A "legendary" offer for forum members only

Mike Reeter wrote: »

Great pictorial JayCee! I'll be anxious to hear your comments

BlueBirdMusic wrote: »

Outstanding JayCee!

Thanks guys.

I have about 10 hrs of listening on them. Anyone that was part of the L200 demo will be familiar w/the sound signature. Anyone not familiar, I encourage you to read the thread if you're looking to purchase any Legend speaker. Generally speaking, the L800's don't deviate from those reviews and what to expect...except it's bigger and badder (in a good way)....and SDA!

Still doing the "speaker walk" but first impressions are a more rounded SDA using modern drivers. I knew what to expect w/respect to the sonic signature (L200 demo) in a traditional boxed speaker design, so, w/respect to SDA was a much deeper soundstage. Not that vintage SDA's don't have this but it's a standout baseline improvement, to my ears. I reserve the right to change my impressions however, first blush, this is a mature and more refined SDA. Doesn't seem to be that overly SDAish uber wide signature of vintage models (it's still there but filled out ie, better depth) and has the ability to be very modern vs. traditional speaker technology w/the added "dimmensional" quality we Polkies love. I have no doubt, if properly setup and a virgin customer auditions these, they'd be very impressed.

I owe Polk and the website vs. forum a customer oriented review but to help anyone on the fence w/respect to the discount and time remaining to use said discount, here are, IMO, the positives and general comments. Too early for negatives and speculation.

Positives:

• SDA (duh)
• Vocals, especially female, clear and defined
• Piano....much more realistic vs vintage
• More crunch to electric guitar
• Acoustic/woodwind instruments are realistic
• Percussion is accurate and has that sizzle

Comments:
@Mike Reeter, apologies because I know this was important to you but, as a result of my gear living in the basement, I've not been able to move the speakers far into the room. Cable is routed through the floor and the lengths prevent this. The max I've tried is 10" off the wall. Still trying to dial in the bass via the speaker walk but found they do better closer to the wall than farther out. I used the 6-8" recommendation for older SDA's as my starting point and as of this post have them 5". Owner's manual still recommends, as it did in the 80's, closer to the wall for bass output. In fact, same rules apply with the triangular measurements and seated position. I don't have the recommended 3' from corners (see pics I posted earlier in the thread) but haven't had problems w/the powerport bass corner loading and/or SDA width. Still get instruments outside (L/R) of the boundaries. I'd classify the living room as bright...but I have leather furniture and lots of angles to break up boundaries. Speakers are approx. 10' center-to-center and listening position is 12' away.

Another observation, this is a much more forward and detailed speaker vs vintage. Not a negative but don't expect the Legend line to be the laid back 80's sound of yore. It's not.

Gear feeding the 800's: Roon Rock streaming to Google Cast device and feeding an Oppo BDP-105. I use the 105 as a pre and it's connected via un-balanced IC's to a heavily modded (by Big Sky Audio) Parasound HCA-1500A. Cables and IC's are all MIT S3. I've used this setup to run CRStl's, 3.1tl's,1.2tl's, 705's and L200's. All the vintage heavily modded.

One bummer. I have much better gear in my 1.2tl 2 channel rig. Complete PS Audio stack and it's in a different league compared to the Parasound setup. Unfortunately, the L800's don't play nice w/fully balanced gear. My BHK stack is just that. I knew this when I purchased the 800's and it's my one disappointment but I didn't purchase them to replace the 1.2's. So, I won't be able to do a head-to-head shootout. Very unlikely, I may swap out the Parasound 1500 w/the BHK 250 but it'd involve 2 flights of stairs and heavy lifting. Also, a brief pause for a tangent...I have another set of speakers in storage that are in a different stratosphere and will ultimately be in my 2 channel rig. That's a story for a later date.

I'll wade into controversial waters but please, please, please! do not run this thread off the rails. Just a data point and my ears/gear. Has to do w/the observations from Skip's get together and the phase issue. One of the songs mentioned was by Angus and Juliet Stone. Hadn't heard of them and after looking up the album referenced at the get together I listened to it on YouTube. Loved it so much, bought it, and the Stone's entire collection. To wit, I haven't heard anything phasey on that album (or others) and I'm listening to it this very second.

Last comment. To anyone not considering a purchase because the sale prices are over. I'd decided to purchase the L800's before I even knew the discount applied to the sale price. Only discovered it when I went to purchase. As mentioned before, kind of poor etiquette to discuss details of an invitation only discount, but I'd venture to say you won't find this opportunity anytime soon. Even w/the Friends and Family discounts on the 705's I purchased years ago, if memory serves, there wasn't the same price break?? Not that a few hundred dollars is trivial...consider this, it's still a h e l l of a deal. Thinking out loud and not to look a gift horse in the mouth, there are a few Polk execs that have posted in this thread. As a result of some confusion....a respectful PM or email asking if they'd offer the sale price isn't out of line. All they can do is say no.

So between last night and now I only have about 4 hours listening in across a variety of music on shiny silver discs, including Aaron Copeland, Freddie Hubbard, Melody's Echo Chamber, and currently the B-52s first release. At this point....I am floored with this purchase and the L200s imaging in a medium room w a REL T5 sub. These also seem to be an excellent choice for lower level listening and I have no desire to turn past 8:45 on the volume dial of my MF A3.2. Just a taste...more to come w pics this weekend. If you have a code and trying to decide if you should use it...use it.

I got the L800’s upstairs Tuesday night even though I didn’t have any help. They are some heavy speakers!! My first comment has to do with the packaging- it is so much better than that used for the LSiM’s. Not only did it hold up better in shipping but it was easier to get the speakers out of the box. I did a quick setup just to hear a little music before bed. Initial thought right out of the box is that I like the way these sound. The highs are better than what I heard on the 705’s and the bass was punchier and deeper. I have a lot of experimenting to do with placement to get these at their best. I think I am going to be happy with these. I’m going to spend some time these weekend getting them dialed in and setting up the L400 and Installing the L900’s. Here is some low quality pics I took of the unboxing. Quality is not great as room is fairly dark and I used my iPad. Will try to get better pics this weekend.