Polk LSi 7 Review

bjp222

This is my first post, but I have owned Polk speakers for the past 15 years and used to swear by them!

I bought the Polk LSi 7s about 2 months ago and have succeeded in setting them up correctly and burnt in, so I will give my review now. First off, the highs are simply amazing. They are detailed, rich, and smooth, without being harsh. The bass is also very good for a speaker of this size, although it can sometimes sound hollow or thin depending on how low the target instrument goes. However, I do not expect these speakers to produce low bass.

The most aggravating aspect of these speakers is its inability to produce a clean and clear midrange. Most of the male voices sound muffled or shelved back. This is especially maddening since my previous Polk speakers, the RT-5s (about 13 years old) had a beautiful and coherent midrange and from listening to Polk speakers, in general, they always had a clear midrange that really makes the whole sound coherent. These speakers, however, DO NOT and I am very disappointed by it. I see the new LSi M series speakers have a separate mid range driver, which I am sure is to address this issue. Overall I am unsatisfied with my purchase and will probably end up selling these in the near future for either the new LSiM or a Paradigm or PSB high-end model.

cnh

Welcome to Club Polk!

Like DSkip says above, it would help to know what you're powering the LSI-7s with. They do need a bit of power to open up?

Actually, I'm listening to mine at the moment and the female vocals are pretty smooth and clean.

Having said that, I have no doubt that you'd probably like the new series 'better'.

cnh

cfrizz

Welcome to CLub Polk.

1. You need to put an amplifier on these so that they get all the power that they need to operate to their full potential.

2. What I discovered with my brothers LSI 7's is that if there is a lot of deep bass in the recording, then the speakers would struggle to play both, but it was the mid range that suffered the most with being unclear. Once my brother got a separate sub, the mid range cleared right up and sounds great now.

My brothers setup consists of the LSI 7s, driven by a Parasound 1500A amp with a Denon 3803 receiver & a Polk DSW 500 for the sub.

bjp222 wrote: »

This is my first post, but I have owned Polk speakers for the past 15 years and used to swear by them!

I bought the Polk LSi 7s about 2 months ago and have succeeded in setting them up correctly and burnt in, so I will give my review now. First off, the highs are simply amazing. They are detailed, rich, and smooth, without being harsh. The bass is also very good for a speaker of this size, although it can sometimes sound hollow or thin depending on how low the target instrument goes. However, I do not expect these speakers to produce low bass.

The most aggravating aspect of these speakers is its inability to produce a clean and clear midrange. Most of the male voices sound muffled or shelved back. This is especially maddening since my previous Polk speakers, the RT-5s (about 13 years old) had a beautiful and coherent midrange and from listening to Polk speakers, in general, they always had a clear midrange that really makes the whole sound coherent. These speakers, however, DO NOT and I am very disappointed by it. I see the new LSi M series speakers have a separate mid range driver, which I am sure is to address this issue. Overall I am unsatisfied with my purchase and will probably end up selling these in the near future for either the new LSiM or a Paradigm or PSB high-end model.

bjp222

I am using the Harman Kardon HK-990 to power them, I knew they were hard to drive so I got a beefy amplifier. 150 watts X2 into 8 ohms and 300 watts X2 into 4 ohms. So they can readily drive these. Cfrizz is spot on,these speakers can do bass or midrange, but not both, as the bass muddies up the midrange. Oh and by the way there are no tone control adjustments, so it is not like I am turning the bass all the way up.

BeefJerky

I also recommend a sub if you're using LSi7's. I use a sub with mine, and they sound fantastic, midrange and all. I suspect it might be different with the LSi9's due to the dual mid/woofers and the cascaded crossover, but I don't know that for a fact (yet). I have some LSi9's on the way, and might see how they sound without a sub, just for comparisons sake.

Can ya'll give me some good examples of songs that expose this weakness in an Lsi7 setup with no sub?

parimento1

let's see...U2- where the streets have no name. They have trouble keeping up with all the business and the midrange gets shelved back. Eagles- Desperado. When Don Henley's voice goes down into the lower midrange, it turns into mud. I assume this is true with this speaker for many other songs with deep male vocals.

mdaudioguy

parimento1 wrote: »

let's see...U2- where the streets have no name. They have trouble keeping up with all the business and the midrange gets shelved back. Eagles- Desperado. When Don Henley's voice goes down into the lower midrange, it turns into mud. I assume this is true with this speaker for many other songs with deep male vocals.

Curious... you last posted in 2003?? Evidently, you posted about RT-5s then and the OP had RT-5s... And your opinion of the LSi7 midrange is the same as the OP's. Are you one in the same? Twins separated at birth?

bjp222

Yes, parimento1 is me, i tried out that username, because I thought i registered in the past and it came up. I forgot to log out. From now on parimento1=bjp222. I will use bjp222 from now on though to avoid confusion! by the way, is it possible to see what I posted in the past using the parimento1 name?

marvda1

let me tell you a little story about receiver power. i purchased a couple of yeras back a denon pma 2000ivr intergrated amp @ 80 watts into 8ohm and 160 watts into 4 ohm, this amp was designed just for 2 channel audio. it blew the pants off denon's top avr then that was about a $4300 receiver. 2 channel is a different beast and especially when it comes hard to drive speakers.

cnh

Good point. But the HK990 is Harman Kardon's re-entry into the 'beefy' $2000+ integrated amp market and should have enough power to handle a pair of LSI-7s.

It's gotten some decent reviews. I bought its companion CD player the HD-990 which is a very affordable and decent sounding Redbook player. Quite happy with it for $400 (MSRP $599).

cnh

bjp222

Yea, the HK-990 is NOT an AV receiver it is a dedicated 2-channel integrated amp. It weighs 66lbs and has 2 toroidal transformers in the power supply. The thing is a BEAST. With the volume knob set at -20, it can fill the room with sound. I also have the HD-990 with it and it sounds excellent, much better than my Onkyo changer ever did.

bjp222

So, just an update I moved the speakers away from the wall and angled the speakers inward and I am now very happy with the sound. It sounds worlds better than it did previously and the midrange is clear. I think it was the bass reflectinos from the wall clouding the midrange. Overall, I am very satisfied.

mdaudioguy

That is great to hear! I had a pair for a while, and they are wonderful, "little" speakers that can sound so much bigger than they are! Enjoy! Now to upgrade your speaker cables...

bjp222

mdaudioguy wrote: »

That is great to hear! I had a pair for a while, and they are wonderful, "little" speakers that can sound so much bigger than they are! Enjoy! Now to upgrade your speaker cables...

I'm using Original Monster Cable right now...any ideas?

mdaudioguy

Nah, just making the point that there's always something else to change or upgrade. Lots of recommendations here if you look around. I've heard SignalCable is a good place to start. When I get a good, dedicated 2-channel rig going, I plan to experiment. Standard stuff seems ok for me for HT.
Good luck!

Upstatemax

I'm really happy with my new MIT EXp 2 speaker cables. I would never pay the $200 price tag they usually cost. But with the "b-stock" (printed on arrows pointing the wrong direction) it's a great deal.

If they did not have the MIT sale, I was dead set on Signal Cable. I might still pick up the Signal Ultra wires and decide if I want the MITs or Signals in my 2ch and put the other one in the HT.

Signal Ultra: http://signalcable.com/ultraspeaker.html

MIT EXp "b-stock": http://www.mitcablesexpress.com/index.php?page=shop.browse&category_id=108&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=14

PrazVT

With my LSi9s, I've tried Kimber 4VS, Kimber 8TC, and the Signal Ultra - I have to say, the best match with my setup was the Signal Ultra. The 4VS had good bass, but it was boomy. The 8TC tends to tighten everything up, but sounds a little darker to me. The Signal Ultras nicely somewhere in the middle - just sound natural, clear, great midrange, and the right amount of bass w/o the boom. I think I'll be sticking with these for a while..

cnh

Some day I'll get around to cable swapping, if my 'wife' doesn't slit my throat first. Because regardless of what side of the debate you're on....your wife is on the other side--the side that will 'never' understand why you need to spend Big Bucks on your wires! lol

More power to those of you who can experiment with your wife's money. You do know that the 'wife' controls the economy in most households, for better or worse....right?

cnh

Upstatemax

cnh wrote: »

Some day I'll get around to cable swapping, if my 'wife' doesn't slit my throat first. Because regardless of what side of the debate you're on....your wife is on the other side--the side that will 'never' understand why you need to spend Big Bucks on your wires! lol

More power to those of you who can experiment with your wife's money. You do know that the 'wife' controls the economy in most households, for better or worse....right?

cnh

Right there with you... But the wife knows the deal I got on the MITs was a steal and it was a cheap way to keep me happy.

Plus, it pays off to keep a little hidden $$$. :cool:

EndersShadow

cnh wrote: »

Because regardless of what side of the debate you're on....your wife is on the other side--the side that will 'never' understand why you need to spend Big Bucks on your wires! lol
cnh

What I do is this....when she comes home with a new purse I ask her whats wrong with the other 15 she has.....she gives me a "It goes with this or that outfit"

Then I wait a week or so and try to get some new cables...when she says "why cant you just use the ones you have"... you say, well you can see where its going lol.....