Polk L200 Speaker Demo Reviews

audioluvr

F1nut wrote: »

Attention Group A (walnut L200)

I am aware that one of the tweeters has a bent tip, so no need to report that.

Alright! Who rubbed their nads on them!

deronb1

Are there gonna be any reviews?...lol

F1nut

Damn well better be.

deronb1

Polk refurb store on ebay has a pair for around $1,200

gmcman

tonyb wrote: »

Dang, I feel sorry for the dude that has to follow one of Ray's reviews.

Yeah no doubt...I should have added mine before his..lol. Work with the holidays pretty much consumed me, I apologize....I will give my thoughts within a few days.

displayname

Alright, review(s) incoming. I’m going to break it into a few parts.

I was able to take the L200's on a bit of a tour of DFW and got to try them side by side with several speakers and with a pretty decent range of equipment thanks to the help of Marvin and Skip. I'm going to share my thoughts mostly by comparison of what we heard that day. Some things could be considered direct competitors, some things are in a different price point entirely. I'm just going to share comparisons of everything so if you've heard any of the gear I mention you have a frame of reference. I'll also include a few playlists I put together to give an idea of the music that was sampled. Feel free to ask any questions and I'll elaborate on whatever.

Here’s the main thoughts and input right up front:
I think the L200’s might be priced a touch high, but not offensively priced. When I consider Nebraska Furniture Mart, Music Direct or other vendors that may be carrying this line, I figure they will most commonly be seen up against Revel, Martin Logan, B&W, Klipsch, SVS, and maybe less commonly JBL, Elac, Warfedale and Kef. Not all those brands have direct price point comparisons currently, but that’s what I’d expect to see in the same test rooms. I’m not overly familiar with everything from all those lines, but from what I am familiar with I do think the Polk’s will hold their own in that line up and they will sell plenty of these.
Having said all that, the tone on these was not my favorite. Bass performance is better than expected in small to mid-size rooms, but that didn’t carry over as well in a larger room. They are detailed, so if that’s a big factor for you, these will likely be a great fit. You also don’t need the most powerful amp if you’re working with a smaller space.

Stop #1 – My House
The speakers obviously spent the most amount of time in my house. My room is my living room which is fairly small and it’s a bright room. 12 x 15 with 8ft ceilings, speakers on the long wall. The left side of the room opens to the dining room. Tile floor, a bay window to the right, and the biggest challenge is because of my front door placement, I need to keep the speakers much closer to the wall than I would prefer, and the couch is up against the back wall. It’s either that or give up the primary walkway. This is not an audiophile’s ideal space, but it is very much a “real world” room.

My speakers are the JBL Studio 580.
Associated Gear:
Digital – Cambridge CXN v2 streaming Tidal
Analog – MoFi Ultradeck, MoFi MasterTracker, Sutherland 20/20.
Amps – MasterSound Duventi and Kinki Studio EX-M1 (on loan from Marvin)
Interconnects – Zu Mission
Speaker Cables – Wireworld Mini Eclipse 8

I did some streaming, but the majority of listening is with the TT. But I did use a lightly expanded version of Skip’s old setup playlist so I’ll attach that: https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/28d8ad38-27d1-4f9a-9a35-aaad55382be4



Compared to the JBL’s, the L200 had a narrower stage, but it also had more depth. My room obviously present so challenges for creating depth, but the JBL sound never gets more deep then the front baffle. But the JBL’s best attribute is probably the wide soundstage they project. In my room the effect of the power port on the L200s was probably the best attribute. I gave up some of the slam/impact of the JBLs, but they generally felt like they were digging just as low. The power port also helped clean up a lot of boom caused by the proximity to the back wall. I honestly think the Polk power port is a great design and I’m surprised more brands don’t create something similar. Because I hadn’t picked up the EX-M1 yet, I figured I’d just see how these would do with my Duventi. Set for 20 watts using the 4 ohm taps I was surprised to find that they had no problem getting up to comfortable volumes in my room. With the EX-M1, I found the top and bottom end both picked up. A little more slam, and more bite on the top end. Somewhat annoyingly so if I’m honest. When I had the L200’s pired with the EX-M1 I found myself always overly focused on high end. It wasn’t grating, but when tracks would have a continuous high hat, I felt like that’s all I could hear. I kept thinking “why is that f’ing cymbal tap all I can focus on???” I had trouble getting lost in the music with that amp combo in my room.
The Duventi didn’t present this same sound, and I ultimately spent more time with the Duventi + L200s. The tubes did a great job smoothing out the top end, but the bass was also a little slower and less textured as the tradeoff. That was the same issue I had with my JBLs that lead me to the Duventi in the first place. I will say that the L200s undoubtedly had more detail than the JBLs. Nothing felt as fluid to me, but it certainly created more defined imaging and brought out some extra detail.

More to come with some in depth comparisons from Marvin’s…

displayname

Stop #2 – Marvin’s Place @marvda1
The additional stops will be much more rapid fire since we did more combos and I spent less time with each combo. I’m going to list each speaker we used, and directly compare that to the L200, which will serve as our baseline here. Marvin’s room is a dedicated listening space with some sound treatments. It’s a bedroom, but I’m not sure on the measurements. It’s a very comfortable size, but would probably still count as a smaller room.

Associated gear:
Jay’s Audio CDT2-MK2
DAC: Musical Paradise MP-D2 Mk3 Deluxe (forgot the tubes he has in there)
Amp: deHavilland Ultraverve 3 + Ayre v6xe
I don’t recall which cables were all in play, but we didn’t swap out any cables, just swapped out various bookies on the same gear.

Overall the findings in Marvin’s room were generally similar. Decent depth and solid detail, but slightly narrower soundstage and the midrange and high end seemed a little dry and brittle. Bass worked well in the room, and imaging was solid. However, I did notice in Marvin’s room more so than anywhere else that the center image felt larger. Not really closer, but larger. Like the idea of someone being presented in a close up on a screen vs a standing on a stage.
Marvin had an old BMW demo CD that we used that didn’t have any tracks on Tidal, but the bulk of what we listened to can be found here: https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/15fbf26a-59f3-42e9-8b1d-a9fad1509c2e
The Chris Jones tracks served as our main constant for the day, and we listened to those two tracks on every speaker that day.


Comparisons:
Revel M16 – These were a big step in the opposite direction in every way from the L200. The L200 was much livelier, fun, detailed and engaging than the M16. Of everything we listened to that day, the M16 was by far the most laid back. Almost sleepy to an extent. This was easily the most contrasting pair to the L200, and the difference in range and detail is to be somewhat expected given that the M16 is about half the price of the L200. (I don't think I got a pic of these)

Onix Refrence 1 – These speakers didn’t image as well as the L200, or dig as deep. It was close, but the L200s did beat it out in those catagories. But the Onix did tone so so so well. It really made the L200 feel clinical in the top end and upper midrange. These speakers did vocals, midrange and acoustics so well. I felt the L200 was missing something that I couldn’t put my finger on, and the Onix made if very obvious. This is when I really realized the tone of the L200 might not be for me.


SoundTech MC15 (Harbeth clones) –The MC15 are not nearly as full range as the L200. They are also significantly smaller in a compact sealed box. Not really a direct comparison because of the massive design differences, and the MC15 is again noticeably less than the L200. But again here you really notice the difference in tone. The MC15’s do excellent midrange. Again, L200 beats them out for extension in both directions and in imaging. But when it comes to sitting down and enjoying music, the tone on MC15 are much more enjoyable for my taste.

displayname

Final Stop – Skip’s Place
Skip’s room is much larger than the previous rooms I’ve discussed. Not sure on the measurements, but we’re looking at taller sloped ceilings in a room that is more than double the floor space of my room or Marvin’s room. At Skip’s place we jumped around with various amps, as well as various speakers and music. We also got to see how the L200’s scaled up on more amps and my fiancé joined us for the first few hours. Overall it was a ton of fun. Here’s a playlist with most of the music we bounced around with throughout the day: https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/d1449603-324e-49c1-b5a7-a849f118af00

One thing we noticed in this room in the bass impact really fell off quickly. The speakers simply couldn’t pressurize this room as well, no matter what amp we paired it with. It changed the whole sound pretty significantly. Honestly, if you want to consider the Legend line and you’re working with a bigger well treated room, I think you should be looking at the L600 or L800. Here the Mastersound Evo 845 brought the best sound out of the L200, but that combo seems pretty far fetched as the customer of and Evo 845 would most likely not be considering the L200.

Associated Gear (in various combinations)
Lumin U1 Mini Streamer
DAC: Norma DS-1 (CD Player/DAC)
High Fidelity Reveal cables
Amps: Mastersound Duventi, Norma Revo IPA-140, Kinki Studio EX-M1, Mastersound Evo 845


Comparisons:
Polk LSi9 – This is probably the single most important comparison I will make in my entire review. How does the LSi9 hold up against the new L200. Quite well in my opinion. The L200 does offer more detail, but like the Onix at Marvin’s I felt the tone on the LSi9 was so much more natural. If you have the LSi9, I personally wouldn’t make the change unless you are really craving more detail. And I do quite honestly feel that the detail in the L200 comes at the expense of natural tone. If I was looking a photos, specs, build quality, pretty much everything but sound, I would probably select the L200. But if I was able to hear both of these with no background information and only listening, I would pick the LSi9 every time. My fiancé felt the same almost immediately. Again, just our opinions in one situation, but that’s the impression I walked away with.

Usher T-515 – Spoiler, these are in my system room now. I flat out enjoyed these more than the L200. The L200 again might edge out slightly on detail. The soundstage was wider. Depth and imaging was about equal of these two, and I do prefer the tone on the Ushers. This all holds up in my room currently. Previously I didn’t even want to listen to these because I hated the look, but I figured why not for the experiment. It’s a good reference point for anyone that heard them at Lone Star awhile back.

Rosso Fiorentina Elba – This isn’t really a fair comparison to be honest given the price point and design differences. If we had the L600 it would be more interesting. I’ll leave it at that. (I have a pic, but I didn't want to get too far off topic)

I’m going to wrap it up here since I made my main points at the start. The L200 are a solid option, but they were not a great fit for my taste. Others likely feel differently. I could see them excelling more in a home theater set up where the excitement of the sound can shine and the slightly narrower sound stage is offset by using more speakers.

Hope this is helpful for anyone considering. Remember your ears should have the ability to override anything I said here. Looking forward to seeing others opinions as well!

F1nut

Nice review Willie, thank you.

deronb1

Great read! Thank you!

tonyb

Wow, Willie sure gave them a tour of Texas. Nice write up bro and comparisons.

treitz3

That took a while to assemble and write up, not to mention do! Well done, Willie. Well done.

Tom

K_M

@displayname

So would you characterize them as somewhat boosted top end, or more than a bit?

I noticed several comments about "Detailed" and the top end...

We have Lsi9's the only one I can compare to, and they sound quite neutral, tone wise to me.

Mike Reeter

When it comes my time for the review, I'm going to use the Copy & Paste approach

A lot of members here could very be Professional Reviewers. Very well done!

marvda1

I found that when the volume was increased the highs began to grate on my ears.
my room is also 12 x15 x8.
cables were argento organic speaker cables, analysis plus solo crystal oval interconnects, wireworld gold starlight 6 spdif, power cords by Cullen.

displayname

K_M wrote: »

@displayname

So would you characterize them as somewhat boosted top end, or more than a bit?

I noticed several comments about "Detailed" and the top end...

We have Lsi9's the only one I can compare to, and they sound quite neutral, tone wise to me.

Compared to the LSi9, the top end is certainly boosted. You'd notice it right away coming from the LSi9 regardless of amp pairing. Like Marvin just said, higher volumes and more power didn't do it any favors either.

But I can't deny more detail is there. One good example was at Marvin's we listened to Stairway to Heaven. On all the other speakers, you could hear the tape hiss, but it wasn't really distracting. On the L200, it was hard to look passed in the softer intro, and it really was a factor right up until the larger instrumentals picked up. That's not really enjoyable detail in that case, but it is detail.

treitz3

For reference, what volume levels was "Stairway to Heaven" being played at?

Tom

mhardy6647

... gonna have to come back to @displayname's triptych; lots to chew on there!
Thanks!

Milito

Great review, thanks!

displayname

treitz3 wrote: »

For reference, what volume levels was "Stairway to Heaven" being played at?

Tom

I would guess mid 70dbs with peaks in the 80s. We didn't measure that, but Marvin and I tend to listen at about the same volume and that's about where I've measured things in my house. Measuring via phone app, nothing crazy.

I should also point out that the mastering in the Tidal playlist is likely different from the CD Marvin had. I don't know which exact mastering we had, but it was from Mothership and it was in a card sleeve, not a jewel case: https://www.discogs.com/Led-Zeppelin-Mothership/master/4787

F1nut

Mothership is mastered so hot that I couldn't listen to it.

marvda1

I noticed this tendency to become harsh at higher volume levels on other songs that with my reference speakers just gets louder and louder with the strain in the upper region.
I also felt that the sound was not balanced across the frequency spectrum.

indyhawg

Nice review Willie.

smglbrth

Nice review, seems there are many here with the same general "thread" on these...

dromunds

marvda1 wrote: »

I noticed this tendency to become harsh at higher volume levels on other songs that with my reference speakers just gets louder and louder with the strain in the upper region.
I also felt that the sound was not balanced across the frequency spectrum.

Are your reference speakers the Rosso Fiorentino Volterra’s?

marvda1

yes.
even the onix ref 1 with a tweeter in the same family did not exhibit this harshness.
note that in it's day the ref 1 was known to be a little hot in the highs.

indyhawg

displayname wrote: »

Stop #2 – Marvin’s Place @marvda1

The Chris Jones tracks served as our main constant for the day, and we listened to those two tracks on every speaker that day.

Those Chris Jones tracks are two of my favorite tracks to use when demoing speakers.

displayname

indyhawg wrote: »

displayname wrote: »

Stop #2 – Marvin’s Place @marvda1

The Chris Jones tracks served as our main constant for the day, and we listened to those two tracks on every speaker that day.

Those Chris Jones tracks are two of my favorite tracks to use when demoing speakers.

They were new to me. I keep my phone out so I can quickly shazam anything when I'm with Marvin. He always has good stuff that I'm not familiar with.

[Deleted User]

DarqueKnight wrote: »

@CassidyStains
@AlmaGarcia
@F1nut

I think it would be good to make this thread an announcement/sticky thread so that it does not get buried as time passes.

Sorry for the delay, I was out on vacation. Slowly but surely catching up. I've stickie'd the thread.

F1nut

Thank you Alma.