Tower Speaker Reviews

Polk Audio Legend L800 Loudspeaker Review Specs

Specs
10-in woofer (2), 5.25 in Turbine Cone mid/ woofer (2), 1-in Pinnacle Ring Radiator tweeter; sealed midrange/vented bass enclo- sure (Power Port); 12-foot SDA interconnect cable; 17.9 x 48.6 x 17.4 in (WxHxD); 118 lb.
Price: $5,998/pair

Company Info
Polk Audio
(800) 377-POLK
polkaudio.com
COMPANY INFO
Polk Audio
(800) 377-POLK
polkaudio.com
ARTICLE CONTENTS

COMMENTS
Mako2019's picture
Submitted by Mako2019 on October 24, 2019 - 9:32am

From the Article: "Scott painstakingly tweaked positioning, with the final result finding the towers approximately 6 feet from each other, five feet in from either side wall, and about 1 foot out from the back wall. The listening seat on my sofa, meanwhile, was located about 8 feet away from the speakers"

My own listening environment dictates the speakers must be about 11 feet apart and 13 feet in front of the primary listening position. I wonder if these speakers so position sensitive that I would loose much in terms of SDA-Pro benefits and sound stage.

greck's picture
Submitted by greck on October 24, 2019 - 12:41pm

These look like nice speakers but the BACCH4mac is a much more flexible and more advanced version of crosstalk cancelation. I have the BACCH4mac and cannot day enough good things about it.

brenro's picture
Submitted by brenro on October 24, 2019 - 4:05pm

At the same price as Sandy's Goldenear Triton One R.

drny's picture
Submitted by drny on October 24, 2019 - 5:11pm

The room must be enclosed on both sides adjacent to the speakers, and they indeed need to be located substantially away from the side walls and relatively close to each other. Otherwise you will not have the desire differential affect.
I'm sure they will delivered, under the right conditions.

wgapel's picture
Submitted by wgapel on December 5, 2019 - 3:55pm

Is the sweet spot larger or smaller than speakers without this tech? In other words is this a one person speaker or can multiple people sit side by side and still hear the benefits of SDA-PRO?

sahmen's picture
Submitted by sahmen on December 27, 2019 - 11:03pm

Is it known whether these speakers are timbre matched with other series of speakers in the Polk lines? I have a large variety of LSIM series speakers, and I am wondering whether I can match a pair of L800s with some of those. That would save me some money, of course,

hk2000's picture
Submitted by hk2000 on January 27, 2020 - 3:53am

This is a flawed concept because if you were listening to the sound of a band on a stage, both of your ears will hear the sounds emanating from anywhere on the stage. To say you have to eliminate the sound of the right speaker from the left ear and vice-versa is ridiculous, and unnecessary. In fact our ability to perceive three dimensional sound is predicated on the both ears hearing all sounds around us, then our brains extrapolate the precise location from where the sound is coming.
I for one wouldn't buy them even if I could afford them.

ChrisTexan's picture
Submitted by ChrisTexan on May 14, 2020 - 9:54am

It's to eliminate the crosstalk that can distort the sound. You will still hear sound from both right and left speakers, but the SDA is to reduce/eliminate the lobing/interference/reinforcement (incoherency) affect of an artificial point source projected from 2 speakers. (And other such auditory problems).
In real life, if a piano is 30-degrees (30*) to your right, all the sound (other than ambient reflections) is coming from 30* to the right. If a singer is front-center, all the sound is coming from front-center.
In speaker terms, a portion of the sound for either case, is coming from both speakers angles (say 10* right/left position to your listening position). The mix determines how it "sounds" to be coming to you. With headphones on, the mix is perfect, because there is no reinforcement or cancellation from source (ear speakers) to your listening position. As a mix engineer, they can swing the positioning at will from each track source. When translated to open-air speakers, listener and speaker positioning, distance from them, toe-in, everything alters the signal from output to listening position. The SDA is designed to remove some of the incoherency of the waves mixing prior to reaching your position, resulting in more pure (more "headphone like") sourcing to each of your ears, NOT to cancel out the right/left balances from the mix. Quite the opposite, it's intended to deliver a purer sound to each of your ears from right and left sources. Whether it works or not, or is needed or not, that's up for debate I suppose, but ultimately it's just to reduce unintended incoherence, so that purer left/right signals, as mixed, reach your listening position. (All my opinion, but hopefully the headphone comparison helps with the conceptual goal).

hk2000's picture
Submitted by hk2000 on May 14, 2020 - 5:48pm

Well I was responding to the statement made by the writer. you're explanation is no more than a fancy way of saying just about the same thing. I for one consider listening via 'phones an inferior option and takes away a lot from the live experience most audiophiles endeavor to achieve with their setups. My objections apply equally to listening through headphones.

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