Old Reviews of Vintage Polk Speakers...

jon s
jon s Posts: 905
edited June 2008 in Vintage Speakers
Since I have been getting so much assistance here from the Polk Club members I decided to make a little contribution in return. I was able to find copies of reviews of EVERY vintage Polk speaker from the old High Fidelity and Stereo Review magazines from the 80s (these magazines are LONG out of print and finding the copies was tough)... I copied the articles and I am in the process of transcribing the information into a MS Word file (currently 24 pages and growing) and will convert them into a PDF file. So far, the reviews I have transcribed are:

Polk Monitor 10
Polk Model RTA-12B x2 (both HF and SR)
Polk SDA-2A
Polk SDA-1C
Polk SDA-SRS 2.3
Polk SDA-CRS
Polk SDA-SRS

Still transcribing...
Polk SDA-1
Polk SDA-2
Polk SDA-SRS2

Now the fine print...
the file is LARGE... So far it is ~4MB in size, looking at over 6MB when done. I put in some pictures of the appropriate speakers in the file as a reference. The copied images and charts of the reviews did not come across well so no luck there. If the images come out okay, I will try to copy them into the file. If I delete the images, the file will reduce considerably in size. If you guys want the big file I can probably email them to you or I can just upload the non-illustrated file to the site. Let me know your choices...

UPDATE: I was able to reduce the file to under 2MB by lowering the resolution of the images.. here is the final document...

I was finally able to upload the revised file... apparently work PC prevents uploading of files to forums... file was posted 6/23/2008...
Post edited by jon s on
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Comments

  • daboyz
    daboyz Posts: 5,207
    edited June 2008
    Would love to see something on the SDA-2A's. PM me with info.

    Thanks, Dave
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  • nadams
    nadams Posts: 5,877
    edited June 2008
    I'd be happy to host it for you if you'd like... any and all versions.
    Ludicrous gibs!
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  • Face
    Face Posts: 14,340
    edited June 2008
    That's generous of you, thanks.
    "He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you." Friedrich Nietzsche
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  • heiney9
    heiney9 Posts: 25,165
    edited June 2008
    Cool, bring it on!!

    H9
    "Appreciation of audio is a completely subjective human experience. Measurements can provide a measure of insight, but are no substitute for human judgment. Why are we looking to reduce a subjective experience to objective criteria anyway? The subtleties of music and audio reproduction are for those who appreciate it. Differentiation by numbers is for those who do not".--Nelson Pass Pass Labs XA25 | EE Avant Pre | EE Mini Max Supreme DAC | MIT Shotgun S1 | Pangea AC14SE MKII | Legend L600 | BlueSound Node 3 - Tubes add soul!
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  • RuSsMaN
    RuSsMaN Posts: 17,987
    edited June 2008
    Hit polksda.com, he has a good bit of stuff already, pretty much 'the' site for all things vintage Polk. Jon, just scan them in individually, and he can process them to pdf's for the GP.

    Send him what you have, contribute to the greater good, and everyone that wants it can get it, easy.
    Check your lips at the door woman. Shake your hips like battleships. Yeah, all the white girls trip when I sing at Sunday service.
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  • jon s
    jon s Posts: 905
    edited June 2008
    RuSsMaN wrote: »
    Hit polksda.com, he has a good bit of stuff already, pretty much 'the' site for all things vintage Polk. Jon, just scan them in individually, and he can process them to pdf's for the GP.

    Send him what you have, contribute to the greater good, and everyone that wants it can get it, easy.

    I sent him a couple of emails and he never responded. Plus the copies i made are actually pictures of the pages since i did not have a scanner or copier available, just my trusty camera and snapped away... the files are BIG... 3MB per image.
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  • candyliquor35m
    candyliquor35m Posts: 2,267
    edited June 2008
    Someone recommended http://www.faststone.org/ for reducing, cropping, rotating, etc images and I've been using it since my old editor was 16 bit and wouldn't work on large files over 1 meg.
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  • Face
    Face Posts: 14,340
    edited June 2008
    http://www.irfanview.net/

    Another great FREE picture viewer and editor.
    "He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you." Friedrich Nietzsche
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  • McLoki
    McLoki Posts: 5,231
    edited June 2008
    Awesome - thanks for sharing. I am very interested in the end results. Let us know when it is ready.
    Mains.............Polk LSi15 (Cherry)
    Center............Polk LSiC (Crossover upgraded)
    Surrounds.......Polk LSi7 (Gloss Black - wood sides removed and crossovers upgraded)
    Subwoofers.....SVS 25-31 CS+ and PC+ (both 20hz tune)
    Pre\Pro...........NAD T163 (Modded with LM4562 opamps)
    Amplifier.........Cinepro 3k6 (6-channel, 500wpc@4ohms)
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  • heiney9
    heiney9 Posts: 25,165
    edited June 2008
    RuSsMaN wrote: »
    Hit polksda.com, he has a good bit of stuff already, pretty much 'the' site for all things vintage Polk. Jon, just scan them in individually, and he can process them to pdf's for the GP.

    Send him what you have, contribute to the greater good, and everyone that wants it can get it, easy.

    Good idea as he really only has 2 "official" reviews. Many years ago I threw out my Stereo Review magazines I had years 1982-1990 and I kick myself all the time for not keeping them as a reference.
    "Appreciation of audio is a completely subjective human experience. Measurements can provide a measure of insight, but are no substitute for human judgment. Why are we looking to reduce a subjective experience to objective criteria anyway? The subtleties of music and audio reproduction are for those who appreciate it. Differentiation by numbers is for those who do not".--Nelson Pass Pass Labs XA25 | EE Avant Pre | EE Mini Max Supreme DAC | MIT Shotgun S1 | Pangea AC14SE MKII | Legend L600 | BlueSound Node 3 - Tubes add soul!
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  • tx_polkhead
    tx_polkhead Posts: 248
    edited June 2008
    Can't wait to read up on the vintage stuff, thanks! Any one know what the HFand Sr in this line refer to?
    'Polk Model RTA-12B x2 (both HF and SR)'
    Polk Audio RTA 12c's, Monitor 7c, Monitor 5JR+, SDA CRS+
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  • jon s
    jon s Posts: 905
    edited June 2008
    tx_polkhead wrote: »
    Can't wait to read up on the vintage stuff, thanks! Any one know what the HFand Sr in this line refer to?
    'Polk Model RTA-12B x2 (both HF and SR)'

    I have reviews of the RTA-12B from Stereo Review and High Fidelity, so two reviews...

    Odd thing, I was able to go through all the copies of Audio Magazine during the same period and there was not a single review of Polk speakers...

    :confused:
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  • capitan100
    capitan100 Posts: 172
    edited June 2008
    great stuff..

    thanks for doing..

    Blake
    Home Theater
    Sony DA7ES 7.1 A/V Receiver
    Sony DVP-NC80V - SACD/DVD player
    CS400 - Center channel
    RT2000i - Fronts
    RT1000i - Surrounds
    a/d/s MS3/u - subwoofer
    Hitachi 62 inch HD TV

    2 Channel Room
    Niles HDL-4 Speaker Selector
    Niles HDL-6 Speaker Selector
    Sony V555ES receiver
    Sony DVP-S7700
    Polk SDA-2B
    Polk Monitor 5
    Thiel 03a
    B&W 2001 ZMF
    Signet SL-250 B/U
    a/d/s L400e
    Wharfedale Valdus 100SE
    Polk PSW 350 - subwoofer
    Pioneer Elite Big Screen
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  • Schurkey
    Schurkey Posts: 2,100
    edited June 2008
    Yes, I want to see those reviews.

    There is one itsy-bitsy problem.

    All that material is copyrighted; and you'd be violating federal law by reproducing it.
    Maybe no-one will care.

    Maybe they will. Think about those 13-year-olds who were threatened by the recording industry with lawsuits and court appearances for downloading music files...
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  • jon s
    jon s Posts: 905
    edited June 2008
    Schurkey wrote: »
    Yes, I want to see those reviews.

    There is one itsy-bitsy problem.

    All that material is copyrighted; and you'd be violating federal law by reproducing it.
    Maybe no-one will care.

    Maybe they will. Think about those 13-year-olds who were threatened by the recording industry with lawsuits and court appearances for downloading music files...

    that would be my one big worry as you are correct. my only hope is that since the magazines have been out of print for almost 20 years that the publishers would no longer care. I mean, you can't even get back issues or anything anymore... anyway, I just finished the draft copy and will be proofing it tonight and hope to convert it tomorrow sometime to a PDF format. if anyone one wants a copy, send me a PM with your email address. remember, the file is pretty big, about 5MB I think.
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  • jon s
    jon s Posts: 905
    edited June 2008
    I have completed the file and it is in the original post on the top. I reduced the image quality to get it down to 1.66MB in size. enjoy...

    :D

    any comments?
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  • heiney9
    heiney9 Posts: 25,165
    edited June 2008
    ........nm...........
    "Appreciation of audio is a completely subjective human experience. Measurements can provide a measure of insight, but are no substitute for human judgment. Why are we looking to reduce a subjective experience to objective criteria anyway? The subtleties of music and audio reproduction are for those who appreciate it. Differentiation by numbers is for those who do not".--Nelson Pass Pass Labs XA25 | EE Avant Pre | EE Mini Max Supreme DAC | MIT Shotgun S1 | Pangea AC14SE MKII | Legend L600 | BlueSound Node 3 - Tubes add soul!
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  • heiney9
    heiney9 Posts: 25,165
    edited June 2008
    Looks great Jon, nice work and thanks for the effort. It's nice to have it all in (1) .pdf file. Now I might make my SDA compendium into a .pdf for my own use.
    "Appreciation of audio is a completely subjective human experience. Measurements can provide a measure of insight, but are no substitute for human judgment. Why are we looking to reduce a subjective experience to objective criteria anyway? The subtleties of music and audio reproduction are for those who appreciate it. Differentiation by numbers is for those who do not".--Nelson Pass Pass Labs XA25 | EE Avant Pre | EE Mini Max Supreme DAC | MIT Shotgun S1 | Pangea AC14SE MKII | Legend L600 | BlueSound Node 3 - Tubes add soul!
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  • heiney9
    heiney9 Posts: 25,165
    edited June 2008
    Can I make one request. Not sure how you got these old reviews, if you purchased them or have them lying around, but if you could also add the June 1984 Audio Magazine article of the SDA "white" paper. That would be very much appreciated.

    H9
    "Appreciation of audio is a completely subjective human experience. Measurements can provide a measure of insight, but are no substitute for human judgment. Why are we looking to reduce a subjective experience to objective criteria anyway? The subtleties of music and audio reproduction are for those who appreciate it. Differentiation by numbers is for those who do not".--Nelson Pass Pass Labs XA25 | EE Avant Pre | EE Mini Max Supreme DAC | MIT Shotgun S1 | Pangea AC14SE MKII | Legend L600 | BlueSound Node 3 - Tubes add soul!
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  • jon s
    jon s Posts: 905
    edited June 2008
    heiney9 wrote: »
    Can I make one request. Not sure how you got these old reviews, if you purchased them or have them lying around, but if you could also add the June 1984 Audio Magazine article of the SDA "white" paper. That would be very much appreciated.

    H9

    I had to request the old issues from the Hawaii State Library and they had to retrieve them from the archives. They bound the issues into annual book binders which made it hard to copy so I had to resort to photographing them. took me three hours just to find these and photograph them. When I have time I will try to find later reviews in Audio magazine and the later Polk reviews from Stereo Review (I think they did the RT20P). I also have to correct a couple of typo errors in the original file. if you guys come across any, let me know and i will corrrect them... i know about "blots" iso "bolts" in the RTA12B reviews.
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  • heiney9
    heiney9 Posts: 25,165
    edited June 2008
    jon s wrote: »
    I had to request the old issues from the Hawaii State Library and they had to retrieve them from the archives. They bound the issues into annual book binders which made it hard to copy so I had to resort to photographing them. took me three hours just to find these and photograph them. When I have time I will try to find later reviews in Audio magazine and the later Polk reviews from Stereo Review (I think they did the RT20P). I also have to correct a couple of typo errors in the original file. if you guys come across any, let me know and i will corrrect them... i know about "blots" iso "bolts" in the RTA12B reviews.

    Again great work and effort thanks!!!

    H9
    "Appreciation of audio is a completely subjective human experience. Measurements can provide a measure of insight, but are no substitute for human judgment. Why are we looking to reduce a subjective experience to objective criteria anyway? The subtleties of music and audio reproduction are for those who appreciate it. Differentiation by numbers is for those who do not".--Nelson Pass Pass Labs XA25 | EE Avant Pre | EE Mini Max Supreme DAC | MIT Shotgun S1 | Pangea AC14SE MKII | Legend L600 | BlueSound Node 3 - Tubes add soul!
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  • Face
    Face Posts: 14,340
    edited June 2008
    Definitely a cool read, thanks again.
    "He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you." Friedrich Nietzsche
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  • dcmeigs
    dcmeigs Posts: 708
    edited June 2008
    Great work. I can see that you went ot a great deal of effort. It's commendable that you offer to share this with us. Thanks.

    I think this worthy of a sticky but copyright concerns might be an issue.
    The world is full of answers, some are right and some are wrong. - Neil Young
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  • Disc Jockey
    Disc Jockey Posts: 1,013
    edited June 2008
    That was am enjoyable read, thanks.

    DJ
    "The secret of happiness is freedom. The secret of freedom is courage." Thucydides
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  • dorokusai
    dorokusai Posts: 25,577
    edited June 2008
    2mb is the limit for PDF's here. I would suggest you break it down by series or year perhaps. I'll ensure it gets sticky'd but it's got to be "portable".

    I'd hate to sacrifice resolution of the photographs for the sake of filesize.
    CTC BBQ Amplifier, Sonic Frontiers Line3 Pre-Amplifier and Wadia 581 SACD player. Speakers? Always changing but for now, Mission Argonauts I picked up for $50 bucks, mint.
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  • avguytx
    avguytx Posts: 1,628
    edited June 2008
    That was a great read.....thanks for going to the trouble of getting all of those reviews. I particularly enjoyed the review on the SRS 2's. :D
    Richard? Who's your favorite Little Rascal? Alfalfa? Or is it........................Spanky?.................................Sinner.
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  • jon s
    jon s Posts: 905
    edited June 2008
    Sorry guys, I removed the original file to upload a corrected copy but I am getting connection timeout errors when uploading the new file... will try again later...
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  • Ron Temple
    Ron Temple Posts: 3,212
    edited June 2008
    Glad I read it on Friday then :D. Thanks Jon. The reviews are pretty dry, but offer some great technical data and do give you an idea of how the models stack up.

    Combo rig:

    Onkyo NR1007 pre-pro, Carver TFM 45(fronts), Carver TFM 35 (surrounds)
    SDA 1C, CS400i, SDA 2B
    PB13Ultra RO
    BW Silvers
    Oppo BDP-83SE
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  • jon s
    jon s Posts: 905
    edited June 2008
    I was finally able to upload the revised PDF file just now... corrected numerous typos... old age and a two fingered typing will do that to you...
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  • dorokusai
    dorokusai Posts: 25,577
    edited June 2008
    Does this mean you don't need me to UL it Jon?
    CTC BBQ Amplifier, Sonic Frontiers Line3 Pre-Amplifier and Wadia 581 SACD player. Speakers? Always changing but for now, Mission Argonauts I picked up for $50 bucks, mint.
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