the 1.2tl why is it gone

thumpin07

in my opinion the polk 1.2tl is the best speaker i have ever heard even today why did they stop making such a good thing. whe i have the money im buying a pair of these maybe two pairs of these, i love polk and would personally thank matthew if i could

janmike

Go to Polkfest and you probably can.

thumpin07

i know where polk hq is i grew up 30 mins from there

thumpin07

yeah i grew up in harwood maryland in anne arundel county neaR ANNAPOLIS 30 mins from baltimore

trubluluc

One reason really...size and economics. The general population never really got behind speakers big enough to house a family of four.
They are awesome. 1pair is all you'll need.

-Luc

thumpin07 wrote: »

in my opinion the polk 1.2tl is the best speaker i have ever heard even today why did they stop making such a good thing.

pearsall001

They stopped building stadiums...no where else to put them.

engtaz

WAF or just acceptance factors. Big speakers not cute little blocks. Wish the were still being offered in there line up. AV123 LS9's are very tall but not as wide as the SDA line. Width concern on space available is a problem also.

engtaz

John in MA

In addition to the mentioned factors:

They're too big and expensive to be mainstream, but not esoteric enough to appeal to the crowd who still buys fridge-size speakers new. I'm sure Polk could develop a new model in that mold. However, I doubt many folks in that sphere of interest would consider Polk as a suitably high-end company.

They're "trick" speakers, all the SDAs. I don't mean that in a negative way. Just that in most circles anything that alters the sound or does other abnormal things is often considered a gimmick or bad voodoo. Especially by the high-end folks who go to extraordinary lengths to do things like isolate power cords from all the RF interference that they're sure hardwood flooring causes.

Polk found easier ways to make money. Slapping together man-sized speakers with 12 drivers per box in a domestic factory is a lot more effort than having home theater stuff made in China.

They're not _that_ good. Before the SDA fanatics jump on me, let me say that I'm a very pround 1.2TL owner. In this size and price range it's currently hard to find a speaker with such a good balance of sound quality and frequency/dynamic range. It's an exceptional product. But if you're talking about having new ones made to compete with the current high-end, there are better speakers that most prospective buyers wouldn't have trouble paying the extra cash for.

All good things must come to an end. Just be happy they're often available on the used market. I'll be keeping mine unless some absurdly huge and expensive speakers fall into my lap.

RuSsMaN

Yeah what he said (above).

+ you need to get out more. The 1.2 is far from the best sounding speaker, in my (and others) opinion, it's not even the best sounding SDA.

Cheers,
Russ

ben62670

Can you imagine shipping them from China:eek:
Plus one of the biggest factors for demo's is setup. They can't even get that right with LSI's in 90% of the stores that sell them.

heiney9

John in MA wrote: »

They're "trick" speakers, all the SDAs. I don't mean that in a negative way. Just that in most circles anything that alters the sound or does other abnormal things is often considered a gimmick or bad voodoo. Especially by the high-end folks who go to extraordinary lengths to do things like isolate power cords from all the RF interference that they're sure hardwood flooring causes.

I hate it when people say this about SDA's. It's not a trick; it's psychoacoustic reality. It's actually "stereo" that alters sound and does abnormal things. In real life we don't hear in "stereo" only in the hi-fi world. Nothing is perfect at "recreating" sound including SDA's, but the idea, concept and execution comes much closer to reality than any "stereo" pair of speakers.

Are they the best today, that's the $100,000 question. They are far better than 20 year old speakers should be and they are much better than all but a small percentage of the the offerings out there today. IMO

H9

John in MA

heiney9 wrote: »

I hate it when people say this about SDA's. It's not a trick; it's psychoacoustic reality. It's actually "stereo" that alters sound and does abnormal things. In real life we don't hear in "stereo" only in the hi-fi world. Nothing is perfect at "recreating" sound including SDA's, but the idea, concept and execution comes much closer to reality than any "stereo" pair of speakers.

You misunderstand me. "Trick" was in quotes and I said I wasn't stating it's a bad thing. I wasn't talking about it altering reality, or perhaps more correctly, a theoretical idea of reality. I meant in relation to a normal stereo presentation. A loudspeaker producing a reverse-phase signal to cancel out audible crosstalk in one ear is very much altering the sound you hear in that room. It might be closer to the original recorded image but you're still messing with the ambiant sound.

The point I was trying to make is that any ideas like that are not currently fashionable in the audiophile world.

Like I said, not a negative aspect. I own a pair of things after all. I do sometimes wonder, however, about recordings that might have been mixed with the assumption one would be hearing the "wrong" speaker in a normal stereo setup.

VR3

The biggest problem with the SDA's are the drivers. IMO.

There are far* better drivers out there today with far more fidelity than what the SDA series implements.

The idea is definitely cool though.

F1nut

heiney9 wrote: »

I hate it when people say this about SDA's. It's not a trick; it's psychoacoustic reality. It's actually "stereo" that alters sound and does abnormal things. In real life we don't hear in "stereo" only in the hi-fi world. Nothing is perfect at "recreating" sound including SDA's, but the idea, concept and execution comes much closer to reality than any "stereo" pair of speakers.

Are they the best today, that's the $100,000 question. They are far better than 20 year old speakers should be and they are much better than all but a small percentage of the the offerings out there today. IMO

H9

BINGO!!! Give that man a ceegar.

heiney9

John in MA wrote: »

You misunderstand me. "Trick" was in quotes and I said I wasn't stating it's a bad thing. I wasn't talking about it altering reality, or perhaps more correctly, a theoretical idea of reality. I meant in relation to a normal stereo presentation. A loudspeaker producing a reverse-phase signal to cancel out audible crosstalk in one ear is very much altering the sound you hear in that room. It might be closer to the original recorded image but you're still messing with the ambiant sound.

The point I was trying to make is that any ideas like that are not currently fashionable in the audiophile world.

Like I said, not a negative aspect. I own a pair of things after all. I do sometimes wonder, however, about recordings that might have been mixed with the assumption one would be hearing the "wrong" speaker in a normal stereo setup.

John, I understand you didn't mean it in a negative way but it's not trickery(inneraural crosstalk), it's not theoretical and I used the wrong word when I said "reality", it's a well known human psychoacoustic condition which stereo creates and SDA's try to minimize. Most are so entrenched with typical stereo that the SDA's somehow sound unnatural or "ehnanced" or uses "trickery".

Anyways not here to debate it as we're mostly on the same page. You have a pair, I have a pair. There are some who hate the SDA's and those who wouldn't have anything else. I still believe many so called audiophiles who don't like the SDA part have never really given them a good extended listen or just maligned them without ever hearing them.

H9

DarqueKnight

thumpin07 wrote: »

in my opinion the Polk 1.2tl is the best speaker i have ever heard even today why did they stop making such a good thing.

Well, there is such a thing as needing to move on to other things...particularly when you are chasing a fickle group of consumers.

heiney9 wrote: »

... it's a well known human psychoacoustic condition which stereo creates and SDA's try to minimize. Most are so entrenched with typical stereo that the SDA's somehow sound unnatural or "enhanced" or uses "trickery".

Often the lie, appearing first and thereby becoming widely accepted, becomes the "truth" and the truth appearing much later, becomes the lie.

heiney9 wrote: »

There are some who hate the SDA's...

Never have quite understood this one. I mean, it's not like Matt and Company rammed SDA's down people's throats. Like any other consumer product, you can either take them or leave them. There will be no questions asked...honest.:)

heiney9 wrote: »

...and those who wouldn't have anything else.

Oh, believe me, in spite of being the rabid SDA cultist that I am, I'd have something else in a pico nano micro millisecond if I could find something else I liked. Been looking for over 20 years. No luck.:(

heiney9 wrote: »

I still believe many so called audiophiles who don't like the SDA part have never really given them a good extended listen or just maligned them without ever hearing them.

While I believe both of the above to be true, I think the main problem has been the unlikelihood of hearing SDA's with proper amplification in an appropriately sized and acoustically friendly room. Of course, some people are not going to like the objects of our affections even when they are auditioned under ideal conditions with superlative electronics. This is, after all, a subjective hobby.;)

After a couple decades of dealing with these wonderful speakers, I've come to the following conclusion:

SDA's are some of the most power hungry, current guzzling, acoustically demanding and land grabbing speakers ever made.

I'll expound on the statement above in another thread...after my thoughts soak a while longer.

---

We heard all the hype and tried some SDA's down in our spot once. The butyl rubber surrounds warped and stiffened after just a few songs...producing bad, bad music. We really couldn't understand you people's cultist, slavish devotion to an obviously inferior loudspeaker.

Try Infinity or Bose. I think the foam surrounds can better withstand the heat.;)~DK

zingo

Amen.

F1nut

Raife is on a roll.

dcmeigs

10(-30) seconds. Dude means business.