Honest opinions on the Polk L800 speakers

geppy1

I have an opportunity to get a pair of these at a good price but am trying to avoid a situation were I get them and may not like them (I will know pretty quickly) and then have to get rid of them. I am a believer in trying and comparing but it is a chunk of change.

Listening them where they are in a showroom does not really tell me much other then they work as they sound will change based on room ,gear and cables.

The other issue is my current speakers are Mirage m3si which are legendary for a reason as they are excellent in many ways and are so real sounding. I also have beat up Mag 1.6QRs Excellent in their own right but different.

I have read some real good reviews but also some that were luke warm to not impresse. I do not know what to think.
I keep thinking I have tried to many speakers to count and most had their strong point in way or another so maybe I should stop where I am because I keep coming back to the Mirage units.Thanks

FYI Amp is a Rogue Cronus Magnum II or B&K st 2140

nooshinjohn

https://forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/195903/life-with-the-legend-l800#latest

F1nut

I didn't like them, it was like surround sound from 2 speakers. I prefer the original SDA presentation.

VR3

Any speaker you plan to use for 2 channel will take time to dial in. It may require changing all of your gear.

Running three different pairs of speakers on one setup unlikely will provide satisfactory results for all three

Emlyn

An important question is what are the dimensions and shape of the room. The L800s need room to do their best with a symmetrical space to side walls being best. They need the same type of space a pair of properly set up Magnepans need. I've found them to be the best dual use home theater/stereo speakers I've ever had. That's what they were designed to be.

I've experienced a pair of the Mirage M3si before. As long as they're in excellent shape and I was still very happy with them I'd likely stick with them.

What's driving the interest in replacing them? What are their shortfalls now?

msg

All the above plus, that the showroom experience should have given you some sense of performance and sound signature even without the specifics of your own room and other gear, IF..

...the quality of the equipment used was good stuff, and the speakers were placed as recommended in the manual, which you can download. Very important to review this to make sure you won't have any severe limitations.

The L800s' SDA took some getting used to for me. It diffused the sound stage a *lot* as part of the width expansion. I was not expecting this, and didn't like it at first, so this something to consider.

The other adjustment I had to make was a lifestyle one - a very narrow sweet spot for sit-down listening. Some others have not experienced this, but this meant I couldn't sit off to the side, reading, for example, while listening to music, because the opposite channel dropped off quickly, and I found this to be very distracting. The closer I approach the front of one speaker from the listenIng seat, the more the opposite channel fades.

As noted by others above, placement is huge, and I specifically found that I couldn't have any other blocky gear or furniture within a foot or two of the speakers for the best sound. I vaguely recall congestion, loss of SDA, loss of bass detail and presence in a big way, and thin sound, overall. Not an acceptable experience. Clearing the front baffle rule did not remedy, and/or was not enough. I think this issue I experienced has to do with the bottom porting design, in part.

I found the SDA in these speakers giving the sense of presenting the music on an arc, projecting about 3-4ft out and forward at the sides. I enjoyed this.

I still have the L800s, but am currently using conventional speakers due to the dual differential input integrated I'm using right now. Also thoroughly enjoying these conventional speakers, so, again, lending support to @Emlyn 's note re: your Mirage.

Toolfan66

I like ‘em

Emlyn

Crutchfield is now showing the L800s as being a discontinued item, although they've been out of stock there for a while now...

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_700L800BA/Polk-Audio-Legend-L800-Black-Ash.html?tp=185

Also gone from Music Direct...

https://www.musicdirect.com/equipment/speakers/polk-audio-legend-l800-tower-speakers-pair/

F1nut

Still available from Polk.
https://www.polkaudio.com/en-us/product/floor-standing-towers/l800

xsmi

I love mine. The're the most revealing speakers I've ever owned. One thing I have noticed though, they will punish you with bright recordings.

nooshinjohn

xsmi wrote: »

I love mine. The're the most revealing speakers I've ever owned. One thing I have noticed though, they will punish you with bright recordings.

If the material is poorly recorded, the speakers will reveal all. I have found that with my choice of DAC and using the proper settings does mitigate that somewhat.

Bottom line is a bad recording is just that.

docscott

I have a pair of original (1987) SDA-SRS Polks that I have cherished all these years. The crossover on the right speaker recently stopped working properly and I’m trying to decide on pursuing a rebuild on this or moving on to the L800’s. I love the SDA effect in expanding the soundstage and wonder if anyone has compared the L800’s to the originals? The hype from Polk seems to be that the L800 is the best presentation yet of the SDA technology. True or just hype?

F1nut

What stopped working properly?

The vintage and current SDA speakers are very different, IMO. Some folks like the current version better and some don't.

docscott

The SDA effect is still working on the left side and is not working on the right. The left side has the usual clarity and full range, but if I pan the balance to the right, there is only sound on the right side (no crosstalk cancellation signal on the left). If I pan the balance left, most of the sound comes out of the left side, but there is also sound from the crosstalk cancellation signal coming out of the right speaker.

F1nut

Remove and clean the blades on the ends of the cable with a contact cleaner such as DeoxIT. Also apply DeoxIT to the blade receptacles in the socket.

VR3

So happy to see the Polk website fixed their listing for the l800

Must have finally gotten tired of only selling left speakers

docscott

I went ahead and cleaned the blades and sockets again with DeoxIT (tried this a few months back). Again it didn’t change anything. Even with the SDA effect absent from the right channel, it’s still a very satisfying soundstage. It’s just more expanded on the left side with the SDA active. If I unplug the connecting cable, the speakers still kick **** set up as a conventional pair of speakers without SDA employed. I suppose the next step would be to update the crossovers, but I presume this is a costly and time consuming step that would require going without my daily dose of vinyl sweetness I enjoy so much with my Polks. Tough decision! I was considering the Legend 800’s as a way to update to newer technology, but unsure how they would match up to my vintage Polks. I don’t want to take a step backwards in sound quality since my hearing at 66 is only going to decline over time.

nooshinjohn

I am not far behind you. The L 800s take a long time to break in but they are well worth it. I am one of those members who had the vintage SDA’s, and I moved on to the legend line. It was a bit of a struggle at first they get used to because the speakers took so long to break him but once they settle down, they are fantastic in every respect. They are far more detailed than the originals were and still provide pinpoint accuracy for placement of instruments within the soundstage deep articulate and layered bass in mid range sweetness that is out of this world. Yes, I do miss my 1.2 TL’s from time to time, but the listening experience in my room with the L 800 is far superior. My old SDA were upgraded with almost every mod we can do to them and the Legends still outperformed them in my space..

F1nut

docscott wrote: »

I went ahead and cleaned the blades and sockets again with DeoxIT (tried this a few months back). Again it didn’t change anything. Even with the SDA effect absent from the right channel, it’s still a very satisfying soundstage. It’s just more expanded on the left side with the SDA active. If I unplug the connecting cable, the speakers still kick **** set up as a conventional pair of speakers without SDA employed. I suppose the next step would be to update the crossovers, but I presume this is a costly and time consuming step that would require going without my daily dose of vinyl sweetness I enjoy so much with my Polks. Tough decision! I was considering the Legend 800’s as a way to update to newer technology, but unsure how they would match up to my vintage Polks. I don’t want to take a step backwards in sound quality since my hearing at 66 is only going to decline over time.

The issue you're having has to be connection related, IMO. I know there have been similar issues to yours due to the contacts inside the SDA socket becoming worn/spread apart and not making contact with the blades. IIRC, taking something small/thin enough, such as tweezers to insert into the slots and squeeze the contacts together fixed the issue.

Other than that, I would check for loose and/or oxidized connections going to and on the crossover board.

Emlyn

docscott wrote: »

I went ahead and cleaned the blades and sockets again with DeoxIT (tried this a few months back). Again it didn’t change anything.

Did you already try swapping speaker cables and the SDA cable from one speaker to the other to rule out other issues and isolate the problem to a connection in the right speaker that's causing the SDA drivers to not output sound? Apologies if I missed you saying you did that.

The L800s have more clarity in the midrange and tweeter section than the older SDA speakers. Some might say they have too much. The SDA presentation is quite a bit stronger. Age related hearing loss tends to be at the very highest frequencies that don't matter all that much for music enjoyment unless hearing loss is really extreme. Some older people have better ears than younger people who've blasted out their eardrums with in ear headphones since use of those became widespread.

Emlyn

VR3 wrote: »

So happy to see the Polk website fixed their listing for the l800

Must have finally gotten tired of only selling left speakers

The Right Brown version is out of stock but the Left Brown is in stock. Might mean they sold more Rights than Lefts.

Right and Left Black versions are in stock.

docscott

Thanks for the tips. I’ll try to isolate the problem further and see what I come up with. I thought about the blade connections, but haven’t got inside to check this or the contacts on the crossover board. It would be nice if it’s something simple to fix!

pitdogg2

docscott wrote: »

Thanks for the tips. I’ll try to isolate the problem further and see what I come up with. I thought about the blade connections, but haven’t got inside to check this or the contacts on the crossover board. It would be nice if it’s something simple to fix!

The Blade/blade sockets wear out. My SDA 1 signatures were Blade/blade and I'm assuming it was a bakelite material. I was the second owner and it was staticky from the beginning, then it was hit or miss. I found that as I plugged in the cable I was pushing one of the connectors into the speaker, it no longer would grab the cord blades. When I recapped I put in a second set of binding posts. If I was to do it again it would be a speakon connection now. Much better socket and connection.

VR3

Emlyn wrote: »

VR3 wrote: »

So happy to see the Polk website fixed their listing for the l800

Must have finally gotten tired of only selling left speakers

The Right Brown version is out of stock but the Left Brown is in stock. Might mean they sold more Rights than Lefts.

Right and Left Black versions are in stock.

The fact they are not only sold as pairs , 6k, is a testament to the ignorance of the marketing and sales department in relation to engineering

docscott

pitdogg2 wrote: »

docscott wrote: »

Thanks for the tips. I’ll try to isolate the problem further and see what I come up with. I thought about the blade connections, but haven’t got inside to check this or the contacts on the crossover board. It would be nice if it’s something simple to fix!

The Blade/blade sockets wear out. My SDA 1 signatures were Blade/blade and I'm assuming it was a bakelite material. I was the second owner and it was staticky from the beginning, then it was hit or miss. I found that as I plugged in the cable I was pushing one of the connectors into the speaker, it no longer would grab the cord blades. When I recapped I put in a second set of binding posts. If I was to do it again it would be a speakon connection now. Much better socket and connection.

I took the back caps off and voila! One of the connecting wires was loose on the back side of the blade socket on my right speaker. I reconnected it and all seems back to normal. Can you confirm what you hear when the balance control on your amp is panned from left to right? I still get sound out of both speakers when panned left but only the right one when panned right. I’m not sure if this is normal or not with the SDA employed. With the connecting cable removed the sound pans all left and all right as expected, so I know it’s not the amp or speaker wiring. Thanks a bunch for talking me through this. I feel like all is well with my world again!

docscott

I just joined this forum and you’ve all been a huge help. Thank you for your great ideas in guiding me through troubleshooting my SDA-SRS issue and for your input on the L800. The idea of moving on to the newer itineration of the SDA technology is intriguing and deserves some further consideration. Meantime, I’ll continue to enjoy my vintage Polks!

pitdogg2

Read and download this, it's in the vintage speaker sda section.

https://us.v-cdn.net/5021930/uploads/attachments/4/6/7/2/8/47379.pdf

docscott

pitdogg2 wrote: »

Read and download this, it's in the vintage speaker sda section.

https://us.v-cdn.net/5021930/uploads/attachments/4/6/7/2/8/47379.pdf

Thank you for that link. The information was helpful in isolating my problem with the right channel. The connection of the blades is sketchy, but with some fiddling I was able to get everything working right. I think I’ll plan on changing out those connectors at some point and going with the speakon type connectors like you mentioned in an earlier post.

F1nut

I call it and Ivan gets the credit...LOL

mantis

I know the Mirage m3si's very well and yes they are some fantastic speakers. I wish Mirage was the same company as they where back then as they made some really outstanding speaker systems. For Theater, they where remarkable. I really miss those times.

New polk speakers like the L800's I have limited time with them. They are big and require some space to perform correctly.

Hearing them on a showroom floor today is a blessing. I agree hearing them in this environment isn't going to recreate you room as the room you place any speaker is the biggest factor in overall sound quality and performance. It's not the amp or cables or sources that make as big of difference as you might think. The damn room is what colors up everything.

So coming from the M3's and going to this design speaker is a bit of a change. Will it be better? Not really sure they will. But if your willing and you feel good about the demo you had and like their sonic signature to a reasonable point, take them home. I don't see another way to really justify if they are the ones or not.

On a side note, I have read and watched plenty of reviews on them and generally speaking they are pretty fantastic speakers overall. But you know as well as most on this forum that speakers are totally subjective and personal. I may love them you may hate them. Sucks it's this way but for speakers at least, this holds very true.

So thinking about your situation , If I where you , what speakers would I be after? Well the L800's wouldn't be my first choice but certainly worthy of a solid sit down listening. Deepending on what you want to change about your experience with the Mirage speakers, Maybe something like Revel or Monitor Audio might be something to look into. Much more modern sound, more neutral well at least the Revels are , Monitors have a more British Mid range thing going on with awesome dynamics.

Speakers are fun to try to buy but frustrating to find the right ones.

pitdogg2

F1nut wrote: »

I call it and Ivan gets the credit...LOL

Verbage...... it's all in the pronouns🤞😜