The Polk Legend Series is coming

muncybob

If these sound as good as it's been written, I'm afraid to audition them down the road. It would mean saying goodbye to my 2Bs....not sure I can do that. Of course, I could win the lottery and it would then be a mute point.

msg

F1nut wrote: »

I like the base in Figure 6A and 6B much better than the end result, which I find very odd....even ugly.

I was thinking the same thing, and would have preferred these designs too. With the final build it looks like the speaker is hinged on the front baffle, like one of those old spring-steel S-chairs. I know it's rear supported, but had half a thought along the lines of, well that's gonna snap right off.

But... I'm really intrigued with these 800s. Love those dual 10s, wow. Fat and beefy. I can only imagine what they do to a room, especially with the PowerPort.

Is PowerPort a patented Polk proprietary design? I haven't seen a lot of other speakers, so I'm not sure if anyone else does something like this.

I just heard the 800s are on sale right now on Adorama, with free shipping.

msg

Ha, anyone with a Sound&Vision account wanna school this guy in the comments?
https://www.soundandvision.com/content/polk-announces-its-most-advanced-speakers-ever

BDT

I gotta be honest......sans grill, the L800 kinda looks like a frankenpolk experiment with JBL's. With grills, better. Not good, but better.

The angled baffle, as Hardy points out, is not a revolutionary idea....

That all being said, man, I can't WAIT to hear these. I wanna, I wanna, I wanna.......and while 6K isn't chump change...at this point in life, it's not out of the question either.

How will they compare to old SDA? Ok, pull out a pair of old Monitor 7's (Not a fan of the Monitor 10's) and compare them to a pair of LSiM's. Probably hear the lineage but they are fundamentally different sounding speakers. I think you could possibly draw and analogy there. My PERSONAL opinion is that the newer Polks LSi's/LSiM's were "better" speakers but more clinical......my old Monitor 7A's and SDA's were more musical. I'm not knocking the new stuff but the older stuff, the edges were rounder, if you will.

Now, we've had this argument through the years and is one of the areas that F1 and I fell into different camps. I was solidly in the there will never be another 2ch SDA speaker. The world had passed SDA and 2ch by and Polk moved on to a "move boxes" and satisfy the masses company. Again, not a criticism as they continued to make good gear....but I didn't see them ever making boutique gear. Especially since the boutique buying segment were never accepting of SDA anyway. Even the folks at Polk, SDA junkies to a person, conceded that they didn't think the market would support it. Matt said so himself in Doro's kitchen back in '05.

F1 always maintained that it could be commercially viable in a certain segment. Well, apparently F1's logic and/or insistence found roots someplace in the current Polk hierarchy. I shudder to think at the number of knee pads he wore out.....I digress, so, we shall certainly see how this pans out and I couldn't be more excited.

Personally, I think F1 should get the first pair off the line from Polk.

Just my .02.

BDT

P.S. I used to have a TON of Polk Bucks back in the day.....I wonder if they are still valid? Heh, heh, heh...

Emlyn

Apart from the geniuses who worked at Polk on the new speaker line, and those who kept faith with the SDA concept, I suspect a lot of credit for bringing SDA out of the interesting concept phase to a marketable product belongs to Sound United. It takes some financial muscle and risk taking to back a 3 year product development cycle resulting in a product that won patent protection again, and it was apparently beyond Polk's capability as a standalone company. Now they just need to rebuild a dealer network. That may be the hardest part!

oldrocker

Waiting and watching.....I foresee a boatload of stuff going up in the flea market.[/quote]

Got a room full of stuff that needs to go, might even sell the 76 C3 that's been sitting for way to long.....

Emlyn

Regarding Focused Image Geometry, the S&V poster is correct that it was an attempt by NHT to address crosstalk and time alignment. It was also possible to do so by simply toeing a speaker cabinet in. What was notable about NHT speakers back in the day is that they were early on the market in building a very large speaker cabinet with large woofers in a very narrow profile. Other companies adopted some of the same ideas. But, SDA is much more than the poster realizes.

jflail2

I’m just waiting for the (hopefully) inevitable LsiM fire sales that are surely right around the corner.

BDT

Emlyn wrote: »

Apart from the geniuses who worked at Polk on the new speaker line, and those who kept faith with the SDA concept, I suspect a lot of credit for bringing SDA out of the interesting concept phase to a marketable product belongs to Sound United. It takes some financial muscle and risk taking to back a 3 year product development cycle resulting in a product that won patent protection again, and it was apparently beyond Polk's capability as a standalone company. Now they just need to rebuild a dealer network. That may be the hardest part!

I don't know about that......I can't speak to what Sound United's thought process is but I don't think that lack of financial clout was the limiting factor in Polk's shelving of SDA. I don't know what the financials were but it didn't appear that Polk was exactly on financial life support.

The stated objective of Polk at the time was to put good sound into as many hands as possible.....and 2 channel SDA didn't really fit that narrative. Now, they did employ it in the sound bars so it wasn't as though they abandoned the concept completely but big, hulking speakers with multiple driver arrays just wasn't where they believed the market was. Now, I don't THINK that the new SDA is going to sell a lot.....as the masses aren't going to drop 6K for a pair of speakers. However, I'd bet the line of thinking is that if you can get the audiophile press on board and create some buzz....it could elevate the snob appeal for the brand and, therefore, move more of the higher end boxes. Polk alum, Sandy Gross seems to have employed that tactic to some degrees of success.

Again, just my thoughts rumbling around...

BDT

msg

Emlyn wrote: »

Regarding Focused Image Geometry, the S&V poster is correct that it was an attempt by NHT to address crosstalk and time alignment. It was also possible to do so by simply toeing a speaker cabinet in. What was notable about NHT speakers back in the day is that they were early on the market in building a very large speaker cabinet with large woofers in a very narrow profile. Other companies adopted some of the same ideas. But, SDA is much more than the poster realizes.

Interesting. My take on that post was that he didn't seem to realize SDA technology was around earlier than the 90s, and yes, seemed to minimize it.

Inspector 24

I’m sure that single sound and vision comment will fade into oblivion. Nothings new everything is been done but if you tweak it just enough you can still patent it.

Haters going to hate. I have no doubt these all sound amazing.

Let’s talk about when the Polk at home demo program starts.

xschop

Haven't peeked in for awhile here. Kudos for Polk finally resuscitating and updating the SDA legend. I can attest that Power-Ported SDA's sound phenomenal hehe.
Where's the "CRS" update version?

VR3

This has been on the main audio circle feed for a few days now... Mix of haters and Praisers

Normal stuff!

CH46E

Anyone know if these new SDA will need as much space as the last. I really hated to let my SRS 2 go, but my listening space was just to small for them to work.

@F1nut

Forgive me if it's been covered. Too many posts to try and keep up with.

displayname

txcoastal1 wrote: »

If you are in the Dallas area, Nebraska Furniture is holding a demo tomorrow night 5-8pm...hahaha, the date is wrong on the website

Well shoot! I would have gone to that. I even saw this and marked 11/9 off on my calendar. What a bummer. Hopefully they had a few people show up.

K_M

One question.

I have seen many claim they would much desire a new SDA speaker with better drivers and implementation over the last few years.

How many are going to step up and purchase them right off, or are you all waiting to hear them first and read reviews?

I know for me, the price seems a bit steep.
Not comparing old to new, but just in todays world of speakers, how many will take the plunge?

VR3

I would highly consider them around 4k, 6k is to touch for me

F1nut

CH46E wrote: »

Anyone know if these new SDA will need as much space as the last. I really hated to let my SRS 2 go, but my listening space was just to small for them to work.

@F1nut

Forgive me if it's been covered. Too many posts to try and keep up with.

I would say yes.

afterburnt

mhardy6647 wrote: »

afterburnt wrote: »

Send me an FF coupon code and I will buy em. JK, I am 9 months out from retirement and am saving for important stuff like hookers and blow.

Good to see someone with a solid grip on his priorities.

Actually I am saving for a telescope and a 1911

Inspector 24

I’ll be waiting for the 50% off fire sale.

mhardy6647

Inspector 24 wrote: »

I’ll be waiting for the 50% off fire sale.

I suspect I'll be dead (ideally, old and full of years) by the time they fire sale this line.

maximillian

Don't know about that. The LSiM series could be bought on Polk Ebay store for half off after only a few years.

Hope they have someplace local to be able to listen to them properly. That may be their biggest disadvantage... finding a showroom that sets them up properly. The Dealer Locator on Polk's site lists only Best Buy for anywhere close to me (central MA).

F1nut

maximillian wrote: »

Don't know about that. The LSiM series could be bought on Polk Ebay store for half off after only a few years.

Hope they have someplace local to be able to listen to them properly. That may be their biggest disadvantage... finding a showroom that sets them up properly. The Dealer Locator on Polk's site lists only Best Buy for anywhere close to me (central MA).

The Legend speakers are not going to be sold at Best Buy.

CH46E

This is how I deal with the fact that I can't pay $6K for the new Legends.

rpf65

I’m waiting for Joey to buy a pair, without telling his wife, so I can win the Karma when he has to get rid of them.

mhardy6647

maximillian wrote: »

Don't know about that. The LSiM series could be bought on Polk Ebay store for half off after only a few years.

Hope they have someplace local to be able to listen to them properly. That may be their biggest disadvantage... finding a showroom that sets them up properly. The Dealer Locator on Polk's site lists only Best Buy for anywhere close to me (central MA).

Did I know you were in Central MA?
We were in Central MA for a long, long time.

halen

This mentality. This waiting for blow off sales.

So many here talked so much and complained equally as much. Well now SDA’s are here. And now all this nonsense.

I never spoke highly of SDA’s because I never had the experience. But. I am willing to put my money where my mouth is.

It costs $2000 more than the 707’s. In the grand scheme of things, this is no where near high end price range.

I don’t give 2 cents for reviews either. I have a habit. I like what I like and not what others say. It is a very simple concept.

Pencil me in. If I like, I will own it. It is not complicated.

Inspector 24

Cool. Look forward to the review!

Polk has such a history of deeply discounting its products or being cheap on Adorama I think it’s hurt their retail value. Maybe this flagship can change that with more people like you.

nooshinjohn

Inspector 24 wrote: »

Polk has such a history of deeply discounting its products or being cheap on Adorama...

This is why many will hold off. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy of sorts. I hope Polk is able to sell them for the value that they are.

halen

rpf65 wrote: »

I’m waiting for Joey to buy a pair, without telling his wife, so I can win the Karma when he has to get rid of them.

Funny as that may be. I actually respect that guy a lot. Outside of this forum. He truly save lives. If I were ever in his shoes. Seconds. To save a life.......

This place brings back sanity among the bonds created.

Long Live SDA!