MVP of your system - make it known here!

lightman1

mhardy6647 wrote: »

lightman1 wrote: »

rednedtugent wrote: »

I slipped on some snake oil once and slid right into a white van.
I Bose'd my knee and had a monster headache.

But it all got better when you rested under the Maple-shade......

... or, even better, nightshade.

Two shots of Hemlock, barkeep!

mhardy6647

with an absinthe chaser, please...

Gatecrasher

Reading through this thread it appears that very few people on here even have Polk speakers?

motorhead43026

Deleted, wrong thread.

dromunds

Oh, I think they do

motorhead43026

I own SDA's, Monitors 10 & 7.

lightman1

I've lost count. 3.1 are my first big league SDA. I've got/had everthing from 4's to 10's. SDA 1A,B,C 2B(somewhere in VA ).
Just a lot of variety in sound signatures to say I like just one.

Joey_V

Gatecrasher wrote: »

Reading through this thread it appears that very few people on here even have Polk speakers?

Polk is the glue. It started this mess for me.

I have deep respect for Polk and have lots of fond memories of my lsi9.

heiney9

The later SDA's just do "it" for me. Never tire of listening to them. Perhaps it's a bit short sighted on my part not to really audition anything else, but they still make me smile and still sound so damn good. Why mess with it?

H9

Joey_V

What are these Veeentage speeekurz you guys talk about?

Just playing, I never heard sda but someday I'd like to. I've read the premise behind them.

Anyway, back to the MVP thread... Anyone else?

mhardy6647

I've moved on to single-ended DHT fleapower and large format/high sensitivity loudspeakers, but...

I've got Polks -- still trying to grow a pair of larger ones, though.

DSC_5417 by Mark Hardy, on Flickr

Mike Reeter

The MVP rating on my rig would be:

1. VPI Classic Signature SE Turntable/VPI Periphery Ring/Stainless Center Weight/VPI SDS/SoundSmith VPI-Zephyr Cartridge. MSRP $7250.00 (source first)

2. Polk Audio SDA SRS 3.1TL's. MSRP $2000.00 new, plus $1200.00 in mods/Dreadnought.

3. Rogue Audio M-180 Monoblock Amplifiers. MSRP $6000.00

4. Rogue Audio Perseus Preamplifier. MSRP $2200.00

5. Rogue Audio Ares Phono Preamplifier. MSRP $2000.00

6. MIT Cables Shotgun S1 Speaker Wires and Interconnects. MSRP $3700.00

I hate to put the MIT's at the bottom of the list, as I feel they have a significant impact, but you know, they're just wires.

Joey_V

Mike Reeter wrote: »

The MVP rating on my rig would be:

1. VPI Classic Signature SE Turntable/VPI Periphery Ring/Stainless Center Weight/VPI SDS/SoundSmith VPI-Zephyr Cartridge. MSRP $7250.00 (source first)

2. Polk Audio SDA SRS 3.1TL's. MSRP $2000.00 new, plus $1200.00 in mods/Dreadnought.

3. Rogue Audio M-180 Monoblock Amplifiers. MSRP $6000.00

4. Rogue Audio Perseus Preamplifier. MSRP $2200.00

5. Rogue Audio Ares Phono Preamplifier. MSRP $2000.00

6. MIT Cables Shotgun S1 Speaker Wires and Interconnects. MSRP $3700.00

I hate to put the MIT's at the bottom of the list, as I feel they have a significant impact, but you know, they're just wires.

Source first.

Mike Reeter

Joey_V wrote: »

Source first.

Yes Sir, you know the saying...

afterburnt

Joey_V wrote: »

Thought long and hard, here is where I stand in terms of my MVP.

1. MVP - room treatments - $3,500 msrp, paid msrp (still have 1 order left)
2. Boulder 2060 amplifier - $45K msrp, bought preowned
3. Emm Labs Dac2x and TSDX combo stack - $30K msrp, bought preowned
4. Audioquest WEL speaker wire - $31K msrp, bought preowned
5. Speakers - $22K msrp, paid near msrp, bought new
6. Cary SLP-05 - $8,500 msrp, bought preowned

Tight wad lol

gudnoyez

My Parasound A31 $2000 silver it brought my HT rig to a different level.

WagnerRC

I would have to say my Cary 306. This is one great piece. Purchase used 2K

Joey_V

WagnerRC wrote: »

I would have to say my Cary 306. This is one great piece. Purchase used 2K

I hear ya on that. A piece I owned.

WagnerRC

Joey_V wrote: »

WagnerRC wrote: »

I would have to say my Cary 306. This is one great piece. Purchase used 2K

I hear ya on that. A piece I owned.

I know. That is why I am also interested in hearing the Cary slp05 vs. this Joule LA-100Mk3 This preamp has really made me smile.

afterburnt

Usher N-6361 in one system, they sound pretty sweet
OPPO BDP-103D in the other system because it does damn near everything

Upstatemax

If I had to rank:

Totem Arro speakers: $1700 MSRP, paid nothing (yet)
Parasound HCA 1500A: $1k MSRP, bought used
Parasound P5 Preamp: $1,100 MSRP, Bought new
Oppo BDP-103: $600, bought new
Audioquest wiring: about $650 MSRP, bought mostly brand new

Someday I'll move up the line in some of my stuff. But for now, I'm digging my system!

nooshinjohn

Superstars of my rig is my TriangleArt turntable setup, and my Carver Statements. Then the Pass Labs stack that pulls everything together. I don't think there is anywhere else my system can go without completely starting over from scratch.

WTS

DSkip wrote: »

Gatecrasher wrote: »

Reading through this thread it appears that very few people on here even have Polk speakers?

Valid point and one Polk recognizes. Many on here have moved on or stuck with vintage models, but the products did create this community and the community still supports the products. I can say I am excited to have current production Polk products in house that I listen to on an almost daily basis now.

Good point.

Hint: Polk does have a sale this week. Hmmmm....

Joey_V

WTS wrote: »

DSkip wrote: »

Gatecrasher wrote: »

Reading through this thread it appears that very few people on here even have Polk speakers?

Valid point and one Polk recognizes. Many on here have moved on or stuck with vintage models, but the products did create this community and the community still supports the products. I can say I am excited to have current production Polk products in house that I listen to on an almost daily basis now.

Good point.

Hint: Polk does have a sale this week. Hmmmm....

So true

Moose68Bash

Gatecrasher wrote: »

Reading through this thread it appears that very few people on here even have Polk speakers?

I have two sets of Polk SDAs -- 1.2tls & 1Cs -- both of which are about as modified as Trey and I can make them. If I had more skills in this kind of stuff, I might push them further, but they are extremely good as they now are.

I also believe they are the MVPs in my systems where I use them, because their performance is, to my mind, the sine qua non of the whole rig.

If they cannot produce the high quality sound that comes from upstream components, then I'm not going to appreciate these other components. This means that if or when my speakers do not appear up to the task of delivering the signal "from above," it's time to look for better speakers.

So far, I haven't found any that are obviously better than the SDA SRS 1.2tls, but then I don't pretend that I have done an exhaustive search. Moreover, there is no real way to compare my present speakers to alternatives without moving the new alternatives into my listening environment, which is not any easy matter for me. I'm not yet prepared to even think about it.

C'est la vie! I'll just listen to what I have with a big smile on my face!

Upstatemax

I still have Polk speakers. They are sitting in my basement...

FXi3's that got pulled from surround duty so that I had 806V's all around me.

I'm working on something for them though!

Erik Tracy

MVP in my system is my Musical Fidelity A5 Int Amp - per the forum's good recommendations on Musical Fidelity's products.

It took my HT setup to a different level for music. Power, control, balance, built like a tank (and about as heavy as one), and the ever useful HT Direct feature.

halo

Gatecrasher wrote: »

Reading through this thread it appears that very few people on here even have Polk speakers?

That's a good point. I've owned many Polk speakers. I started with the R30 floorstanding speakers which revealed that there was much more detail hiding in the music I'd been listening to my whole life and never heard before. Mind you, the R series was the entry level for Polk Audio at that time and they were not well regarded on this forum back then. I moved up from the R30s to the R50s and I had a CSi20 center channel to match until I found a CSi25 center channel at Frys. Then I ditched the R50s in favor of the R15s paired with an SVS 20-39 PCi sub. My HT was augmented by the addition of an HK AVR 340 and a Denon Univeral player.

For 2-channel, I tried Monitor 10A, 10B, Monitor 11, R.T.A. 11T, and R.T.A. 15TL before moving away from Polk for 2-channel purposes. Then I went with Von Schweikert VR2 floorstanding speakers then on to InnerSound Eros MK II hybrid ESL speakers with a 600 watt InnerSound x-over / bass amp. I tried TAD-60 tube amps on the panels & the woofers but I preferred having the InnerSound bass amp on the woofers and a Sanders Sound System ESL amp on the panels.

Then life got in the way and most of the setup had to go.

I held on to the Polk R15s (FL, FR, SL, & SR w/ the CSi25 and the SVS 20-39 PCi for HT while borrowing a pair of the Von Schweikert VR2 speakers from my brother, who bought them from me but wasn't actively using them, with a SlimDevices SB3 supplying WAV, FLAC, & other music files to the setup).

When I moved, I made the mistake of selling my SVS, thinking it had no place in an apartment. Then I got rid of the HK AVR 340 (I still regret that as well) and I had just the two Polk R15s & CSi25 in the living room with a pair of R15 in the bedroom.

That setup was underwhelming, to say the least. So, I popped on into this forum after a long hiatus looking for advice on bookshelf speakers that are easy to drive and deliver really balanced sound. The good folks here suggested several different options and I went with a pair of Energy Reference Connoisseur 10 bookshelf speakers and a Energy Reference Connoisseur LCR for the center channel. I replaced the R15s in the bedroom with a pair of Polk Audio RTi6 bookshelf speakers purchased from Polk's eBay store.

Everything sounded pretty good but I got bit by the upgraditis bug and bought the Energy Reference Connoisseur 70 floorstanding speakers. I was a very happy camper with the RC10 in the bedroom and the RC70 + RCLCR in the living room.

Then Andrew Jones moved from Pioneer to ELAC and announced the coming of the Uni-Fi series of speakers.

I was on the hunt for an amp to drive the Uni-Fi speakers and, once again, the good folks on the forum here (specifically @tonyb ) pointed me to McCormack and their fine line of musical amplifiers. I found a preowned model on Audiogon with mods by Bob Backert and I pulled the trigger (one of the best audio purchases I've ever made).

I auditioned the ELAC Uni-Fi line at AXPONA 2016 and I sold off the Energy Reference Connoisseur speakers to fund the purchase of the Uni-Fi speakers (UC5 & UF5 initially but I also tried the UB5 thanks to the good folks over at ELAC). Unfortunately, what I heard at AXPONA did not carry over to what I heard in my listening environment. I sent the ELAC setup back and, luckily, found a set of the Energy Reference Connoisseur 70 & RC-LCR on CL. I added a DIY sub to the mix with the ELAC speakers because they were seriously lacking low end reproduction but I did not need the sub with the Reference Connoisseur 70 floorstanding speakers in the apartment. I also managed to pick up two additional Energy RC-LCR speakers for use in the bedroom and they sounded great (by far the best speakers in the bedroom setup so far).

Then curiosity got the best of me as my favorite speakers from AXPONA were a set of Dynaudio Confidence C1 Platinum "bookshelf" speakers demoed by Joseph Audio. I cannot afford those but I'd heard good things about Dynaudio using their former top end drivers in their current entry level gear and I wante to give them a shot. A seller had relisted his set of Dynaudio DM 2/6 speakers several times without any takers so I made him an offer. Eventually, we agreed on a price and I had my chance to audition the Dynaudio speakers in my listening environment. I was blown away and very happy that these modest, entry level speakers gave me a lot of what the C1 Platinums did during the demo. Pairing the DM 2/6 with the sub brought it all together along with the addition of the right preamp, amp, speaker cables, interconnects, & power cables.

Everything took time to assemble. Some combinations of gear didn't work as well as others. Some of it is probably just luck that something paired well together.

So, I'm definitely grateful for Polk speakers and for this forum. My audio journey has been going on for most of my life and things sound good right now.

I hope that Polk has a winner with the Signature Series. This company has gone in a few different directions since I hopped on board and it seems like they are turning up the heat on the competition!

Jetmaker737

I have Polk Monitor 70's in my HT

DarqueKnight

1. Polk Audio Signature Reference System 1.2TL loudspeakers. MSRP $3400 in 1989 ($6650 in 2016 dollars). I spent an actual $7,884.42 in electronic, cabinet, and cosmetic upgrades, plus 156.5 hours of labor doing the upgrades. My 1.2TLs were purchased in 2001 from the sister of the original owner, who inherited them after he passed away. Electronics and cables have come and gone over the years, but the 1.2TLs keep getting better with age (and upgrades). They are the most valuable player because they generate a wide, deep, clear, detailed, and weighty stereophonic sound stage, which is the primary performance metric for a stereophonic music system.

2. Digital Source Component Group, in order of importance/contribution to sound quality:

A. Bryston BDP-2 Digital Player, $3495,
B. DCS Debussy DAC, $11,500,
C. DCS Puccini U-Clock Word Clock, $5,500.

($20,495 Group Total MSRP)

3. Pass Laboratories XP-30 Preamplifier, $16,500.

4. Pass Laboratories X600.5 Monoblock Amplifiers, $22,000/pair.

5. PS Audio P-10 AC Regenerator (for source components and preamps), $5,000.

6. Cables Group, in order of importance/contribution to sound quality:

A. AudioQuest Everest Speaker Cables, $11,700/8 foot pair.
B. AudioQuest Sky Generation 2 72V DBS XLR Interconnect Cables, (4 pairs), Revelation
Audio Labs Digital cables (2), $14,377.
C. PS Audio AC-12 (10) and Premier SC (1)Power Cables , Revelation Audio Labs DB25 Power Cables (2), $14,892.

($40,969 Group Total MSRP)

7. Analog Source Component Group: in order of importance/contribution to sound quality:

A. Ortofon MC Windfeld Moving Coil Cartridge, $4,094.
B. Graham Phantom II Tonearm, $5,500.
C. Teres Audio Model 255 Turntable, $3,400.
D. Pass Labs XP-25 Phono Preamplifier, $10,600.
E. Teres Audio Reference II Turntable Motor, $1,395
F. Sonic Purity Concepts & Design Record Clamp, $400.

($25,389 Group Total MSRP)

8. Room Treatments Group: in order of importance/contribution to sound quality:

A. Spatial Computer Black Hole Anti-Room Resonance System, $1,352.
B. Auralex Acoustics C24 Acoustic Panels (3), $339.

($1,691 Group Total MSRP)

9. Power And Mechanical Isolation Tweaks: $4,870.

General Notes:

I'm very pleased with the sonic performance of this system. The only things I would change at this point are adding more room treatments and taking out the turntable.

I have moved away from disc-based music media. The turntable system will be taken down as soon as I complete the transfer of my records to digital format. All of my CD and SACD discs were transferred to digital file formats during the spring of 2015.

If I had a dedicated listening room, I would go all out with acoustic treatments. Aesthetic considerations in my living room prevent me from doing a complete acoustic treatment. However, my partial treatments have yielded good-sounding results. The room response plot below was measured by Dayton Audio's Omni-Mic system at the listening position.