New Polk Audio "Legend" Speaker Series shown at 2019 Hong Kong High End Audio Video Show

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Oh Lord, I’ve never listened to a podcast before! Here we go!

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vmaxer wrote: »

TopperDude wrote: »

https://anchor.fm/newrecordday/episodes/RMAF-2019--Ron-has-a-new-FAVORITE-loudspeaker-and-THE-MOST-IMPORTANT-ROOM-AT-THE-SHOW-e59eov?fbclid=IwAR0sE8trYC2eceZKprSNKknGwcOujA8TUPPC07lk7I5sCFqelvyzuK3NdSg


New Record Day podcast about the Polk Legend L800 SDA at the RMAF show

Thanks for sharing. Seems they have never heard SDA’s before.

This is interesting, and entirely plausible! A whole generation of younger audio enthusiasts were born after Polk ceased production of the SDA’s!

verb

I’m smiling after listening to the podcast. These guys are giddy! Game changer they call it, wow! Very exciting to see the younger generation be exposed to SDA for the first time!

Kinda like I was back in the day! Blew my mind!

I’m very happy for Polk, looks like they got a winner!

TopperDude

Have you guys seen the initial thoughts posted by Gene from Audioholics?

Initial Impressions by Gene DellaSala
Polk Legend L800 SDATheo Nicolakis and I were able to listen to the L800 SDA speaker system at the 1st Annual Sound United Event back in May 2019. It was hard to keep a tight lip on what an awesome sonic experience that was. When I first sat down in the room and saw the dual side by side dual mid/tweeter array, it reminded me of the Dominator MX speakers from the 80's comedy movie Ruthless People starring Danny Devito and Judge Reinhold. I thought to myself, this speaker is going to be a sonic disaster of comb filtering, unless they were doing some type of DSP to the signal or feeding 4CH discete channels of audio to it. From the first audio track they played for us, my concerns disappeared almost as quickly as the speakers in the room. I was left with a huge stereo soundstage that seemed to expand laterally past the sidewalls all while maintaining proper directional cues dead center when they should be. I just assumed we were listening to a multi-CH recording but Stu informed us after a few tracks that we were listening to nothing more than regular 2CH music. WOW! This was truly the most impressive speaker I heard at the Sound United event and had me fantasying about having a pair of these speakers in my own dedicated 2CH listening space. I thought to myself Polk has been reborn. Stu explained that the speakers had no DSP processing and they were only powered by a 2CH amp like any conventional speaker but with the addition of a proprietary cable attached between the two speakers to do the L-R and R-L cancellations similar to the old Hafler circuit. The L800 SDA is definitely a speaker we will be reviewing next year to further report on. I have fond memories of the old SDA series of speakers growing up in the late 80s so this is a nice homage to the past but with some impressive updates and what a great exit for Stu Lumsden. He must be proud of his 40+ year tenure at Polk Audio.

https://www.audioholics.com/tower-speaker-reviews/polk-legend-series

Clipdat

Hyme2019 wrote: »

Well I’ve confirmed the Polk Legend series will only be sold through Prosource dealers.

Source?

vmaxer

Clipdat wrote: »

Hyme2019 wrote: »

Well I’ve confirmed the Polk Legend series will only be sold through Prosource dealers.

Source?

@Hyme2019 is in distribution, probably has good information.

mhardy6647

TopperDude wrote: »

Have you guys seen the initial thoughts posted by Gene from Audioholics?

Initial Impressions by Gene DellaSala...

Stu explained that the speakers had no DSP processing and they were only powered by a 2CH amp like any conventional speaker but with the addition of a proprietary cable attached between the two speakers to do the L-R and R-L cancellations similar to the old Hafler circuit...

https://www.audioholics.com/tower-speaker-reviews/polk-legend-series

"Like the old Hafler circuit"
Is this damning with faint praise?

Jstas

It's been a looooong while, like over 10 years now, but when I went to Bob McG's place to get the Amazings, he had his massive and modded SDA's hooked up. He had them powered by Hafler amps and I believe he had the "old Hafler circuit" too. He did a comparison and while the Hafler circuit thing made a difference in imaging on any set of stereo speakers, it was more akin to the Carver Sonic Holography than anything close to what SDA can do.

Also, SDA pre-dates the Hafler stuff and it's just evidence of how out-of-touch that reviewer is. I mean, you don't have to know everything about audio to be a reviewer but man, is that some lazy journalism that this fool Gene couldn't be bothered to research his claims before publication. And where's the editor in this making sure the stories are correct, researched and annotated?

What passes for journalism anymore? I think I had more stringent requirements on my book reports in 6th grade than most "journalists" are subject to nowadays.

mhardy6647

Jstas wrote: »

...
Also, SDA pre-dates the Hafler stuff and it's just evidence of how out-of-touch that reviewer is. I mean, you don't have to know everything about audio to be a reviewer but man, is that some lazy journalism that this fool Gene couldn't be bothered to research his claims before publication...

The reviewer's out of touch, all right, but not on that point.

Just to be clear; David Hafler's (founder of Dynaco and proprietor before that of the legendary Acrosound transformer business) Hafler circuit/Dynaco's Dynaquad dates to the very early 1970s (maybe even late 1960s). In fact, there is a direct line from Hafler's "Dynaquad" to the matrix quad standards (SQ and QS) of the early-mid 1970s to Dolby ProLogic. The latter is a direct descendant of the former 'innovations', and the latter led to today's alphabet soup of multichannel formats (for better or for worse).

Note that I am not saying that Dynaquad is in the "SDA" lineage -- "SDA" is a direct descendant, as best I can tell, of early stereo recording research; specifically the binaural approach to making true stereo (audibly three dimensional) sound recordings.

Binaural audio has never really quite gone away -- in its very limited sandbox, it's a pretty phenomenal technique.

BDT

I had a Dynaco Quadaptor in the HT rig for quite awhile.......

I'm of the opinion that Quad (and it's itinerant variations) and SDA are different animals. Quad is....and this is MY opinion.....more about surround whereas SDA is only about achieving true stereo 2ch separation.

I'd argue that Sonic Holography is more akin to SDA, in terms of achieving the same effect via different means.

I thought the Quadaptor was a pretty cool device and in my application, offered results that were pretty comparable to Dolby Pro Logic.

I wonder if I sold that thing or if I still have it somewhere...

BDT

mhardy6647

BDT wrote: »

I had a Dynaco Quadaptor in the HT rig for quite awhile.......

I'm of the opinion that Quad (and it's itinerant variations) and SDA are different animals. Quad is....and this is MY opinion.....more about surround whereas SDA is only about achieving true stereo 2ch separation.

I'd argue that Sonic Holography is more akin to SDA, in terms of achieving the same effect via different means.

I thought the Quadaptor was a pretty cool device and in my application, offered results that were pretty comparable to Dolby Pro Logic.

I wonder if I sold that thing or if I still have it somewhere...

BDT

I concur (FWIW) -- with the possible exception of Carver's "Sonic Holography" You may well be right about it; I just have limited ears-on experience myself, so I dunno.

PS There is a QD-1 Quadaptor here, too! (imagine that...)

rooftop59

mhardy6647 wrote: »

BDT wrote: »

I had a Dynaco Quadaptor in the HT rig for quite awhile.......

I'm of the opinion that Quad (and it's itinerant variations) and SDA are different animals. Quad is....and this is MY opinion.....more about surround whereas SDA is only about achieving true stereo 2ch separation.

I'd argue that Sonic Holography is more akin to SDA, in terms of achieving the same effect via different means.

I thought the Quadaptor was a pretty cool device and in my application, offered results that were pretty comparable to Dolby Pro Logic.

I wonder if I sold that thing or if I still have it somewhere...

BDT

PS There is a QD-1 Quadaptor here, too! (imagine that...)

Superfluous components at the hardy house?!? I don’t believe it...

BDT

I've listened a good bit to SDA, SH and the Quad...........

Sonic Holography.....you know, it COULD sound good under certain circumstances. El Grande (RIP) was a big believer in SH. I was not....but the mention of Bob Carver gave El Grande a woodrow, so there is that. I digress, on certain material and as long as the setup was perfect...SH worked as advertised and the effect was similar to SDA.

IIRC, Polk also released some early rear surround speakers that had the Hafler circuit installed.


BDT

FTGV

The SDA difference signal is extracted exactly like in the Hafler/Dynaquad circuit. The difference being (no pun intended)the extra speakers/drivers are used at the front of the soundstage instead of the rear. Hafler's circuit preceded SDA by over decade.

mhardy6647

I was gonna throw some shade on Mr. Carver (not Mr. Grand!), but I decided it was imprudent and off-topic

nooshinjohn

mhardy6647 wrote: »

I was gonna throw some shade on Mr. Carver (not Mr. Grand!), but I decided it was imprudent and off-topic

Leave Bob out of this... or Fmalitz will show up and begin telling us how he made Polk what it was back in the day, and how we would all have gramophones if it weren't for him and his supreme intelligence.

oldrocker

^^

mhardy6647

nooshinjohn wrote: »

mhardy6647 wrote: »

I was gonna throw some shade on Mr. Carver (not Mr. Grand!), but I decided it was imprudent and off-topic

Leave Bob out of this... or Fmalitz will show up and begin telling us how he made Polk what it was back in the day, and how we would all have gramophones if it weren't for him and his supreme intelligence.

I had that very thought when I originally besmirched Mr. Carver a wee bit in a prior post above... and then edited it and cleaned it up.

I mean, I coulda picked on... you know... Leon Russell.

https://forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/177800/leon-russells-estate-sale-i-had-to-smile

Kurt300

Skip, my sources say that the Polk Legend series will only be sold through Prosource dealers. You're welcome.

mhardy6647

Dang -- my sources don't even know what a Prosource dealer is.

Hyme2019

I think it’s lame in my 3 state territory there is maybe one dealer I can see maybe displaying them. And I see him bringing in the SDA towers and after he sells them, well I would be surprised if he brings them back in only because he does Paradigm, KEF, Focal, Golden Ear, SVS, Klipsch, Martin Logan, so Polk would be like his 7th line in terms of importance. So 3 states and maybe one dealer. Sometimes I don’t get manufacturers. The Signature line for example. Great product, but it’s beginning to be footballed around too much and I assure you we aren’t the reason why. Manufacturers can control pricing, Paradigm and or Kef would be 2 good examples. So then Polk comes out with some excellent products that won’t be well distributed at least in our area. I get making sure a dealer is authorized and qualified to sell such product, but in this area even B & W will be by far more widely distributed by comparison. You shouldn’t have to drive 6-7 plus hours to maaayyybbeee be able to see and hear product. But what do I know.

rpf65

mhardy6647 wrote: »

Dang -- my sources don't even know what a Prosource dealer is.

That’s an English word worth only $0.44. That’s a pretty cheap word you have to look up.

Hyme2019

DSkip I assume your a prosource dealer what lines of speakers do you carry?

mhardy6647

ahh, I see...
https://www.prosourceinfo.com/

Hyme2019

DSkip, I don’t think it matters if you buy through distribution or are prosource either way when product goes on “sale” online I don’t think Polk is passing along any sell through credits, that being said we do offer discounts via instant rebates from time to time and they come from Polk. You have a Nebraska Furniture mart near you, in Texas right? I’m not sure I see nfm selling a lot of $6,000 a pair speakers, but I could be wrong. Been a while since I’ve been in one.

TopperDude

From secrets of home theater and high Fidelity:

Polk audio used RMAF to launch their new Legend line of speakers to the general public. While they had static examples of the entire line on display, the speaker that was doing "all the talking" in this demo was the flagship L800 SDA. The SDA in the name stands for Stereo Dimensional Array which was invented by Matthew Polk in the early 1980s. SDA's purpose is to minimize the interaural crosstalk that occurs with all stereo speaker by using specially configured driver arrays to help cancel the effect. Anyone remember those full page audio magazine ads, back in the day, with Mr. Polk standing in front of some pretty imposing speakers? Same principle at play in those speakers back then has been refined and is at play in the new L800 SDA. For SDA to completely work it's voodoo, you need to sit precisely between the speakers, hence the seating arrangement you see in the photos. When I moved off center during the demo the L800 SDAs sound like a very good pair of conventional speakers. When I sat myself down in the money seat however, sonic imagery came into super-tight focus. I was able to pick out exact positioning of performers in the jazz ensemble piece that was playing. Not just from left right but from front to back as well. It was eerily precise. The L800 SDA had plenty of dynamics and great overall sound that you would wish for in a pair of speakers. But that experience in the center seat was more than just some gimmick, it's addictive. MSRP is $6000.00 for a pair. Availability should be later this year.
Polk Audio
#RMAF2019 #Loudspeakers #polk #press

ptrooper

Can't wait to put my ears on these down under .....What equipment and cables were used on the L800's
at the RMAF?
Sorry if this has already been asked!

mhardy6647

TopperDude wrote: »

From secrets of home theater and high Fidelity:

...For SDA to completely work it's voodoo, you need to sit precisely between the speakers, hence the seating arrangement you see in the photos. When I moved off center during the demo the L800 SDAs sound like a very good pair of conventional speakers. When I sat myself down in the money seat however, sonic imagery came into super-tight focus. I was able to pick out exact positioning of performers in the jazz ensemble piece that was playing. Not just from left right but from front to back as well. It was eerily precise. The L800 SDA had plenty of dynamics and great overall sound that you would wish for in a pair of speakers. But that experience in the center seat was more than just some gimmick, it's addictive. MSRP is $6000.00 for a pair. Availability should be later this year.
Polk Audio
#RMAF2019 #Loudspeakers #polk #press

[emphasis added]

The reviewer clearly did like 'em, but the Jamaican bobsled team seating configuration seems like something that dealers may have to sell against.

F1nut

Definitely Marantz gear and probably Audioquest cables.

ptrooper

Thanks Jess,you wouldn't know the internal size compared to the big old boys would you?