New to the Forum & pending L800 Owner
Greetings and thank you for going easy on me with my first post. I am not a newbie when it comes to both modern and vintage audio but I always have more to learn.
I may already know the answer to my question, but I will risk ridicule and ask anyway.
My audio room is small; 12”x12”. I really have my heart set on the L800s. I know Polk recommends at least 3’ from the speakers to the side wall.
Can I get away with using the L800 if I install sound absorption panels to reduce reflections?
I’m running a Musical Fidelity M6 Preamp and Power Amp.
Appreciate you letting me post here and for putting up with a Polk Newbie.
PS, if the SDA is impacted, does that mean the L800s will sound awful?
Regards,
Kevin
I may already know the answer to my question, but I will risk ridicule and ask anyway.
My audio room is small; 12”x12”. I really have my heart set on the L800s. I know Polk recommends at least 3’ from the speakers to the side wall.
Can I get away with using the L800 if I install sound absorption panels to reduce reflections?
I’m running a Musical Fidelity M6 Preamp and Power Amp.
Appreciate you letting me post here and for putting up with a Polk Newbie.
PS, if the SDA is impacted, does that mean the L800s will sound awful?
Regards,
Kevin
Comments
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Welcome!
The L800s would still work but the impact of the dimensional arrays at the ears wouldn't be ideal. Each speaker is 18 inches wide so a pair fills 3 feet of front wall space. If the speakers are placed 6 feet apart the amount of space from the speakers to the side walls would be 1.5 feet. You may be able to have the speakers 5 feet apart to leave 2 feet to each side wall. Polk recommends the speakers be 6 to 8 feet apart as optimum but 5 feet would be acceptable but that affects how far away you should sit from them.
Acoustic panels on the side walls may help some.
The L800s are unique in the audio world but for some situations the L600s are a better choice. -
While you have some good gear, to sound their best speakers need room to breathe. You may not get their full potential in that room .
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You came to the right place. These guys will give you the best, easy-to-understand advice. We were all newbies, once.
Brian
One-owner Polk Audio RTA 15TL speakers refreshed w/ Sonicap, Vishay/Mills and Cardas components by "pitdogg2," "xschop" billet tweeter plates and BH5 | Stereo REL Acoustics T/5x subwoofers w/ Bassline Blue cables | Rogue Audio Cronus Magnum III integrated tube amp | Technics SL-1210G turntable w/ Ortofon 2M Black LVB 250 MM cart | Sony CDP-508ESD CD player (as a transport) | LampizatOr Baltic 4 tube DAC | Nordost & DH Labs cables/interconnects | APC H15 Power Conditioner | GIK Acoustics room treatments | Degritter RCM -
My first thought is that the bass and mass of the speakers is going to overwhelm that size room, therefore the L600's might be a better fit.Amplifiers: Norma IPA 140, MasterSound Compact 845, Ayre v6xe, Consonance Cyber 800
Preamp: deHavilland Ultraverve 3
Dac: Sonnet Morpheus 2, Musical Paradise mp-d2 mkIII
Transport: Jay's Audio CDT2 mk2, Lumin U1 mini
Speakers: Rosso Fiorentino Volterra II
Speaker Cables: Crystal Clear Magnum Opus 2, Organic Audio Organic Reference 2
Interconnects: Crystal Clear Magnum Opus 2, Argento Organic Reference 2, Argento Organic 2
Power Cables: Argento Organic Reference, Synergistic Research Foundation 10 and 12 ga.
Digital cables: Crystal Clear Magnum Opus 2 bnc, Tellurium Q aes, Silnote Audio Poseidon Signature 2 bnc
Puritan PSM156 -
Thank you to all for the advice. I have some thinking to do.
Appreciate the feedback. -
I’ve never had the privilege of hearing the L800, but just from experience with different speakers I’d have to think they would be a bit much for that sized room.
I used to think “buy the biggest, baddest speakers you can afford”, but now I realize that’s not very good advice. My end game speakers are Rosso Volterra’s, but I’ll never own them in my current music room as it’s just not big enough.Things work out best for those who make the best of the way things work out.-John Wooden -
My L800’s are on the long wall of a 19’6”x15’ space. They perform very well in my room, but I do agree with the others. A 12x12 room is not going to be a friendly environment for them. That said, if you are planning at some point in the near term to move them to a larger space, you could get them and run them without the SDA link. They will still sound excellent and then you can take advantage of the full feature set when you get a larger space.
The other option would be to get the L600 instead. One last piece of advice would be to act with some urgency. There is no telling how much longer the Legends are going to be around. Polk has not had many of the models in stock for direct purchase in a year now. I don’t know for a fact what that means for the future of the product line, but no inventory for that period of time does not bode well.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 -
Welcome!
The L800s would still work but the impact of the dimensional arrays at the ears wouldn't be ideal. Each speaker is 18 inches wide so a pair fills 3 feet of front wall space. If the speakers are placed 6 feet apart the amount of space from the speakers to the side walls would be 1.5 feet. You may be able to have the speakers 5 feet apart to leave 2 feet to each side wall. Polk recommends the speakers be 6 to 8 feet apart as optimum but 5 feet would be acceptable but that affects how far away you should sit from them.
Acoustic panels on the side walls may help some.
The L800s are unique in the audio world but for some situations the L600s are a better choice.
Polk has said for these speakers, closer together is desired. They can be as little as 4 feet apart with the listener 7 to 8 feet back. The real issue as I see it is the room being 12x12. This is going to set up all kinds of reflection issues unless the room has some very good absorption/room treatments. Bottom line is it will be a tough room to get right, but not impossible to get decent sound. The L800 in that space will never deliver its full potential.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 -
My experience with the L800 at Troy's is they love alot of space away from the back and side walls while being relatively close together.
The back wall made a huge difference in their performance. I Wan to say we even had them out 5 to 6 ft into the room and it was a tremendous improvement.- Not Tom ::::::: Any system can play Diana Krall. Only the best can play Limp Bizkit. -
Thanks again for all the feedback. I pulled the trigger on the L800s.
I have an unfinished space that is 20’ x 15’ that I plan to turn into my new listening space this winter, so I am sure I can make that work. -
I have an unfinished space that is 20’ x 15’ that I plan to turn into my new listening space this winter, so I am sure I can make that work.
Well, that's a horse of a different color!
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A square room is bad for any speaker, but if you are planning the 15'×20' room at a later date, then I would say the L800 will work great in that room.
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Greetings and thank you for going easy on me with my first post. I am not a newbie when it comes to both modern and vintage audio but I always have more to learn.
I may already know the answer to my question, but I will risk ridicule and ask anyway.
My audio room is small; 12”x12”. I really have my heart set on the L800s. I know Polk recommends at least 3’ from the speakers to the side wall.
Can I get away with using the L800 if I install sound absorption panels to reduce reflections?
I’m running a Musical Fidelity M6 Preamp and Power Amp.
Appreciate you letting me post here and for putting up with a Polk Newbie.
PS, if the SDA is impacted, does that mean the L800s will sound awful?
Regards,
Kevin
Congrats! No, they won’t sound awful at all. Mathew Poes had a “narrower” room and said that side wall absorption worked well. I think Symmetry is the most important if you are dealing with close sidewalls (i.e. having the sidewalls equal distance from the speakers).
Those speakers will sound great! I was just at Axpona and the L800’s blew away the speakers I listened too. I really enjoy my L800’s and I have them in a “sub-optimal” set up.
However, I can confirm that I get a large XTC despite not having the recommended set up and I can confirm that they sound way better than most speakers because of the XTC.
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XTC ?
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Mathew Poes? Narrow room?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 -
Audio reviewer and scientist. He reviewed the L800’s but had closer sidewalls. He talked about all of the things he had to do to make them shine.Mathew Poes? Narrow room?
