Some very sad news.

SeleniumFalcon

It is with a very sad heart I have to tell the forum that its founder, Al Ballard, has passed away. Anyone who ever attended an early Polkfest understood how important this close knit group was to him. One of the greats.

VR3

Wow.... I'm very sorry to hear this. Al was always a pleasure to run into and he will be greatly missed to those around him

Rip

daddyjt

Sad news indeed. Godspeed sir…

treitz3

Al Ballard was one of the greats. I enjoyed our conversations at Polk HQ and PF's.

May you rest in peace and Godspeed, brother. My sincerest condolences to his friends, family and loved ones.

Tom

pitdogg2

Hangs head....
Sad news indeed, my sincerest condolences to his family.

R.I.P. Mr.Ballard.

F1nut

Oh no, horrible news. Al is the reason we have this forum and the many years of Polk Audio supported Polkfests. Al worked hard to make the members here feel like we were all one big family, that our thoughts mattered and it worked. I miss that and I'll miss him.

I have more reasons to thank him than I can say, so just one big THANK YOU!

Hedy, my sincere condolences

R.I.P. Al, you are missed.

gudnoyez

Sad news indeed R.I.P.

vmaxer

Sorry to hear about his passing. RIP

verb

I did not know Al, but his legacy throughout this forum is alive and well. I for one can appreciate his efforts and commitment to being a part of a very valuable place to share audio information.

Thank you Al! And rest in peace sir!

txcoastal1

I did get a chance to meet Al ala Russman, at RMAF 2013 as Al went to marketing with Paul,
Super cool dude to chat with...
his legacy will live on through this great forum gathering many friends and family in the audio community.

Condolences to Al's family and friends
May he rest in peace

Thank you Al

Toolfan66

Very sad news!! R.I.P.

PSOVLSK

Sad news. Never met him, but read his name on the forum many times and each and every time he was being spoken of in a positive manner. Wouldn’t we all love to leave such a legacy?

jbreezy5

Sorry to hear. Don’t know Al, but sad to learn another of the regulars is no longer with us.

engtaz

Prayers sent for family and friends.

JayCee

Had the pleasure of meeting him at PF. Sad, sad day. RIP.

boston1450

RIP AL Condolences to all that knew him

TroyD

Al was a friend and a great guy.....he will be missed.

A tug on the handle is in order.

My love and prayers to Hedy, family and friends

tophatjohnny

Very sad! RIP Al

Willow

My condolences to his friends and family.

Hermitism

Jstas

This is terrible news!

I think anyone who's been to a Polkfest has an Al story.

I think it was 2008 or maybe 2005 when I had brought an old set of Polk Audio supplied Silicon Graphics computer speakers with me to show Polk Paul. We actually went to an unused listening room that was dead quiet and Paul and I were running through a few MP3s on those speakers from my stupid little SanDisk player. Paul was thoroughly impressed and said he had forgotten they made them. I told him they were the best sounding computer speakers I'd ever had. (I'm still using a set right now). Apparently Paul told Al about it and Al was intrigued. So he approached me and asked if I'd be willing to part with them because they had no engineering samples and they wanted to run tests and take measurements to figure out what made them so special. They even offered to pay me for them. I thought about it and was like, do I screw Polk Audio out of some cash here or what? I ended up handing Al the box and saying "Here, man, I got another pair but if y'all go and make a new set just as spiffy, I won't need them, I'll just get a new set!" Last I knew, he gave them to Scott and they did a whole break down on them and then they got put in the "Polk Museum" hallway with a thanks to me on the description tag.

In 2010, I had another set with me at Lou's house and we set them up in Lou's little gaming room. I was sitting in there listening to them with an album from Jonathan Elias after Doro complained that me an Antny were playing Rob Zombie way too loud on my tube amp and KLH 17 setup upstairs and they couldn't hear the prototype LSiMs and the BBQ amp. So I went in there to listen and then something broke on the makeshift crossovers on the bread boards. Nobody had tools except me. So Al came in the room and before he asked me for the tools he stopped, kinda taken aback by the sound coming from the stupid little speakers. Then he asked if my tools were around so I grabbed them, told Doro not lose them and told Al to keep the pointy ones away from Doro and went in to the kitchen to help Antny with food. I was standing there BS'ing with Mike Madden I believe it was and Al came in and asked if I was busy, I said nope. He says "Come with me". I was like, am I trouble or something? He laughed and said no and we went back to the little speakers and he asked if I could bring up that album again. We sat and listened to that stupid little setup for like an hour. When it stops, he tells me he'll be right back. He comes back in with two whiskeys, hands me one, sits back down and asks if we can run another source. So he plugged in an Oppo disc player and we started listening to one of his CDs. I couldn't tell you what it was for the life of me but it was a nice album. We got through two tracks and Al turns the volume down and says "They aren't the best speakers I've ever heard, far from it but what is amazing is the quality of the sound coming from such diminutive speakers. Someone donated a set to us a few years ago and I'm forever thankful for that." I told him "Yeah, that was me, you probably don't remember but you and Polk Paul kinda begged me at an HQ tour." Al looked at me as said "Well, thank for you for that because there's some new products coming out that are based on what we learned about what we did here." Then he fired up another CD and listened some more.

Emlyn

Someone donated a pair of those Silicon Graphics computer speakers to the Smithsonian. They're not on public display but they do have their own web page...

https://www.si.edu/object/nmah_1824833

heiney9

I am very sad to hear this. Al was a great guy and one of the reasons Polk was so successful in their hey day. Opening up his house to a bunch of audio geeks like us for various Polk Fests shows how down to earth he was even though he was an executive at a large corporation. He was right at home with the rest of us audio geeks.

Just terrible news.

H9

Jstas

Those are the speakers I have. I actually had 4 sets. I'm using two pairs, one on a secondary computer in my home office and one on the garage computer, one in storage and the 4th pair was what I gave to Al.

polrbehr

Only met him the one time in 2008, but thought he was very gracious to open up his home for a whole boatload of strangers. Got to hear what 120db of Talking Heads sounded like in his listening room, my first and only experience with SRTs, but still recall sitting there pinned to my chair.

RIP, good sir, and thank you for everything you did for Polk.

steveinaz

God bless and God speed.

Clipdat

Condolences to his friends and family. May he rest in peace.

erniejade

I have never meet him but heard about him on several occasions. RIP.

ESavinon

Very sad news indeed.
RIP

mhardy6647

Sad to read this. Thank you for letting us know @SeleniumFalcon.

nooshinjohn

Very saddened to hear of his passing. Sadder still to not have stories of my own to tell. He sounds like a fantastic gentleman to have been around.

God bless and Godspeed.