Sound & Vision reviews the Legend L800
Comments
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The first squirrel is the most important one.
Good point.
Col. Paul W Klipsch sussed that out many, many years ago.
Post edited by mhardy6647 on -
Here's Harry, ready for a listening session with my SRS2s.
Most people just listen to music and watch movies. I EXPERIENCE them. -
well... there you go, then.
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Most people just listen to music and watch movies. I EXPERIENCE them. -
Guess I don't understand the hate here for the player selected in the review. Yes, it's two years old, but the specs and reviews for it's audio section were no slouch. It's not like he picked a sony entry 4k UHD player to play CDs on - but one would think that based on the comments. No it's not boutique, stand along CD player, but neither is Polk a boutique speaker company.
The L800 is a $6k pair of speakers and it has SDA therefore it is definitely in the boutique class. The Panasonic is first and foremost a video player easily bettered by a good dedicated CD/SACD player on par with the quality of the speakers. The reviewer commented about a slightly bright sound. I assure you it's the associated gear not the speakers.Political Correctness'.........defined
"A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."
President of Club Polk -
Jesse ,
With respect ...not to trying to pick a fight ...
the L800 May be a “boutique” speaker , but Polk is certainly NOT a “boutique” speaker manufacturer....... CAVEAT - in my opinion
They sell speakers priced form a couple hundred bucks - available at Best Buy , Fry’s , Target etc ... - up to a few thousand dollars MSRP ( usually heavily discounted ) ..... not “boutique” in my opinion when all are seen at the aforementioned stores ...
They have, sadly , become a mass market “commodity” speaker manufacturer .....
I love my SDA’s , always will ..... but Polk lost their way long ago , in my opinion ...
Not to say they don’t make great speakers , they do .... just not “boutique” - or “high end” any more ....
And I’m not saying “boutique” necessarily equates to “high end” or “quality” - because there’s a lot of “boutique” crap out there ...
I don’t own any “boutique” equipment....generally more than I want to spend for not much commensurate “gain” ....
When I bought my SDA’s the only place you could buy them from were dedicated audio stores - no big box stores ... that has changed ...
Personally , $6K is gonna be a tough sell in my opinion .... lots of other choices out there with a lot more audiophile “snob appeal” , sound quality not withstanding, if you will ....
They will be heavily discounted at some point , just like all polks eventually are ....
Hopefully, the Legend series , and the L800 in particular , will start a new chapter in Polk history ...
Looking forward to hearing the L800 ... I would definitely be interested in a pair ...
Bk
The L800 is a $6k pair of speakers and it has SDA therefore it is definitely in the boutique class. The Panasonic is first and foremost a video player easily bettered by a good dedicated CD/SACD player on par with the quality of the speakers. The reviewer commented about a slightly bright sound. I assure you it's the associated gear not the speakers.[/quote]
Post edited by gyosa onPS Audio S300 , WiiM Ultra , Yamaha wxc-50 , Salk SuperCharged Songtowers , Kimber Kable 4TC, Sony 48” - BEDROOM
B&K EX-442 ( it will go in my casket when I die ... ) , PS Audio 4.6 preamp ( old school , but it still jams on ... ) , Eversolo DMP-A6 , Boston Acoustic voyager 7’s - POOL
Parasound A21, Eversolo DMP-A8 , Kimber Kable 4vs , Ascend Acoustics ELX Ribbon Towers , Sony XBR-A8F 65” OLED - DEN , MAIN system
Onkyo TX-nr609 , Polk atrium 7 , Boston acoustic sound ware (4) , Boston acoustic sub , B&W center , Sony 65” TV - PATIO -
the L800 May be a “boutique” speaker , but Polk is certainly NOT a “boutique” speaker manufacturer....... CAVEAT - in my opinion
They sell speakers priced form a couple hundred bucks - available at Best Buy , Fry’s , Target etc ... - up to a few thousand dollars MSRP ( usually heavily discounted ) ..... not “boutique” in my opinion when all are seen at the aforementioned stores ...
They have, sadly , become a mass market “commodity” speaker manufacturer .....
There are many examples of mass market, commodity, mainstream manufacturers creating a premium brand and successfully marketing it. In the Best Buy example you cited, there is the "Magnolia" brand which is a separate section in their stores dedicated to high end audio and video equipment.
In the main, Toyota is not "luxury" car manufacturer. The company's reputation and success was built on producing fuel efficient, economical compact cars that were within reach of most consumers.
People initially scoffed when Toyota's Lexus brand came to market. But...no one is laughing at the Lexus brand now. Furthermore, the brand's popularity quickly caught on once consumers and reviewers evaluated the cars.
Toyota's mass market success gave them the resources to successfully launch a global luxury brand. A Lexus is a Toyota corporation product, but no one thinks of Toyota when they think of Lexus. Toyota was successful in establishing a separate premium brand identity apart from their mass market products.
I would have preferred that Polk to further differentiated Legend as a separate brand rather than a top of the line series. In other words, the Legend speakers would carry a "Legend" badge on the grilles rather than a "polk" badge. Perhaps Polk will do that later down the line. For a while, Lexus vehicles were sold in Japan as top of the line Toyotas while Lexus was established as a luxury brand in export markets. The first Lexus LS400 in the US was marketed in Japan as the Toyota LS400.
The same audiophiles that would immediately dismiss a Polk speaker out of turn and sight unseen, might be intrigued by a separate premium brand identity from a successful decades-old speaker manufacturer.
Proud and loyal citizen of the Digital Domain and Solid State Country! -
Another example of that is Kef....they make all kinds of speakers for every budget, just like Polk does. I would hope those who reviewed their top Blade speakers would also choose associated gear up to snuff for that price point.
That's all we are saying....the associated gear has to be at least near the same quality as the speakers being reviewed. Would you demo Magico speakers, with a universal spinner ? Where do you draw the line ?
Same with Bookies...would you use a receiver to demo some Pulsars ? On the flip side, you wouldn't use 500 buck speakers to demo 8k of associated gear your thinking of buying. Things have to be in the same neighborhood, and that's all anyone is saying.HT SYSTEM-
Sony 850c 4k
Pioneer elite vhx 21
Sony 4k BRP
SVS SB-2000
Polk Sig. 20's
Polk FX500 surrounds
Cables-
Acoustic zen Satori speaker cables
Acoustic zen Matrix 2 IC's
Wireworld eclipse 7 ic's
Audio metallurgy ga-o digital cable
Kitchen
Sonos zp90
Grant Fidelity tube dac
B&k 1420
lsi 9's -
I do not disagree .....
Seems silly to evaluate a $6000 pair of speakers with less than stellar equipment ....
However , if you had all mid-fi equipment the biggest bang for your buck might just be some new high-end speakers ..... then upgrade the rest of the gear from there .
If you’re on a budget , I’d put the majority of my money in the speakers...
For example , if I had $6k to spend on my gear right now , I’d potentially put it into the L800’s and replace the Salks - my S300 and 851n would be good enough - bigger bang for my bucks to spend 6k on speakers than 6k on a new amp and streamer combo.
BkAnother example of that is Kef....they make all kinds of speakers for every budget, just like Polk does. I would hope those who reviewed their top Blade speakers would also choose associated gear up to snuff for that price point.
That's all we are saying....the associated gear has to be at least near the same quality as the speakers being reviewed. Would you demo Magico speakers, with a universal spinner ? Where do you draw the line ?
Same with Bookies...would you use a receiver to demo some Pulsars ? On the flip side, you wouldn't use 500 buck speakers to demo 8k of associated gear your thinking of buying. Things have to be in the same neighborhood, and that's all anyone is saying.
PS Audio S300 , WiiM Ultra , Yamaha wxc-50 , Salk SuperCharged Songtowers , Kimber Kable 4TC, Sony 48” - BEDROOM
B&K EX-442 ( it will go in my casket when I die ... ) , PS Audio 4.6 preamp ( old school , but it still jams on ... ) , Eversolo DMP-A6 , Boston Acoustic voyager 7’s - POOL
Parasound A21, Eversolo DMP-A8 , Kimber Kable 4vs , Ascend Acoustics ELX Ribbon Towers , Sony XBR-A8F 65” OLED - DEN , MAIN system
Onkyo TX-nr609 , Polk atrium 7 , Boston acoustic sound ware (4) , Boston acoustic sub , B&W center , Sony 65” TV - PATIO -
Good point @gyosa yep it is boutique, aka pricey, so most folks IMO couldn't afford to totally upgrade the entire system. Buy the speakers, check, what's next in the chain? Pre? Main amp? Cables? Yep, yep, yep, all in good time! Basement: Polk SDA SRS 1.2tl's, Cary SLP-05 Pre with ultimate upgrade,McIntosh MCD301 CD/SACD player, Northstar Designs Excelsio DAC, Cambridge 851N streamer, McIntosh MC300 Amp, Silnote Morpheus Ref2, Series2 Digital Cables, Silnote Morpheus Ref2 Series2 XLR's, Furman 15PFi Power Conditioner, Pangea Power Cables, MIT Shotgun S3 IC's, MIT Shotgun S1 Bi-Wire speaker cables
Office: PC, EAR Acute CD Player, EAR 834L Pre, Northstar Designs Intenso DAC, Antique Sound Labs AV8 Monoblocks, Denon UDR-F10 Cassette, Acoustic Technologies Classic FR Speakers, SVS SB12 Plus sub, MIT AVt2 speaker cables, IFI Purifier2, AQ Cinnamon USB cable, Groneberg Quatro Reference IC's
Spare Room: Dayens Ampino Integrated Amp, Tjoeb 99 tube CD player (modified Marantz CD-38), Analysis Plus Oval 9's, Zu Jumpers, AudioEngine B1 Streamer, Klipsch RB-61 v2, SVS PB1000 sub, Blue Jeans RCA IC's, Shunyata Hydra 8 Power Conditioner
Living Room: Peachtree Nova Integrated, Cambridge CXN v2 Streamer, Rotel RCD-1072 CD player, Furman 15PFi Power Conditioner, Polk RT265 In Wall Speakers, Polk DSW Pro 660wi sub
Garage #1: Cambridge Audio 640A Integrated Amp, Project Box-E BT Streamer, Polk Tsi200 Bookies, Douglas Speaker Cables, Shunyata Power Conditioner
Garage #2: Cambridge Audio EVO150 Integrated Amplifier, Polk L200's, Analysis Plus Silver Oval 2 Speaker Cables, IC's TBD. -
death by a thousand cuts. Some poor schmuck starts out with a Lloyds 8 track or a Soundesign boombox, then, little by little, ends up waking up one morning to...
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A big mess. Lumin X1 file player, Westminster Labs interconnect cable
Sony XA-5400ES SACD; Pass XP-22 pre; X600.5 amps
Magico S5 MKII Mcast Rose speakers; SPOD spikes
Shunyata Triton v3/Typhon QR on source, Denali 2000 (2) on amps
Shunyata Sigma XLR analog ICs, Sigma speaker cables
Shunyata Sigma HC (2), Sigma Analog, Sigma Digital, Z Anaconda (3) power cables
Mapleshade Samson V.3 four shelf solid maple rack, Micropoint brass footers
Three 20 amp circuits. -
mhardy6647 wrote: »death by a thousand cuts. Some poor schmuck starts out with a Lloyds 8 track or a Soundesign boombox, then, little by little, ends up waking up one morning to...
Man that must suck to dust.... -
More likely , some poor schmuck wakes up to a divorce !
“Honey , I thought you said the kids college fund was taken care of ....”
Ha ha
Bkmhardy6647 wrote: »death by a thousand cuts. Some poor schmuck starts out with a Lloyds 8 track or a Soundesign boombox, then, little by little, ends up waking up one morning to...
PS Audio S300 , WiiM Ultra , Yamaha wxc-50 , Salk SuperCharged Songtowers , Kimber Kable 4TC, Sony 48” - BEDROOM
B&K EX-442 ( it will go in my casket when I die ... ) , PS Audio 4.6 preamp ( old school , but it still jams on ... ) , Eversolo DMP-A6 , Boston Acoustic voyager 7’s - POOL
Parasound A21, Eversolo DMP-A8 , Kimber Kable 4vs , Ascend Acoustics ELX Ribbon Towers , Sony XBR-A8F 65” OLED - DEN , MAIN system
Onkyo TX-nr609 , Polk atrium 7 , Boston acoustic sound ware (4) , Boston acoustic sub , B&W center , Sony 65” TV - PATIO -
Submitted for Polk's marketing department's consideration. Why not give the Legend series the market differentiation they deserve?
Current:
Revised:
Seeing is believing! Is it just my imagination, or do the L800's with the "Legend" badges have a more stately and authoritative appearance?
What's in a name? I must admit, and I think you will agree, the "Legend" badge makes a statement!
Proud and loyal citizen of the Digital Domain and Solid State Country! -
I think I would prefer to see Matt’s signature on these in place of the stock badges...The Gear... Carver "Statement" Mono-blocks, Mcintosh C2300 Arcam AVR20, Oppo UDP-203 4K Blu-ray player, Sony XBR70x850B 4k, Polk Audio Legend L800 with height modules, L400 Center Channel Polk audio AB800 "in-wall" surrounds. Marantz MM7025 stereo amp. Simaudio Moon 680d DSD
“When once a Republic is corrupted, there is no possibility of remedying any of the growing evils but by removing the corruption and restoring its lost principles; every other correction is either useless or a new evil.”— Thomas Jefferson -
I would rather see a "Legend" badge than a "Princess Bride" badge or even a "Neverending Story" badge.
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nooshinjohn wrote: »I think I would prefer to see Matt’s signature on these in place of the stock badges...
Matt might disagree, since the L800 was largely Scott Orth's creation.
Proud and loyal citizen of the Digital Domain and Solid State Country! -
DarqueKnight wrote: »nooshinjohn wrote: »I think I would prefer to see Matt’s signature on these in place of the stock badges...
Matt might disagree, since the L800 was largely Scott Orth's creation.
Perhaps, but they still hang his name above the door.
The Gear... Carver "Statement" Mono-blocks, Mcintosh C2300 Arcam AVR20, Oppo UDP-203 4K Blu-ray player, Sony XBR70x850B 4k, Polk Audio Legend L800 with height modules, L400 Center Channel Polk audio AB800 "in-wall" surrounds. Marantz MM7025 stereo amp. Simaudio Moon 680d DSD
“When once a Republic is corrupted, there is no possibility of remedying any of the growing evils but by removing the corruption and restoring its lost principles; every other correction is either useless or a new evil.”— Thomas Jefferson -
I would rather see a "Legend" badge than a "Princess Bride" badge or even a "Neverending Story" badge.
Watch it there, I might call on Atreyu to search you out.
I can see Tom Cruise getting a set of these new speakers too.Most people just listen to music and watch movies. I EXPERIENCE them. -
Typeface/font goes a long way to sending the message you want the viewer to receive - check out Abstract on Netflix (pretty cool).
Paula Scher: Graphic Design
Abstract: The Art of Design episode (season 1, episode 6)
This lady designed a boatload of LP covers and worked with some pretty amazing artists.Audio: Polk S15 * Polk S35 * Polk S10 * SVS SB-1000 Pro
HT: Samsung QN90B * Marantz NR1510 * Panasonic DMP-BDT220 * Roku Ultra LT * APC H10 -
S&V usually has at least very basic measurements like frequency response on a simple plot don't they?!?
I am waiting for Stereophile to do measurements.
They are probably the only one I truly trust (to some degree at least) -
JA, to his credit, does a good job of taking measurements and presenting them clearly enough (and sometimes even correlating what he measures to what he -- and sometimes even what the reviewer -- hears).
I just wanna see some impedance curves; FR curves would be nice but not sure they'll be interpretable for the Big Boy L800 due to the SDA wiring. Maybe (???) one, in mono, sans interconnect.
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Why don't you listen to them first, then decide if you want to bother knowing how they measured? I recall thinking the frequency response for my SVS looked impressive, but honestly? I would never show anyone that piece of paper and tell them that it can rattle my house like the actual subwoofer can.So, are you willing to put forth a little effort or are you happy sitting in your skeptical poo pile?
http://audiomilitia.proboards.com/ -
Why don't you listen to them first, then decide if you want to bother knowing how they measured? I recall thinking the frequency response for my SVS looked impressive, but honestly? I would never show anyone that piece of paper and tell them that it can rattle my house like the actual subwoofer can.
Since they just came out, and most likely will be reviewed by several in the business, meant I would rather see Sterophile's review over Sound and vision was all.
To me a measurement from stereophile allows me to compare to other speakers we own or have owned and they also measured. To see the basic tonality etc.
I doubt I will listen to them before reading a review, simply based on lack of time. -
mhardy6647 wrote: »
JA, to his credit, does a good job of taking measurements and presenting them clearly enough (and sometimes even correlating what he measures to what he -- and sometimes even what the reviewer -- hears).
I just wanna see some impedance curves; FR curves would be nice but not sure they'll be interpretable for the Big Boy L800 due to the SDA wiring. Maybe (???) one, in mono, sans interconnect.
I am always able to get a good "Idea" of what a speaker will be like based on their review and measurements.
At least much closer to the truth, than some of the owner reviews, that tend to go all over the place and lack details to set up and so on. -
I used to receive copies of S&V because they would not stop sending them to me for a few years after I stopped paying for a subscription. Their reviews pretty much amount to repeating published specs and saying what things look like. Not worthwhile. Stereophile is about as useless but for different reasons. I do still have an Absolute Sound subscription though. I think they’d do a good review.
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Jesse ,
With respect ...not to trying to pick a fight ...
the L800 May be a “boutique” speaker , but Polk is certainly NOT a “boutique” speaker manufacturer....... CAVEAT - in my opinion
They sell speakers priced form a couple hundred bucks - available at Best Buy , Fry’s , Target etc ... - up to a few thousand dollars MSRP ( usually heavily discounted ) ..... not “boutique” in my opinion when all are seen at the aforementioned stores ...
They have, sadly , become a mass market “commodity” speaker manufacturer .....
I love my SDA’s , always will ..... but Polk lost their way long ago , in my opinion ...
Not to say they don’t make great speakers , they do .... just not “boutique” - or “high end” any more ....
And I’m not saying “boutique” necessarily equates to “high end” or “quality” - because there’s a lot of “boutique” crap out there ...
I don’t own any “boutique” equipment....generally more than I want to spend for not much commensurate “gain” ....
When I bought my SDA’s the only place you could buy them from were dedicated audio stores - no big box stores ... that has changed ...
Personally , $6K is gonna be a tough sell in my opinion .... lots of other choices out there with a lot more audiophile “snob appeal” , sound quality not withstanding, if you will ....
They will be heavily discounted at some point , just like all polks eventually are ....
Hopefully, the Legend series , and the L800 in particular , will start a new chapter in Polk history ...
Looking forward to hearing the L800 ... I would definitely be interested in a pair ...
Bk
The L800 is a $6k pair of speakers and it has SDA therefore it is definitely in the boutique class. The Panasonic is first and foremost a video player easily bettered by a good dedicated CD/SACD player on par with the quality of the speakers. The reviewer commented about a slightly bright sound. I assure you it's the associated gear not the speakers.
[/quote]
I never saw Polk as High end or Botique, but more a brand that had very good sound and reasonably priced.
They were never hard to find, and while not initially mass market exactly, they were far from botique high end speakers also.
Even the top of the line SDA SRS, used for the most part, stuff that was in their lower level speaker also.
The woofers and tweeters and box construction was never high cost items as with some true high end stuff, even back then.
They used particle board, stamped frame woofers and stuff that equated to most average stuff of the time.
B+W and Infinity and a few others, were simply in another league, Driver and enclosure wise.
None of that mattered exactly as High end or Botique is not guarantee of great sound.
The older Polks mostly sounded great overall especially in comparison to a lot of average "Hi Fi" stuff back then.
But it never pretended to be high end, just good sound that was affordable.
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They used MDF for the higher end speakers not particle board.afterburnt wrote: »They didn't speak a word of English, they were from South Carolina.
Village Idiot of Club Polk -
They used MDF for the higher end speakers not particle board.
First gen SRS was particle board... fwiw. Then they started routing grooves inside the cabinet to break up standing waves..
