I am very dissapointed at Polk's build quality!

brasil

Well I had 4 RTI 25's and a CSI 30. They arrived very solidly built and with no defects that could be seen. I sent them back to Crutchfield and upgraded to 2 RTI 38's up front, 1 CSI 40 center chanel, and a pair of FXI 30 surrounds.

The first pair of RTI 38 arrived with a dent on the corner. I sent it back thinking that maybe it was damaged during the shipping. The second set arrived, and it also had a defect on the corner of the speaker which did not appear to to be a damage from shipping. I am now waiting for the third set and am very dissapointed that these speakers are leaving Polk's factory in Mexico with such flaws in the build quality. These were two sets in a row that were like this. Also the front port of the CSI 40 and FXI 30 are not smooth. If you run your fingers inside the port you can feel that it is rough. I am sure that this alters the frequency response. I am sorry to vent, but I expected more from Polk. Their quality control has been detiriorating. :supermad:

brasil

Thank you I will contact them on Monday. I might be a bad batch because I received two flawed pairs in a row.

kberg

Here's another twist on the topic of damaged and/or at least "opened" *new* items.....

I bought all of my Polk speakers at ABC Warehouse. I could tell my RTi70's and CSi40 out of the box were direct from the factory and were NOT damaged. However, a corner of one of the FXi30's was slightly damaged even though it at least appeared that they were direct from the factory. So, this could have occurred via shipping. The ABC sales guy was VERY accomodating and simply ordered up a new pair and I was then fine with the FXi30's.

Then came the CSi30 rear center channel purchase at a later date from ABC. I brought it home only to find out that upon opening the box, the manual was ripped open. The speaker appeared to be in good condition, but don't you just HATE the idea of an item being sold as new when CLEARLY in this case it was not? Once again the sales guy was accomodating and ordered up a new one. Whew! Done with all that now.

Even when I bought my original Kenwood receiver and my Onkyo TX-SR600 before buying the Polks from ABC, I discovered that they were not new the packaging. For the Kenwood, the packaging was clearly *tampered with* and as for the Onkyo, the manual was opened and the remote had the batteries in it. I was furious! Sorry, ABC - thanks for playing but you didn't fool me. Back went each of these receivers at the time of their purchase for truly *new* units. Again, ABC was accomodating on all counts but HELL, they SHOULD BE! You might be wondering why I didn't just cease doing business with ABC after the first *problem*, but they can negotiate fairly good deals on *truly new* equipment, as long as you can spot whatever is NOT new.

Probably more than you wanted to hear but I thought you might take some comfort in knowing that you are NOT alone when it comes to equipment inspections and ultimate returns due to damaged or *misrepresented* items.

TroyD

I think it is highly probably that the units were damaged in transit as opposed to being boxed up like that in which case you really can't hold Polk responsible for the build quality.

BDT

brasil

Troy, too much of a coincidence for the RTI 38 to be damaged twice in a row. I never had this prpblem before when I had ordered my previous Polks, plus the second pair the damage was definitely not caused by shipping. In addition they come with card boxes wrapped in the bottom and upper part of the speaker.
The inside tube of the port in the CSI 40 and FXI 30 were also very poorly built.

stubby

Several months ago I strolled into one of the local hifi shops here in the KC area wanting to listen to some Lsi's only to find out they dropped Polk completely due to QC reasons. Several pairs arrived DOA and it just wasn't worth it to them anymore. The salesman said it was a shame because he was wanting to demo the Lsi's himself.

Stubby

rs159

That's why I buy in a real store whenevery I can. The thought of sending sensitive electronics and speakers through the mail frightens me.

Jstas

Folks, this is just flat out astounding me.

Those who have had problems with the speakers bought the units from THE SAME STORE. Since stuff shipped from a factory to a distribution center and then to a store is ALWAYS plalettized, it would only make sense that if one set from that store was damaged then another set from that same store has a much higher potential of being damaged.

If you ask me, I don't see the problem with Polk. Maybe the problem is with Polk's shipping company or those stores do not handle the merchandise they own with the care that they should. I do not see a dented speaker, scratched case, marred packaging or damaged packaging as a quality control issue from Polk. It's a QC issue for the shipping company. The only place Polk is at fault is by continuing to use such a terrible shipping company.

Personally, I have NEVER had a problem with anything from Polk. Probably because I've bought everything Polk that I own from Crutchfield and they pack the boxes in thier own packing material.

So don't blame Polk's QC process for shotty shipping companies and abused shipping containers. So far no one has mentioned anything that didn't point directly to unecessary jarring and shock to the equipment during shipping. If I went to one of these stores and they tried blaming these issues on Polk's QC which are obviously issues with shipping, handling and storage then I think I would be finding a new store to buy from.

polkatese

One thing I have to say, even on the LSi series that I have, craftmanship is not as good/clean as I like. But, as long as the drivers, tweeters, and audio quality are good and functioning, I am happy. I learned that until I get to the Sonus Faber Grand Piano level, which is supposedly hand-made in limited quantity, with individual QC being done and tuned according to spec, I just lower my expectations. I don't mean to dismiss the concern that the original poster had, and I do believed that he did the right thing, but at the end of the day, it's a mass production system at works...(IMHO)

Shizelbs

I agree with Jstas that it is not really the store's fault for the product arriving damaged, well, not necessarily. I agree that it is more likely to be the shipping company's fault. I also agree that the packaging is nothing special. All products I have received came flawless, but the packaging was nothing special. I felt that in no way was I breaking into Fort Knox.
However, because of the chance of damaged products, I would much rather buy from a store with a physical location I can travel to and speak to someone. I would rather choose higher prices with better service than buying cheap over the internet just in case there are problems. That is just my two cents.

Ceruleance

I really doubt polk quality assurance is so bad that they actually put damaged speakers into a box and ship them out. Give me a break guys.. its definitely UPS. No comment on the rough port.

brasil

it was actually shipped through Fedex overnight. The second pair of RTI 38's, it was evident that the the wood was flawed from the factory

brasil

I am sorry to say this, but it seems to me that they are ousourcing the parts of their speakers to many different countries. Look at the carton that your speakers came in. There are about 10 countries listed with the possibility of were the parts were built. In addition they are aseembled in Mexico, which unfortunately does not inspire too much faith.

goingganzo

when i got my rt800i they had a blown driver in 1 so i got a new set and when i got my fx 500i they had a bad tweter in 1 side. i ordered the 800 from crutchfild they seemed like used but the 500 i got from abc and proabley was a shiping thing. other than that i am very happy with the quality of the polk products exept that their subs are lacking. i would recomend a better driver and a bigger box with a powerfull amp.

MxStYlEpOlKmAn

Im proud to say, that I have yet to receive anything that was screwed up. Infact mine are flawless to this day.

mbaumann

I also purchased a pair of RTI 38s from Crutchfield (about a month ago) and one of them had slight wood damage/dent in one corner. I finally desided that the damage was not that bad so I kept them. I also did not think they were damaged in the shipment from Crutchfield; since the outside box was not damaged. They could have been damaged in the factory during the packaging stage before shipment or maybe in shipment from factory, but in this case they would have had to repackage them in new boxes, since the box was undamaged.

smglbrth

Gotta love that NAFTA garbage. :supermad:
I own older Polks which were made in the U.S. and I do have to say that I believe, my opinion though, that the quality was better then than now. Build quality that is, I haven't had the chance to listen to the newer ones yet.....

F1nut

I spoke with Ken about a month ago with regard to the speakers being assembled in Mexico. He stated that yes it was cheap labor, but done by highly trained and proud people, in fact he stated that Polk trains them so well that they often go find other employment with the competition who can pay a little more. Perhaps, it's the same old story....it's hard to find good help.

smglbrth

I understand having highly trained people to assemble but one thing I don't understand is this. Just like the company I work for, even though they make products and/or parts plus assemble in a different country where is the price break for the consumer here in the U.S.? The company I work for hasn't changed their prices on product since they are getting things done so much cheaper in other countries. If anything, the price goes up! So one has to wonder, who ends up with the extra dollars? Plus, after the U.S. companies go elsewhere for labor, and I see or hear about it every month, who will be left here in the U.S. to buy the finished product? More people unemployed, more people not buying much of anything except the bare essentials.

Please don't think I'm slamming Polk because I'm not but when will it end, when the U.S. goes "belly up" because of money?

I'll get off of my soapbox now.

F1nut

Actually, I agree with you in general. The Nafta idea is a bad one for this country, but then the liberals would like to see the wealth of this country spread around the world even more than we do today. I wonder what they will think when, say in 10 years, their kids can't even find a job here. Charity begins at home.

brasil

I did receive my third shipment from Crutchfield. They sent me another pair of RTI 38's, FXI 30's and a CSI 40. The workmanship in these seem to be better. The Ports in these also seem to be shaped better with less irregularites when compared to the ones they shipped previously.

bignorm

Well to add my .02 cents---I bought my Polks from ABC WAREHOUSE (Rti70 FXi30 & CSi30) and all my speakers were in excellent shape...The box the FXi30's came in had some minor bad spots but the speakers were fine...I will check the port on my CSi30 though....

goingganzo

i love to shop at abc i dont have to pay retail. i have a salesperson who will match any price i bring him. i know polk dont like to have their stuff sold under the regular price.

bignorm

Yea..I like ABC too...I bought all 5 speakers... Rti70's, Csi30 and the Fxi30 surrounds for $1,000.00 the Salesman at ABC was new and didn't know about Polk's "regular price policy"

Emlyn

I've bought five pairs of speakers, a subwoofer, and three center-channel speakers from Polk over the last few years. Never had a problem with any of them. Got all of them from local Circuit City stores. If anything, the finish quality in my experience has increased over time. The cabinets are shiny, solid, and scratch free. The drivers, wiring, and terminals are all defect free. It's pretty impressive for the size of my RTi150s to be able to say that they have no blemishes.

Polk does mass produce their speakers and their quality control managers can't check every speaker. If somebody wants this, they would normally pay twice the price from other manufacturers and still have no guarantee the speakers wouldn't arrive damaged by a shipping company. As with any mass manufacturing process, defects and minor blemishes creep through. I don't agree that quality is a problem from manufacturing plants outside the U.S. The economic impact affects local labor markets in the U.S. when plants close, but the American consumer is just as much to blame for this as businessmen. We all want to spend as little as possible on everything we buy. Manufacturers oblige our desires by producing in lower cost labor markets while at the same time increasing their profits. I wouldn't be surprised if Polk moves some speaker manufacturing from Mexico to Asia in the future. They already get a lot of parts from all over the world. As the standard of living increases in Mexico, labor costs increase there too.

The remedy for the occasional defect is to send defective products back. Crutchfield is good for this. It sounds like they did a stellar job in getting replacements to Brasil. I don't buy speakers from Crutchfield because I live in Virginia and would have to pay sales tax plus shipping and the potential for damage is quite high while in transit. Double-boxing would help, but I don't think any company does this with speakers.

brasil

Who is ABC? are they like Sound Distributors that take the original serial number out and put one of their own? Are they a Polk authorized dealer? Sound distributors claims to only sell brand new sealed boxed speakers, but if they are opening the boxes and removing the serial numbers, How can they make such a claim?

bignorm

ABC Warehouse-small midwest company similar to
Circuit City, and yes they are authorized Polk dealers

bensontm

How about a four foot tall speaker front speaker?

bensontm

With Dr. Polk's apt information on base management, I have a system that is doing find for me at the present time.

The RTi70s had outstanding sound.

saylzman

Well as an ABC SALESMAN

I would like to touch on a couple of the issues here.

First of all I appreciate the nice comments from our customers we try to be the best.

What is ABC WAREHOUSE-- ABC WAREHOUSE is a Michigan based company with about 40 stores throughout Michigan Ohio and Indiana We are the most competitive around because we are not a nationwide company that has someone at a coporate level set our pricing we make great deals all the time but we do have to go by the manufacturers rules regarding thier Unilateral Pricing.

As far as getting something with an owners manual open --

It is unfortuante when something like this happens but it could be several different reasons: an example could be if i need to know something about a speaker or a reciever or a customer has a question and we are trying to sell something we might open the box to read the owners manual as far as disclosing this to you who just bought it your salesman may not have known it was open but im sure he would exchange them for you if you had to have something factory sealed. It is possible to for them to have been sold and brought back at my store we take the time to make sure they havent been damaged and chances are it was within 2 or 3 days of purchase and usually its because they are to big to small not what they wanted or the customer was not qualified properly. We are not trying to decieve you into buying used speakers, but they are still brand new as far as mfg warranties and everything go and since we are so people friendly at ABC if you got them home like I said and absolutely had to have a factory sealed box we would probably exchange them with you.


As far as damaged speakers vs the boxes.... I get tons of boxes that look destroyed but beause they are packed quite well inside the speakers were not affected by it. SO chances are if you had problems with damaged speakers it was probably a factory thing.

This happens daily ive come from selling AMERICAN MADE CARS buiilt right here in detroit and flint and tenesee and new jersey where bumpers are crooked and paint jobs or bad amongst other things so lets not blame it on cheaper wages paid to the mexicans im sure they enjoy thier paychecks on friday too.

Now dont take that the wrong way i would love to be working for Polk here in the states making a nice wage but unfortunately i dont and I will have to keep selling thier wonderful products at ABC WAREHOUSE

bensontm

My senses must have been dulled.

I suppose being on the field thirty yards from ZZ Top at their concert in Three Rivers football stadium in Pittsburgh, PA has dulled my senses and hearing. Maybe it was Lynard Skynard playing three encores of "Free Bird" in a three thousand seat theater in 1976 before the crash. Could have been Ozzie and Black Sabbath in 1975. It could have been the Rolling Stones in 75 at Cleveland's River Front Stadium.

No, actually I think it was Bob Sieger's singing in Kittanning, Pennsylvania in a high school hockey rink in 1975.

Alright, maybe I just need a more powerful receiver or powered Polk front speakers.