Polk Plans Personal-Audio Expansion

By Joseph Palenchar -- TWICE, 10/4/2011

Baltimore - Polk Audio plans to add to its personal audio collection with a series of devices that will include desktop audio products, including a successor to the company's discontinued I-Sonic tabletop entertainment system.

The company's personal audio products currently consist of its first six headphones launched in mid-year .

 The I-Sonic 3 tabletop audio system is due soon, the company said without elaboration. It will replace the out-of-production I-Sonic 2, which was a tabletop single-chassis HD Radio with iTunes Tagging, embedded iPod/iPhone dock, video output, and 360-degree stereo soundfield. The I-Sonic 2 was launched in 2007 at $499 and replaced an earlier model that incorporated CD/DVD player and is also out of production.

Also in 2007, Polk unveiled its first portable AC/DC iPod dock, an AC/DC dock for a wearable iPod-style Sirius tuner, and a tabletop HD Radio/CD shelf system under the Polk Audio Designs subbrand, which was later discontinued.

To expand the company's personal audio collection, Polk hired Joe Phelps as director of sales for personal audio. Phelps's career includes a stint at Sennheiser and 15 years at Bose. He was also a Polk rep for 11 years.

 Referring to Polk's entry into headphones, senior sales and marketing VP Ben Newhall cited the need to adapt to a changing market in which "consumers have radically changed the way they choose to listen to their music." Headphones out-sell all types of traditional loudspeakers, including car and home theater, he noted.