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HBombToo

Originally posted by "Polk" Paul DiComo
It sure sounded like people were having some angst about a "table radio" (GASP!) showing up on our home page.

Sir
My only "angst" is that there is no mention of our highly sought after SDA's being reintroduced.

The table radio is cool and I'll have one for the reasons you have mentioned.

Regards
Henry

BlueMDPicker

Originally posted by "Polk" Paul DiComo
It wasn't eating the apple that got adam and eve kicked out of eden - it was listening to a solid state amp.

Hold that thought while I introduce the concept for the new Polk XRt13 XM Receiver:

Pauly

Originally posted by BlueMDPicker
Hold that thought while I introduce the concept for the new Polk XRt13 XM Receiver:

That would just be sick :cool:

TroyD

Ahhhh, I was sort of wondering when we were going to have this discussion.....

I think the natural reaction of the hardcore Polk audiophile is to wince and say 'there goes the neighborhood' although it doesn't have to be the case nor do I think it is or will be the case.

I think that the XM tuna gives us evidence that what Polk does is going to be top shelf gear.

As far as Polk branching out into electronics...well, that's been on the horizon for awhile (SRT? RMDS-1?). Instead of fearing the image of Bose, think Henry Kloss. AR made more than speakers as did KLH and Advent. David Hafler was more than one dimensional as well so why can't Polk??

A table radio is a cool item. Personally, I would have been more interested in something that competes more directly with the Tivoli but that's just me. Polk has to design products that reach out farther than us, anyway.

The fact is, the audio market is moving away from what many of us hold dear. For better or worse, it is what it is. SDA is a thing of the past. Sad but true. High tech and wireless and so forth is where the bucks are and in order to stay in business, you gotta go where the bucks are.


BDT

AsSiMiLaTeD

AR made more than speakers as did KLH and Advent

Not the particular example I was thinking of...

Where are those companies now? KLH is crap and sold at Best Buy, the last pair of recent Advents I heard sounded like crap...

Actually, I do agree with your point of view and happen to share it...those examples just struck me as funny...and I'm sure there's a bunch of history there that I don't know about either...

I do believe that companies can dabble in multiple markets and still be successful at what they do. Hell, look at Yamaha. Like their receivers or not (I don't), you still have to admit that they're one of the better products available in that arena..and they make motorcycles and keyboards???

The question isn't whether Polk CAN dabble else where and still maintain their speaker quality, but rather WILL they. Only time will tell...and I hoep they do...

Jstas

KLH and Advent were making electronics back in the 60's and 70's and even some in the 50's.

What you see now is a product of the economic slump of the late 70's to mid-80's when new technology was coming out but people weren't spending the money on high-dollar equipment. They were buying solid state gear from Japan 'cause it was cheap. Companies like KLH, Advent and even AR are still around but just familiar faces that a huge asian or other multi-national conglomerate bought to make money off of the name. Audio is a hobby and for most people, when times get rough, hobbies go first. If the money isn't there for the gear, nobody buys it and the companies end up going up for sale. Hence the reason you see once great American companies like KLH and Advent with a big long corporate name behind it, subsidized by foreign investors.

Just because a company makes junk now doesn't mean it has always made junk. KLH and Advent both have a very long and storied past compared to other companies. They were once considered THE high-end or the audio market. Sure there was better stuff but at the time, they were companies driving the changes.

Polk Audio managed to survive because they offered alot of product for not alot of dollars. If they continue to do so, I do not see them not surviving.

TroyD

I'm talking about AR, KLH and Advent when Kloss was at the helm. That's a comparable situation. Actually, Kloss left AR fairly early on but you get the idea.... IF Matt Polk ever sells the Polk name to a huge conglomerate, THEN you can invoke the current version of AR, KLH and Advent.

Back in the day, those companies built much more than speakers.

The AR turntable, for example, was a revolutionary turntable at the time. The AR integrated, The AR receiver....At Advent, Kloss used the profits from speaker sales to fund his projection TV project.....

The point is, that this is not a new premise.

BDT

Tour2ma

Ed Z....

And Advent brought to us Dolby B and the front projection TV. The latter was the reason Henry developed everything else that made Advent.

And then he moved on to found Cambridge Sound Works...

Mjr7531

Originally posted by "Polk" Paul DiComo
I understand you. It is refreshing to see someone refer to history pre-1900. Most audiophiles think the world began when Edison invented the phonograph. Some think it was the invention of the first tube amp. It wasn't eating the apple that got adam and eve kicked out of eden - it was listeing to a solid state amp.

I think you are referring to the Inquisition days - 13th and 14th centuries.

Sounds right, I just got done taking my AP European History test, so I've got the whole outline in my head, but not any specific event in my head unless the multiple choice in my head calls for it.