[skoone]

Hi guys..


I decided to take the leap and purchase a Polk i-Sonic receiver! What a fabulous sounding unit!! I stopped by Lowe's, picked up 50 feet of the better quality RG-6 coax (swept up to 2.3gc) as well as a cheapie Philips un-preamplified FM-TV rabbit ear whip antenna.. Mounted it in my attic, ran the coax to the new Polk and plugged it in.. Before I switched to the attic antenna, I wanted to compare it to the so-called internal antenna. As expected, the internal antenna is quite poor. In an office environment where external antennas are not feasible, it would be ok as long as the FM transmitters are pretty close by. For my own experience, I have a total of five HD capable stations in my area that I can decode. With the internal antenna, I can only decode one of those. The rabbit ears in the attic give me all five reliably. Not too bad I suppose. Sensitivity seems ok, although I would have hoped for a bit more. But the audio quality of this Polk is what blows me away.. Just like the Bose units, this Polk is just great.. Worth every penny, and yes, this box ain't cheap!


To Mike Walker: Mike, if you should read this, I too am trying for a bit of DX on the Polk as you have with your Accurian receiver. I plan on a better antenna in the coming days, for now I just wanted more than the internal wire that is very lacking!!


Regards,

Steve

 

[skoone]

An update to my fun with the Polk i-Sonic..


I found an old, rusty, very tired looking Channel Master CM7777 preamp in a box while I was finishing things up in the attic.. I wondered if it was still good, as it looked like part of the circuit board where the surface mount voltage regulator was mounted had turned a bit dark.. I switched the FM trap out and proceeded to hook it up to the rabbit ears just to see what I had..


WOW!!! It worked!!


I'm like Mike Walker now, I'm totally beside myself as to how much I'm currently hearing on the Polk! My reliable HD station count doubled, I know I have at least ten now, perhaps one or two more that I didn't count.. Plus, I'm logging stations over 100 miles away from my location that have additional HD content, although they seem to be more dependent to atmospheric enhancement. Totally cool! Between this, and my XM SkyFi2, I have no reason not to have more musical entertainment as well as DX interest than I can handle!

Regards,

Steve

 

[Mike Walker]

Congratulations Steve. I'm VERY glad to hear it! I listen to HD every night while my wife watches Simpsons and X-Files reruns. I love my Sennheiser HD-435 (forget your prejudices, this is a MAGNIFICENT set of headphones that happens to be VERY cheap!) 'phones, but may have to spring for some sealed cans. Homer (Simpson) going "Doh!" doesn't go well with Bach and Vivaldi, not to mention Stevie Wonder and Merle Haggard!

 

[Eric polk audio]

Steve, thanks for the comments. Anyway yes it is a great little unit isn't it?


The external antenna is definately key. Particularly for FM-HD. I have a dedicated Winegard FM antenna on a 30 foot mast on a rotator and can pick up HD stations from Philadelphia and Washington DC when aimed properly. With the internal antenna of the I-Sonic, it is much less.

 

[skoone]

Hi Eric!


Glad to see a Polk tech amongst us here.


Yep, the I-Sonic is a nice unit indeed. I listen to it daily and enjoy the content that I find on it. I really dig trying to DX with it!! Although this time of year is not suitable for the long haul stuff.. Give it about April and things should get interesting!

I'm curious about the USB service port on the rear of the unit. I understand it is used for software upgrades and the like.. Is this something that we as consumers can upgrade ourselves on the fly, or does it have to be sent back to you guys? The shipping box had stamped '0250' for the software level in my unit.. Is that the latest and greatest?


Something that would be nice to see added is the signal meter functional on standard analog signals as well as digital signals.


Does the Polk unit receive AM stereo? I have found that it will decode HD signals on AM quite well!


Regards,

Steve

 

[Eric polk audio]

Well HD AM is stereo so yes it will receive that, but if you're referring to the Motorola C-QAM system, it does not.


As for the firmware v.251 is the latest and greatest. If you have a CD burner you can download it from here and do the upgrade. Once you burn the CD, put the unit in CD/DVD mode, put in the disc and press "play". The drawer should open and once you see "tray open" in the display the update is complete.


It is available at our website but I cannot link directly to it.

 

[Les Auber]

Does the display on the i-Sonic light up the room?

 

[thepark]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Eric, polk audio /forum/post/0


Well HD AM is stereo so yes it will receive that, but if you're referring to the Motorola C-QAM system, it does not.


As for the firmware v.251 is the latest and greatest. If you have a CD burner you can download it from here and do the upgrade. Once you burn the CD, put the unit in CD/DVD mode, put in the disc and press "play". The drawer should open and once you see "tray open" in the display the update is complete.


It is available at our website but I cannot link directly to it.

Eric,


How can you tell what version of the firmware is currently installed on the i-sonic?

 

[Eric polk audio]



Quote:
Originally Posted by thepark /forum/post/0


Eric,


How can you tell what version of the firmware is currently installed on the i-sonic?

Connect the unit to a TV. Put the I Sonic in DVD/CD mode. Use the remote and press "preset- 1 - 3 - 8 - 9" and it will display the version firmware saying xxx- ____ on your TV.

 

[bknauss]

Just as a heads up, that's the CD/DVD firmware, and not the main system firmware.