Changes to Polk Audio website

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Comments

  • displayname
    displayname Posts: 1,149
    I wouldn't be shocked if the L800 is getting a significant custom landing page and the creative approvals are still happening and they didn't want to hold up the whole site launch for one product. I'm sure it'll be there in a few days.

    If it's not there in 2 weeks then maybe they are done already. Seems weird though because we have the holidays coming and I feel like they just had a new round of reviews out semi recently.
    Analog: MoFi MasterTracker > MoFi UltraDeck > Sutherland 20/20
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  • BlueMDPicker
    BlueMDPicker Posts: 7,569
    F1nut wrote: »
    If you click on the links at the top today you get 404.....sigh

    It's the fanciest 404 landing page I've ever encountered. It has links to what YOU WERE REALLY LOOKING FOR on it. Amazing!
  • mrbiron
    mrbiron Posts: 5,711
    You all sound like millennials, just really old and winey millennials. :D
    Where’s the KABOOM?!?! There’s supposed to be an Earth shattering KABOOM!!!
  • mrbiron
    mrbiron Posts: 5,711
    “Siri, make me some bagel bites”
    Where’s the KABOOM?!?! There’s supposed to be an Earth shattering KABOOM!!!
  • VR3
    VR3 Posts: 28,748
    Im starting to think the l800 is really done
    - Not Tom ::::::: Any system can play Diana Krall. Only the best can play Limp Bizkit.
  • nooshinjohn
    nooshinjohn Posts: 25,447
    I wonder if the absence of the L800 has anything to do with this....

    https://www.forbes.com/sites/marksparrow/2020/10/09/sound-united-inks-the-deal-on-acquisition-of-bowers--wilkins/?sh=2b82e86c68fb

    Might also have something to do with C19 disrupting the supply chain?
    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
  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,654
    Still in stock at places like Music Direct and Crutchfield.
    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

  • nooshinjohn
    nooshinjohn Posts: 25,447
    F1nut wrote: »
    Still in stock at places like Music Direct and Crutchfield.

    I looked too, but I think it might come down to Polk getting pushed back into the entry-level arena for good now that Sound United has Bowers&Wilkins under the same roof. Not that Polk plays to the same crowd as Bowers, but it would seem that the boys at the top would not want to muddy the waters at the top of their portfolio.
    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
  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,654
    No way John. FYI, the L800 is pictured right above "Tower Speakers" in the Home Audio link at the top of the page.
    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

  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 33,908
    F1nut wrote: »
    No way John. FYI, the L800 is pictured right above "Tower Speakers" in the Home Audio link at the top of the page.

    That's a recent development, then (breaking news, if you will ;) ).

  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 33,908
    so... lemme see... here's the splash page.
    zk5g2j7j11qs.png
    Clicking on the Tower Speakers panel leads to the L600.

    I'm not seeing the "Home Audio link at the top of the page" that @F1nut mentions.
    If I click on "Products" at the top left of the splash page, I get...

    pi8vs9ccdg2h.png

    Clicking on "Home Speakers" gives this (demagnified to show the whole page).

    5d3uy6bpo6td.png

    Searching "Tower" on the site returns this (again, demagnified)

    x8sqstx5lfv7.png

    Not trying to be argumentative :#, just wondering what the delta is between what @F1nut's seeing and what I am seeing.

  • Emlyn
    Emlyn Posts: 4,530
    The L800 not showing on the revamped site could be because the Legend line is being sold direct from the Polk site now. That’s their e-commerce site. The L800 may not be available direct from the Polk site but is available elsewhere.
  • Emlyn
    Emlyn Posts: 4,530
    The plot thickens. Polk sent out a Legend line specific advertising email this evening without the L800s included.
  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,654
    Emlyn wrote: »
    The plot thickens. Polk sent out a Legend line specific advertising email this evening without the L800s included.

    That's because Polk is selling all but the L800 direct now.
    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

  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 33,908
    edited November 2020
    But one would think they'd advertise it...?

    If this is a product differentiation thing -- it kind of reminds me of the early days of Magnepan (Magneplanar) -- mid 1970s. Most of the early Magneplanar loudspeakers were sold by (I should perhaps say "marketed by"?) Magnepan, but the big Tympani multi-panel Magneplanars were sold ("marketed"?) by Audio Research. There might have been a more direct connection between Magnepan and Audio Research than just a marketing agreement... I dunno.

    EDIT: ahh -- good old "worldradiohistory"! Looks like it was a distribution thing, and the Tympani was their lead product (as well as their flagship).

    sadgyctluba5.png
    source: https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Audio/Archive-HiFI-Stereo/70s/HiFi-Stereo-Review-1975-02.pdf




  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 7,658
    edited November 2020
    There was a strong friendship between Jim Winey of Magnepan and William Z. Johnson of Audio Research and when a store became an Audio Research dealer they also had to display Magnepan speakers. Mr. Johnson was a private pilot and when we got our first shipment of gear as a new dealer he flew his own twin engine plane to Baltimore loaded with electronics and speakers.
  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 33,908
    edited November 2020
    there was a strong friendship between Jim Winey of Magnepan and William Z. Johnson of Audio Research and when a store became an Audio Research dealer they also had to display Magnepan speakers. Mr. Johnson was a private pilot and when we got our first shipment of gear as a new dealer he flew his own twin engine plane to Baltimore loaded with electronics and speakers.

    That is astonishingly cool backstory; thanks for sharing that, @KennethSwauger!

    The Audio Research/Magnepan dealer I knew in B-more BITD was The Discerning Ear on Hartford Road (just south of the Beltway). Snooty bunch -- but they sold some really, really good sounding stuff. They were my introduction to ads, Allison, Nakamichi, Threshold (Stasis), Crown (tape), Denon LOMCs, DCM timewindows... and other goodies. I nearly bought an Onkyo A5 from them, but the prevailing attitude there pushed me back to Soundscape and a Yamaha CA-610II (which I do still have) :)


  • I remember The Discerning Ear on Harford Road, I think there's a place that sells pool supplies there now. I never went into the store, I don't like places with condescending attitudes. There was a shop on the west side, House of Sound, that I'd go to every so often.
  • Viking64
    Viking64 Posts: 7,113
    edited November 2020
    I like finding modern locations of old places that I see written about or pictured online. "Playing detective", if you will.

    I searched for "Discerning Ear" and found a list of Denon dealers in a 1978 issue of HiFi Stereo Review. https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Audio/Archive-Stereo-Review-IDX/IDX/70s/HiFi-Stereo-Review-1978-06-OCR-Page-0054.pdf

    They listed "Discerning Ear" as being at 9010 Hartford Road. This was indeed the very first building south of the beltway. I wonder if there is a snooty dentist there now. :p

    yfnozg0lmvl8.jpg
    Post edited by Viking64 on
  • I think it used to be a pool place before it became a dentist, or the pool place is next door. A few miles south on Harford Road was a Magnavox company location that's now a convenience store. I used to pick up odds and ends there when I worked for a HiFi store in Dundalk in the '70's on my way into work. I lived in Parkville.
  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 33,908
    Cool.
    That looks like it might be the same building (as I remember it... forty-plus years ago :o).
  • messiah
    messiah Posts: 1,790
    Personally I hate the new layout. There are no more links to older products, it’s almost like they’re embarrassed about the things they used to make. The layout for the forums sucks too. It’s pretty amazing when in 2020 their website looks like it was designed by a kid in grade school compared to what it looked like 10 years ago. Do better Polk.
    "They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."
    Benjamin Franklin, February 17th, 1775.

    "The day that I have to give up my constitutional rights AND let some dude rub my junk...well, let's just say that it's gonna be a real bad day for the dude trying to rub my junk!!"
    messiah, November 23rd, 2010
  • nooshinjohn
    nooshinjohn Posts: 25,447
    Maybe we should just give them a call and ask instead of speculate...
    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