What I love about this channel is, that you can see that he doesn’t just try to sell something. He really loves the industry, the Produkt and he for damn sure loves Musik. Love it, keep going 🙏🏽
Have some 3.1TL's passed down from my father. All black wood cabinet running off an Adcom amp and a SVS sub. 30 years old speakers still sound sublime, music to my ears!
When I purchased my first real set of speakers, I think I bought (12 payments with no interest) them at Hi Fi Buys. I wanted a set of Bose 901's as I listened to them for almost a year when I was serving my country. They didn't have them, so I listened to and bought a set of Polk SDA-CRS speakers. In 1984 a thousand dollars was a lot of money, but I was sold. I still have them today. They still sound as good and as loud as they did when I bought them. How could the capacitors in the crossovers last over 35 years? I've used a stethoscope to confirm that all of the them are still working. I would like to have the crossovers rebuilt just for the hell of it. Now, I've added T-50's, S-15's, T15's,T-30 for surround sound--I'm happy when my wife is not home, so I don't keep hearing "Turn it Down".
Back in the mid 80's me and my friend went to listen to some speakers that were out at the time. As we changed the speakers we were listening to, you could pinpoint where the sound was coming from until we got to the 901's. The sound was coming from everywhere and we could not tell where the speakers were at. However I went there biased against Bose because my brother n law had a pair of 901's and they were very weak on bass, even with the E.Q. in my opinion. But to my surprise, the Bose 501's to me were the best sounding speakers and I ended up buying a pair. The affect of the direct/ reflecting sound of the 901's was impressive, but I would have to add a subwoofer to them.
Never been a big fan of Bose but they sold an awful lot of Direct Reflecting speakers so people liked them. Hear ya loud and clear about the wife. Mine says "play your music loud, I don't mind" and fifteen minuets later I hear "could you lower that??" Fuhgeddaboudit. Hey man, thanks for your service. Me too from 1971-74.
Why wouldn't the caps last? Its not like those Polks use oil caps. Crossover components have come a long way in 36 years and replacing them with higher quality parts would garner an improvement at not much cost, but honestly those speakers aren't very good and any recent speakers would handily outperform them. If you have a nostalgic leaning towards them though, go ahead.
@Anthony Martino - I’ve never personally heard the 707s, but I still have a pair of the LSi25 that I no longer use and those sound pretty amazing so I can’t imagine. I’ve heard and read nothing but good things about them though.
@Anthony Martino - I hear you man and I believe you too. I know Thomas. I’m a subscriber to his channel. I have no doubt that they sound amazing. There’s another RUclipsr who said, “ the minute I heard them his other speakers were out the door “ That say a lot about these. It’s too bad I’m not in the market for new speakers because I’d show would give them a try. I currently have a pair of Paradigm signature S8 in piano black and love those things to death.😊
I was fortunate enough to buy a set of original Clements RT7's in 1986.Designed by Phil Clements in Texas they have a 7" ribbon tweeter 140 degree dispersion all in phase and 8' loaded base Transmission line speakers.They are still one of the best and most revealing speakers I have ever heard spacious and 3 dimensional.These speakers disappear when playing any music source and I still love these speakers.Thanks Phil.
I own a set of Polk SDA 1c's that I had DHS speaker service completely rebuild the crossovers with Clarity caps and Mills resistors. I upgraded the tweets and everything I was told on the Polk forum. They sound absolutely amazing. I would love to hear these. Gotta save my chips.
I own a pair of these and have no regrets and the icing on the cake is my wife is in love with them. You won't use a subwoofer with them as the base goes beyond deep without breaking a sweat. I listen in a small 15' x 15' room and they perform well. The Archilles heel is if you give them a little (well actually) too many watts, you will have to replace tweeters. That is your warning to not overload them a little further and risk loosing even more cones. I learned to keep one spare on hand to get me by in the event of an "emergency". If you can afford these, you can afford having $120.00 spare tweeters sent from Polk on the shelf. I can replace one in a few minutes time. Only lost 3 tweeters in the first three of the14 months I had them before learning to control the output. The culprit in my system is the 600 watt per channel Parasound amp on two occasions "accidently" overpowering them. Whatever you do, don't turn Jackyl's Lumberjack song all the way up if using this amp.
I tried getting in contact with these guys for 2 days. Sad he talks about how amazing their service is but the one time I was able to actually talk to someone, they just left me more confused, pushing items on me instead of listening. Called 3 times no one picks up. Talked to 1 person who was helpful only get prematurely get passed on to a sales person who was more than useless. I have never tried so hard to give a company my business and ultimately unsuccessful. There will be a time where these guys will be wishing they provided the service this guy talks about in his videos.
Quito de Sequera that is a shame because I have seen a couple of his videos that has good information. I don’t live in the area of this store and I am in the av industry. He surely is a tailored salesperson. Maybe is crew is not quite as good. He has some experience. The Polk speakers in general - I heard the complete opposite. They don’t have a great wide listening area. Work well in smaller listening and work extremely well that way. I haven’t heard them in person though. This is not new to the game as inverted phase. Just having seen them in speakers this big. Personally, not a fan Polk but that’s my ears.... hope you get what your looking for....
Kinda par for the course in these type stores. They have repeat customers who spend big big bucks and walk ins ( phone calls) are considered a waste of time a pain in the ass. My buddy’s uncle owns a high end store.. trust me. I found a guy that sells out of his house and he has killer service and fridays are days you can just go by and jam new products.
i haven't heard the new SDA but it will have to be something extraordinary to beat the originals for the speed and tightness of the bass and everything else of the originals . i had the SDA 1 with a carver magnetic field amp back in the early eighties and havent heard anything to this day that sounded better,,,,to me .
Speaker shopping in 1978 I fell for the Polk model 7's. Couldn't afford them nor had the room so I purchased Ohm model L's instead. Both had fantastic imaging, power handling, transient response and maybe a bit deeper bass with the Polks but not too sure about that. Polk built excellent speaker systems back in the day.
Tannoy's are now Chinese sell out garbage... Check out Fyne audio, I hear the top engineers from tannoy made Fyne audio so it's kinda like tannoy but continued...
I have owned the SDA-1's since 1987. My Adcom pre amp/tuner just shit the bed so I bought a Rotel 1572 pre amp. I drive them with a Denon 2400 amp @ 200 a channel. I just did the tweeter upgrade too.
@@mikerieck306 The last amplifier I drove the SDA1C with was a 60 wpc Hegel H90. There has been a myth these speakers need high power but I can tell you that is completely untrue. I had high power Rotels and Yamaha (200+ wpc) amps driving those speakers and my 60wpc Hegel was far superior in every aspect in terms of overall sound quality. Opened those speakers up in a way I never expected. Added so much texture to the sound.
With double the drivers you could just have one and still have boombox style stereo. Just wire it up (differently) to a stereo amp with one woofer, med and tweeter per side.
I almost did not buy the Polk Legend L800 speakers because of the RUclips Video Reviews. My experience with them only and I cannot speak for anyone else, but my source is Movies on VUDU where I now own 397 Movies the vast majority is in Dolby Vision and Dolby Audio and RUclips Videos where I have of 1500 Audiophile videos saved in a Folder and The Audio on Movies and RUclips videos are worth the money Polk is asking for. When I bought theL600 and paired them with the Onkyo TX-NR7100 it was Extraordinary then I replaced the AVR with a Onkyo TX-RZ50 then they went from Extraordinary to Phenomenal and this is in my Guest, Game Home Theater room. So I was going to buy another pair for the living room since I was so Impressed but for some reason Bestbuy on longer had the L600 in Black Ash, the only choice I was left with was the L800 in Black Ash when I got them I paired them with the TX-NR7100 and I could not believe that these L800 are Astronomical they are doing more with less connected to the Onkyo TX-NR7100, I would have totally missed out, I am so happy Bestbuy did not have the L600 in Black Ash and it forced me to buy the L800 in Black Ash the difference was noticeable instantly and the RUclips review videos would have caused me to miss out on speakers that are Astronomical. I don't have side or rear speakers but these speakers make sound come out the wall not bounce off of the wall but come out of the wall if the audio is there and I can't believe what these speakers can do.
Several weeks ago I went to hear these at World Wide Stereo (Philadelphia area). The Polk people had them set up for a special event there a few days prior. I had the room and the iPad-Tidal to myself. They were driven by top-end McIntosh gear. I expected to be mesmerized and wowed by this NOS tech (based on what I had read on the Polk website). Not sure what Kevin is hyped up about because there was absolutely nothing at all special about these speakers, nothing. Then I went into an adjacent room to listen to a pair of Kanta No. 2s. Oh yeah. Now THOSE are the real deal. If I'm going to pay $6k, I'm going to squeeze out another 3 to get something that is clearly far more capable than this latest gimmick-speaker from Polk. And BTW, Polk speakers were sold for years at Circuit City's 700+ stores before that retailer went under.
i also went to the event at bob and rons they ran a marantz, receiver that sat , i also not impressed .sorta hokey . like a better looking pair bose speakers ,by the way they are made in china. i own a pair of jm labs electra 915's not current but i can see the kanta;s blowing them away for sure.
@@cegtv1 Paul, what I didn't mention in my first post was that the only reason I scooted over to World Wide the day that I did was because I had a chance to buy these speakers for $4k NIB from a guy in the Harrisburg area who won them in some kind of contest. He is not a Hi-Fi guy, and he was looking to unload them. I called him as I pulled out of World Wide's parking lot, saying "Thanks, but no thanks." Even at $4k they weren't remotely attractive to me.
7:20 you talking about having a speaker with real bottom end. I just experienced a set of B&W 800D3 listening to muddy waters and I was like where is the Bass? I have been out of the Audio game for 20 years and now realized that floor speakers with big woofers is a thing of the past but I do believe Bookshelf Speakers will runs it's course too and big woofers are making a comeback. I mean you can only re-invent a Bookshelf speaker so many times. I didn't know about the Polks and they seem like a great value. I decided to build a set of Klipsch KLF30 Clones with upgraded drivers and a large 8.5cuft cabinet. If it all fails I might come back to the Polks
Diversity, discover new music that moves you. BTW I love my L800, but it was a PITA to match with an AMP. Actually I don’t think I’m done yet. But I have a workable solution. Watched the whole video you crack me up! Thanks uncle Kevy!
When I was 18 I wanted bass you know the bass petal on genesis selling England is 20 hz. I went into a store and they had Tannoy with 15” woofers but they were $$$$ so I looked around for a speaker that did 20 hz bingo Phillips white cone I got the dimensions of the tannoy speaker put the 15” and Philips dome mid and 4 peerless domes in that cabinet I had a 70 watt per marantz and knocked plates off the neighbors house walls .Only 6.5ive see that comes close is Totem forest.
Kevin I own Polk Audio; 2 pair of RT2000p, 1 pair of RT55i, a single CS400, a pair of FX500i and a PSW 1000, I was using a B&K Components AVR307, I am now going to a Classe SST800 pre, Rotel RB-1090, RMB-1095, I want new speakers for this set up, I am looking at the Focal Electra 1038 BE ii, or the Legend 800. Which would be the better directing to take?
Hi Kevin great review. I was watching another review of this speaker, they also loved them but said you shouldn't drive these with a balanced amp. Did you fine this true also?
I've heard this speaker very, very particular about the amps you use to power these. Even some expensive high quality amps don't sound right on these. What amps would you recommend?
I would buy them but I just purchased the RF 7 iii by Klipsch. One reviewer said that they can't touch the Klipsch RF 7 which is half the price. I still love Polk audio. I met Mr. Polk in Baltimore at the PolkAudio fest.
I watched another review where as amazing as the speakers sounded with the proper source and proper amps...they are the most difficult to set up.... And if you dont have an amp that can drive these 4ohms continuous... They sound bland. Their low sensitivity is a sore spot.
Audio reviewer Andrew Robertson says that these speakers are very difficult to drive and you need a very beefy powerhouse of an amplifier. They also are very component fussy to create that synergy that we are all looking for.🤔
D V I doubt these will drop that much, but I do expect then to eventually introduce Cheaper SDAs. Back in the 80s, the SDA SRS's were the flagship, but they had SDA's for as little as 800/pair. I'll add that he's wrong about who sold polk in the 80s. I worked at a chain (though the stores were relatively small) that sold polk back then. I'd audition these, but might move next year, and I'm not moving these speakers (or paying for storage to store the boxes)
I own the Polk Sda 2.3’s and the 1c’s. Sorry, but the new Legends don’t hold a candle to the shear output and dynamics of the 2.3’s. 12 hz - 26 kHz and 750 watt power handling. They look and sound just as gorgeous, as the day they came out of the box 29 years ago.
LOL, Tekashi 6ix9ine, is now in prison for racketeering, glad you disliked him so much your instinct was correct. Also I'm 29 so I think have a authority to say this.
@@scottlowell493 I remember the lsi9. I was working at frys electronics when they were on the market. Never listen to them. $$$ at the time. I think in a past 20 years Polk audio are more focus on home theater than hi fi audio.
@@rickym.5271 So did Elac but they peaked after the uni fi ub5 speaker and now have an audiophile line nobody asked for that's overpriced and underwhelming...
The Polk L800 look to be great, well built speakers! I own a pair of Klipsch RP-280f’s that were 800 bucks for a new pair. The Klipsch are fine sounding speakers for the money that are used for both HT duty and music listening. I see the L800’s are 6 Grand a pair. I could buy 7 pairs of Klipsch RP-280f’s and still have money 💰 left over! Some might argue that this is an apples 🍎 and orange 🍊 comparison here. Perhaps but do the Polk L800’s sound 7 times better than the Klipsch? I doubt it...
Watch out for all the hate from the butthurt buyers that tried to drive these with anything less than 700W , trying to pretend that the speakers doesn't sound like sh*t that way...
@@veroman007 Some people give opinions and there may be some truth in this but Kevin is a ridiculous salesperson... Whatever he's currently advertising is the greatest thing ever and when the next speaker comes along it's going to be the greatest thing ever... Even people like Zeos end up pushing a group of products to turn a profit... It always becomes more about what people want to hear more than being objective about finding some good shit
This was not a review. It was a one sided advertisement instead! Yes, the speakers do sound fantastic as long as they are set up correctly and are driven with the correct amps. They are very. very picky in room placement, and are also very picky in the source material. Not everything sounds fantastic even if set up in the ideal conditions. The source material must be perfectly set up also., As for the speaker placement itself, the room has to be symmetrical. Otherwise, the sound stage will collapse. People will be spending a lot of money for these, so at least do not be so one sided!
@@upscaleaudio Fair enough. I didn't hear them myself but I did hear a few horror stories on how hard they are to set up. But like I said before I did hear they do sound wonderful as long as they are set up properly.
check you out,, "they only cost 6k$" I can't talk though, I'm an Audiophile and purchase a turntable and upgraded from the stock cartridge to a top $$$dollar one. My father would say "boy, you need help"
Clyde brother I love great sound and would love top-performing equipment, but I'm also glued to the ground, and use rational, also my pockets aren't that deep. I have slowly bought one piece at a time to build my theater and feel like there's always something newer and better every time I look. And prices keep going up. But those who can more power to them.
In the Hi Fi world 6K is nothing. And 6K for the flagship of a well known quality speaker company is ridiculously cheap. Compare to flag ship Vandersteen's which are 30K! Plus he's right about Polk. They are great value for the dollar company and have many speaker models available on Amazon including the little brother to this model for $279: www.amazon.com/Polk-Audio-Signature-S55-American/dp/B01LWB2LIX/ref=sr_1_15?keywords=polk+speakers&qid=1579668173&sr=8-15
@@Mrch33ky There's nothing to feel bad about... if you can afford it go for it... I spent top dollar on some MIT interconnect and speaker cables... I do think that some of them are snake oil.
jbl cant handle the heat in my kitchen. Polks on the other hand have cookin for 30 plus years with very minimal maintenance. had to replace 2 of the 4 soft dome tweeters. last year . over 30 years.
When you pay $65,000 for a set of speakers, they should sound VERY GOOD, but I hate to burst Polk lover's bubble, but casually comparing speakers at the local Best Buy, a small Def Tech speaker blew away a larger Polk speaker. I was very unimpressed with Polk.
My 12yo love xxx tentacion and juice wrld. Well...im the old dad now that thinks its shit. But he is showing me some decent stuff they were working on....but they died so....
Wow 87dB efficiency that's pretty bad. 50 is not enough. I never cared for Polk but I heard some older SDA's that sounded pretty good. I remember the old Polk ads with Matthew Polk wear a scientist's smock.
What I love about this channel is, that you can see that he doesn’t just try to sell something. He really loves the industry, the Produkt and he for damn sure loves Musik. Love it, keep going 🙏🏽
Polk is amazing. Their early SDA series of speakers were absolutely revolutionary
Still have mine.
Have some 3.1TL's passed down from my father. All black wood cabinet running off an Adcom amp and a SVS sub. 30 years old speakers still sound sublime, music to my ears!
I wish we had stores like yours down under (Australia) and guys with the passion you have for audio sales.
Yeah and N.Z
Love his enthusiasm. Wish I could afford these. Someday.
Polk SDA SRSs are the best speakes I've ever heard. Can't wait to hear these
When I purchased my first real set of speakers, I think I bought (12 payments with no interest) them at Hi Fi Buys. I wanted a set of Bose 901's as I listened to them for almost a year when I was serving my country. They didn't have them, so I listened to and bought a set of Polk SDA-CRS speakers. In 1984 a thousand dollars was a lot of money, but I was sold. I still have them today. They still sound as good and as loud as they did when I bought them. How could the capacitors in the crossovers last over 35 years? I've used a stethoscope to confirm that all of the them are still working. I would like to have the crossovers rebuilt just for the hell of it. Now, I've added T-50's, S-15's, T15's,T-30 for surround sound--I'm happy when my wife is not home, so I don't keep hearing "Turn it Down".
Back in the mid 80's me and my friend went to listen to some speakers that were out at the time. As we changed the speakers we were listening to, you could pinpoint where the sound was coming from until we got to the 901's. The sound was coming from everywhere and we could not tell where the speakers were at. However I went there biased against Bose because my brother n law had a pair of 901's and they were very weak on bass, even with the E.Q. in my opinion. But to my surprise, the Bose 501's to me were the best sounding speakers and I ended up buying a pair. The affect of the direct/ reflecting sound of the 901's was impressive, but I would have to add a subwoofer to them.
Never been a big fan of Bose but they sold an awful lot of Direct Reflecting speakers so people liked them. Hear ya loud and clear about the wife. Mine says "play your music loud, I don't mind" and fifteen minuets later I hear "could you lower that??" Fuhgeddaboudit. Hey man, thanks for your service. Me too from 1971-74.
Why wouldn't the caps last? Its not like those Polks use oil caps. Crossover components have come a long way in 36 years and replacing them with higher quality parts would garner an improvement at not much cost, but honestly those speakers aren't very good and any recent speakers would handily outperform them. If you have a nostalgic leaning towards them though, go ahead.
Always wanted 901s just seen a mint pair with stands for $500, damn wish I would’ve bought them.
Heard these at the NY audio show this past November and let’s just say I was not disappointed. Wow!
@Anthony Martino - I’ve never personally heard the 707s, but I still have a pair of the LSi25 that I no longer use and those sound pretty amazing so I can’t imagine. I’ve heard and read nothing but good things about them though.
@Anthony Martino - I hear you man and I believe you too. I know Thomas. I’m a subscriber to his channel. I have no doubt that they sound amazing. There’s another RUclipsr who said, “ the minute I heard them his other speakers were out the door “ That say a lot about these. It’s too bad I’m not in the market for new speakers because I’d show would give them a try. I currently have a pair of Paradigm signature S8 in piano black and love those things to death.😊
Very cool speakers. I will be putting them on my upgrade list.
I was fortunate enough to buy a set of original Clements RT7's in 1986.Designed by Phil Clements in Texas they have a 7" ribbon tweeter 140 degree dispersion all in phase and 8' loaded base Transmission line speakers.They are still one of the best and most revealing speakers I have ever heard spacious and 3 dimensional.These speakers disappear when playing any music source and I still love these speakers.Thanks Phil.
I own a set of Polk SDA 1c's that I had DHS speaker service completely rebuild the crossovers with Clarity caps and Mills resistors. I upgraded the tweets and everything I was told on the Polk forum. They sound absolutely amazing. I would love to hear these. Gotta save my chips.
I am the proud (original) owner of Polk’s 1.2tls. They still image beautifully!! I got my eyes on these L800s!
I own a pair of these and have no regrets and the icing on the cake is my wife is in love with them. You won't use a subwoofer with them as the base goes beyond deep without breaking a sweat. I listen in a small 15' x 15' room and they perform well. The Archilles heel is if you give them a little (well actually) too many watts, you will have to replace tweeters. That is your warning to not overload them a little further and risk loosing even more cones. I learned to keep one spare on hand to get me by in the event of an "emergency". If you can afford these, you can afford having $120.00 spare tweeters sent from Polk on the shelf. I can replace one in a few minutes time. Only lost 3 tweeters in the first three of the14 months I had them before learning to control the output. The culprit in my system is the 600 watt per channel Parasound amp on two occasions "accidently" overpowering them. Whatever you do, don't turn Jackyl's Lumberjack song all the way up if using this amp.
I tried getting in contact with these guys for 2 days. Sad he talks about how amazing their service is but the one time I was able to actually talk to someone, they just left me more confused, pushing items on me instead of listening. Called 3 times no one picks up. Talked to 1 person who was helpful only get prematurely get passed on to a sales person who was more than useless. I have never tried so hard to give a company my business and ultimately unsuccessful. There will be a time where these guys will be wishing they provided the service this guy talks about in his videos.
Quito de Sequera that is a shame because I have seen a couple of his videos that has good information. I don’t live in the area of this store and I am in the av industry. He surely is a tailored salesperson. Maybe is crew is not quite as good. He has some experience.
The Polk speakers in general - I heard the complete opposite. They don’t have a great wide listening area. Work well in smaller listening and work extremely well that way. I haven’t heard them in person though.
This is not new to the game as inverted phase. Just having seen them in speakers this big.
Personally, not a fan Polk but that’s my ears.... hope you get what your looking for....
Kinda par for the course in these type stores. They have repeat customers who spend big big bucks and walk ins ( phone calls) are considered a waste of time a pain in the ass.
My buddy’s uncle owns a high end store.. trust me. I found a guy that sells out of his house and he has killer service and fridays are days you can just go by and jam new products.
L800 is impossible to drive with the amps named....you will need a Krell 700watt / channel amp to make them sing as they drop below 2ohm
they were using these in a IMAX demo theater room at CES 2020 A few weeks ago
Great review. Many manufacturers are going the Bose way in working towards wider dispersion.
i haven't heard the new SDA but it will have to be something extraordinary to beat the originals for the speed and tightness of the bass and everything else of the originals . i had the SDA 1 with a carver magnetic field amp back in the early eighties and havent heard anything to this day that sounded better,,,,to me .
Speaker shopping in 1978 I fell for the Polk model 7's. Couldn't afford them nor had the room so I purchased Ohm model L's instead. Both had fantastic imaging, power handling, transient response and maybe a bit deeper bass with the Polks but not too sure about that. Polk built excellent speaker systems back in the day.
In the 80s I bought numerous 7s, then I bought the 10s, holy wow, but I would never refuse listening to 7s.
I love speakers that have bass with Balls and at the same time have good high and mid frequencies.
He's promoting polk saying amazing things about it. But I can't take my eyes of those Tannoy and drooling at the same time.
That's the dog wagging its tail.
Tannoy's are now Chinese sell out garbage... Check out Fyne audio, I hear the top engineers from tannoy made Fyne audio so it's kinda like tannoy but continued...
@@maddog31255 I saw. They continued the prices as well because they were bullshit
Nah
My old Polk SDA 1C's are one of the best speakers I've ever owned but they needed quality amplification.
I have owned the SDA-1's since 1987. My Adcom pre amp/tuner just shit the bed so I bought a Rotel 1572 pre amp. I drive them with a Denon 2400 amp @ 200 a channel. I just did the tweeter upgrade too.
@@mikerieck306 The last amplifier I drove the SDA1C with was a 60 wpc Hegel H90. There has been a myth these speakers need high power but I can tell you that is completely untrue. I had high power Rotels and Yamaha (200+ wpc) amps driving those speakers and my 60wpc Hegel was far superior in every aspect in terms of overall sound quality. Opened those speakers up in a way I never expected. Added so much texture to the sound.
@@buttonman1831 Interesting.
@@mikerieck306 I didn't expect it, but it made me appreciate those speaker and that amplifier much more.
@@mikerieck306 Waiting for my new 1590 set for my sda 2s. Been using the Sansui AU-D11ii got hit by lightning. Can't wait for 400wpc
I love Polk Audio But I also love the Mini Story you just told there are many different kinds of music
Just love this. So much passion! Come and open a store in London UK. Please!!!
That Ferarri, out of this world. Crazy paintwork.
With double the drivers you could just have one and still have boombox style stereo. Just wire it up (differently) to a stereo amp with one woofer, med and tweeter per side.
Everything Kevin reviews is always the best , even better than the previous kit he could have reviewed.
he gets very excited by parts and engineering !!!
...And you just earned a Subscriber!
Great video man ☑️☑️
I almost did not buy the Polk Legend L800 speakers because of the RUclips Video Reviews.
My experience with them only and I cannot speak for anyone else, but my source is Movies on VUDU where I now own 397 Movies the vast majority is in Dolby Vision and Dolby Audio and RUclips Videos where I have of 1500 Audiophile videos saved in a Folder and The Audio on Movies and RUclips videos are worth the money Polk is asking for. When I bought theL600 and paired them with the Onkyo TX-NR7100 it was Extraordinary then I replaced the AVR with a Onkyo TX-RZ50 then they went from Extraordinary to Phenomenal and this is in my Guest, Game Home Theater room. So I was going to buy another pair for the living room since I was so Impressed but for some reason Bestbuy on longer had the L600 in Black Ash, the only choice I was left with was the L800 in Black Ash when I got them I paired them with the TX-NR7100 and I could not believe that these L800 are Astronomical they are doing more with less connected to the Onkyo TX-NR7100, I would have totally missed out, I am so happy Bestbuy did not have the L600 in Black Ash and it forced me to buy the L800 in Black Ash the difference was noticeable instantly and the RUclips review videos would have caused me to miss out on speakers that are Astronomical. I don't have side or rear speakers but these speakers make sound come out the wall not bounce off of the wall but come out of the wall if the audio is there and I can't believe what these speakers can do.
Them Tannoy speakers back there in the back sure look mighty fine from right here, hmmmmm. Tannoy. Oh there was a Polk Audio speaker?
Several weeks ago I went to hear these at World Wide Stereo (Philadelphia area). The Polk people had them set up for a special event there a few days prior. I had the room and the iPad-Tidal to myself. They were driven by top-end McIntosh gear. I expected to be mesmerized and wowed by this NOS tech (based on what I had read on the Polk website).
Not sure what Kevin is hyped up about because there was absolutely nothing at all special about these speakers, nothing.
Then I went into an adjacent room to listen to a pair of Kanta No. 2s. Oh yeah. Now THOSE are the real deal.
If I'm going to pay $6k, I'm going to squeeze out another 3 to get something that is clearly far more capable than this latest gimmick-speaker from Polk.
And BTW, Polk speakers were sold for years at Circuit City's 700+ stores before that retailer went under.
i also went to the event at bob and rons they ran a marantz, receiver that sat , i also not impressed .sorta hokey .
like a better looking pair bose speakers ,by the way they are made in china. i own a pair of jm labs electra 915's
not current but i can see the kanta;s blowing them away for sure.
@@cegtv1 Paul, what I didn't mention in my first post was that the only reason I scooted over to World Wide the day that I did was because I had a chance to buy these speakers for $4k NIB from a guy in the Harrisburg area who won them in some kind of contest. He is not a Hi-Fi guy, and he was looking to unload them. I called him as I pulled out of World Wide's parking lot, saying "Thanks, but no thanks." Even at $4k they weren't remotely attractive to me.
Tisk tisk....you sold a 65k set of speakers to somebody without asking about thier room?
He’s in sell mode.. who knows if that’s actually true story
Question, which amp or amps did you use to drive the L800s?
7:20 you talking about having a speaker with real bottom end. I just experienced a set of B&W 800D3 listening to muddy waters and I was like where is the Bass? I have been out of the Audio game for 20 years and now realized that floor speakers with big woofers is a thing of the past but I do believe Bookshelf Speakers will runs it's course too and big woofers are making a comeback. I mean you can only re-invent a Bookshelf speaker so many times. I didn't know about the Polks and they seem like a great value. I decided to build a set of Klipsch KLF30 Clones with upgraded drivers and a large 8.5cuft cabinet. If it all fails I might come back to the Polks
Diversity, discover new music that moves you. BTW I love my L800, but it was a PITA to match with an AMP. Actually I don’t think I’m done yet. But I have a workable solution. Watched the whole video you crack me up! Thanks uncle Kevy!
mpitogo mind sharing a bit about the amps that you’ve tried and the issues your finding?
When I was 18 I wanted bass you know the bass petal on genesis selling England is 20 hz. I went into a store and they had Tannoy with 15” woofers but they were $$$$ so I looked around for a speaker that did 20 hz bingo Phillips white cone I got the dimensions of the tannoy speaker put the 15” and Philips dome mid and 4 peerless domes in that cabinet I had a 70 watt per marantz and knocked plates off the neighbors house walls .Only 6.5ive see that comes close is Totem forest.
Kevin
I own Polk Audio; 2 pair of RT2000p, 1 pair of RT55i, a single CS400, a pair of FX500i and a PSW 1000, I was using a B&K Components AVR307, I am now going to a Classe SST800 pre, Rotel RB-1090, RMB-1095, I want new speakers for this set up, I am looking at the Focal Electra 1038 BE ii, or the Legend 800. Which would be the better directing to take?
Awesome looking speakers for sure. Bravo Polk
Hi Kevin great review. I was watching another review of this speaker, they also loved them but said you shouldn't drive these with a balanced amp. Did you fine this true also?
I like his down to earth review.
you are a good salesman.
I love it! Polk rules! This guy has it together! I’m a piece of crap with my signature series! Can’t afford these!
I love this guy, I am ordering from them !
Man! If I wasn't living on the top floor on a condo building I would buy these today. But someday I'll have a decoupled listening room....some day...
I've heard this speaker very, very particular about the amps you use to power these. Even some expensive high quality amps don't sound right on these. What amps would you recommend?
I have the original SDA-SRS and love them. I upgraded the tweeters from the stock.
I would buy them but I just purchased the RF 7 iii by Klipsch. One reviewer said that they can't touch the Klipsch RF 7 which is half the price. I still love Polk audio. I met Mr. Polk in Baltimore at the PolkAudio fest.
I watched another review where as amazing as the speakers sounded with the proper source and proper amps...they are the most difficult to set up.... And if you dont have an amp that can drive these 4ohms continuous... They sound bland. Their low sensitivity is a sore spot.
I just saw that video too. Gimmiks come and go. I prefer Klipsch.
About how many continuous watts you'd be looking at for each channel for this speaker?
@@oscarishandsome5150 I'd say you'd want two 200 watt monoblocks to drive them
This video great my friend. One time back in Russia, lonk lonk time ago, i poop pant when listen to Polk sda
Audio reviewer Andrew Robertson says that these speakers are very difficult to drive and you need a very beefy powerhouse of an amplifier. They also are very component fussy to create that synergy that we are all looking for.🤔
Get a carver, job done.
Loved the rant 🤣🤣🤣👍🏼
This is great! But I'll wait 2 years until it goes with 50-70% discount, pretty much what happanned with LSIM series.
D V I doubt these will drop that much, but I do expect then to eventually introduce Cheaper SDAs. Back in the 80s, the SDA SRS's were the flagship, but they had SDA's for as little as 800/pair. I'll add that he's wrong about who sold polk in the 80s. I worked at a chain (though the stores were relatively small) that sold polk back then.
I'd audition these, but might move next year, and I'm not moving these speakers (or paying for storage to store the boxes)
Maybe in 8 to 10 years they will give us 50% discount when they a new model come out
4 ohm's? Better have a beefy amp. These speakers are huge! Would need a big room for these.
Not necessarily... They aren't really efficient
I own the Polk Sda 2.3’s and the 1c’s. Sorry, but the new Legends don’t hold a candle to the shear output and dynamics of the 2.3’s. 12 hz - 26 kHz and 750 watt power handling. They look and sound just as gorgeous, as the day they came out of the box 29 years ago.
Review starts 2 minutes in. Did you arrive at this video for a review of these Polk Audio speakers? I did.
What's the smallest room to put these in. Is 18 x 18 too small?
Oh......just 6,000.... Such a bargain
Who is that artist on the wall's poster
Independent stores only? That's odd because where I lived in the 80's we had a store that had like 15 locations in the city and they carried Polk.
I got my sda's from the army PX over in Germany 1984
I like the number on your shirt Kevin.
Young Kevin looked the stoner, experimenter, versatile, catcher type.
Sweet job.
You should tell all this to Andrew Robinson. He did not give these a very good review, and thought they were pricey.
Kevin is the best!
LOL, Tekashi 6ix9ine, is now in prison for racketeering, glad you disliked him so much your instinct was correct. Also I'm 29 so I think have a authority to say this.
Are you in upland, cal. ?
Wonder what a commission would be on $65K speaker?
32.5k to the store...
This guy could sell ice cubes to an eskimo.
Don't you worry man Takeshit 69 is in jail now. NO BAIL case.
Your amp must play nicely at 2 ohms or for get these speakers.
I fell us audiophiles forget about Polk audio sometimes....
A lot of polk designs are forgettable, and not really high fidelity. Remember the lsi9? Nice tweeter. Crappy crossover and cheap woofers. Blah.
@@scottlowell493 I remember the lsi9. I was working at frys electronics when they were on the market. Never listen to them. $$$ at the time. I think in a past 20 years Polk audio are more focus on home theater than hi fi audio.
@@rickym.5271 That's right... They are mainly into home theater and even then they're still pretty shit
@@V1ralB1ack they have so much potential. Oh well.
@@rickym.5271 So did Elac but they peaked after the uni fi ub5 speaker and now have an audiophile line nobody asked for that's overpriced and underwhelming...
The Polk L800 look to be great, well built speakers! I own a pair of Klipsch RP-280f’s that were 800 bucks for a new pair. The Klipsch are fine sounding speakers for the money that are used for both HT duty and music listening. I see the L800’s are 6 Grand a pair. I could buy 7 pairs of Klipsch RP-280f’s and still have money 💰 left over! Some might argue that this is an apples 🍎 and orange 🍊 comparison here. Perhaps but do the Polk L800’s sound 7 times better than the Klipsch? I doubt it...
6k for speakers is real world?
Watch out for all the hate from the butthurt buyers that tried to drive these with anything less than 700W , trying to pretend that the speakers doesn't sound like sh*t that way...
I bought a pair of sda"s at the px in germany
If i had to own Poilk loudspeakers, id be afraid Id give up on hiend audio all together. ..by default
You obviously don't know "hi-end"
Your ears are too sophisticated for Polk are they? Such silliness from you.
When you did the tea skit, now that was funny!🤣😅🤭
love it....thanks
All information on webs , we need to hear the sound that’s it
@@veroman007 Some people give opinions and there may be some truth in this but Kevin is a ridiculous salesperson... Whatever he's currently advertising is the greatest thing ever and when the next speaker comes along it's going to be the greatest thing ever... Even people like Zeos end up pushing a group of products to turn a profit... It always becomes more about what people want to hear more than being objective about finding some good shit
This was not a review. It was a one sided advertisement instead! Yes, the speakers do sound fantastic as long as they are set up correctly and are driven with the correct amps. They are very. very picky in room placement, and are also very picky in the source material. Not everything sounds fantastic even if set up in the ideal conditions. The source material must be perfectly set up also., As for the speaker placement itself, the room has to be symmetrical. Otherwise, the sound stage will collapse. People will be spending a lot of money for these, so at least do not be so one sided!
I disagree with you. They are less picky. And every speaker has limits. We would never say these are perfect for everyone.
@@upscaleaudio Fair enough. I didn't hear them myself but I did hear a few horror stories on how hard they are to set up. But like I said before I did hear they do sound wonderful as long as they are set up properly.
why does Matthew Polk wear a doctors lab jacket ????????
I thought it was a green screen until he spun that monster
What amp do you recommend with it...Denon 1600 ne?
Kevin your the best 👏 👏 👌 👍 👍 👋
“It’s got real balls”
Only 6k because we care about poor people and low class needs to have fun too...
check you out,, "they only cost 6k$" I can't talk though, I'm an Audiophile and purchase a turntable and upgraded from the stock cartridge to a top $$$dollar one. My father would say "boy, you need help"
Clyde brother I love great sound and would love top-performing equipment, but I'm also glued to the ground, and use rational, also my pockets aren't that deep.
I have slowly bought one piece at a time to build my theater and feel like there's always something newer and better every time I look.
And prices keep going up.
But those who can more power to them.
In the Hi Fi world 6K is nothing. And 6K for the flagship of a well known quality speaker company is ridiculously cheap. Compare to flag ship Vandersteen's which are 30K! Plus he's right about Polk. They are great value for the dollar company and have many speaker models available on Amazon including the little brother to this model for $279: www.amazon.com/Polk-Audio-Signature-S55-American/dp/B01LWB2LIX/ref=sr_1_15?keywords=polk+speakers&qid=1579668173&sr=8-15
@@Mrch33ky There's nothing to feel bad about... if you can afford it go for it... I spent top dollar on some MIT interconnect and speaker cables... I do think that some of them are snake oil.
@ P W - Very true in the high end world 6K is nothing but in the real world 6K is still a lot of 💰 money!
Tannoy ❤️❤️❤️
Kevin, when y’all gonna start carrying JBL??
We have them now. I'm reviewing the L100's as we speak. I will give you my observations after more time with them.
Lol, or Cerwin Vega
jbl cant handle the heat in my kitchen. Polks on the other hand have cookin for 30 plus years with very minimal maintenance. had to replace 2 of the 4 soft dome tweeters. last year . over 30 years.
Kevin Deal looking forward to hearing your thoughts!
I like hi fi buys in Nashville tn..
Just like BOSE in the 70 ties.
When you pay $65,000 for a set of speakers, they should sound VERY GOOD, but I hate to burst Polk lover's bubble, but casually comparing speakers at the local Best Buy, a small Def Tech speaker blew away a larger Polk speaker. I was very unimpressed with Polk.
Who knows years down the road polk might have the half off sale buy one get the other one free
you could get 2 byston B4 bridge it, too run 4 ohms, but I wouldn't spend that kind of money and polk audio lol
Tannoy DCs are great drivers but can I buy them without their grossly overpriced cabs?
Not even rappers from the 90s like mumble rap
📝
My 12yo love xxx tentacion and juice wrld. Well...im the old dad now that thinks its shit. But he is showing me some decent stuff they were working on....but they died so....
Lol! You mean you don’t roll like tekashi69????
Beautiful speakers, I may have to get rid of my SRT’s! That’s a tough one...
just 1 speaker.. where is the other one..?
Mono baby
That is not true. I had polk audio back in the 80s
Bought from Hi Fi buys, a chain audio company
Not impressed, the best Polk speakers never had ports. Ever.
I just order the r600 towers will see what all the hype its about.
How are the r600.🤔
James tartaglia I didn't like them.
To boomy sounding. Lacks detail in the trouble area.
Mid range its okay for the money.
Not my cup of tea.
Wow 87dB efficiency that's pretty bad. 50 is not enough. I never cared for Polk but I heard some older SDA's that sounded pretty good. I remember the old Polk ads with Matthew Polk wear a scientist's smock.
The amount of paid and bot comments in this thread is nauseating