going to vary widely. Personally, I love the look of the original SDA's with the wood end caps and cloth sides. I also like the look of many other speakers with nice veneers or a gloss piano black finish. I hate oak, horrible looking wood that is best burned in a fireplace.

F1nut wrote: »

Michael, to address your question as to what makes for a beautiful cabinet. That is going to vary widely. Personally, I love the look of the original SDA's with the wood end caps and cloth sides. I also like the look of many other speakers with nice veneers or a gloss piano black finish. I hate oak, horrible looking wood that is best burned in a fireplace.

I agree on the oak Jess. When it comes to cabinets, most want something that looks like a piece of furniture, that will also blend in with todays family/living rooms. Not many have dedicated listening rooms so speakers have to be presentable in a way to please women too. The RTIA's in that cherry was nice, and probably evident by how fast they sold out.

Look to some other manufacturers too like Salk, I also like Legacy's ribbon mahogany. Rounded edges are a plus too, those old monkey coffin designs won't please todays women in a living room.

Not a fan either of the older SDA's with wood tops and cloth sides. The cloth attracted too much dust and the tops encouraged people to place their drinks on it. Could be why you saw soo many with those water rings on the tops.

F1nut

Yep, the cherry on the RTiA's is a great choice of wood and that is the perfect color for cherry.

Upstatemax

I would also look to Totem for speakers that have a high WAF. They have several great looking options that put out great sound from smaller footprints and nice finish options.

It's also nice that with the Totems that I've heard (Arro, Hawk and Element Fire) and the Focal's that I own that they don't have to pulled WAY out from a wall to sound good.

A lot of us simply cannot pull speakers 3-5 feet from walls.

D2Lo

I've been looking a lot into Walnuts and Mahogany as well. When we did the Woodbourne Airplay speaker I took a look through the Eames archive up in Petaluma CA to look at heir experiments with bent wood veneers in the 40s & 50's. Some really interesting stuff. They actually applied it to some speakers back then for themselves. The largest application came in super light weight but strong leg splints for the military in WWII.

motorhead43026

The leather chair is rosewood. Both designs are attributed to Eames. Eames "Charles and Ray" designed and Herman Miller manufactured.

sgtmick63

I agree with DSkip. Maple with black would look great.

xsmi

I've always LOVE the original SDA's and especially when the guys would do the end caps in exotic woods. During the early part of my teaching career (early '90's), I carried two brochures at the bottom of my briefcase; Polk Audio and Legacy Audio. What Legacy was/is doing with wood is a work of art in my book. I know that SDA doesn't work in narrow cabinets, so I think to get them in living rooms, we need quality wood/veneers.

F1nut

The first chair pic does appear to be a variety of rosewood. The next two are definitely walnut.

The thing with walnut, it's natural color is cold. A base color of yellow is required to warm it up.

That said, walnut, mahogany and cherry are a man's wood and therefore, great choices for speakers.

Upstatemax

F1nut wrote: »

That said, walnut, mahogany and cherry are a man's wood and therefore, great choices for speakers.

Would you say that you love a good man's wood?

You know, to sit on (chair)?

Grab one in your hand (custom pen)?

Do they still make a wood toothbrush?

nooshinjohn

Upstatemax wrote: »

F1nut wrote: »

That said, walnut, mahogany and cherry are a man's wood and therefore, great choices for speakers.

Do they still make a wood toothbrush?

To much steel wool on those brushes for my taste...

tonyb

Here is an example from Legacy. I like the modern sleek look, still looks like a piece of furniture worthy of any living room .




Good speakers these days cost a good buck, even from Polk. When people spend a good buck on anything, they want it to look like they did, even if they didn't. I know Polk's targeted audience may not warrant, or limit, cabinet materials and design fluctuations, but also going too cheap makes them look like it too. Has to be a happy medium in there somewhere, much like you did with the cherry RTIA's.

tonyb

This is the Rosewood finish, first pic was Cabernet.

tonyb

This is an optional illuminated viewing window.

tonyb

I have always wondered, feasibility aside, why Polk doesn't step out from the crowded field of speaker makers and offer a type of build your own speaker thing. You buy packages with ranges of drivers and cabinet designs, colors, baffles, and have a workshop with trainee's that Polk hires supervised by an experienced speaker builder. Maybe even an interactive experience for local people. Order made to order speakers over the internet, or come down and take part in your speakers build. See how they are voiced, tweek them to your preferences. Maybe offer a few things not available on the mass marketed stuff, like custom finishes, upgraded drivers or crossover parts. That way, the customer knows he has a Polk speaker, but a special one tailored just for him.

This covers many aspects of business in one place. You get a more personal interaction with your customer base, driving that loyalty factor also. Your employee's get trained with hands on experience. Customer gets what he wants, at the price he wants, in the finish and colors he wants.

Yeah, I know....costs money. You know the old saying though....cost money to make money. In my view anyway, in a world of digital disconnect as I call it, people are jonesin' for a little personal attention. Putting a face to a name, shaking a hand....basic things that solidify human interaction, loyalty, and friendships. When you solidify those friendships, that consumer base, your future customers will come to you, you won't have to go looking for them.

Maybe not as feasible as I'd like it to be, but sure would make the brand stand out in the crowded field of speaker makers.