Try anything by Bose. You should be able to find a space saving alternative for your Polks.
Welcome to FR. You’ve come to the right place for an opinion. Everyone here has one.
well youve certainly come to the right place...
Hands down the best speakers if you can afford them are Klipsch. The technical specs for dynamic response, range and lack of harmonic distortion are second to none. I know a lot of people like the Bose label but if you put them to the test and actually look at the technical specs, they are only a second tier vendor. The Klipsch loaded horn design is simply the most efficient and best responding speakers money can buy.
Klipsch also has a wide range of of speakers. Everything from floor stands, to bookshelves to even their line of flat speakers (to go beside your flat screen). I highly recommend their products and use them myself in my surround sound system.
Since price is no object, I’m the wrong guy to ask except for one thing: Steer clear of Bose. I collect vintage hi-fi gear and sold the stuff in the late 70’s and early 80’s. Bose is a marketing company. They are the only major player that will not publish their specs.
A satellite system with subs that go as high into the audible range as their do can not be taken seriously by anyone serious about sound.
Polk is one of my favortes for the money, but I’ve not seen their more recent stuff.
Regarding Bose, here is everything you need to know:
http://liquidtheater.com/editorial_56.html
And this is funny, especially the single comment: http://beloved-brands.com/2011/10/17/is-bose-high-quality-or-low-quality-is-bose-a-beloved-or-hated-brand/
Bose.
Here is where you REALLY want to go on this issue:
Tapeheads.net
Audiokarma.org
If you own your home and can do the carpentry, you might consider in-wall speakers. Polk makes in-wall systems too.
Check out Madisound— they offer kits with excellent components. Google them, they’re online.
Opinions? I like a good “image” and sharp detail from speakers. I’ve not heard the Bose speakers lately, but back in the day they made their boxes with speakers loaded to reflect off of an adjacent wall, which muddied the sound.
They’ve done amazing things with small boxes, but the focus seems to be getting bass response from a smaller box, not better sound.
Final thought: many systems are designed for in-home multi-media—not music.
Check it out, my man. The flagship of the entire Dominator line. The MX-10. 30 inches of thigh-slappin', blood-pumpin' nuclear brain damage! So what if it's as big as a Subaru and costs as much! You'll never have to trade this in. This is gonna be with you for the rest of your life. And when you die, they can bury you in it!
You might want to check this out:
http://www.parts-express.com/wizards/searchResults.cfm?srchExt=CAT&srchCat=762
Salk Songtowers... period.
http://www.salksound.com/songtower%20home.htm
routinely beats other speakers... i just got them , and WOW is all i can say...
You’ve got a problem: Changing out speakers for reasons other than failure of the system.
Going from towers to shelf (to say NOTHING of in-wall)is ITSELF going to create a big difference is sound.
Were the towers de-coupled from the floor or what ever they stood on (by you or the manufacturer)? Were they near a wall, in a corner? You were not only listening to the polks you were listening to the room. Even in a cost is no object situation these factors can violently change the perception of sound. You could spend big dough on great speakers and have them all futzed by the shelf/wall, placement etc. Sound can becom harsh, muddy etc.
You can go consumer playback, which tend to have a “sound” built in to them or studio refrence which try to be un-colored and flat. If I were you I’d try to find forums that have people who know the Polks and upgraded from them. Try posting your question on www.gearslutz.com in the high end section. Tell them what kind of room they’ll be used in, ie; “treated” listening room, living room etc. A lot of those guys have been there and done that.
There are literally hundreds of choices ranging from $100 to thousands.
If you have a reputable audio dealer in your area, listen and buy from them and insist on a return policy.
The speakers will not sound the same in your room as they did in the store.
It is also good to fiddle with speaker placement.
Small adjustments can radically alter the sound.
P.S. You can aso search the forums on GEARSLUTZ, your question has been brought up many times.
As you can tell by the responses here, we all have opinions but we don't necessarily always have good reading comprehension skills. :-)
Check out http://www.northcreekmusic.com/ he makes a new Fibonaci Ribbon- about 5ft and full range. His name is George Short and he makes the best. You can call him as well.
Sandy Gross started this company in Baltmore after he left Polk Audio. Sandy and Matt started Polk Audio back in the 1970s. Definitive Technology is now one of the best speaker companies on the market. Their subwoofers will shake your home.
Recently, we had our home remodeled. As a part of that project, I wanted to make my music easier to access. I had a particular challenge. I have a 800 CD classical music collection but I have a home and a cabin. The CDs are stored on two 400 disc Sony players. If I moved the CD players back and forth to the two places, some would become dislodged and I would have to open the enclosures and reseat them. So, I looked into a music server for my home and planned to use and leave the CD players at the cabin.
I had no idea how to approach the server idea so I went to the local high end stereo vendor. He suggested I do some A/B comparison listening with particular emphasis on digital compression formats. I listened to as many as I could and found that comparing MP3 to the actual CDs showed MP3 to be unlistenable for me. It was primarily the dynamic range of the compressed files that was the problem. I auditioned a number of others on my own equipment and found that FLAC-lossless was a format that, for me, was indistinguishable from the original source. So I purchased a server that would record in that format. In my opinion, if I had been looking for speakers at that point, listening to my music on MP3 could not have been significantly enhanced. It was the MP3 (and other compression formats) that were the weak link in the chain.
That said, my music listening speakers are KEF Reference 105/3s which I purchased in 1990 or so for $3500/pair. Don't even consider spending anything near this for your listening habits and sources. My speakers have lost a little of their brightness over the years but I have them in a uncarpeted large room with a lot of hard surfaces and glass and they work very well in there. The other speakers that I use are at the cabin and I have one other set of the same at home for my wife who watches movies, TV, etc. with them as her listening source. They are Paradigm Studio 80s but I can't recall the purchase price. I have been quite happy with these speakers also and they were substantially less expensive than the KEFs.
It used to be a rule of thumb that you should spend about 50% of the cost of your system on speakers. I think if you decide to upgrade your speakers, you should LISTEN to a variety of speakers using some of your own music that you bring with you from place to place to be able to make fair comparisons. Even this will not tell you how the speakers will sound in your home, however. Before I purchased the KEFs, the dealer let me take them home for what ended up to be 2 months. This is one of the reasons to have a relationship with a reputable dealer in your home town. You will not be able to do this in a "big box" store.
There are a lot of reputable speaker manufacturers out there. My suggestions to you would be to not spend a fortune and to listen to as many types as you can and pick the ones you like the best.