Why all the Polk bashing on other sites?

If you think about it, a LOT of this has to do with the need some people have to make themselves feel good, and feel better than they do currently. And it is absolutely human nature, at least for the human's who have this need, to achieve that "feel good" by putting other people (or their possession) down. It happens with audio, it happens with cars.. it can happen with *anything* that someone holds dear if that person needs justification for their decision and fails to have the self confidence to just be happy and forget what others may think.

Why bash ANYTHING if you're happy with what you have? Years ago my father-in-law came to me for audio advice, and you bet I would have directed him to Polk. But before I could even get going on the research, he made an impulse buy... Bose Acoustimas 5.1 setup. He was impressed. He was happy. He spent a shitload of dough on something that *I* certainly would not have purchased... but I had/have my reasons for buying or not buying something, and he has his.

Lest you forget, we are a very select group of individuals here. We are very much into audio, we have prioritized having a good audio/video system, we spend crazy amounts of money and fill our homes with gear and speaker after speaker to fulfill our lust. But you know what? There are a lot of people who simply don't give two **** about it. They couldn't comprehend why anyone would ever buy anything more than a minisystem at Walmart. And each one of us has SOMETHING, multiple things, that we really don't care about, but which is some OTHER select group's passion. My family goes fishing with about $30 worth of gear... some people spend $30 on a single fly. I have subscribed to Stereo Review/Sound&Vision for over 20 years. I can't even IMAGINE getting a magazine that is about NOTHING but running, or fishing, or guns and ammo, or computers even, for that matter.

When you're used to two 3" television speakers, Bose does indeed sound pretty good. And if you don't have the motivation or passion to shop store after store, audition piece after piece, put together THE system, then taking home one box or just a couple of boxes is great. And if you don't carry the passion for audio, and don't desire all the shopping, then you are indeed going to listen to the salesman who supposedly knows. There are plenty of times *I* listen to some salesman's advice on something for which I'm not that passionate... like a muffler.

You can state your preference, you can describe why you bought Polks rather than Bose or Paradigm or whatever. But you don't *have to* also bash those who disagree. And if you DO feel the need to bash, then I think the problem lies in you, not them or their decision.