Question for you Polk Audio History buffs

NuckingFuts

Ive owned a pair of monitor7's for about 15 yrs now.....LOVE'em!

Back in the 90's I stopped by a local PA dealer to hear what PA had been coming up with and frankly I was very dissapointed. The speakers just didnt seem to have sounds that were anywhere close to the quality of my monitor7's.
I am once again in the market for PA speakers but I want to know the history of PA's quality over the years.

Is there an era of PA speakers that were sold that just didnt hold up to the awesome reputation of PA? I want the same or better fidelity that Im acustom to with my monitor7's. But, I dont want to waste my money.

Are today's PA speakers as good as the vintage speakers(at all price ranges)?

What's the history in a nutshell guys? Thanks-Joshua

VR3

I will be keeping an eye on this

To me, the older the Polk, the better the Polk

Dennis Gardner

For music listening, the older SDAs and monitors were hard to beat. Late 80s, early 90s.

For HT, the newer RT and LS lines are a great value. Last 6-8 years.

For current music the LSis are top shelf.

I think that you may have heard some of the R models during the past 10 years that couldn't hold a candle to the monitors or SDAs, for impact or fullrange musicality but were still considered to be a great value themselves. R towers were still pretty nice for the money, though.

I can find something Polk to listen to from each era, but the SDAs hold that special place in my heart.

Welcome to the forum!

danger boy

The Monitor 7's seem to be a real fave around here. I have to agree... that I love the sound of mine.

You raise a good point... I think there was a time in the 90's maybe where some of the mid to lower end Polks didn't measure up to the high sound quality of the vintage Polk speakers.

I find that the original Monitor series.. are some of the best sounding, period. Regardless of age... Polk really did it right with this series. And they were affordable to the average Joe.

Not to take anything away from the flagship SDA or Reference speakers.. but those to me where to highly priced for the average Joe.

I wonder over the years.... which model was the most popular? which one sold gobs and gobs for Polk? Their bread and butter if you will..

wallstreet

I bought a pair of ls90's back in the early 90's and haven't looked back. Sure a pair of SDA's might handily spank the 90's, but the 90's have such a higher WAF for those of us without man caves. I've not heard any new speakers from Polk that gives me an itch to go upgrade.

Tour2ma

Consumers' tastes change with time... both music-wise and aesthetically speaking.

I think Polk achieved more musicality in the old lines, but the buying public accepted the size (and in many cases starkness) that it took to achieve "that sound". And the use of PR's, which was enabled by the size, really defined the old Polk sound.

I think Polk gets more out of slim bookselves and floorstanders today than they could have dreamed of 20 years ago. Today size (as in 'small') is everything and the "HT" factor is a major consideration. And of course now the size requires ported designs...

Given a choice, I'll take the size and PR's of the oldies, but if I did not have that choice, I could be quite content with the modern line...

NuckingFuts

So far my hunch has been cofirmed. Thanks fellas!

Strong Bad

I think one of Polk's all time best sellers had to be the Monitor 10B. I had a pair that I purchased in 1988 that I gave to my brother several years back when I went the SDA route.

The Monitor 10B was a serious speaker! I paired it with a Carver amp and Sonic Holography unit and GODDAMM did they shine!!!

As far as stinkers, I recall somewhat, the old "S" series line. Not too too familiar with them, but what I briefly heard was pretty lackluster. The S series didn't last long.

One of my favorite recent speakers was the RT55i. This speaker gave me a sort of "monitor 10B" feeling. A true champ they were! I am looking for a pair BTW.


John

VR3

The biggest issue with the S series was the plastic cabs...

Nothing special there

Tour2ma

Originally posted by john d. strong
I paired it with a Carver amp

Ahem... speaking of Carver Amps... You get my PM?