Name that Polkie
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The other super nerd from Polk I knew well enough was "Polk Paul". The first Polkfest I went to at HQ, I met him in the parking lot because I asked one of the Kims, either Jasper or maybe Wong if anyone could identify something I had. Al Ballard overheard me and said "Sure! What do you have?" I said it was in the truck and just then Paul was walking by and Al grabs him and said "Let's go see!" So me, Al, Paul and my friend Brian go out to the parking lot and I showed them a pair of Polk Audio computer speakers labeled Silicon Graphics.
Paul looked at them quizzically, Al thought they were a knock off. Paul recognized them as a one-off deal they did for SGI and said they never kept any samples. They only made a few thousand of them. I told Paul that he should have because they were, at the time, the best sounding self-powered, computer/desk sized speaker I had ever heard. Paul looked at me and said "Seriously?"
Then we took them in to Paul's office and hooked them up to his laptop and messed around with them for a little bit. Stu wandered by, Paul asked him if he remembered them and Stu said "Oh yeah, those things...I thought they were white? Or, sorry, I mean "eggshell"." I said "Nope, these are SGI gray, the white ones weren't powered, they are about 40% larger and branded HP." Stu says "How the hell do you know that?" I said "I got a pair of those too!" Stu just kinda shook his head and went off some where.
Paul turned his attention back to the speakers and asked if we could pull the grills off. I said sure and popped them off. He was like it's just a 1/2 inch tri-lam and a doped cloth woofer? I said "3/4 inch tweeter but yeah, super simple AND!" then I flipped it over and pointed at Power Port. Paul got really intrigued and then Stu comes back with a pair of speakers like the HP ones I was talking about and says "Do yours look like these?" I said "Yessir, they do!" Then I got a history lesson on how they were developed for HP and Packard Bell but never went into production at the level he had in his hands. He said there were 3 prototypes, one at Polk Audio, one at HP and one at Packard Bell. He asked how I got my set. I told him George Grand sold them to me for 15 bucks!
Then Al walks by again and says "Lunch is here". Stu runs off to get lunch and Paul is standing there like a kid about to ask for candy he knows he's not allowed to have. He says to me "Hey, I'm really impressed by these and I'm really disappointed we don't have a set in our library, I honestly forgot about them. Can I ask you if you would be willing to part with these or at least put them on loan? You can name your price." I asked why he wanted them and he said "Well, for historical record but I'd like to give them to the engineers to see what makes them so special." so I grabbed a couple personal items out of the box and handed it all over to him and said "Here, just take them, I have 3 more pair at home! They cost me like $12 a pair" Paul was overjoyed and ran off to engineering to put it on someone's desk. Later on he came by and handed me some Polk branded stuff and said "Here, in exchange for your generous gift!"
After that, though, Paul always asked me if I had anymore "audio archaeology" projects to share every time I ran in to him.
That was the '05 Polkfest I believe. It was the HQ fest before the '08 one. At the '08 HQ Polkfest, I saw them on the testing bench with all kinds of wires hanging out of them. I pointed at it and ask Stu what they were doing with it. Stu told me the story about some weird guy who collects them gave them to them and they were doing some development and testing work with them. They weren't feasible for what Polk was currently doing but it gave them ideas and they were working on something based on the idea. I was like "I'm that weird guy." Stu looks at me and says "What?" I said "I'm that weird guy. I gave Polk Paul those speakers at the last HQ Polkfest." I think Stu thought I was upset about being called "some weird guy" but I didn't care, look at Stu, he's just as weird! Anyway, I was just happy to see something I did made an impact!
In 2010, Polk Audio released the Blackstone TL1 which looked like a modern, updated version of the computer speakers I gave to Paul in 2005 and from the design drawings we saw at HQ in '08 tours, that's what Stu and company were working on at the time. I'm not kidding either.
Here's a Blackstone TL1:
This is the SGI speakers I have, they have a set in The National Museum of American History:
https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object/nmah_1824833
And here's the HP speakers I was talking about:
I dunno if it had a direct impact but the similarity is hard to ignore as well as what we got to see on the '08 tours. It was really just cool that Paul remembered a schmuck like me for a simple kindness to help out the cause that I thought nothing of.Expert Moron Extraordinaire
You're just jealous 'cause the voices don't talk to you! -
Great story, thanks for that.
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Here, couldn't find a picture with the grills off so I took a picture of the ones I'm still using on my desk.
The HP ones look the same but both the depth offset and spacing between drivers is different. Drivers are the same, though. Similar numbers on the magnets and impedances.
That looks very similar to a Blackstone.
Expert Moron Extraordinaire
You're just jealous 'cause the voices don't talk to you! -
Fun Fact: I actually owned the SGI computer (Dual Pentium III Xeon 550mhz) and (Very early - I believe it was a 17" running at 1600x900 resolution) LCD monitor that these speakers came with for some time:
Edit: Almost remembered the resolution correctly. It was actually 1600x1024. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SGI_1600SW
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Yeah, they were also available on the high end SGI O2 workstations.
We got the PC's in to the virtualization development team at Lockheed and since speakers were verboten on any system attached to a classified network, we had 5 pairs of them doing nothing. The team lead, Eric Halpern saw me looking at them and said "You want a set? They're just going to get thrown out. Take 'em, put 'em on your desk, I have a set, they're nice when no one is around especially when it's late and no one is around." So I took a pair and then snagged a second pair for the lab.
When I left, one of the pairs came with me. Then I found a guy on eBay that was selling 4 sets for $50. Two sets had bad power supplies but I found new ones at All Electronics that worked just fine.Expert Moron Extraordinaire
You're just jealous 'cause the voices don't talk to you! -
John, You are an encyclopedia full of fun facts bro!
Great story thanks for sharing!! -
Was he the one that (at a different event) drove to to a Wal-Mart that didn't exist in the middle of podunk farm fields?
Tom
Hell no, that was Eddie the knife. May he R.I.P.Political Correctness'.........defined
"A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."
President of Club Polk -
Ah, that's right. LOL. I do miss that cat...
Tom~ In search of accurate reproduction of music. Real sound is my reference and while perfection may not be attainable? If I chase it, I might just catch excellence. ~ -
He was a gentle giant.Political Correctness'.........defined
"A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."
President of Club Polk -
Wow, nice pic. It's good to put faces with the screen names.Stan
Main 2ch:
Polk LSi15 (DB840 upgrade), Parasound: P/LD-1100, HCA-1000A; Denon: DVD-2910, DRM-800A; Benchmark DAC1, Monster HTS3600-MKII, Grado SR-225i; Technics SL-J2, Parasound PPH-100.
HT:
Marantz SR7010, Polk: RTA11TL (RDO198-1, XO and Damping Upgrades), S4, CS250, PSW110 , Marantz UD5005, Pioneer PL-530, Panasonic TC-P42S60
Other stuff:
Denon: DRA-835R, AVR-888, DCD-660, DRM-700A, DRR-780; Polk: S8, Monitor 5A, 5B, TSi100, RM7, PSW10 (DXi104 upgrade); Pioneer: CT-6R; Onkyo CP-1046F; Ortofon OM5E, Marantz: PM5004, CD5004, CDR-615; Parasound C/PT-600, HCA-800ii, Sony CDP-650ESD, Technics SA 5070, B&W DM601 -
@Jstas - man, John, you're a great writer. Reading your story about the speakers, I felt like I was watching a episode of Polkfest: The Series. Awesome story, fun history!I disabled signatures.
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Let's see who I can remember
Back row, left to right:
Dunno, hoosier21, hearingimpaired, reeltrouble, millerlitescott (I think?), Dunno, hard to see
Next row down
Trey/Sid/VR3, trietz3 (I think), Laserath, disneyjoe, Monica
Well, most of them (if memory serves) is correct. I'm on the top row, sitting to the right of Ted (directly behind Jesse and Monica). Basically, top right.
The "Dunno" on the left top row, I believe is DAGLJAM6 (David).
Tom
~ In search of accurate reproduction of music. Real sound is my reference and while perfection may not be attainable? If I chase it, I might just catch excellence. ~ -
The guy you thought was me in the second row from the top, sitting next to Trey? Man, I can't tell. The photo is kind of fuzzy and I don't recall ever seeing him again after that.
Tom~ In search of accurate reproduction of music. Real sound is my reference and while perfection may not be attainable? If I chase it, I might just catch excellence. ~ -
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That's Michael from Yellowknife NT, eh.Political Correctness'.........defined
"A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."
President of Club Polk -
This was a really memorable Polkfest. Ted's house was setup perfectly for a large gathering like this with the basement and everything... Great times!
Hopefully we can have another fest in the near future- Not Tom ::::::: Any system can play Diana Krall. Only the best can play Limp Bizkit. -
That's Michael from Yellowknife NT, eh.
Wow that's been a long time since hearing Mike's name. Was it Janmike or something like that. -
Not sure if that's the same Michael, but Janmike used to be on here all the time.
Tom~ In search of accurate reproduction of music. Real sound is my reference and while perfection may not be attainable? If I chase it, I might just catch excellence. ~ -
One and the same.Political Correctness'.........defined
"A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."
President of Club Polk -
Man, 18 years? (As I am sitting here listening to RT1’s Carver Amazings…..NOT replete with suckiocity)
Jeeze.
Monica Robles…..I forget why, but we used to kibitz back and forth over email sporadically. Super nice.
It’s sobering that some of the Polk stalwarts aren’t with us any longer.
I am down to host again…..let’s look at dates sometime October or November….
BDTI plan for the future. - F1Nut -
I'd be interested in a Polk meet.
How far from Wyoming are you Troy? -
He's east coast, in the Carolinas.
You'll either need to start driving 2 days before the meet or get a plane ticketExpert Moron Extraordinaire
You're just jealous 'cause the voices don't talk to you! -
Ooooph.
Drove to Maryland and back to pick up my SRS's. But, that was the adrenaline rush that kept me going as I always wanted a pair since seeing em the rags back in the day.
I'll have to read about it here I reckon,
Thanks -
Eh, just fly out. We ALWAYS have a blast. Plus, it is nice to actually meet the folks you talk with seemingly everyday.
Except Trey. He's a little weird man....but don't tell anyone that. Just keep that between you and I, okay?
Tom~ In search of accurate reproduction of music. Real sound is my reference and while perfection may not be attainable? If I chase it, I might just catch excellence. ~ -
Most of the "Polkfests" have been on the East Coast or the Gulf Coast/Texas.Expert Moron Extraordinaire
You're just jealous 'cause the voices don't talk to you! -
I might show up.....
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Most of the "Polkfests" have been on the East Coast or the Gulf Coast/Texas.
Well, it is an "East Coast" speaker company as far as the sound goes. I'm sure the JBL and Klipsh folks meet out west
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I might show up.....
1) That gets an awesome.
2) That's enough to get me to show up - for better or worse!
I mean, if y'all'd have me... and stuff...
