Polk Signature Series Official Discussion

mrloren

I agree with cfrizz,

The S60 are the better speaker, if you can't swing it. S55 you will lose a little bass and maybe a little depth.

I like my S60 a lot more than my RTi8 I had. A lot fuller sound than the Rti8 with less power needed to drive them. RTi floor standers should have an amp with them.

dannylightning

for music how would the S20 compare to something like the LSIM703 i would imagine the 703;s are on a completely different level..

i want to get a good set of book shelf speakers for a bedroom and i am wondering if these are worth looking at if i want a great sounding set of speakers and not just a good sounding set of speakers. i would imagine the 703 is a whole different animal

a few people have told me i should check out the S20 after mention i was thinking of getting the 703's.

rpf65

The 703 is a much better speaker

mrloren

If you are in the San Diego area you are welcome to come over one afternoon for a listen to the S20.

dannylightning

mrloren wrote: »

If you are in the San Diego area you are welcome to come over one afternoon for a listen to the S20.

thanks but im about 3k miles away..

would you say you can hear fine detail in music with the s20, for example if you close your eyes can you kind of imagine your at a live performance or do you pretty much know your listening to music thew a set of speakers.

i have had a few sets of speakers that you would almost feel like your were listening to the real thing and that is what i would like to have again..

my definitive sound that way but there just lacking mid range and they sound horrible for rock and roll music. for rock the guitar should be out front and driving but its like the vocals, bass and drums are out front and the guitar player is way off in the distance or something... for clean types of music they sound really good but i would say 75% of my listening is to rock and roll music..

mrloren

Yes the S20 is almost there to being in the performance. I don't have them setup the greatest either

Yeah I know it's not the greatest setup but it meets WAF

For where they are at they do sound great.

Most of what I listen to is 70's and 80's rock. Zeppelin, Scorpions, Rush, UFO Queensrych ect ect.

ken brydson

mrloren wrote: »

Yes the S20 is almost there to being in the performance. I don't have them setup the greatest either

Yeah I know it's not the greatest setup but it meets WAF

For where they are at they do sound great.

Most of what I listen to is 70's and 80's rock. Zeppelin, Scorpions, Rush, UFO Queensrych ect ect.

In the end thats all that matters. Rock on...

Derf

dannylightning wrote: »

would you say you can hear fine detail in music with the s20, for example if you close your eyes can you kind of imagine your at a live performance or do you pretty much know your listening to music thew a set of speakers.

My experience with my S20s after a little more than 100 hours on them, set up at ear level about 9 feet apart, is their tone is now excellent. Highs are detailed, mids are tight, mid-low bass is good, really low bass is lacking (but hey, these are bookshelves). I do not feel like I'm at a concert. I do not experience a wide, deep soundstage. But I don't expect that from $300 speakers. I will say Kenny G, Bob Seger, blues, and country all sound clear, tight, with no distortion. At times you can "hear" the drums in the rear, guitar to the right or left, voice in the middle. That seems to be dependent on the recording, though. Overall I'm really impressed with what these little speakers can do. Not reference level, but DSkip is getting me there shortly!

mikeyb128

DSkip wrote: »

By your definition neither fit that bill. There is only one pair of speakers I've heard where I felt like I was there and they were a big draw at LSAF. However, this is only true until you hear your next reference speaker. Then, you realize the issues in the past presentation. That's why this hobby is so addicting.

Which ones @Dskip?

dannylightning

mrloren wrote: »

Yes the S20 is almost there to being in the performance. I don't have them setup the greatest either

Yeah I know it's not the greatest setup but it meets WAF

For where they are at they do sound great.

Most of what I listen to is 70's and 80's rock. Zeppelin, Scorpions, Rush, UFO Queensrych ect ect.

if your happy with how they sound than your set up is just fine.

maybe i should try a set of these out after i sell my towers, the price is nice. the reviews i have seen are good.

i have seen a few reviews on youtube where its more of a sound demo but they seem to sound just like my little computer speakers. ill never understand why people think there letting you hear what a set of speakers sound like by posting a video of them playing music on youtube.

[Deleted User]

DSkip wrote: »

By your definition neither fit that bill. There is only one pair of speakers I've heard where I felt like I was there and they were a big draw at LSAF. However, this is only true until you hear your next reference speaker. Then, you realize the issues in the past presentation. That's why this hobby is so addicting.

Could they possibly be a set of speakers you are selling ?

mir3acles

Thank you so much for your reply. My next question that stands now is the price range similarity between S55/60 or definitive technology BP10B or Bowers and Wilkins 684. I went to best buy magnolia and they had the latter two but I could not compare them side by side with the signatures. Given the similar price range which one would be a better choice. I am not worried about the subwoofer as I already have one. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

mdaudioguy

Those are both "budget" models from the other brands, and cost $250/$300 more than the S60 per pair. With the others, the premium price is for the name. Both of those companies make some better speakers with some innovative features that are worthy of higher prices, but not all those features trickle down to the bottom. Polk's Signature series is their mid-line. It's a shame you couldn't compare them. I think they'd compare favorably. BB is probably afraid they wouldn't sell enough of the others! Save some coin and get the S60.

dannylightning

mir3acles wrote: »

Thank you so much for your reply. My next question that stands now is the price range similarity between S55/60 or definitive technology BP10B or Bowers and Wilkins 684. I went to best buy magnolia and they had the latter two but I could not compare them side by side with the signatures. Given the similar price range which one would be a better choice. I am not worried about the subwoofer as I already have one. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

ill throw this out three. definitive are usually very detailed excellent sounding speakers if you like the definitive tone, all the definitive i have heard have a similar tone. as far as music goes they sound great for clean types of music. but when it comes to rock and rool with heavily distorted guitar i think they sound lousy for rock, i would rather listen to my cheap polks for rock and roll music.. i think polks generally ( i have not head the signature series yet) sound good for any type of music and they sound good for movies too, the higher end polks sound amazing. people seem to really like the new signature series.

the few sets of B&W speakers i have heard sound very nice in the shop and they seem to have a nice tone and good detail. i have only heard them on a store shelf so its hard to say how i would like them if i bought them home.

i feel all 3 brands make a very good speaker and the one that sounds best to you is the one you should take home to try out.. and if you pick one and do not like it you can always return it to best buy..

mir3acles

Thank you so much for the replies. I am going to head out to best buy or frys today and try to compare the signatures with the other speakers if I can and see which one I like.

mir3acles

So I went back to best buy today and was pretty much in love with the Definitive technology 9040 but they were above my budget. None of the best buys I went to had the signature s60 on demo or in stock. Going to try the s55 tomorrow at another best buy. How different are the s55 from the s60?

F1nut

The S60 is not sold in Best Buy, only at select dealers.

dannylightning

mir3acles wrote: »

So I went back to best buy today and was pretty much in love with the Definitive technology 9040 but they were above my budget. None of the best buys I went to had the signature s60 on demo or in stock. Going to try the s55 tomorrow at another best buy. How different are the s55 from the s60?

do they have a version of that definitive without the subs ?? personally i would stay way from towers with sub woofers built in. sub woofer placement is critical to get good sounding bass in your listening spot. you got to find the right spot in your room to put the sub.. and most rooms i have had my stereo in it was not near the main speakers. the bass just sounded dead when putting it near the main speakers. in a few rooms like the one i have now the sub sounds great near setting next to main speakers.

check out this this article on sub placement.
https://www.svsound.com/blogs/svs/75365187-the-art-of-subwoofer-placement

codycatalist

I have a friend who gets 50% off Polk through his employer. A 3.1 with s20s as mains and an s30 seem tempting...Maybe add some Fxi A4s next year to round out to 5.1

Small, im sure it will sound good and not too expensive ($300ish without the FXIs).

mrloren

F1nut wrote: »

The S60 is not sold in Best Buy, only at select dealers.

They can be ordered at Best Buy now http://www.bestbuy.com/site/polk-audio-signature-series-s60-hi-res-triple-6-1-2-2-way-floorstanding-loudspeaker-each-black-washed-walnut/5622378.p?skuId=5622378 Amazon would be faster

My local BB doesn't stock any of the signatures, not even a demo.

I am really digging the Signatures too.

mir3acles

DSkip wrote: »

mir3acles wrote: »

So I went back to best buy today and was pretty much in love with the Definitive technology 9040 but they were above my budget. None of the best buys I went to had the signature s60 on demo or in stock. Going to try the s55 tomorrow at another best buy. How different are the s55 from the s60?

Where do you live?

Houston area..So this time when I went to BB I heard there def tech BP9040 and liked it alot. Got that one and set it up for now. It's a shame I was unable to hear the s60 which was on my top list. Any ideas how the s60 would compare with the def tech BP9040. The biggest advantage of def tech is that it's Bipolar which gives me a more room fill. Any thoughts.

mir3acles

Although I would have liked to go with the BP9060 but it was above my budget and the only difference between the BP9040 vs BP9060 is the bigger subwoofer driver which is sorta moot if you have a dedicated subwoofer.

rjkee

jmbgator wrote: »

Hi guys- Newbie here and interested in the Signature series. I have a Denon AVR-s720 7.2 receiver rated at 75W per channel (8ohm, 20Hz-20kHz,THD:0.08% 2 channel driven). How well will the receiver drive the signature series speakers? Will I run any risk of clipping? I'm thinking of starting off in a 3.1 setup and maybe upgrade to 5.1 in the future.

Right now, I'm thinking buying a pair of either S-20 or S-15 bookshelf speakers plus an S-35 center channel speaker.

Will my receiver handle the requirements for these speakers or will I need to upgrade my amp?

Appreciate any help. Thanks

Hi there! I'm new on the forum. Thought I would share some pretty interesting info that I dug up.
FYI: I have a Yamaha RX-v673. My left/right channels are bookshelf speakers Sony SS-B1000. The rest of my speakers are the Onkyo SKS-HT690 5.1 set (for my C/LS/RS/LSB/RSB/10"sub.
I ordered the Polk pair of S15 to replace my Sony SS-B1000 pair, that I always thought sounded rather muted or flat. Getting the S15s in on Friday. I will let you know how they compare!
Anyways, I always wondered what a speaker's sensitivity rating meant. You will find this pertinent to your question.
1) These Polk S15s have a sensitivity rating of 88db. That means that getting fed 1watt of power, they will output 88db heard at a distance of 1 meter. For every 3db of sound you want to hear coming out of that speaker above its sensitivity rating will double the power requirement. It is a logarithmic scale.
2) A reference volume at 'reference 0db' (a reference volume for movie theaters), is an absolute volume of 105db. Some audio receivers display their volume at negative reference volume scale - others display absolute positive decibels, or can switch.

So for a sensitivity of 88db @ 1W, 91db will need 2W, 94db @ 4W, 97db @ 8W, 100db @ 16W, 103db @ 32w, 106db @ 64W.

So you see that YOUR receiver having a peak Wattage per channel of 75 Watts is more than enough to make these Polk S15s reach reference volume.

If you had speakers that had a sensitivity of 83db - then 83db @ 1W, 86db @ 2W, 89db @ 4W, 92db @ 8W, 95db @ 16W, 98db @ 32W, 101db @ 64W, 104db @ 128W, 107db @ 256W.

You can see that you would need more power to push reference volume than most receivers are able to output!

In that second scenario with a low sensitivity speaker, two things can happen when you try to push the volume loud: 1) either the speakers can handle the wattage, but the receiver isn't rated for that much power - in which case the receiver amps overheat and burn out, OR 2) the receiver can push all the power needed to reach reference volume, but it is pushing more power than the speakers are rated at, - in which case the speakers start clipping, or bottoming out and get damaged.

Higher quality speakers with higher sensitivity ratings, like these S15s, should play more clearly at all volumes needed. Also notice that the upper power range for these speakers are 100W. Given the scale I gave you above, these speakers should be able to reach around 108db before reaching their peak rating of 100W.

txcoastal1

Keep in mind that the output rating on receivers is measured at 1khz
In addition to that it's not all about the watts but also current that the amp will provide

rjkee

txcoastal1 wrote: »

Keep in mind that the output rating on receivers is measured at 1khz
In addition to that it's not all about the watts but also current that the amp will provide

Thank you.
Not sure I understand the second part. Isn't electrical power based on current and resistance? P= I^2 x R. So for a 8 ohm resistance speaker setting, the 75 wpc receiver will output about 3 amps. If using 6 ohm speaker setting the receiver will set the current tol be 3.5 amps, right?

mhardy6647

If the amplifier can do it.

Into low impedance loads, some amplifiers run out of steam -- sometimes with disastrous results.

mhardy6647

The OTHER REALLY important thing to remember that for almost all loudspeakers, the "nominal" impedance is just that -- nominal. Impedance depends upon frequency.

The capacitative and reactive components of impedance also vary with frequency -- making for some interesting frequency-dependent effects on phase, too.

Here's a fairly typical impedance, and phase, plot (albeit a randomly-chosen one) of a fairly good loudspeaker (Harbeth P3ESR, from 2010) from Stereophile magazine.


source: https://www.stereophile.com/standloudspeakers/harbeth_p3esr_loudspeaker/index.html

The load that the amplifier 'sees' at, say, 80 Hz, is very different than it is at 40 Hz, 200 Hz, or 1000 Hz.

It is the complexity of a real-world load (i.e., loudspeaker) - and the complexity of the waveform (music!) that the amp and loudspeaker are tasked to reproduce - that makes the amplifier's job difficult (or easy, depending upon the amplifier and the loudspeaker). This is at the heart of "synergy" between loudspeakers and an amplifier.

mhardy6647

Harbeth spec'd the loudspeaker mentioned above as having a 6 ohm nominal impedance -- that's the little 'valley' in the region of 100 to 200 Hz, which is pretty typical practice for loudspeakers using dynamic drivers). According to the above-referenced Stereophile review, the manufacturer also mentioned that they're "easy to drive".

By the way, the complexity of "real world" impedance curves is part of the reason why most (virtually all) amplifier specifications are determined using a purely resistive "dummy load". (obviously, reproducibility is another reason, in fairness!)

Speaking of "purely resistive" loudspeaker loads -- the planar drivers used by, e.g., Magnepan (Magneplanar loudspeakers) are pretty much purely resistive loads. This impedance curve, measured for a Magneplanar MG3.6/R illustrates this. The resonant "hump" seen at ca. 1.5 kHz is due to the crossover between the LF and HF panels



source: https://www.stereophile.com/content/magnepan-magneplanar-mg36r-loudspeaker-measurements

F1nut

2) the receiver can push all the power needed to reach reference volume, but it is pushing more power than the speakers are rated at, - in which case the speakers start clipping, or bottoming out and get damage

That is incorrect. Clipping occurs from over driving the power source. Furthermore, one is unlikely to damage a speaker using an amp with rated power well in excess of the rated power handling of the speaker unless the user is just plain stupid. 99+% of the time damage to speakers is caused by using an underpowered amp while the user has cranked the volume level too high causing said amp to send clipped signals. Nothing kills tweeters faster.

lightman1

Infinity RSII can drop to 1/2 ohm loads. They are famous for killing amplifiers that aren't up to the task.