Lousy showing by Polk at Audio/Video show.

joeparaski

So I went to my first AV show at the Sheraton in Montreal. Man oh man....I had no idea!!! Boy is my stuff crap compared to what I saw. The beauty, the machine work....and the sound!!! One of my favorite rooms was the Shanling room....awesome!!

Polk however, was pathetic. NO speakers to be heard, NONE, NADA, ZILCH...all they had was the Soundbar, that night table radio, and some i-pod thingie and a whole bunch of Harmony remotes. They weren't even in a room...just out in the open corridor, and with all the noise around and people walking, you couldn't even hear the Soundbar effect.

How on earth can anybody choose a soundsystem from scratch when confronted with so much?!! I could have easily spent the weekend at the show, but I gotta work, so all I got in was a measily 4 hours.

Joe

JimBRICK

Did you get any pics of the show?

daboyz

If Polk didn't put much out then this show wasn't enough for them to mess with. #1 you know who your core audience is,#2 you cater to it. This show wasn't the audience where they felt they were getting their bang for the buck. We know better. They'll spend their ad money wisely.

ben62670

One person tells another person who tells another person they heard what. Come on if you are going to bother going to a show at least spend the time to set something up instead of yuppie crap! This is why Bose beats the crap out of Polk as far as sales go. They need a slogan like "Polk for ears that know" They don't need to copy Bose wave radio crap, and jump on the Ipod express. I love my Polk's, but I call a card as I read it.
Damn I said Ipod, and bose in one thread. I think I am going to be sick!

Bill Ayotte

ben62670 wrote: »

One person tells another person who tells another person they heard what. Come on if you are going to bother going to a show at least spend the time to set something up instead of yuppie crap! This is why Bose beats the crap out of Polk as far as sales go. They need a slogan like "Polk for ears that know" They don't need to copy Bose wave radio crap, and jump on the Ipod express. I love my Polk's, but I call a card as I read it.
Damn I said Ipod, and bose in one thread. I think I am going to be sick!

I agree to an extent....I would like to see a LSI quality iPod piece though....It just might make me take it out of my car....Just a thought. I think that it is a reality that the iPod is here to stay and that A LOT of people my age are going to buy a product like that....If Polk made something that could bring out the magic of their home audio in that kind of package, they could make a lot of money....Hell, look at he "HiFi" piece of **** Apple put out at $350, and they sell like hell......Put something out in this range and all of the birk-wearing hippies will throw money at it like it is going out of style....Not that there is anything wrong with birks, but they can't open a beer like my Reefs can....:D

nadams

Good point. If you decide that I show isn't worth a full lineup... don't sign up as a vendor! It's all or nothing... .you make a poor showing at one place and with the people who saw you there, that's all you'll ever be.

ben62670

I agree with ya Bill it just annoys me that Polk isn't showing what quality they can produce. Their are plenty of mp3 accessories out there. Like the crap Polk computer speakers I have heard turned me off from Polk till I heard some monitors. Now I'm hooked. If I owned Polk I wouldn't want to smear my name with mediocre stuff. They should do a different brand if they want to sell stuff like that.

Bill Ayotte

Every brand has to diversify to a certain extent, and i understand that......I think that Polk should Push into the realm of iPod "HiFi" and kick Apple's ****....I know they could.....There is already a tube iPod solution, but what about the guy who doesn't want to spend that much? That product created a huge price margin between the $350-$400 Apple solution and the tube piece....Why not offer a mid-to-lower end of that scale product solution? There is a huge market out there for that stuff, and I personally know a lot of people that would drop $500-$700 on a solution that made their **** quality MP3s sound like a dream.....I guess that it is just too hard of a product to produce though.....

nadams

Bill Ayotte wrote: »

Every brand has to diversify to a certain extent, and i understand that......I think that Polk should Push into the realm of iPod "HiFi" and kick Apple's ****....I know they could.....There is already a tube iPod solution, but what about the guy who doesn't want to spend that much? That product created a huge price margin between the $350-$400 Apple solution and the tube piece....Why not offer a mid-to-lower end of that scale product solution? There is a huge market out there for that stuff, and I personally know a lot of people that would drop $500-$700 on a solution that made their **** quality MP3s sound like a dream.....I guess that it is just too hard of a product to produce though.....

Polk would quickly reach the point of garbage-in-garbage-out. They could make some amazing sounding pieces for the iPod, that are just going to reproduce tinny, overcompressed garbage even more accurately. Which isn't a good thing

MSALLA

nadams wrote: »

Polk would quickly reach the point of garbage-in-garbage-out. They could make some amazing sounding pieces for the iPod, that are just going to reproduce tinny, overcompressed garbage even more accurately. Which isn't a good thing

I don't know. After I read the polk news letter about downloading at higher bit rates for audiophile quality music, I got the feeling this was something they were looking into.

ben62670

Should Mercedes make a chevette?

venomclan

ben62670 wrote: »

Should Mercedes make a chevette?

They do, it is called Chrysler.

halo

venomclan wrote: »

They do, it is called Chrysler.

And they're looking to dump it

joeparaski

JimBRICK wrote: »

Did you get any pics of the show?

MSALLA

ben62670 wrote: »

Should Mercedes make a chevette?

I didn't say they should. I said it looked to me that they were.

tonyb

Not exactly putting there best foot forward are they?
I agree with those who say don't sign up as a vendor unless.....
You have to treat every show as if your giving first impressions....
and in some cases....you are.If thats how you want the public to
perceive you,then,they will.Very disappointed to hear this.Seems a bunch
of us have a higher opinion of Polk than they themselves do.I get it,they want to expand product lines,but at a trade show,you showcase those new lines and offer up your established lines also.If I knew nothing of Polk Audio and was at that show,I'd walk by them and not give them the time of day.
Piss poor planning if you ask me.Just my 2 pennies.

bknauss

Was this a consumer based show or an industry/news press event?

joeparaski

Well that's odd, I was sure I posted 4 pictures. Anyway, the first day of the show, the 12th, and the following morning till 1 pm was strictly for industry professionals. It was then open to the public for the weekend.

I have to admit that I was very eager to listen to Polks' very best speakers since that is my brand. To say that I was embarassed is an understatement...come to think of it, I was embarassed for THEM. I was going to take a picture of their "setup" but I didn't want people seeing me take a picture of them for fear that they may think I'm a complete newbie moron. It's kind of like taking a picture of an ugly car at an auto show.

I was with my wife and I actually apologized to her.

Joe

Joe

cfrizz

Sheesh! The high end vendors really go out of their way to make their products as FUGLY as they can don't they?

MacLeod

I think Polk getting into Ipod technology is a good thing. Thats a HUGE market out there and its only getting bigger. I think it would be kinda dumb to figure "well we could get into Ipods and make a billion dollars.....or we could look down our noses at it cause the 1% of consumers that are audiophiles think its low-fi wouldnt like it."

Polk making high quality Ipod gear isnt the same as Benz making a Chevette. Benz doesnt just build $500,000 super luxury cars for the super rich. They also build models in the low $30,000's. Why? Cause there is a large chunk of market there. Same here. The Polk radio, XM Tuner and new Ipod gear is still excellent quality gear. Benz wouldnt make much money if they only made the $500,000 cars and Polk wouldnt do very well if they only made $3000 speakers. They would be closing themselves off to the majority of consumers.

Polk is a business, and theyre trying to grow. So long as their products are of the usual excellent quality, they can make alarm clocks and Ipod gear all they want if it increases their bottom line. Cause the more successful Polk Audio becomes, the more they can throw into R & D which means more and better lines of gear for us 1%'ers.

Polk Audio being very successful and growing is good for them AND us!

Dennis Gardner

Polk has more in common with Chevy or Ford than MB................

Bill Ayotte

cfrizz wrote: »

Sheesh! The high end vendors really go out of their way to make their products as FUGLY as they can don't they?

I was thinking the same thing.....Sounds great, looks like :eek:

SCompRacer

Audiophilia has a thread with a link to some pics uploaded from the Montreal show.

Stereophile has some pics posted. Use the Previous Post/Next Post linkage at lower right to cycle through them.

TroyD

Well, I think, in terms of the iPod thing, is people are fearing that Polk will go the way of KLH, Advent et al.

While I understand the fear, you guys gotta have some faith. While Paul may not be one of them, there ARE folks at 5601 Metro Dr that know what they are doing.

Give peace a chance.

BDT

cfrizz

Some of you guys keep forgetting that we all have to start somewhere & it is usually a small start.

If "regular" people can get their hands on value priced piece of midfi gear from Polk, which has a high end sound that is durable & lasts for years, they are going to remember Polk when they are ready to expand in to the heart of home audio/theater systems.

Now that they have a higher income, they can & will splurge on Polks higher priced offerings. But they will know that they are getting a product that can more than hold it's own against it's "nose up in the air competitors!" Without paying the "nose up in the air competitors price!"

Polk is simply staying true to it's roots. Which happens to be where the BULK of the market is.

If you have grown past this market, maybe it's time for you to move on. Just don't forget to point midfi newbies in Polk's direction!

I do it as often as I can!

Jstas

Troy's posts make me think they would be good Nerf Crotch-Bat commercials.