L600 impressions, discussion & eventually a review

heiney9 · January 2023

When I get a chance I'll get some better photo's up in more natural light. It will give a better representation.

The front baffle is gloss black plastic, but it looks more expensive than it probably is.

H9

dromunds · January 2023

I’ve been saying for a long time that the Legends are the best speakers Polk ever produced. The ring radiator tweeter is the real reason they exceed the LSiM’s, the ring radiator is special. Both are excellent in the LFs. Give the Legends good power and they will respond accordingly. The fit and finish of the Legends are also first-rate. The LSiM’s were completely redesigned, and they exceeded the LSi’s. Polks are a progression and the engineers have a lot of institutional memory. I’ve mentioned this before, but as an aside, I sold my LSi-15’s to a friend and later acquired some Dynaudio Audience 60’s that I thought were pretty good, and garnered a widespread admiration. When I got some LSiM’s I thought perhaps my friend with the LSi-15’s would like the Dynaudio’s as an upgrade. I took the Audience 60’s over to his house but by all accounts the LSi-15’s kicked their proverbial azz.

heiney9 · January 2023

Other than the prototypes at a Polkfest, I have never spent time with the LSiM series, so I don't know how much of an improvement they were to the LSi's. I had LSi 9's and they didn't stay around that long. They have a mid-bass hump that I could never get over (in the design, not my room).

A friend had LSi 15's and the mids up were excellent, I didn't care for the bass from the side firing woofer. I know there was a Momo (IIRC) car subwoofer that was a drop in that performed much better.

LSi's at the time were no slouches and garnered very positive reviews, but they did have their faults.

I'm not sure the Legend series is going to have any significant faults. Certainly, we all have our personal preferences, but outright faults...............

These continue to impress me, and at this stage it takes a lot for me to be impressed since there are so many ho-hum pieces of audio in the market. So many times we are hoping for a step or two up and end up going slightly diagonal.

For me my modded SDA's were my benchmark because of the scale and full sound they put out as well as how effortless they were. Time will tell, but there is most likely a new benchmark for me......I am really diggin' these L600's.

H9

bcwsrt · January 2023

It’s interesting to hear the OGs with vintage Polks’ opinions on these new speakers. I am still listening to some yet unmodified RTA 15TLs I bought new. Though they had been boxed up for the past 15 years until just a couple months ago as I moved for my job and didn’t have good places to set them up, they are still my personal benchmark, right or wrong.

With the help of one of the great members here, I’m really looking forward to refreshing the 15’s crossovers, upgrading the binding posts, JB Welding the mid drivers and possibly Dynamating the baskets in order to hopefully improve their sound and keep them going another 30 years. At the same time, I couldn’t help but wonder what the last 30 years of technological improvements have done for the new Polk offerings. Seems pretty clear that the Legend line delivers the goods.

That recent sale was remarkable for anyone that was ready and able to take advantage of it and the 600s are gorgeous. I hope those shipping scratches were repairable or at least well-hidden. Sadly, it’s all too common these days.

Looking forward to your continued comments and impressions.

Rich502 · January 2023

Clipdat wrote: »

The black ash has a gloss black front baffle, the walnut has a matte black front baffle.

Ah okay, that makes sense. Didn’t even think they would be different between the two colors. Again it’s a bit hard to tell from the Polk stock pics. The LSIM I believe were both gloss black front, which do look nice even though they are probably plastic.

heiney9 · January 2023

So I spent another full day with the Legend L600's on Friday. The soundstage and transparency is really, really good. Center images and depth of sound stage is excellent. One thing that perhaps still needs break in is the bass.

It seems it has gotten a bit looser than the last listening session. It's not yet how people describe the bass from these speakers.

I am really digging everything else about them. I'm not quite ready to say they are worthy upgrade to the 1C's........but I think it's headed in that direction.

I know they still need more break-in. They need placement tweeking and I need to remove the rubber feet and use the spikes. I'm getting there.

Total hours on the speakers is still under 100.

H9

audioluvr · January 2023

Your lack of bass could be amp related depending on how it's voiced for low frequency output. 1C's dig pretty darn deep (or at least mine do with my setup).

nooshinjohn · January 2023

heiney9 wrote: »

So I spent another full day with the Legend L600's on Friday. The soundstage and transparency is really, really good. Center images and depth of sound stage is excellent. One thing that perhaps still needs break in is the bass.

It seems it has gotten a bit looser than the last listening session. It's not yet how people describe the bass from these speakers.

I am really digging everything else about them. I'm not quite ready to say they are worthy upgrade to the 1C's........but I think it's headed in that direction.

I know they still need more break-in. They need placement tweeking and I need to remove the rubber feet and use the spikes. I'm getting there.

Total hours on the speakers is still under 100.

H9

You still have about 200 hours to go, and as soon as you get them on spikes, the whole world changes. In another month you will think you bought another pair of speakers.

heiney9 · January 2023

audioluvr wrote: »

Your lack of bass could be amp related depending on how it's voiced for low frequency output. 1C's dig pretty darn deep (or at least mine do with my setup).

It's not the amp.

H9

VR3 · January 2023

The problem with the Lsim series are glass tweeters and no replacement parts. Long term paper weights unfortunately as people burn thru drivers. The cast baskets of the woofers are poorly molded, common to see the mounting flange completely torn from the spokes.

The fit and finish of the Lsim enclosures is top tier, as is the legend series.

Polks build quality is first class regardless of the price point. (enclosure)

heiney9 · January 2023

My statement "not yet a worthy upgrade to the 1C's" didn't come out right. The L600's are very worthy speakers. The presentation is different and the L600's are more coherent top to bottom. Vifa vs. RD0, no contest the Vifa is smoother, more transparent and has more "air" and clarity.

I know they are still breaking in and I just need to keep at it.

H9

Clipdat · January 2023

heiney9 wrote: »

audioluvr wrote: »

Your lack of bass could be amp related depending on how it's voiced for low frequency output. 1C's dig pretty darn deep (or at least mine do with my setup).

It's not the amp.

H9

What amp are you using with them?

audioluvr · January 2023

Pass Aleph 30?

Clipdat · January 2023

If so, that is not enough power for them, imho.

As a side note, I really disliked and found the Pass Labs INT-25 unimpressive, so much so that I declined to review it.

heiney9 · January 2023

Believe me, it's got plenty of oomph. I would agree that could be a possibility if my rig was in a much larger space. It's fine if you don't like that Pass sound, you would be one of the very few that disliked the INT-25 (we all have our preferences).

All of the Pass amps have their own personalities and they don't fit every situation. Wattage rating isn't everything.

I have been a Pass fan for a long time and will always have a Pass amp in the mix. The next being and XA25.

H9

Clipdat · January 2023

My personal preferences aside, I stand by that 30wpc is not enough for the L600, imo. Regardless of amplifier topology or room size. It will certainly be audibly affecting the bass performance of the speaker.

VR3 · January 2023

Have to agree

txcoastal1 · January 2023

My Pass XA30.5 could not handle my Dynaudio C1-II's. This was disappointing because I loved that amp with the Usher MD2's.

Clipdat · January 2023

Synergy!

txcoastal1 · January 2023

Dyn's 85db@4ohm
MD2's 90db@4ohm

Emlyn · January 2023

Taking the rubber feet off is easy and may help improve the sound.

heiney9 · January 2023

Clipdat wrote: »

As a side note, I really disliked and found the Pass Labs INT-25 unimpressive, so much so that I declined to review it.

Clipdat wrote: »

My personal preferences aside, I stand by that 30wpc is not enough for the L600, imo. Regardless of amplifier topology or room size. It will certainly be audibly affecting the bass performance of the speaker.

Respectfully disagree. Topology has a lot to do with it. I prefer single ended class A

Since neither one of you are here listening (Vr3) then you can't really say the Aleph isn't enough.

I guarantee the XA25 will be enough since it's capable of 200 watts into 2ohms, but is rated at a lowly 30 wpc. Of course at that output it's no longer pure class A.

I'm not going to argue about this as watts really equate to decibels. Plus, ratings are achieved many ways. Many of Pass amp are very underrated because Pass Labs isn't chasing something that looks good in print.

My bass issues are more room and placement issues, not amp issues.

Quotes from a Dick Olsher review

Let me start with traditional solid-state virtues; namely, bass drive, resolution, and macrodynamics. There was absolutely no hesitation or stall while revving up its output stage to negotiate loud passages. This sensation of instantaneous power, a hallmark of upper echelon solid-state amplifiers, was present in spades. In fact, the change in "RPM", from low to high level was linear with no perception of any compression.

Bass impact and definition were superlative. My impression was that the Aleph was pushing bass lines to the limit allowed by the loudspeaker. This was a complete package. The bass range was tightly integrated with exceptional body and pitch definition. The last thing I look forward to in an amplifier is an anemic upper bass or lower midrange. For someone like me who's enamored with the majesty of a double bass or cello, the fundamental and first harmonic must be served up correctly - or there's hell to pay.

Granted the speakers he was using were most likely a bit more efficient.

Wattage really doesn't mean a whole lot unless you know exactly how the amp was measured and the parameters used.

That's all I'm going to say unless the nay sayers are here listening, not arm chairing it.

H9

msg · January 2023

n/a

nooshinjohn · January 2023

I have heard the XA 25 head-to-head against a Simaudio 760a and I must say I thought the latter was more musical than the Pass. Sweet mids without being to analytical.bass was a bit more refined. You might want to consider another flavor…

Braddles63 · January 2023

I will through this one and see how it is received. (he says looking through his fingers)

I found this helped me find a better bass balance. Bit cleaner.

These are 20mm sandstone pavers.

Runs

smglbrth · January 2023

Looks familiar, did the same thing with my R600's (carpet sucks). Mine are wood however...

VR3 · January 2023

Regardless of watts or brands, I've never owned an amplifier that universally had synergy across multiple speakers, especially two that sounds so drastically different as the older sda and the legend.

Just be open to change is all I will say.

Pass labs makes a great product... As does a couple hundred other brands.

Synergy is more important than name plates

heiney9 · January 2023

Braddles63 wrote: »

I will through this one and see how it is received. (he says looking through his fingers)

I found this helped me find a better bass balance. Bit cleaner.

These are 20mm sandstone pavers.

Runs

I like. Did you use sandstone for a reason, or just a random selection based on availability? Just curious. I'm sure you'll get some nay sayers.

H9

heiney9 · January 2023

It's not a name plate, it's an entire design philosophy and proven approach to amp building. Synergy is very important, I agree 1000%. I just love how people start jumping to conclusions about gear (not you Trey so much). These speakers aren't even broken in yet. The journey to get the synergy is going to take a long time and much experimenting. Maybe it's the tubes I'm using...

I'm just tired of people always saying "30wpc isn't enough", when they've never heard my rig or for that matter the amp. I'm not new to this hobby. I know my preference's.

Anyway, this is starting to go way off base. I'm just going to leave this thread alone for awhile and work on dialing the rig in and breaking it in.

H9

nooshinjohn · January 2023

I agree with you H9… your amps are plenty for the Legends. People get too hung up on watts and fail to take the quality of those watts and the current behind them. Synergy is another beast altogether. I am sure you will cross that bridge when you get there, but until then, enjoy the ride

L600 impressions, discussion & eventually a review

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