Polk L200 Speaker Demo Reviews

JayCee

dromunds wrote: »

Those stands are attractive with the L200’s.

Thanks. I agree. Cheapo brand I picked up at Wally Mart many years ago for a pair of 1st gen CRS's I had. Decent metal construction and can be plugged to fill with sand. Downside is the mounting points to the base and speaker support (V shapes) are plastic to include the speaker coupler. If I looked to seriously use these I'd have 1/2" to 3/4" steel plate cut/drilled/countersunk to replace the speaker support platform.

Nice design, plastic aside, because there are 3 collars (spacers) on the top that can be added/removed for height. I wanted to remove 2 after first listen of the 200's to get the tweeters closer to my listening height. Unfortunately, the bolt used for the assembly is sized for 2-3 spacers and a bit too long. However, dropping by one collar made a huge difference in dialing these lil' Polks in.

The name of the stand company is printed on the speaker end and covered by the speakers. Don't want to lift a speaker at the moment but will look when I move these to my next rig in the AM if anyone is interested.

JayCee

Friday bump on the thread. My time with the L200's is done and they are en route to audioluvr. I spent at least 50 ears on hours with them (easily more) and enjoyed every minute.

First on my CP list of chores...pulling out my notes to post results from using the EMI meter Verb's sharing with the club. Second, write my L200 review. Third, a few more things in the works.

Mike Reeter

JayCee wrote: »

Friday bump on the thread. My time with the L200's is done and they are en route to audioluvr. I spent at least 50 ears on hours with them (easily more) and enjoyed every minute.

First on my CP list of chores...pulling out my notes to post results from using the EMI meter Verb's sharing with the club. Second, write my L200 review. Third, a few more things in the works.

I knew you would enjoy them, looking forward to your thoughts.

Nightfall

I guess I'm alone here. I'm not a professional audio reviewer or anything even close to that but my simple thoughts...

Equipment used:

Dared MC-7P tube preamp (Wireworld PC)
B&K Reference 4420 amp (PS Audio PC)
MIT SL-12 speaker cables and matching jumpers
MIT SL-8 ICs
Mass loaded Skylan stands
Cambridge CXN V2 for digital (Shunyata PC)
Yamaha PX-3 with Denon DL-110 for analog

I didn't like them for music. The top end was too hot for my personal tastes and I thought they lacked a little bit of musicality. I'm not saying they were dry and lifeless sounding but it sounded to me like they lacked just a little bit of soul. If those descriptors mean to me what they mean to you I can't say. It's not a fair apples to apples but as far as music goes I like everything about the Rosso Pienza's better. The L200's are too bright on the top end for me. I haven't heard any other ring radiator tweeters but maybe they're not for me in general or maybe it's just the Legend tweeter.

The good. They were exceptional for video games and video content. I watched an episode of Picard on them and played a bunch of games as well and I truly liked them in that setting. IF I was to ever consider a new speaker line for my HT setup once I get that up and going to take over the vintage Polks I would certainly have the Legend line on my list.

JayCee

Nightfall wrote: »

I guess I'm alone here.

I can understand where your coming from. Being partial to SDA's it's definitely a different sound. They're even a far cry from 705's, which I owned, but moved on to my sister. I found, after several days of not listening to my SDA's, I came to appreciate the differences. Not that one was better, per se, but getting to know them and resetting my preferred listening expectations. Not sure this makes sense but I'll explain more in the review. However, I get what you're saying.

**EDIT TO ADD:

JayCee wrote: »

I spent at least 50 ears on hours with them (easily more) and enjoyed every minute.

What I meant by this is it may be more accurate to say I enjoyed every minute of being able to demo them...and I did like them. They aren't perfect but I know where they could fit in my life.

JayCee

Mike Reeter wrote: »

I knew you would enjoy them, looking forward to your thoughts.

Based on your gear and what I've read in previous posts, I'll go out on a limb and say we have very similar points of view.

mhardy6647

They

Nightfall wrote: »

I...

I didn't like them for music. The top end was too hot for my personal tastes and I thought they lacked a little bit of musicality. I'm not saying they were dry and lifeless sounding but it sounded to me like they lacked just a little bit of soul. If those descriptors mean to me what they mean to you I can't say. It's not a fair apples to apples but as far as music goes I like everything about the Rosso Pienza's better. The L200's are too bright on the top end for me. I haven't heard any other ring radiator tweeters but maybe they're not for me in general or maybe it's just the Legend tweeter.

The good. They were exceptional for video games and video content. I watched an episode of Picard on them and played a bunch of games as well and I truly liked them in that setting. IF I was to ever consider a new speaker line for my HT setup once I get that up and going to take over the vintage Polks I would certainly have the Legend line on my list.

(FWIW) They definitely struck me as polite (perhaps even to the point of being a bit soulless), as I said originally (the polite part, not the soulless part). I didn't have any trouble with their treble -- but, then again, I've got old-guy ears at this point in my life.

halo

Nightfall wrote: »

I guess I'm alone here. I'm not a professional audio reviewer or anything even close to that but my simple thoughts...

Thanks for your thoughts on the L200's Josh. I would not expect any speaker out there to appeal to everyone and that's why we all like different things. I appreciate your candor, sir!

erniejade

@Nightfall room dependent. In my den, they were wayyy too hot on top and got shrill fast. Same rig in the livingroom that is acoustically dead is where they sounded good to me.

marvda1

I found they got hot when you turned up the volume, the louder the harsher they got.

txcoastal1

Same issue I’ve had with nearly all ring radiator tweeters

nooshinjohn

txcoastal1 wrote: »

Same issue I’ve had with nearly all ring radiator tweeters

That's why I wanted to see them do a ribbon or diamond tweeter in this series.

audioluvr

Looks what I got today!

F1nut

A couple of windows?

audioluvr

No silly! The L200's. They're in front of my SDA 1C's on those top secret, spared no expense speaker stands!

Initial impressions are:

1. A little to bright for vintage metal. Especially with distortion effects. But that's just me. I don't listen to a lot of this so it's not really a thing but if you are a metal head and a fuddy duddy (like me), they may not be your thing.

2. Surprisingly good bass for their size.

3. Fairly well balanced from about 80 hz on up.

4. When toe'd in just outside of the listening position they are somewhat forward and throw a surprisingly good image beyond the width of the speakers.

5. Other than the heavy metal thing, they are quite pleasing and not fatiguing during extended listening sessions.

Equipment used:
Wireworld Mini-Eclipse speaker cables
B&K M200 Sonata monoblocks
Belles 21A tube pre
Cambridge Audio Azur 851N Streamer/DAC
Wireworld Silver-Eclipse interconnects between amp/pre/CA 851

audioluvr

Listening to John Prine on the L200's. They are some folk music playing speakers! Could be the whiskey talking though.

nooshinjohn

Folk, Jazz, classic rock/pop, country... they excel at that. Just don't confuse them with large orchestral pieces or Heavy rock/metal. They tend to whither on the vine when hit by that stuff. Metallica with a full orchestra and they actually cried just a but.

audioluvr

Agreed. They lack on full bodied music tracks and there is something grainy with electric guitar tracks that I can't quite put my finger on. Almost a buzzing, harmonic thing... like the background buzz from the old high school PA system or something. It's only noticed on a very few tracks I've played so far. Still, really enjoying them while I've got them.

Clipdat

Spammer just copying and pasting text from Doc Hardy's post.

mhardy6647

audioluvr wrote: »

Listening to John Prine on the L200's. They are some folk music playing speakers! Could be the whiskey talking though.

or maybe even an Illegal Smile...

https://youtu.be/MmjnQjRvPUQ

mhardy6647

Clipdat wrote: »

Spammer just copying and pasting text from Doc Hardy's post.

Not much of a spammer, though (in several respects)

mantis

I have received the L200's here yesterday. The box was a bit wet so I got them out and inspected them. Lucky the last guy who had them packed them up properly and they arrived here safe and sound.
The above mark on the front just for everyone to know is worse looking in that picture then in person. It's there but it's not that bad. Someone would still buy this pair as when you sit back from them you can barley see it and if you didn't know it was there you wouldn't see it.

I will be demoing them with an array of different gear and in 2 different spaces. I setup a spot in my un finished basement which where i setup has Gym Flooring which is a rubber like flooring. Concrete walls poured so sound wise it's not a bad space for acoustic, not much reverb unless you get crazy.

Anyway First impressions they are some very nice bookshelf speakers. Well built and have a similar polk sound to them. They remind me of the 703's and the LSI9's in ways but refined. I'll post my thoughts in a few days with the basement rig
( Rotel Integrated, Sony ES SACD, Panamax Surge and Audioquest wiring).

F1nut

Copied and reposted in the correct thread.

mantis Posts: 15,835
10:42AM
FIRST IMPRESSIONS DEMO
I have had the L200's for several days now and I have been listening to them with the following setup I put together for this demo

Rotel RX1052 Stereo Receiver
Sony DVPS9000es DVD / SACD / CD Player
Panamax PM5100ex Surge protector
Audioquest Rocket 33 speaker cables
Audioquest Mackenzie RCA analog cables
Velodyne DD 10 Plus just 1 ( but also ran by themselves.)

BUILD QUALITY
Beautiful build quality with high quality driver and Tweeter. Cabinet looks excellent with it's gloss black front and High satin like wood finish.
The binding posts are top notch and I love the wired jumpers instead of the brass/coper/gold plated jumpers you usually find on speakers. Excellent touch and give it a higher end feel.
I don't however like the Power port on the back. I think it takes away from the beauty of the speaker design. I don't know why Polk still uses this technology especially in a bookshelf speaker. Yes I know all the theory behind power port polk has been using this technology for decades. It's also just standard looking plastic. I don't what other material they could have used to improve on it maybe Carbon Fiber? But I think this speaker would have been more elegant if it was sealed or used a new port technology.
Most people who run bookshelf speakers for theater or 2 channel usually have a dedicated subwoofer to match them. Restricting the bookshelf to higher replay frequencies I think would make them even better like cutting them off at 60-80hz sealed.

SOUND
Man these things just take me back to a time when I had polk's in my main system. I have owned so many different polk speakers over the decades of being in this hobby and these are like the best polished versions to date. I would love to have a pair of LSIM703's which where here many years ago to vs them against them as memory serves me they sound a lot like they did but more refined more polished more detailed. Without having the 703's here and so m any years have gone by since I heard them I can only go on emotional connection I had with them.
The high end is crystal clear and detailed without making you want to leave the room after a few minutes of listening. I could sit in front of them and play my favorite music without getting bored or tired.
The Mid range is nice , slightly loose which I think is due to the port design but very pleasing to listen to. Warm inviting tones.
The Low end I feel seems forced and un natural again I have to say the port port even though polk claims to have an updated design, still to me seems like same old same old. It's loose and not detailed or tracks notes very well. Nothing like when you pair a subwoofer into the mix sealed design( Velodyne DD 10 plus). Those who ever compared a sealed subwoofer or speaker to a ported sub or speakers knows that there is a tightness difference one can hear on certain bass heavy music. It's harder to hear when things are calm or light recorded bass material but when things get slammed the ports show there poor design to me.

PRICE
For the money I think they would compete well against others in the price range. They have their own polk sound that is there in everything polk has ever made that was of higher quality. I can't speak for the sound bars and their entry level stuff as I have not spend any time with them but their RT SDA and LSI series I have a lot of experience with and that signature polk sound is there on every model.

erniejade

@mantis Nicely done!

indyhawg

Intro

I will not go into a lot of rehashed details that others have already covered but the L200s arrived very well packed. The speaker design is simplistic reminding me of the original monitor series from a time when I was first discovering audio. I liked the new binding posts and the jumpers that are used in this series as opposed to the previous series from Polk. I do not have a lot of experience with monitor size speakers other than my Usher BE-718s which have been the only monitors I have ever owned. So it was nice to get to listen to a pair of monitors outside of a show like AXPONA for instance.

For the purposes of this demo, I kept this in 2 channel only. My listening are is 13X13. The gear used is Monarchy Class A Monoblocks, a John Miller Tomcat Preamp with Telefunken 12AX7 tubes, PS Audio Perfectwave DAC, playing FLAC files, Tidal or CDs through a Sony DVP-7000. Speaker cables and ICs are by Analysis Plus. I did not use a sub in this demo. I used the Usher stands for the L200s.

Sound

The L200s play almost everything well. The highs are clear, sharp, and detailed. Mids are smooth and accurate. The bass is respectable for a speaker this size. The L200s image well placing the singer and musicians on the soundstage. Like others have said, female vocals shine. In fact, I feel female vocals are what this speaker does best. The vocals for Temptation by Diana Krall were dead center and silky smooth. The piano was nicely detailed and vocals sultry on Patrica Barber's "Invitation." With male vocals, “The Door” by Keb Mo were also centered and airy. Acoustic guitar was detailed. These sounded fantastic on Chris Jones’ “Road House and Automobiles” album. The bass is respectable as long as you keep the volume lower. I normally listen between 75 and 80 dbs. The bass became a tad loose on “Mystery” by Miles Davis when turned up.

If there is a criticism like others have mentioned is the more demanding music, the speaker can lose clarity and may put out some distortion. The harmonica on Junior Wells “What My Momma Told Me” sounded a little edgy which made me reach for the remote to drop the volume. For heavier rock, such as Dream Theater’s “Untethered Angel” the song begins to break up a little at high volumes. The electric guitars on Judas Priest's "Necromancer" became mushy when going to 85 db.

The only speakers I have to benchmark the L200s against were the Ushers. I did not want to put them against my SDA 2.3tls because they are two completely different speakers. I wanted to keep the demo as a monitor evaluation in nearfield. So in comparing sound quality against the Ushers, the L200s pleasantly held their own until pushed. The vocals were thicker and the bass was heavier on the Ushers for “You Don’t Know How it Feels” by Tom Petty. The opening guitar is more forward on “Communique” by Dire Straits with the Ushers. The L200s are slightly more efficient though. The sound stage is a little wider with the Ushers. However, the imaging with the L200 is very similar. The Polks were not embarrassed at all sound quality wise. The Ushers are several pounds heavier and slightly larger and are more pleasing to look at. A point to remember is the Ushers retailed for quite a bit more than what the Polks are going for.

Conclusion

The L200 is a fine offering from Polk. From what I have heard of the Legend Series, they are my favorite speaker line Polk has released since the Monitor/ SDA series. However, the price has me feeling the same way about the L200 that I did when I heard the L800 this past fall. The price places Polk in a very crowded field where there are a lot of great speakers in this price range on the new and used market. So I question how well they will sell. While I think these are nice speakers, I do not consider them a value which is what I have always considered Polk---a great “bang for your buck” speaker.

I want to thank Jesse for putting this demo together. I enjoyed my time with these speakers. I would say they are a recommended speaker by me.

Mike Reeter

Great Review, you have a very nice setup to hear what they have to offer. I also found the L200's to be an "Intimate" speaker, Female vocals and Acoustic work is where they shine. In a small space, with some Tube influence, yep.

erniejade

Very nice review.

mantis

It seems that everyone who listens to them all share similar opinions on them.
Price wise I think they might be a tad to high as the competition is steep. But that's only a personal opinion as someone might like everything they do vs everything one can find at that price point. They do a lot right.

Milito

Great review.

tonyb

I'm refraining from my impressions because everyone before me pretty much nailed it. We risk sounding like a broken record. I'll just hit some high notes from my observations.

That Polk sound is there, only in spades. Maybe a Polk+ is more a designation for the sound signature. I was kinda hoping for something that might deviate from that a bit more and boost them a tad bit more into a higher end sound. They do sound good don't get me wrong, but I don't think the price matches the sound in my view. Lots of stiff competition in that range.

Most my high end gear is gone, so basically a Grant Fidelity Tube dac and a Sonos, with a B&k amp had to provide for listening. These speakers can definitely throw out the sound, I'd liken them to LSI's on steroids. One thing I did notice as some others did too, when pushed....the performance seemed to go down the louder you cranked them. The Tweeter couldn't handle everything thrown at it and got a bit edgy on certain songs at certain volumes. They seemed happy just above normal listening levels. Midrange is full, tight, almost drawing a tad bit too much attention to itself but I like a solid midrange anyway. Highs were clear and crisp but not fatiguing....well until you pushed them anyway. Didn't care too much for the looks with the grills on, looked way better naked. All in all, a good speaker, just not good enough for the asking price in my view.

My main concern was the obvious deterioration of sound the louder I cranked it. Once the volume got past a certain point, sound quality started going in the opposite direction. This baffled me, and I'm wondering if this is some sort of limitation in the parts used in the crossover because the drivers seem capable. Maybe Polk can get a handle on that in house before the next iteration comes out.