LSIM703 Bookshelf Speakers - WOW!

Dawgfish
Dawgfish Posts: 2,554
edited September 2011 in Speakers
Hello everyone. I just wanted to give a short review of the new LSIM703 Bookshelf speakers. It looks like my speaker karma paid off, as I recieved a package Saturday afternoon! I'm really blown away by this and want to say thanks again. Anyways I came home from fishing and saw a couple of boxes with Polk Audio on them sitting on the front porch. I took the boxes inside and proceeded to unpack them. The first thing I noticed right off the bat was the incredible build quality of these speakers. The ones I have are in the cherry finish and the finish, components, and attention to detail are all first rate and on par with much more expensive speakers.

Before I start with the listening impressions I should state what my system is composed of: KAB modified SL-1200 MK2 turntable with Soundsmith modified Dynavector 20XH cartridge, Jolida JD-9 phono stage with RCA 12AX7 Grey-plate tubes, Opera Audio CD-120 Balanced CDP, Denon DVD-2900 SACD player with Grant Fidelity B-283 tube buffer with Mullard 8100 tubes, Anthem Pre-1L with modified caps (Sonicaps) and Mullard 6922 tubes, Anthem Amp-2 with Mullard 6922 tubes, DCM Timeframe TF-400 speakers with upgraded Peerless midwoofers and woofers, Energy ES-8 sub, Audioquest King Cobra interconnects, JW Cryo Nova speaker cables, Pangea AC-14SE and AC-9 power chords, and a Panamax MS-5100-PM power conditioner. Nothing earth shattering, but I must say this system has great synergy. I am very happy with it's sound.

I have been running the DCM TFs the last several months in place of my much beloved SDA-1Cs due to the fact that I moved and I just don't have the room to set up my SDAs. What I really like about the TFs is they have a lot of the soundstage and imaging properties of the SDAs while taking up a much smaller footprint. No they are not as good as the SDAs especially in the lows, but they do sound somewhat SDA esque. Think of their sound as SDA lite. I really miss my SDAs but the TFs did a respectable job filling in, especially when combined with a sub.

Now for the good part, listening. I hooked up the LSIMs, adjusted their placement, and sat down and started to listen. The first thing that jumped out at me was these have a very pleasant and warm tone, which I was hoping they would have. I have to admit this is probably due to the abundance of tubes in my system. The next thing I noticed was bass was appreciably tighter, more detailed, and had more weight than the TFs, even with the upgraded Peerless woofers on the TFs. The ring tweeter intrigued me and am glad to say it did not let me down. I am a drummer and I like to hear lots of detail and decay with cymbals, especially when listening to jazz. At the same time I like my highs to be smooth and unfatiguing with no added sibulance. Right out of the box, the ring tweeters fit this to a "T". The mids were good, but definitely not as warm, liquid, and soulfull as the mids on the TFs. The soundstage and imaging were also not anywhere as deep and wide, or as precise as the TFs. This was how they sounded right out of the box though and I knew things would only get better with break-in.

I am listening to the LSIMs as I type and they have about 25 hours on them. I knew these would only get better with break-in, but I wasn't expecting them to sound this good with so few hours on them. The highs are more detailed and crisp without a hint of harshness. The lows are getting even tighter and more defined. I am happy to say that the mids are really starting to come alive on these. That liquid, soulfull, sping tingling mid-range that my system had with the TFs is back with these or it's very close at this point anyways. The TFs may still have a slight edge in this department, but the LSIMs keep on getting better with break-in. The soundstage and imaging are getting much better also. Really this and the midrange are the areas where the sound has been improving the most so far. The width of the soundstage has gotten much wider. The imaging is getting much more precise also. You can close your eyes and picture each member of the band, or each part of the orchestra in their respective areas. Center imaging with vocals is much more pronounced now also. The speaker enclosures are starting to disappear and a much more room filling, deep, and wide soundstage is developing. The soundstage is still not as deep as the TFs however, but it's gettin much more expansive as the break-in process goes on. One interesting thing to note was the soundstage with the TFs went several feet beyond the outer edges of the speakers, while so far with the LSIMs, the soundstage goes from the outer edge of the left speaker to the outer edge of the Right speaker and abruptly stops. The imaging is very nice within that stage however. I hope that the soundstge will expand beyond the outer edges of the speakers as the break-in process goes on, but we'll see.

At this time in the break-in process to say that I am impressed with these speakers would be an understatement. I have listened to everything from classical, blues, jazz, country, bluegrass, rock, and hard rock with these with equally good results. Since I am still relatively early in the break-in process I have only just now started to listen to these at moderately loud volume levels. This is another area where the LSIMs so far have been much better then the TFs. The TFs would start to lose their compusure and get some distortion at moderately loud to loud volume levels. The LSIMs at the same volume levels sound much more composed and do not have the slightest hint of distorting. I am really looking forward to spending a lot of time listening to these speakers. I will update this post from time to time as the break-in process carries out and let you know how they sound over time. All indications so far say that Polk really has a winner on their hands with these speakers. If you have been considering trying a pair of these all I can say wholeheartedly is what are you waiting for? Go out and try these out. If your results are like mine you will not be disppointed!
Post edited by Dawgfish on

Comments

  • Splif
    Splif Posts: 114
    edited September 2011
    Nice writeup. Thanks for the good, first hand opinions.

    How was the fishing?
    Pn51D550
    Panasonic DMP-BDt110
    Onkyo HT-RC360
    Polk Monitor 60's L/R
    Polk CS2 C
    Polk Monitor 30's SL/SR
    BIC F12
    XBOX 360 COD:MW2 250g edition
    Logitech Harmony One
  • EndersShadow
    EndersShadow Posts: 17,517
    edited September 2011
    Dawgfish can you also post your review in this thread: http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?124592-LSiM-series-speaker-reviews
    "....not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." William Bruce Cameron, Informal Sociology: A Casual Introduction to Sociological Thinking (1963)
  • Dawgfish
    Dawgfish Posts: 2,554
    edited September 2011
    Splif wrote: »
    Nice writeup. Thanks for the good, first hand opinions.

    How was the fishing?

    It was great! I am a fly fishing guide and the shop/guide service I work for has several private trophy streams that have really big trout in them. Due to the really hot summer we had, and lack of much rain, the water temperatures on our private trophy streams started to get to warm and we shut these streams down around the first of August to give the fish a chance. Now that the water temps are returning to normal we will be opening these streams back up the first of October. My shop manager called me and asked me to go "scout" the streams out and make sure the fish survived and are doing well. Of course the best way to do this is to go fishing for them. The fish were biting very well not having had any anglers fish for them in nearly two months! My best fish of the day was a 29-30 inch rainbow that probably weighed about 8-9 pounds. Not a bad day at all. The speakers were icing on the cake!
  • Dawgfish
    Dawgfish Posts: 2,554
    edited September 2011
    Dawgfish can you also post your review in this thread: http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?124592-LSiM-series-speaker-reviews

    Will do. No problemo
  • tommyt21
    tommyt21 Posts: 685
    edited September 2011
    where are you fishing?
    Living Room
    Fronts: RTi A7's
    Center: Csi A6 VR3 "Fortress Plus"
    Front Heights: Rti A1
    Surrounds: Rti A3
    Sub: HSU VTF-2 MK4 Damn this is a good SUB
    Pioneer Pioneer Elite: SC-35-> Emotiva XPA-3
    TV: Lg LW6500 55" Passive 3D
    Blu-Ray Panasonic BD 210
    XboX 360 Slim/Kinect

    Acoustimac red suede panels
  • Dawgfish
    Dawgfish Posts: 2,554
    edited September 2011
    tommyt21 wrote: »
    where are you fishing?

    Southern Appalachian area of north GA, western NC, and eastern TN. Here's a link for the shop/guide service I work for; www.unicoioutfitters.com. You can check it out and see some of our trophy streams and fish.
  • cnh
    cnh Posts: 13,284
    edited September 2011
    Very nice review!

    I've been wondering how the bookshelves might compare to the towers we heard (still in the tweaking phase); and that is great news!

    cnh
    Currently orbiting Bowie's Blackstar.!

    Polk Lsi-7s, Def Tech 8" sub, HK 3490, HK HD 990 (CDP/DAC), AKG Q701s
    [sig. changed on a monthly basis as I rotate in and out of my stash]
  • Dawgfish
    Dawgfish Posts: 2,554
    edited September 2011
    DSkip wrote: »
    More midbass slam compared to the 707. They don't sound like bookies to me and could definitely put many towers to shame.

    I agree with you, my TFs are considered towers and the LSIMs definitely have more mid bass slam, as well as deeper and and more detailed low end bass than the TFs. I currently have about 32 hours on them and the soundstage width and depth are now approaching that of the TFs. It's amazing to me that these bookshelf speakers are filling my room with all of this sound.