Polk, most popular on the forums?

[Big Daddy]

I hope this is not a Polk Bashing thread in disguise.

The average member on Blu-ray.com is relatively young. Many of them are students. The vast majority of them are buying their first stereo/HT setup. Polk offers very good value and for the price, there is absolutely nothing wrong with their speakers. I am very impressed with the setups of these young members. When I was a student a century ago (20th century ), my first stereo was purchased for $75 from K Mart. It had a turntable, AM/FM, and two awful speakers. It sounded like $hit, but I was proud of it.

For this same reason, the average age of the Stereophile and The Absolute Sound Magazines' subscribers is above 40. Many of them are realtively rich. You won't find too many new Polk speakers in their houses.

Polk used to be a high-end company before early 1990's. Almost all their speakers were designed by Mathew Polk. You could not buy their speakers at big box stores. You had to go to high-end stores to find them. Gradually, they became a mass market and dominant speaker manufacturer. I bought my vintage RTA-15TL speakers in 1991. I did not buy them because they were cheap. I could have bought other speakers, but I bought them because they were highly rated and I liked their sound. They cost me around $1,400 back then.

[lojack1976]

Yeah Big Daddy, I like you hope this isn't turning into a Polk bashing thread. I'll be the first to admit I'm no Polk fan, BUT I have no problem recommending them to friends looking to get into the world of home theater. I think they make a fine speaker and there are many fans of their sound. Some people love them and despise Klipsch while I prefer Klipsch. Some people hate JBL, but as you can see I own and love them. Everyone has their own tastes.

I think one of the reasons Polk is so popular is because a lot of younger people who start out heavy into car audio happen to like the Polk products offered for that application. One of my best friends ran nothing but Polk in all of his cars, and I know that he would look at Polk for his home before any other brand because of this. There are other options in the same price range that I would prefer for myself, but that doesn't mean that Polk makes a mediocre product. Being that I own and love both my JBL and Energy speakers, I would go with either brand since I prefer their sound over Polk. On the flip side I could see someone else preferring the Polk sound over both of these brands since its all subjective. Everyone's tastes are different and to say that people buy Polk just because they are cheaper is inaccurate in my opinion.

[Johnny Vinyl]

Originally Posted by Big Daddy

I hope this is not a Polk Bashing thread in disguise.
.

It's not Big Daddy! However...enlightening members to other options is worthwhile.

John

[zweet77]

Polk speakers are easily available good if not great sounding and for out of production lines like the monitor series are really affordable I mean $500 for all 5 speakers affordable.They also have a pretty decent vintage following.Also it all comes down to taste and what your looking for.I have demo'd def techs, martan logans,wharfsdale,klipsch etc and I chose Polk others may have chosen differntly but hey thats where personal taste and budget and all that jazz come in.

[JJ]

You auditioned Martin Logan electrostats and chose Polk?!?! Ah, budget...right, right.

[Fors*]

Originally Posted by JJxiv1215

You auditioned Martin Logan electrostats and chose Polk?!?! Ah, budget...right, right.

You changed your avatar again JJ? Geez, you're tough to keep up with.

But I do agree, that budget, and as BD stated, that the age of some of the members does play a huge factor in the decisions made.

[Sammy]

I'm not some young college student and I have a decent amount of cash IN THE BANK and NO DEBT because I don't buy $4,000 speakers and the like. The fact of the matter is that I've got a lot of things other than HT to spend my $$$ on (like a young college student). So I go with a decent sounding system at a reasonable price. It is my opinion that if you're going to chase after a HT pushing $20large you should be pulling down some money in the mid-six figure range and not putting it all on a card.

Just my opinion. I know my Polks aren't the best. Neither is the rest of my system but I've got to balance it with other things like the mortgage, retirement, boating and paying for my kid's college without taking on a ton of debt.

[zweet77]

Originally Posted by JJxiv1215

You auditioned Martin Logan electrostats and chose Polk?!?! Ah, budget...right, right.

Lol msrp 22 grand yeah I chose polk