SRT Series: Who ownes these monsters? What are they like?

lax01

I recently found an old 2000 Polk Catalog and inside they had Polk's old High-end speakers called the SRT series. These things are massive with mutiple tweeters, midranges and woofers (subs too). Polk even says that a sub is not needed. The front channels are huge. I mean gigantic. I was just wondering how they sound? And was wondering how much they cost? Plus I bet they are out of production right?

Here are the front speakers:



Two Words: HOLY CRAP!


BTW, does anyone have any pictures of these in their house? Thanks again!

juice21

the system cost $10,000
they are out of production
and i've never had the chance to hear this system...:(


anybody???

presidan

Nope

But i remember that there was a warning on the SRT page. "USE EXTREME CAUTION WHEN USING THE SRT SYSTEM. IT IS CAPABLE OF PLAYING EXTREME FREQUENCIES or something like that...........
Ouch

lax01

Yeah, Presidan, that is what it says on the bottom of the page. With the system they give you a specialized SPL meter.

Pretty cool!

Indrama

Yes they are huge, and very loud, I have never heard them but I have read about them. you are correct that Polk doesnt make them anymore BUT!!! you might still be able to get some from Cinepro, they hav a system called the CINEPRO ForceField Vortex System/The ForceField Predator System

http://www.cinepro.com/opening.html

now thats impressive

I-SIG

I have seen and heard the SRT system. In a word the sound was absolutely EFFORTLESS. I was priveledged enough to attend a demo by the man himslef, Matt Polk. I was amazed. I knew Polk was a good company, but after that, I was completely hooked on Polk from then on. I now have some SDA's and truly know what the hype is about. If I had the space and cash, I wouldn't hesitate to buy one of these systems off ebay for 2-4000 bucks.

Wes

wangotango68

our local dealer had a set of these set up in there main room. it was like being at a concert. the sound was that powerfull! they sat in there showroom for a while and then sold. lucky ****!

scott:cool:

johnnyamerika

Holy crap that's amazing....excuse me while I go cry...

RuSsMaN

They can reach 120db and higher, easily. I know some here will say they listen to their RT series at 115db, well, they need their meters checked.

The SRT system is capable of causing serious hearing damage and/or loss. With the proper amplification, and prolonged exposure, I wonder how close they could get to actually killing a person....

Anyone have the OSHA info on spl handy? I'm talking out of my ****, but it was something like 160db for 3hrs would kill most humans...not kill their hearing, but actually cease brain activity......

Cheers,
Russ

Ron-P

Click me: What?

I've had my sytsem peek at 105+ and my meter works fine. That set-up looks more over-kill than anything else, good marketing ploy though.


Peace Out~:D

rlw

Nothing more, nothing less.

juice21

rlw, that your set-up????

rlw

Yeah, that's the two channel system...any Polkies who find themselves in the Cleveland, OH area with the urge to hear pure overkill can e-mail me [abobw(at)hotmail.com], and if I'm around you're welcome over for a listening session.

juice21

rlw, you mind posting a full equipment list of what you are running those babies with?

rskarvan

What model Krell mono-blocks are those - the 650MC?

What are your thoughts about Polk mated to Krell's?

I've got the KAV250A mated to a set of 3.1TL's.
While it sounds good... I'm certain that the amp is much better than the speakers.

What in the world made you choose Polk's to mate with such fine mono-block amps? Its sort of like putting a Ferrari engine in an old camaro. Yeah, it will work... but why? Seems silly.

Curious.

rlw

Why I don't post an equipment list: I'm sick and tired of arguing about equipment, and of people telling me what sounds better when they haven't even heard the setup in question.

There are no monoblocks in this system. The fact that there are wires connecting both left and right channels should be a dead giveaway.

As far as other speakers go: a buddy of mine, who owns the area's leading high-end shop where I bought the majority of my electronics, sells Martin Logan and B&W, and used to sell Dunlavy, Thiel, Hales, etc. He used to bug me about buying speakers that would sound better. I finally got him over to listen by telling that I had an open checkbook for whatever speaker that he would recommend, but that he had to listen first.

When he first heard the system, he couldn't stop shaking his head. When I asked him why, he told me that he had used the cd we were listening to for 6 years as his demo cd, and he was hearing it for the first time - he didn't realize all that was on the CD. He told me that whatever I did, to never, ever get rid of the SRT's.

He still comes over after work to listen, and to do component evaluations. He still has his customers who are really into 2 channel come over and listen.

So, I dunno. Maybe I'm silly, and maybe it's overkill, but something seems to sound pretty good about the whole damn thing, and that's all that really matters.

lax01

rlw: I understand that you don't want to tell us your equipment list and I must say that is a very nice setup! Have you ever thought about going multichannel? Or are you just into 2-channel?

BTW, does your friend recommend those speakers to his other High-End customers?

Micah Cohen

Once, in a demo room here, Ken Swauger (Cust Serv Guru) set up an SRT surround system (four of those big mommas with the center channel) and played the scene in OUTBREAK where the helicopter comes down and the bomb goes off (right at the beginning?)... It was like being next to the helicopter.

BIG SOUND. Definite overkill, but clean and realistic and powerful.

If I had the space and money... And no neighbors for miles around... And if my hearing weren't important to me...

MC

Micah Cohen

What a great pic, rwl. Thanks for that! I gotta show this thread to Matt!

MC

rlw

lax01: The LP's that I own, some of them visible behind the left SRT, are predominantly stereo, some mono. Why would I want to fool around with multi-channel?

Yeah, my friend still recommends those other speakers. He's gotta make a living, so I can't know him too hard since the SRT's are out of production. I have to admit that the Martin Logans do some things really, really well.

Micah: there's the hearing thing, and you also have to be careful of structural damage to the house. I've put several new cracks in the foundation and brick wall at the back of the room. The whole room leans from front to back enough that it is noticeable now...but we're renting, so who cares?

Overkill just sounds sooo good cranked up on trip-hop!

Micah Cohen

I've put several new cracks in the foundation and brick wall at the back of the room. The whole room leans from front to back enough that it is noticeable now...but we're renting, so who cares?

Not in my house, you're not!

LOL! That's great!

Micah!

rskarvan

rlw,

Me bad. I saw those two big bad krells and just assumed mono's. Woops. You are probably using one for low and one for high - correct?

Anyway, Krell rocks. Fastest electronics in the business.
Probably considerably faster than the Polks.

Ron

dean/klipschead

'fastest electronics in the business' -- what ever that means ??
I guess my Bryston just can't push electrons as fast as a Krell

Well those SRT's certainly look cool !!

As far as SPL's go I can do 117 db at the listening postion - but it ain't fun.

rlw

Originally posted by rskarvan
rlw,

Fastest electronics in the business.
Probably considerably faster than the Polks.

Ron

Ron, I didn't realize that you had such extensive experience in the audio industry. You must have spent a lot of time listening to a lot of electronics to arrive at your conclusion. Did your listening tests include all amps, or just all solid state amps? I'm curious as to how "fast" you found tube amps to be, in general, if that makes sense.

What about preamps? Do they follow the same rules of speed? I'll 'fess up: I love tube pre-amps, and have one in my system now. I did have a Krell preamp, but when I heard what this tube unit could do, I felt like the Krell was just, well, blown away.

(hence my question about tube amps above)

What electronics have you heard paired with the SRT's? Is there a pairing that you particularly like, and why? I'm always up for learning more about this hobby, and I'd certainly like to get a better sounding combo if that's possible.

I only have had the opportunity to listen to 4 or 5 brands of amps in my system. It sounds like you have way more experience than me. I don't really know much about the technical theory of how all this stuff works. I just trust my ears, and listen to as much as I can.

rlw

Originally posted by dean/klipschead

As far as SPL's go I can do 117 db at the listening postion - but it ain't fun.

Yeah - an honest 117dB across the listening spectrum is way effin' loud. My current room just won't support levels much above 105dB at all, and even then the room is adding quite a bit of distortion; it does about 100dB cleanly.

I typically never listen much above 75-78dB. If I do, I limit my time to 1 LP, then take a break. If I listen to an LP at an average of 90-somethingdB, I'm amazed when it ends at just how quiet the room has suddenly become.

rskarvan

rlw,

When I say that Krell makes the fastest amps... I mean it.
Krell utilizes a proprietary transistor design manufactured by Motorola. This transistor is designed to be FASTER at transient responses in the music. Krell's are famous for among other things bass slam and being very analytical sounding. For me, this is a good thing. I want my amp to be able to reproduce the finest transients found in the source material. It makes no sense at all to utilize another brand pre-amp with a krell amp. Again, from an accuracy standpoint, the transistors utilized in the gain stage of the preamp must be as fast as the amp... otherwise, what is the point of having a super-fast amplifier?

You mention that you like tube amps. Tube amps are not fast. They are, in fact, much less precise in duplicating the source signal. They tend to sound warm - its a pleasant sound, but not an accurate one. Obviously, you like the warm sound that tube amps provide. You are muddy'ing up the signal to your wonderful krells with a tube amp. If you want accuracy, go for a KRC-3 krell preamp. It would mate very well with your amps. Or, you could go for one of the newer (yet more expensive) krell preamps. You decide.

I have never heard the SRT system. Generally, polk is not regarded as being an exceptionally accurate (i.e. fast) speaker.
This is my problem too. I am sending a very accurate signal to my 3.1TL's, and the speakers just aren't up to the task of recreating the acoustics nearly as precisely. Someday, I will upgrade away from Polk... probably to Thiel... to improve the accuracy of the 2-channel music.

If I were you, as much as you love them, I would critically listen to other speakers matched with your krell electronics and I am pretty certain that you will soon hear what you have been missing. Your krell amps are top notch - no doubt. I just don't think that any Polk speaker is clean enough to match your input signal. In short, your system is probably not balanced very well - you've got much cleaner amps than you do speakers.

If you like the tube sound... Conrad Johnson is a pretty good compromise between solid state and tubes. Krell is not.
Personally, I don't know how you could prefer anything to precise analytical music through exceptionally accurate speakers. Everything else is a compromise.

My 2 cents.

- Ron

PS Your system puts mine to shame. Of course, at your price point, it should. Sell your polks and get something krell-worthy.
You won't regret the decision. May I humbly suggest the Thiel 7.2's?

rlw

Originally posted by rskarvan
rlw,

When I say that Krell makes the fastest amps... I mean it.

[snip, snip, boom]

Ron,

Well, that clears that up, doesn't it?

I'm so glad for you that you know everything there is to know about audio, including the sound of my system. I am humbled by your expertise in being able to reach all these conclusions without having to actually having to listen to the components. This is certainly a gift that I'm sure many people wish they had, as it would save a lot of time, money, and effort.

As for me, well, I'll continue to muddle through by listening to components and choosing what sounds best to me. Please forgive my simple-minded approach to audio, but I will always trust my ears, even over the words of somebody as knowledgeable as yourself.

Thank you for attempting to educate me, but I'm afraid that I'm a hopeless case and that you're just wasting your time. If I should ever have any questions about the nature of the universe, I'll be sure to post a message on the "Opinion" forum, and you can try to explain how it works to me.

rlw

dean/klipschead

I don't buy into this 'speed' bit - but I have often heard it said that simple tubed circuits are actually 'faster' than ANY solid state design.

That tubes are 'warmer' is also nonsense. Now that I own both decent tube and solid state gear I can say that both my AE-25 push-pull triode amp and my Anthem EL34 Ultralinear amps have considerable emphasis in the midband. They are anything but 'warm'. My Bryston 3B-ST is actually 'warmer' and laid back by comparison. Both tube amps however, are more involving and throw a much deeper soundstage. I think they actually sound 'brighter' because it is as if another layer is lifted off of the music. So in this sense 'brighter' means more open and engaging as opposed to shrill sounding.

I have no love for solid state preamps. They are sterile and flat sounding. A decent tube preamp and good solid state amp match up very well.

Now, as for dumping those beautifule monster Polks for some sissy audiophile speakers. Well -- there is a saying we use at the Klipsch site:

"There is no replacement for displacement."

So sure - if you want dime sized cymbals and a compressed soundstage -- get smaller speakers!

rskarvan

Your displacement analogy is from the mid 70's muscle cars.
Since that time, high compression turbo's and 4 or 5 valves per cylinder have laid that myth to rest.

Same is true for the speaker industry. More is not better, its just more.

I'd take a Lotus Esprit or Porsche 911 over an older big block corvette any day. Some people prefer brute force over finesse. Not me.

Now, the SRT's are big boys - no doubt.
They are very fine speakers... there are better though.

I don't have much experience with tube equipment.
Some swear by tubes. I look at tubes a bit like I look at LP's.
Old technology.

dean/klipschead

You can keep you 911

I'll take the Vette with the stock 427 & 375 HP heads, tunnelram, Holly 850, and standard 4:11 rear end.

I'm sure I would have no trouble seeing you through my rear view mirror

DarqueKnight

Why I don't post an equipment list: I'm sick and tired of arguing about equipment, and of people telling me what sounds better when they haven't even heard the setup in question. -RLW

RLW, I see what you mean. This sort of thing used to puzzle me until I realized that some "audiophiles" have the ability to extrapolate their considerable knowledge to and draw conclusions about stuff they have neither seen, nor heard, nor smelled. Apparently, actual listening experience does not count much these days. Witness all the SDA experts around who have never even stood next to one. I am constantly amused by statements like "If SDA's were so great, why did they stop making them?"

Seriously, RLW, have you ever done a comparison between the SRT and either the original SDA SRS, SDA SRS 1.2, or SDA 1.2TL? There are some similarities in size, number of drivers, and the ability to do stuctural damage to one's home. One of my friends cracked two windows in his listening room when he cranked up his 1.2TL's just to "see how loud they would go". Fortunately, I wasn't around for that particular "listening" session.:cool: