Testify!

MacLeod

I got a wild hair today and took my trusty Dream Theater test CD (Train of Thought) and went to my local Tweeter to compare Polk Momo with some hi end offerings from MB, JL and Boston Acoustic.

First let me say that this was in no way a scientific comparison. I didnt tweak any of the speakers X-overs and I only used one CD, plus Im no expert so you may want to break out a grain or two of salt.

Well let me just sum it up by saying, All Hail Polk Audio!

Fellas, our beloved Polk flat smoked everything Boston Acoustic had to offer. From the $119 to the $1000 set. No comparison.

I then moved to JL and, again, Polk smoked everything up to the XR series where they tied. They both sounded great but the Momos had a little more detail and were a bit warmer but JL had more midbass. But with the JLs at $380, Ill take the MM.

Next I went to MB. This was a little tougher. The Reference set was no competition. The MM was warmer and smoother with as much detail and with the Reference at $330 again Ill take the MM. The Premium was just as good. The MM was warmer but everything else was the same except for $580 price tag. The Q series however edged out the MM but not by much. Again, the MM was warmer and plenty smooth but the Q had an unreal amount of detail and was just as smooth. But here is the catch---
the Q retails for $1100!!!!!!!!!!!

Now if Tweeter just started carrying Focal and Dynaudio! Id love to compare those!

Systems

FIRST OFF THE Q'S ARE 1299 NOT 1199 AND TOO TELL YOU RIGHT NOW THE DAY THE MM SMOKE EVERYTHING THAT BOSTON HAS TO OFFER THEN YOU MUST BE ON CRACK THE Z'S AT 1000 ARE BY FAR A BETTER SPEAKER I AM SORRY I LOVE POLK AS MUCH AS THE NEXT GUY BUT THERE IS NO WAY THAT THEY BEAT THE Z'S AND AS FOR TIEING THE JL XR SEEMS CORRECT I WILL GO WITH THAT BUT WHEN THE NEW JL ZR'S COME OUT THEY WILL KILL THE POLK MOMO'S AND WHAT DOES IT EVEN MATTER I MEAN TWEETER JUST STARTED CARRYING POLK AND AS MYSELF BEING A FELLOW TWEETER EMPLOYEE I KNOW FOR A FACT YOU DIDNT EVEN CAMPARE THEM CONSIDERING THE POLK MOMO COMPONENTS DONT HIT STORES TILL MAY 31ST AND BY MY CALCULATIONS ITS MAY 16TH THAT STILL ANOTHER 15 DAYS LEFT TO GO BEFORE YOU CAN EVEN START TO TALK SORRY PAL BUT NO DICE

bknauss

Originally posted by APSKILL187
FIRST OFF THE Q'S ARE 1299 NOT 1199 AND TOO TELL YOU RIGHT NOW THE DAY THE MM SMOKE EVERYTHING THAT BOSTON HAS TO OFFER THEN YOU MUST BE ON CRACK THE Z'S AT 1000 ARE BY FAR A BETTER SPEAKER I AM SORRY I LOVE POLK AS MUCH AS THE NEXT GUY BUT THERE IS NO WAY THAT THEY BEAT THE Z'S AND AS FOR TIEING THE JL XR SEEMS CORRECT I WILL GO WITH THAT BUT WHEN THE NEW JL ZR'S COME OUT THEY WILL KILL THE POLK MOMO'S AND WHAT DOES IT EVEN MATTER I MEAN TWEETER JUST STARTED CARRYING POLK AND AS MYSELF BEING A FELLOW TWEETER EMPLOYEE I KNOW FOR A FACT YOU DIDNT EVEN CAMPARE THEM CONSIDERING THE POLK MOMO COMPONENTS DONT HIT STORES TILL MAY 31ST AND BY MY CALCULATIONS ITS MAY 16TH THAT STILL ANOTHER 15 DAYS LEFT TO GO BEFORE YOU CAN EVEN START TO TALK SORRY PAL BUT NO DICE

I haven't compared these speakers, so I can't give an opinion, but I'm not going to believe a word you say since you have the english skills of a 10 year old. There are things called commas and periods. I'm not saying you're wrong, but due to the internet, we have to believe you're a 13 year old keyboard commando until proven otherwise.

Macleod... how can you use Train of Thought as a reference CD!?!?! I personally think the engineering was fairly bad on the CD... sounds like someone jacked up the bass too high to be like the other bands of this day and age. I'll take Scenes from a Memory any day of TOT Not that its a bad CD... but DT definitely has had better sounding CDs. BTW, did you hear about the Yes/DT tour this summer? I'll definitely be there!

MacLeod

ASSKILL - Ok, first off STOP YELLING! I never said I listened to the MM6. Since youre quite good at calculations then you have probably counted at least 4 different sound boards in Tweeter. I listened to the Momo speaker that was on the same board as the hi-end I was listening to. I only listened to the Momo 6x9 and the MM 6.5 coax which is pretty close to the MM6 and pretty much the same as the new MM components. Maybe you should quit calculating and actually read a post before you call someone a liar!

Second, I distinctly remember saying that this was in no way a legitimate comparison. Just me taking my CD for a little fun. I didnt pick an amp to match each speaker, I didnt check that they all had the same X-over settings or installations, I didnt use different types of music to determine each speakers induividual strengths and weaknesses and I didnt use the same amp for all speakers. I just picked an amp and listened to a speaker and then picked another and listened to it. Im sure they werent all set up idealy but then again thats why I said take this with a grain of salt. Perhaps I shouldve put it in simpler terms, "for all the **** masters that get sand in their **** and want to fight and argue over piddly ****, dont take this post as gospel".

Third, the Bostons got SMOKED! Deal with it! 'nuff said

Fourth, oops if I misquoted the ridiculous price tag of the Q's. Excuse the hell out of me.

Fifth, just for the record I am not claiming the Polks are the best speakers in the world. But at the Tweeter sound room here in Chattanooga, they are 2nd only to the $1100...oops I mean $1200 Q's.

Sixth, dude, you really need to get laid.

BK - Thats the reason I like it for a test CD bro. It still has all the technical licks and subtle guitar and drum parts DT is known for but since it is a muddy production they can be hard to hear on lesser speakers. Like on "In the Name of God" at the end they are singing old gospel songs in the background but very faintly. I never knew they were one there til I axed my rear speakers and bi-amped my Momos to bring out more tweeter detail. I figure if I can make out all of Portnoys drum licks and quadruplets on a set of speakers then its got to be pretty good!

AustinKP

Originally posted by APSKILL187
FIRST OFF THE Q'S ARE 1299 NOT 1199 AND TOO TELL YOU RIGHT NOW THE DAY THE MM SMOKE EVERYTHING THAT BOSTON HAS TO OFFER THEN YOU MUST BE ON CRACK THE Z'S AT 1000 ARE BY FAR A BETTER SPEAKER [.....]BY MY CALCULATIONS ITS MAY 16TH THAT STILL ANOTHER 15 DAYS LEFT TO GO BEFORE YOU CAN EVEN START TO TALK SORRY PAL BUT NO DICE

IS THIS THE WORLDS LONGEST RUNON SENTENCE I THINK SO BUT ITS SO HARD TO TELL BECAUSE THERES NO PUNCTUATION EVEN AT THE END BUT MAYBE HE DID THAT ON PURPOSE BUT MAYBE THIS IS NORMAL AND BY THE WAY APESKILL DO YOU USE AOL I CANT TELL BUT MAYBE YOU DO ITS HARD TO TELL SO ANYWAY THANKS FOR VISITING THAT WAS A GREAT POST AND IM GLAD I READ IT BECAUSE IT WAS VERY INFORMATIONAL AND I LEARNED A LOT FOR EXAMPLE I NEVER WOULD HAVE BELIEVED THAT THOSE SPEAKERS WERE ONLY 1100$ I KNEW ALL ALONG THEY WERE 1200$ DOLLARS

p.s. The punctuation was intentionally omitted. And yes, I know the dollar signs come before the numbers. Oh, and Macleod, thanks for the review. It was very informative. I've heard good things about those Bostons and wondered how they compared.

MacLeod

Originally posted by bknauss
BTW, did you hear about the Yes/DT tour this summer? I'll definitely be there!

Holy **** dude! No I hadnt heard that! That will be great!
Yes was the first progressive rock band and DT is the present flagbearer so this will be awesome. Ill have to look into it and see if they come anywhere near me. Thanks for the heads up!

TrappedUnder Ice

OOPs! 80% install... Yawn

exalted512

Originally posted by MacLeod
"for all the **** masters that get sand in their **** and want to fight and argue over piddly ****, dont take this post as gospel"

priceless...
-Cody

Jstas

*SLAP* *SLAP* *SLAP* *SLAP*

EVERYBODY SLAP THIER WANGS ON THE TABLE NOW!

CAN'T LET THIS PISSING CONTEST GO TO WASTE!

neomagus00

hehe... i'm thinking that apekill/asskill isn't too happy... especially since there's a bunch of wangs being slapped on a table around him...

Systems

Being new to this forum im not really sure what your guidelines are. In most forums I really dont think commas and sentence fragments are vital!!!. So maybe you guys should relax and not be so damn up tight. Being a fellow tweeter employee my self I back up what Askill has posted. I love the fact that we finally are carrying polk it gives us a good variety of lines with the awesome sound quality that the coaxials offer. But to compare them to the XR's is a shame, we have them set right next to the VR line and the VR line puts them down w/ out a fight. Sure the Q's maybe a ton more money but imaging on the Q's is uncomparable to any polk. As for the boston Z's nothing even competes, its in a league of its own the crossover on it blows away the crossover on the polk coax, and really anything in comparison. Im a fan of polk stuff and cant knock it but to compare to some of the stuff it was comparted to their is no comparison, some of those speakers listed are in a league of their own and that is why there so expensive. By the way I love polk stuff if i havent stated that, i bought some polk coaxs on accomodation for my truck
just my 2 cents

paul

exalted512

i dont use correct punctuation but im not that bad
i usually just press enter for another sentence...or something along those lines(such as the '...')
but anyway, if he says they sound better than the others, you cannot tell him hes wrong or that they dont compare
just because you dont think so doesnt make your opinion fact
ever knows what they like, dont tell them what they think is wrong because you think something different
-Cody

Systems

i wasnt saying his opinion is false, an opinion is an opinion. I was just stating mine. Being that I hear them everyday in comparison, I may be able to distinguish the sounds better, but like i said its just my opinion, who knows maybe im tone def??

bknauss

Originally posted by WALNUTS
i wasnt saying his opinion is false, an opinion is an opinion. I was just stating mine. Being that I hear them everyday in comparison, I may be able to distinguish the sounds better, but like i said its just my opinion, who knows maybe im tone def??

Or maybe some speakers are made for a sound board and are made for a car

I think the main beef we have with the guy is that *most* young heads like to write with no punctuation and like to have all caps. This also generally means the person's education is not the best. So right off the bat, he's coming off like some little punk kid who goes to Best Buy and says "I have daddy's money... I want to hit 150dBs", doesn't care about sound quality, and just wants to be loud. I'm not saying his opinion is wrong, but he's losing validity in his argument if he seems to be a little punk kid that spouts off what other people have told him.

Systems

well everyone has their opinions, but for a fact is that, no he is not a kid who has daddys money he is actually a co-worker of mine, who is 21. Ive heard all those speakers outside of a sound board and still agree with my statements. Ive heard polks best stuff and its phoenominal, ive heard their new sponsored vehicle eddie habecks camry whos got 12 8's in w/ all there carbon amp line and there top of the line components, but i still think, key word think(opinion) that the JL, Boston and MB stuff are better, the polk mm line in my mind will compete w/ the nx line of boston all day w/ out a problem and give a run at the vr line from jl but still would choose a vr any day. once again this is just my 2 cents, not trying to start a brawl here or anything and no disrespect to polk, i own some of there stuff but in my eyes id choose some stuff over it, usually you pay for what you get hence why the z's and q's are so much.

paul

MacLeod

No need to worry about starting a brawl Walnuts. A good intellectual exchange is what this forum is all about. The problem occurs when somebody starts popping off and giving attitude at other posts and thats when the brawls start.

Speaker opinions are probably the most subjective of all car audio. It all depends on what you like. I listen to mostly metal and so my ideal speaker is warm, smooth and almost "sweet" sounding with tons of detail, which Polk Momo is in spades. Focal is also this way but are way, way, way expensive.

So knowing my ideal speaker let me elaborate more on my conclusions, if you can call them that.

The Bostons are kind of glassy sounding to me and my trusty Dream Theater CD sounded kind of hard edged. I noticed this on all their offerings which is why I thought the Momos were way better all the way up the line.

The lower JL models lacked the detail I like and were a little to hard also. The XR were great and I would have no problem having to listen to these forever. However one of their strengths, good mid bass, is actually a hinderence with a heavy mixed CD and thick guitar and drums and so the nod went to the softer, brighter sounding MM. I know you can tweak the JL crossover for better EQ but, again, this wasnt a scientific test.

The MB Reference was a little brighter and lacked the softness of the MM but had oodles of detail and accuracy. The Premium was just as good as the MM but I still like the "sweetness" that Polk has. The Q sounded better pretty much all the way around...but not $900 better. The Q had more detail than I thought possible! These things are razor sharp. But, again, Q $1200 - Polk $300 max

Im not trying to start **** here. I know that this was not an ideal comparison and these speakers were not optimized in any way. This was just a spur of the moment kind of thing and I thought you guys would like to know my thoughts and that we could bat it around a little. Thats all. My intentions were honorable! None of my friends are into car audio so this is the only place I get to discuss the subject so Im always looking for a good one and occasionaly try to start one myself.

neomagus00

at least you confirmed that the real expensive stuff actually does perform like it should...
and just so you know, what you say does carry a significant amount of weight, at least in my book, cause your musical tastes are nearly identical to mine... cept i like my stuff louder

exalted512

Originally posted by neomagus00
cept i like my stuff louder

were slowly converting him...hes not recommending just 50 watts per crossover to the mm6s anymore

-Cody

neomagus00

you're right, it's up to almost 100 now

Thom

Originally posted by Walnuts
Sure the Q's maybe a ton more money but imaging on the Q's is uncomparable to any polk.

just my 2 cents

paul

Huh? I think you're saying that the Q's image better than Polks but it's always been my experience that speaker placement is the biggest factor. When I switched from Quart to Polk years ago the image/ stage height/ width/ depth were all pretty close between the two brands with mids and tweets in the kicks. I think the Quarts have us on tonal accuracy but you'd expect that when comparing $200 coaxs to $600 components. Our new MMC6500 components sound better than the MMC650 coaxs and retail for $299. Still only half the price of the Quarts. Not quite the performance, although some people like them better.

Thom

Originally posted by WALNUTS
ive heard their new sponsored vehicle eddie habecks camry whos got 12 8's in w/ all there carbon amp line and there top of the line components,

But keep in mind that Eddie's car has the MM6's in it (which Tweeter isn't going to carry, I think), mounted in kick panels that aren't set up or sealed the best. And only four of the twelve 8"s are actually wired up. When we get the DVC's all twelve will be working.

exalted512

so who is going to be carrying the mm6s??
-Cody

Jstas

Originally posted by Thom
Huh? I think you're saying that the Q's image better than Polks but it's always been my experience that speaker placement is the biggest factor. When I switched from Quart to Polk years ago the image/ stage height/ width/ depth were all pretty close between the two brands with mids and tweets in the kicks. I think the Quarts have us on tonal accuracy but you'd expect that when comparing $200 coaxs to $600 components. Our new MMC6500 components sound better than the MMC650 coaxs and retail for $299. Still only half the price of the Quarts. Not quite the performance, although some people like them better.

DING!

I have a set of 40 year old KLH 17's (bookshelf speakers) that many people would consider total junk but due to placement and the gear behind it, they have an incredible soundstage! Imaging is 90% placement and 10% listening position. I've heard 50 dollar Jensen coaxials have a sweet spot just as good as a 200 dollar set of Infinity components. (Yeah, I know, Infinity, BLAH! Still better than Jensen)

As far as tonal accuracy, Polk Audio had a line of speakers that could compete with the likes of speakers twice as much in cost. The old dB line still competes with the likes of the JL, Boston Acoustics and MB Quart speakers and if they could handle more power and played a tad louder, I'd say that they could out-perform speakers costing 600-700 bucks. But, alas, they are a thing of the past. I am just glad that I had the opportunity to grab a set for myself and I get to listen to them everyday. I certainly hope that the newly planned lines of speakers bring Polk Audio back to it's heyday of offering a top notch speaker for bargain basement prices.

The one thing everyone forgets, even the lame salesmen at the stores, is that even though these multi-billion dollar speakers that make the benchracers cream thier pants over may sound a tad better than Polk Audio speakers but, they cost over 2 times as much and offer marginal performance benefits. Most people are going to look at the difference and say the hell with it and take the Polks because they offer that much performance for a low price.

AustinKP

And will they also carry other polk stuff? Cause Tweeter is too dang far away and it seems like their employees would be great candidates for BB and CC employees.
Edit: Dang, John replied just before I did. My post was in response to Cody's.

Thom

Originally posted by exalted512
so who is going to be carrying the mm6s??
-Cody

Dealers who want to.

Systems

as for comparing the Q's and the polks I was refering to the Q's being the better, and yes I do know eddie only has a few of the subs running, i heard it shortly while it was his vinyl shop, regardless car looks damn amazing, and the work was phenominal. My congrats to all the installers who worked on it and you guys definetly choose an awesome car to sponsor and people in eddie and amanda, they really rep their sponsors like crazy!!!!

paul

exalted512

Originally posted by Thom
Dealers who want to.

yeah...i need to take a trip on the wahhhbulance because the only polk momo dealer around doesnt have their sound room set up anymore, they just sell em...
-Cody

MacLeod

Originally posted by exalted512
were slowly converting him...hes not recommending just 50 watts per crossover to the mm6s anymore

-Cody

Alright now! I never recommended 50 watts for the MM6. Even I know those monsters need plenty of juice to make em sing. 75 is plenty.......................j/k

Systems

Alright lets see it seems like we got off on the wrong foot. But soo sooo sorry that i used caps Also soo sooo sorry i didnt use any puncutuation but considering i dont see my self in english class any longer i dont feel the need to have to prove to you people what my IQ is or how good my grammer may be unless your all gonna me my future boss soo in any case calm down i was just telling macleod there that it was impossible to compare a coaxial speaker with a component it just cant be done well it can but honestly how much of a result are you gonna get unless you love the brand soo damn much you would live by it and sooooo soooooo sorry that you all thing that i shop at best buy where they sell needless to say CRAP but i do indeed work at tweeter and i am indeed 21 and the next moron that talks about my father and how i use his money considering i havnt seen him in 18 years and how he prolly has no money to begin with can be the first to accompany me too hell but either way i never said anything bad about your precious polk momo in fact i like it i am actually doin my entire truck in polk momo with my own money by the way but i just dont see it plausable how you can look at a polk coaxial speaker and compare them to a boston or mb or jl component set and its not that i didnt read your post macleod its that i just simply assumed that you were compareing the polk momo compenants cause all you were talkin about was component speaker line thats why i said you couldnt compare them cause you physically couldnt.


now based on this great post i just posted what do you say you grade me on my english skills sense all of you there out in polk forum land think your highly educated and smarter then i

by the way i know i left all the puncuations out to piss you off more

Jstas

Well considering I'm not involved in the post in this way, I must say that you are not winning any friends here.

I don't care about your father.
I don't care about where you work.
I don't care about where you shop.
I don't care about your personal opinion about anything.

You're an ****, that is apparent from you behavior and your posts. I don't care about what anyone said to you but I will say that a good portion of the people who have responded to you are several years your junior but have acted with more maturity and respect than you have. You can to this forum to talk smack with your elitist attitude all you want but you don't register. On top of that, since you do work at Tweeter, you're reflecting poorly upon the company as a whole especially on it's newest vendor's website. You are not doing anything to help my already low opinion of the Tweeter sales staff either. So just some advice to you, ditch the attitude or watch that door so it doesn't hit you in the **** on the way out.

MacLeod

Well Im not usually one to beat a dead horse but I never even mentioned the word component in my entire post. Most of the speakers I tried were coaxials. The only comonents that were even mounted and set up to listen to were the JL Audio XR, MB Quart Q and Premium and the $1000 Boston set. All the rest were coaxials!

Maybe this one is my bad. I should have listed the types of speakers I listened to. Next time Ill know better.