Polk, most popular on the forums? - Page 2 - Blu-ray Forum

DonRSD · 06-11-2009, 07:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Twitch9

I think because people are lazy and don't want to go audition speakers and when they see a good deal online they buy them. Also for first time buyers they get them from forms like these with people pushing the brand of speakers they use on others, not a bad speaker but i think there is better out there for the a bit more money. IMO i would never buy speakers that are sold at big box stores, they are cheaply manufactured to keep the price low.

thats a crock of you know what

i bought polks because i like how they sound

sure i want a sweet pair of B&W fronts and matching center/surrounds, but thats another realm of $$$ im looking at.

what youre paying $100 or so more for a speaker is a minimal difference.
when you jump into the big boy speakers, then ill consider your rant valid.

Twitch9 · 06-11-2009, 07:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DonRSD

thats a crock of you know what

i bought polks because i like how they sound

sure i want a sweet pair of B&W fronts and matching center/surrounds, but thats another realm of $$$ im looking at.

what youre paying $100 or so more for a speaker is a minimal difference.
when you jump into the big boy speakers, then ill consider your rant valid.

You bought them because they where in your budget not because you liked the sound so lets be honest. When it comes to buying polk speakers sound is usually the second reason for buying them cost is the first. Unless you are purchasing there more expensive models, witch not to many people do because there is way better speakers in that price range. Sure the B&W is what you wanted so you summed up my point you got Polks because that's all you could afford at the time, not because they are great sounding speakers. There is nothing wrong with getting speakers you can afford as long as your happy with them that's all that matters. Plus they are still way better than HTIB sh*t.

JasonR · 06-11-2009, 07:52 PM

DonRSD · 06-11-2009, 07:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Twitch9

You bought them because they where in your budget not because you liked the sound so lets be honest. When it comes to buying polk speakers sound is usually the second reason for buying them cost is the first. Unless you are purchasing there more expensive models, witch not to many people do because there is way better speakers in that price range price is the deciding factor. Sure the B&W is what you wanted so you summed up my point you got Polks because that's all you could afford at the time.

the B&W's i want wouldve cost me about $4000 for the 5 speaker set.

i bought the minitor polks because they are a SOLID SPEAKER.
i was also looking at klipsch speakers for some extra $$$ but i didnt like the sound.
all the other speakers i was looking at, a set of 5 speakers costs around $1500-2000, werent worth it.......as the 'price to quality' over the polks i bought wasnt worth it at all.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JasonR

when i look to buy a speaker set, i do NOT look to buy used.
so those prices dont reflect what i was looking for.

the polks offered the best price to quality with any speakers up to about $2000 for a set of 5

Johnny Vinyl · 06-11-2009, 08:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JasonR

Thanks Jason! The Totem Arro is one of the most underrated speakers out there. They match very well with speakers costing twice as much and they have huge WAF because of their diminutative size for a floorstander. Granted, they aren't for everyone, but they'll rock a whole bunch.

The Totem Forest is even more amazing! At close to $4,000 new ( for specialty finishes)they may be out of range for most, but at $2,000 for a used pair you are getting a speaker second to none.

John

JasonR · 06-11-2009, 08:05 PM

I am a previous owner, and I found the Polk Monitor line to be of a very good value. If you look at most if not all of those prices on Audiogon, the MSRP should be under or very close to the $2500 you originally said would not be worth spending less than. I am not saying the Polks aren't very good for the price, but once you start getting to the point of spending more than 400 dollars for a set of fronts there is a lot of other options.

PSB_Paradigm_HSU · 06-11-2009, 08:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DonRSD

i bought the minitor polks because they are a SOLID SPEAKER.

the polks offered the best price to quality with any speakers up to about $2000 for a set of 5

I think what they are trying to say (I agree) is not that your polks arent solid...its just there are MORE solid ones within your price range. And if you are saying your price range is 2000 for five speakers meaning 400 per speaker?

Then there are A LOT of more solid choices out there

Beta Man · 06-11-2009, 08:14 PM

If you're spending $2,500 on a pair.... you should be auditioning a decent number of speakers..... regardless of what you finally decide upon.

I'm pretty sure my current 5-speaker B&W configuration falls into your $4,000 budget, and they were all purchased new.... (the Sub and other two speakers doubled the budget though)

705's and HTM7 were about $800 each ($700 for stands) and the 686's only cost $250 each or so...... (already had some stands)

So that's $3,600 with the front three stands (one of which I lost in the move)

You could probably stretch it and get the 704's if you're so inclined.

Johnny Vinyl · 06-11-2009, 08:18 PM

An example:

Totem Arro Floorstanders $1395/pair
Totem Dreamcatcher Surrounds $575/pair
Totem Dreamcatcher Centre $470/single

Total price $2,450

Buy them used (see Jason's post earlier) and add in a sub for the $2,500. I guarentee these puppies will blow a lot of systems out of the water.

John

JasonR · 06-11-2009, 08:21 PM

Yep.

MA RS6s $1100/pair
MA RS1s $650/pair
MA RSLCR $650/single

An easy decision for me....

Big Daddy · 06-11-2009, 08:26 PM

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.

callas01 · 06-11-2009, 08:57 PM

DON, don't get so upset, simply saying that there are speakers that are just as good if not better at similar prices then the polks, for $400 on fronts you could up your budget and get Energy C series for about $500-1000/pr, you could get Monitor Audio Bronze series for about $550-800. You could start looking at Swan speakers, Klipsch, PSB Alpha T1's $599/pr or maybe Image series $800-1000/pr speakers, KEF iQ7's $700/pr, Boston CS226 $500/pr. It is just that there are other options out there if you are between $400/pr to $1000/pr that can be just as good or in many cases better. (all prices are for brand new speakers)

What everyone is just saying that the average person goes to BB and that is the best Best Buy has at that price, most people decide thats what they want to spend and no one goes beyond BB to audition anything, and then you throw on top of that a forum like this that has a strong following and its easy to see why there are so many people with polk speakers. Not saying that Polk speakers are not a good buy, but if the average person spent time going out and listening to other speakers and not just running with the heard there would prolly be more diversification.

Fact is, is that all of us say OH, with that budget get Polks. We are doing it ourselves, whether we are aware of it or not. Otherwise we tell people to get what we have.

lojack1976 · 06-11-2009, 09:14 PM

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.

SRTCraig · 06-11-2009, 09:23 PM

Polk deserve a pat on the back IMO. They have simply given the consumer what they wanted good performance vs price. As Bigdaddy says years ago they were aimed at the higher end market with SDA's etc. Consumers were different then space was not at the premium then as it is now with HT.

Sure there's lots of brands out there that are better, but when you're on a budget? Whether it be a sub?, multi-ch power amp? It's all the same argument. Not everyones expectations are the same, it's a shame more people cant see that...

Johnny Vinyl · 06-11-2009, 09:41 PM

Quote:

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 · 06-11-2009, 10:04 PM

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 · 06-11-2009, 10:06 PM

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

Fors* · 06-11-2009, 10:08 PM

Quote:

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 · 06-11-2009, 10:21 PM

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 · 06-11-2009, 10:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JJxiv1215

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

Lol msrp 22 grand yeah I chose polk

06-11-2009, 07:52 PM	#23
JasonR Super Moderator Top contributor Member since:Nov 2007 Trading Score:12	Yeah, but when you say anything under 2500 dollars is not worth it you are throwing out a lot of great speakers. Here's a couple including your B&Ws. http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls..../B-W-683-Black http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls....shelf-speakers http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?spkrfull&1247928102&/Paradigm-Studio-60-v.4's-in-Ch http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls....20-v4-black.-- http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls....-9-V-5-rosenut http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls....-RS-8-Rose-Nut http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls....1-Cherry-finis http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls....ood-12-L-Activ http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls....-free-shipping http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls....Standing-Louds http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls....-Arro-Mahogany http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls....mium-Maple-Fin I think anything over 400 dollars for fronts, you should be looking beyond Polk Monitors. Last edited by JasonR; 06-11-2009 at 07:55 PM.

06-11-2009, 08:05 PM	#26
JasonR Super Moderator Top contributor Member since:Nov 2007 Trading Score:12	I am a previous owner, and I found the Polk Monitor line to be of a very good value. If you look at most if not all of those prices on Audiogon, the MSRP should be under or very close to the $2500 you originally said would not be worth spending less than. I am not saying the Polks aren't very good for the price, but once you start getting to the point of spending more than 400 dollars for a set of fronts there is a lot of other options. Last edited by JasonR; 06-12-2009 at 03:36 AM.

06-11-2009, 08:26 PM	#31
Big Daddy Blu-ray Champion Top ranked HT gallery Member since:Jan 2008 Location:Southern California Home Theater Gallery:79 Blu-ray collection:122 Trading Score:1	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. Last edited by Big Daddy; 06-11-2009 at 08:41 PM.

06-11-2009, 08:57 PM	#32
callas01 Blu-ray Prince Top contributor Member since:Jun 2008 Location:Riverside, CA Home Theater Gallery:42 Blu-ray collection:230 DVD collection:47	DON, don't get so upset, simply saying that there are speakers that are just as good if not better at similar prices then the polks, for $400 on fronts you could up your budget and get Energy C series for about $500-1000/pr, you could get Monitor Audio Bronze series for about $550-800. You could start looking at Swan speakers, Klipsch, PSB Alpha T1's $599/pr or maybe Image series $800-1000/pr speakers, KEF iQ7's $700/pr, Boston CS226 $500/pr. It is just that there are other options out there if you are between $400/pr to $1000/pr that can be just as good or in many cases better. (all prices are for brand new speakers) What everyone is just saying that the average person goes to BB and that is the best Best Buy has at that price, most people decide thats what they want to spend and no one goes beyond BB to audition anything, and then you throw on top of that a forum like this that has a strong following and its easy to see why there are so many people with polk speakers. Not saying that Polk speakers are not a good buy, but if the average person spent time going out and listening to other speakers and not just running with the heard there would prolly be more diversification. Fact is, is that all of us say OH, with that budget get Polks. We are doing it ourselves, whether we are aware of it or not. Otherwise we tell people to get what we have. Last edited by callas01; 06-11-2009 at 09:00 PM.

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06-11-2009, 08:14 PM	#28
Beta Man Moderator Top contributor Member since:Jan 2008 Location:Juuuuuuuust A Bit Outside.... Home Theater Gallery:4 Blu-ray collection:268 Blu-ray reviews: 18 Trading Score:25	If you're spending $2,500 on a pair.... you should be auditioning a decent number of speakers..... regardless of what you finally decide upon. I'm pretty sure my current 5-speaker B&W configuration falls into your $4,000 budget, and they were all purchased new.... (the Sub and other two speakers doubled the budget though) 705's and HTM7 were about $800 each ($700 for stands) and the 686's only cost $250 each or so...... (already had some stands) So that's $3,600 with the front three stands (one of which I lost in the move) You could probably stretch it and get the 704's if you're so inclined.

06-11-2009, 08:18 PM	#29
Johnny Vinyl Moderator Top ranked HT gallery Top contributor Member since:Jul 2007 Location:At the crossroad of Analogue Dr & 2CH Ave Home Theater Gallery:19 Blu-ray collection:205 DVD collection:7 Blu-ray reviews:3 Trading Score:8	An example: Totem Arro Floorstanders $1395/pair Totem Dreamcatcher Surrounds $575/pair Totem Dreamcatcher Centre $470/single Total price $2,450 Buy them used (see Jason's post earlier) and add in a sub for the $2,500. I guarentee these puppies will blow a lot of systems out of the water. John

06-11-2009, 08:21 PM	#30
JasonR Super Moderator Top contributor Member since:Nov 2007 Trading Score:12	Yep. MA RS6s $1100/pair MA RS1s $650/pair MA RSLCR $650/single An easy decision for me....

06-11-2009, 09:14 PM	#33
lojack1976 Blu-ray Guru Top ranked HT gallery Member since:Aug 2008 Location:7 Cities, VA Home Theater Gallery:62 Blu-ray collection:203	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.

06-11-2009, 09:23 PM	#34
SRTCraig Active Member Member since:Sep 2008 Location:Near middle earth Home Theater Gallery:10	Polk deserve a pat on the back IMO. They have simply given the consumer what they wanted good performance vs price. As Bigdaddy says years ago they were aimed at the higher end market with SDA's etc. Consumers were different then space was not at the premium then as it is now with HT. Sure there's lots of brands out there that are better, but when you're on a budget? Whether it be a sub?, multi-ch power amp? It's all the same argument. Not everyones expectations are the same, it's a shame more people cant see that...

06-11-2009, 10:04 PM	#36
zweet77 Senior Member Member since:Apr 2008 Location:San Francisco Home Theater Gallery:12 Blu-ray collection:129 Blu-ray reviews:7	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.

06-11-2009, 10:06 PM	#37
JJ Blu-ray Count Top ranked HT gallery Member since:Jul 2007 Location:Miami, FL Home Theater Gallery:99 4K collection:619 Blu-ray collection:1293 DVD collection:31 Digital collection:5 Blu-ray reviews: 18 Trading Score:203	You auditioned Martin Logan electrostats and chose Polk?!?! Ah, budget...right, right.

06-11-2009, 10:21 PM	#39
Sammy Power Member Member since:Jan 2009 Location:Right next to Wineville, CA Home Theater Gallery:1 Blu-ray collection:199 Blu-ray reviews:1 Trading Score:3	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.

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