What equipment does Polk use?

CrazyHead

Howdy!

You probably read that I, too, am using a JoLida tube amplifier. Which model do you run?


-crazyhead-

rskarvan

I generally believe in buying American.
But, buying all audio from Maryland.... Hmmm.

I live in Indiana. If I want to buy a Hoosier product,
it has to either be:

a) Toyota Pickup from Princeton IN
b) Subaru/Isuzu from Lafayette (GO PURDUE).
c) Full Size CHEVY from Ft. Wayne.
(Ya gotta be careful here... they are also made in Oshawa Canada). Ya know, them canadians make quite a few amplifiers for us too.

Now, if I'm into car audio... I can get a genuine
made in Greenwood Indiana ALPINE receiver/CD - they are the original equipment supplier for Honda - an Ohio company.

I think I can even buy a MADE IN INDIANA Toyota forklift.
That is just wrong - seeing that Caterpillar is HQ'd next door
in Illinois (they purchased Towmotor a long time ago).

And, embarassingly enough, guess who placed their
headquarters right in our Hoosier state capital... KLIPSCH : (
They moved into the old RCI (Resort Condo's Inc.) building - a time share vacation company.

I have a Krell amp and pre-amp.... these are made in America.
I also have an old Harmon Kardon receiver - also made in the USA.

Now, to make things ALL THE MORE WORSE... most all Polks come from Tijuanna Mexico. That's right.... the same place that washes your car window unrequested, snaps polaroids, and offers their sisters up for the night for a buck.

NAFTA sucks. So, to end this spiel, I have to say that if you want speakers that are made in Maryland (or, the USA for that matter).... Polk is the wrong choice.

I'm going to eat some made in INDIANA Orville Redenbacher microwave popcorn now. Signing off.

ctbarker32

made in Maryland

Please note that I was careful to use the wording "headquartered in Maryland". Almost all products today are sourced from components originating from around the world.

I fully believe in capitalism and the freedom of choice it can bring. Less government, more personal freedom, and free enterprise unleashes the human potential.

Which model do you run?

Jolida SJ-502A integrated amp. Had to replace output tubes a few months ago. Very sweet and musical. I wonder what it would sound like with the LSi9's?

-CB

rskarvan

Capitalism assumes a level playing field.
Unfortunately, the USA standards make the field un-level.
Things like worker safety, EPA, OSHA, and child-labor laws are tipped against the USA. So, capitalism has some serious faults.

Given the choice between justice and mercy, I'd choose mercy.
We do have it awfully good.

BTW, this is my 250th post (real reason for posting).
I'm curious if I've been promoted to polk-a-teer?

WOOHOO - I MADE IT - POLKATEER.
I'll be quiet now.

F1nut

Dave D.
I would like to add my two cents in reference to nascarmann's suggestion of a reissue of the SDA line. ABSOLUTELY!!!!!!!!!!!!
This would be the best idea you guys at Polk have had since you
first invented the SDA line. The hell with small footprint speakers.
You should market them at the high-end audio stores and re-
establish the Polk name.
Jesse, F1nut

CrazyHead

Originally posted by ctbarker32


Jolida SJ-502A integrated amp. Had to replace output tubes a few months ago. Very sweet and musical. I wonder what it would sound like with the LSi9's?

-CB

Amazing. I, too, use the famous 502A!

I am withholding my final review while I let my LSi9's get broken in a bit. My initial impression was pretty ho-hum, but things have gotten a lot better with a few weeks of break in!

BTW: I started a JoLida forum on my site, similar to this forum. It's for JoLida fans as well as people who want to mod/tweak their JoLida amps. I've made quite a few changes to the amplifier since I got it and I will be documenting all of it on my forum.

Give it a look-see... and that goes for everybody else! I made some forums for all around audiofreakedness for everyone to use.

The Forum! Take a look and participate!


-crazyhead-

ctbarker32

Originally posted by CrazyHead


Amazing. I, too, use the famous 502A!

I am withholding my final review while I let my LSi9's get broken in a bit. My initial impression was pretty ho-hum, but things have gotten a lot better with a few weeks of break in!

BTW: I started a JoLida forum on my site

-crazyhead-

Very cool. I will follow your mods with great interest. Currently, I am modifying a Musical Fidelity X-Dac. So far, I've replaced the opamps (they're socketed so this is easy). I've also purchased a quantity of Black Gate caps that I am considering using as replacements. I'm not an EE or anything just a hobbiest willing to take some risks! When I was a teenager I built a Hafler amp and PS Audio preamp. They both still run some 22+ years later.

I'm curious about your experience with the 502 & LSi9 combo. I'm currently running my 502 with the RTi35's. I'm quite pleased. Previously, I used (still have) Sound Dynamics and B&W 302's. I seem to have started a collection of modest priced speakers. It's a disease really but I get a kick out of how much performance I can get from modest components.

I would think that my RTi35's have some sound similarities to your LSi9's. Their physical dimensions are similar except that the LSi9 seems to be a 3 to 5 inches deeper than the 35's. Of course, the treble range will be dramatically better (different?) with the LSi9's? I would be curious about what speakers you used before with your 502?

I've added your Jolida forum to my bookmarks and will visit regularly.

-CB

DarqueKnight

Originally posted by F1nut
Dave D.
I would like to add my two cents in reference to nascarmann's suggestion of a reissue of the SDA line. ABSOLUTELY!!!!!!!!!!!!
This would be the best idea you guys at Polk have had since you
first invented the SDA line. The hell with small footprint speakers.
You should market them at the high-end audio stores and re-
establish the Polk name.
Jesse, F1nut

If they came back with anything like the larger SDA's of the past, the price would be prohibitive. I really don't think the market is there to support a profitable re-introduction of the SDA line. These speakers do not work very well with receivers, which is what most people own these days. Furthermore, SDA's, by their very nature, are speakers for the two channel audio enthusiast, whose ranks seem to be (rapidly) dwindling.:mad:

F1nut

raife 1

I agree that the pure stereo enthusiast market is smaller these days, which is why I suggested sales at high-end stores only. I have never heard "live" music that surrounded me and for the purpose of music reproduction I believe the "multi-channel" format to be short lived. Anyway I'm sure they would not be inexpensive, but what audiophile speaker is. Of course this is just MO (also all my friends too), just wishing and hoping!

F1nut

DarqueKnight

I wonder how many of those are still around compared to 20 years ago?

I emailed Polk customer service last year asking how many of each model of SDA's were ever sold. Since Polk is a private company, they declined to release any sales information.

I was just curious as to how many SDA 1.2's, 1.2TL's, CRS+'s, etc. are floating around out there in audioland. There are a fair amount of SDA's that can be had for reasonable prices on the used market. That may be another reason why Polk won't come out with an updated SDA. I'd buy a new pair of large SDA's, provided the increased performance justified the price.

I agree with you on the multichannel audio thing. But, who knows what will catch on with the public? When Sony/JVC invented the CD, they never proposed it as a high fidelity format and they were surprised that CD's were so well received by both record companies and consumers.:mad:

shack

When Sony/JVC invented the CD, they never proposed it as a high fidelity format and they were surprised that CD's were so well received by both record companies and consumers

Neither Sony or JVC invented the CD. The originator of the idea was James T. Russell. Russell was a physicist and avid music listener who was frustrated by the wear and tear suffered by his vinyl phonograph records. He was also unsatisfied with their sound quality. Russell envisioned a system that would record and replay sounds without physical contact between its parts; and he saw that the best way to achieve such a system was to use light. Russell was familiar with digital data recording, in punch card or magnetic tape form. He saw that if he could represent the the binary 0 and 1 with dark and light, a device could read sounds or indeed any information at all without ever wearing out. If he could make the binary code compact enough, Russell saw that he could store symphonies on a small piece of film.

Russell succeeded in inventing the first digital-to-optical recording and playback system (patented in 1970). He had found a way to record onto a photosensitive platter in tiny "bits" of light and dark, each one micron in diameter; a laser read the binary patterns, and a computer converted the data into an electronic signal --- which it was then comparatively simple to convert into an audible or visible transmission.

This was the first compact disc. At first no one was interested in his idea but eventually, Sony and and other companies realized the implications and purchased licenses.

At the same time in 1969 Klass Compaan, a Dutch physicist comes up with the idea for the compact disc. At Philips, Compaan and Pete Kramer complete a glass disc prototype and determine that a laser will be needed to read the information. They work on the concept throughout the 70s.

Philips and Sony worked on the technology and even collaberated in the late 70s trying to develop a worldwide standard (similar to the HDTV). In 1982 Sony and Philips introduced a CD-DA (compact disk-digital audio). While Sony was instrumental in its development they did not invent the CD. Many people credit Philips as the inventor of the CD.

CrazyHead

Originally posted by ctbarker32

I'm curious about your experience with the 502 & LSi9 combo. I'm currently running my 502 with the RTi35's. I'm quite pleased.
...
I've added your Jolida forum to my bookmarks and will visit regularly.

-CB

Hi again!

I'll make a post on my forum about the mods I've done to my 502. The speakers I had before the LSi9's were a pair of old Polk RT16 towers (first generation of RT series). As for the LSi9's on the 502...

As you know, the 502 uses the 6550/KT88 type of power tubes. After hooking them up, I was somewhat disappointed. I expected more clarity than I was hearing. Of course, they needed some break-in time. After about a week, things started looking better but there was still something missing... I wasn't sure what it was. The clarity was there, but the midrange was still lacking a little bit.

At any rate, I decided to mod my 502A to accept EL34 tubes instead of the 6550's. I picked up a quad of Svetlana EL34's and called up JoLida to get a schematic and tips. I had read that the 502 can be configured for this kind of operation by swapping a resistor out. That's the only difference between the 302 and 502... four resistors and a $200 price hike. It has to do with resistance of the tube types. EL34 has more and with a stock 502 it will not bias to 40mv. It'll only bias to about 17mv. Swapping the four resistors, and if you get the right resistance, you can bias the 502 for either 6550 or EL34's, depending on your mood.

Anyway, I got my EL34's in and the LSi9's sound a LOT better! Bass is prodigious and smooth. It doesn't have the low end reach that the RT16's did (they could go much lower than documented), but the bass is far more even and controlled than the RT16's were. Don't get me wrong, though, the LSi9's are bass powerhouses for bookshelf speakers! Listened to Blue Man Group's "Audio" release, track 3, brought tears to my eyes. The bass is open, deep, and very controlled -- but most of all, it's powerful!

Amazing speakers the LSi's are...

DarqueKnight

Thanks for the historical info Shack!:cool:

Systems

I will look into your suggestion. SDA is truely a cool technology. We are always interested in what the true fans think and want. It is you who pushes us to your friends and we love you all for it.

F1nut

COOL!!!