Polk Bows New High-end Speaker Line For AV Specialists

BALTIMORE -- As Polk Audio expands its assortment of products at Best Buy, it will seek to deepen ties with AV specialty retailers and custom installers with its first new line of high-end LSi speakers in nine years, company officials said.

The LSiM series, consisting of tower, bookshelf, center and surround channel models, will ship in Q1 as a replacement for the original LSi speakers that debuted in 2001. The line ranges from center channels with 5.25-inch drivers at $699 to tower speakers -- LSiM 707 ($3,000) and LSiM 705 ($4,000) with 5.25-inch and 6.5-inch mid-woofers and 5x7-inch and 6x9-inch subwoofers. The 705 has a 5.25-inch mid-woofer and 5x7-inch subwoofer, while the 707 moves to 6.5-inch and 6x9-inch, the company said. The series will be sold through a subset of Polk’s 300 dealers, focusing on those with the ability to demonstrate the speakers, said Mark Suskind, vice president of product line management.

"There are still enough specialty guys out there that we believe we are justified in doing this,” said Ben Newhall, senior vice president of sales and marketing. “The industry isn’t as big as it once was, but it’s viable and people need to have the opportunity to get better audio."

The speakers feature Polk’s Dynamic Sonic Engine technology that consists of 3.25-inch drivers and a one-inch ring radiator tweeter and handles mid-range between 200 Hz and 2 kHz. The mid-range drivers have Super Cell Aerated Polypropylene cones that are designed for greater stiffness without adding weight. The tweeters were reshaped to move further out on the baffle to improve sound dispersion and, like other speakers in the line, have their own enclosure.

The new line also contains oval subwoofers that increase surface area, while allowing for a narrow baffle. The subwoofers also have a spider-like splayed-strut design for stability. The towers also feature Polk’s PowerPort cone that directs moving air as it leaves the bass port. The technology is designed to nearly eliminate at the port mouth turbulence, which can affect bass.

The new LSiM speakers mark major advances from the original models and feature technology that’s being deployed in Polk’s in-wall and in-ceiling speakers, company officials said. “Nine years ago we couldn’t have developed a three-quarter-inch driver that could go down to 300 Hz and have the linear throw to keep up with the rest of the system,” Newhall said. “We didn’t have the tools and, in some cases, the materials weren’t available."

Polk also will ship this fall the eighth generation of its satellite/subwoofer system that originally debuted in 1989, its executives said. The Blackstone TL series speakers contain PowerPort and place the acoustic center of the tweeter and mid-range driver on the same plane for better sonic imaging. The speakers also have a steel plate-reinforced curved enclosure. The TL1 and TL2 satellites have .75-inch silk dome tweeters and 3.25-inch drivers. TL1 can handle 100 watts and has a 120 Hz-22kHz frequency response, while the TL2 moves to 125 watts and 95Hz-24kHz. The TL1 ($499) is being sold as part of the TL1600 5-speaker package with an eight-inch subwoofer, while the TL2 ($599) is paired with a 10-inch subwoofer in the TL2600.

Polk also took the wraps off its Vanishing in-wall and in-ceiling speakers. The new models replace the TC and LC series in moving to a design that places woofers to the rear of the enclosures with the mid- and high-frequency drivers mounted to the front baffle. The speakers feature 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch drivers and a .75-inch silk dome tweeter. The 900-LS, 700-LS and 500-LS in-ceiling speakers borrow from the LSiM technology in deploying a ring radiator tweeter, contain 150 watts power and have frequency responses ranging 28Hz-27kHz. The 90-RT, 70-RT and 50-RT use the same tweeter but operate at 125 watts. The in-ceiling speakers also contain tweeters mounted at a 15-degree angle, while the drivers are at 10 degrees to allow an installer to aim them at a listening area, company officials said. The in-wall speakers again use the ring radiator tweeter in the case of the LS models, contain drivers ranging 6.5-8 inches and jump to 200 watts for the 265-LS. The RT in-walls switch to a one-inch silk dome tweeter and 5.25-6.5 inch driver. The spreading of the LSiM technology to in-ceiling speakers was possible as Polk “gained efficiencies in our R&D platform,” Newhall said.

"Polk is a player when it comes to speakers, but the overall business is still struggling,” an audio buyer at an East Coast retailer said. While the loss of Circuit City was a blow to Polk, in addition to Best Buy, “they are in a lot of regional chains that still sell audio,” the buyer said. Polk ranked third in U.S. speaker market share through June at 15.9 percent, trailing Bose at 17.1 percent and Klipsch’s 16.3 percent, according to NPD.

As it expands ties to Mitsubishi, Polk will have its F/X Wireless Surround speaker system ($499), merchandised with the CE company’s LCD TVs, company officials said. The F/X, which also will be sold separately this fall, is packaged with a 2.4 GHz wireless transmitter, allowing for 5.1, 7.1 and 9.2 surround sound. The F/X contains four 2.5-inch drivers and a 5.25-inch woofer powered by a 120-watt amplifier. It has a 50 Hz-20 kHz frequency response. It also has a three-position DSP control that can set the sonic image based on where the system is located: Floor, table or shelf, Polk executives said. The Mitsubishi partnership has “been good for us, but we'll see how it does and we don’t see it expanding overnight,” Newhall said. Polk’s eight-inch subwoofer also is marketed with Mitsubishi TVs.

On the soundbar front, Polk postponed delivery of the SoundBar 50 Slimline, which is for 49-inch and up TVs, to Q1 from fall, Newhall said. The SoundBar 50 features a 1.5-inch depth and measures 50x4 inches. It contains nine 3.25-inch drivers with a 0.9mm depth and three 19-mm ring radiator tweeters. A smaller version featuring 39 inches and up TVs also switches to seven drivers and will be available in Q1. The soundbar targeting 39-inch and up TVs will have a 2.5-inch depth, company officials said. Polk will ship this fall the SoundBar 6000, which contains four 2.5 inch drivers and is packaged with a 120-watt, seven-inch subwoofer. The drivers can handle 160 watts and the system has a 140Hz-20kHz frequency response. In addition to having a wireless subwoofer, the system also has Dolby digital decoding.

"The development process has taken longer than we anticipated, but that happens from time to time,” Newhall said. “More than anything else it’s the number of projects that we are working on rather than a particular product."

Polk also continuing as an OEM supplier to water-ski boat boat builder Ski Nautique, but had an agreement with Sea Ray expire, company officials said. In addition to the U.S., Polk is selling speakers in China, France and U.K.