LSiM706c vs. LSiC

polkatese

So, I haven't read mention of LSiM706c and how it sounds. This is perhaps a more significant upgrade of LSiM line-up, considering that LSiC was not a highly favorable center speaker in the family.

Any thoughts of the prototype (in which I haven't read any, could be that I missed it somehow) or early production review?

Given the price point, I'd imagine it would be a huge improvement to its predecessor, but, pure speculation on my part.

Thoughts? anyone who has heard it? if there will be a demo program, please sign me in.

thanks.

BeefJerky

I wonder how well the new LSiM centers would mesh with an existing LSi setup. Would it sound similar, or would it sound out of place? If it would mesh well, I suppose it could be a worthwhile investment for those who don't like the LSiC, but are happy with the rest of the LSi setup.

bslep

polkatese: first of all, love the handle! I have the 706C along with the 707's and the 702 F/X surrounds in a 7.1 system. I've had the system for about a month now recently adding the 702's. I replaced a Def Tech Mythos system that included the ST's, Mythos Ten and Gem XL's. I cannot give any comparisons' to the LSiC, but I can tell you that the 706C is a significant upgrade from the Mythos Ten, which I think is a very good center channel. The 706C is pretty close to a full range speaker as Audyssey set the crossover at 40Hz. I am impressed with the deep, rich sound and especially the clarity of the dialogue. When the dialogue is a whisper you are not straining to hear it. I am very pleased with the whole system. Again, I can't compare to other Polk products, so I'm not too much help to you. But I will say that my system now has a clarity and dynamic rich presentation that it did not have with the Def Techs. Two channel music and surround tracks are equally impressive. I thought the strength of the Def Techs was its surround presentation. My system now easily surpasses it in resolution, depth and soundstage. It has a "reality" that was missing before. It's especially noticeable with the ambient sounds coming from the surrounds. BTW, Audyssey set my surrounds at 45Hz (side) and 70Hz (back) respectively. The 702's are some pretty hefty surrounds. My friend owns the PSB Synchrony One's and before that had the Revel Salons and in my opinion the 707's are better than the Synchrony One's and hold their own with the Revels. I think they are that good. Of course our rooms and set ups are different and need to be taken into consideration. He has a four wall dedicated HT room that is not acoustically friendly in my opinion. I have my set up in a large room (24 x 28) with a two story open ceiling. In any event, the Polk LSiM's are a system that compete's nicely with the high end audio market. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend the LSiM's to anyone looking at PSB, Ariel, Energy, Paradigm, etc. Even Revel for that matter.

polkatese

Bslep, thank you so much for your response and thoughts (btw, thanks also to skip and beefjerky for chiming in). Welcome to the club, and as I can see, that's how you do it: taking a complete plunge to the fold with all LSiM and be happy! (I did that 10 years ago with all LSis and have been happy too). At one point in the past 5 years, I almost switch over to SF Cremona Center to replace LSiC, but decided that would be such a steep investment.

Anyway, can I impose on you to take a pics of your setup and share with us? I have no doubt that you are a few (if not the first one) to own a complete LSiM setup in place? I don't even think if there is a B&M store who has an all LSiM setup on display.

Thank you in advance..

mantis

bslep wrote: »

polkatese: first of all, love the handle! I have the 706C along with the 707's and the 702 F/X surrounds in a 7.1 system. I've had the system for about a month now recently adding the 702's. I replaced a Def Tech Mythos system that included the ST's, Mythos Ten and Gem XL's. I cannot give any comparisons' to the LSiC, but I can tell you that the 706C is a significant upgrade from the Mythos Ten, which I think is a very good center channel. The 706C is pretty close to a full range speaker as Audyssey set the crossover at 40Hz. I am impressed with the deep, rich sound and especially the clarity of the dialogue. When the dialogue is a whisper you are not straining to hear it. I am very pleased with the whole system. Again, I can't compare to other Polk products, so I'm not too much help to you. But I will say that my system now has a clarity and dynamic rich presentation that it did not have with the Def Techs. Two channel music and surround tracks are equally impressive. I thought the strength of the Def Techs was its surround presentation. My system now easily surpasses it in resolution, depth and soundstage. It has a "reality" that was missing before. It's especially noticeable with the ambient sounds coming from the surrounds. BTW, Audyssey set my surrounds at 45Hz (side) and 70Hz (back) respectively. The 702's are some pretty hefty surrounds. My friend owns the PSB Synchrony One's and before that had the Revel Salons and in my opinion the 707's are better than the Synchrony One's and hold their own with the Revels. I think they are that good. Of course our rooms and set ups are different and need to be taken into consideration. He has a four wall dedicated HT room that is not acoustically friendly in my opinion. I have my set up in a large room (24 x 28) with a two story open ceiling. In any event, the Polk LSiM's are a system that compete's nicely with the high end audio market. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend the LSiM's to anyone looking at PSB, Ariel, Energy, Paradigm, etc. Even Revel for that matter.

I have the LSIM703's and compared music to Mythos ST for music and learned a few things about both speakers. The LSIM703's are a warmer sounding speaker with a laid back tweeter. The high's are not as impressive as the Mythos ST. The Mythos ST is a up front speaker that excels at theater as it sound more dynamic and punchy.
There are things about the LSIM703's that I like more for music but really fear a whole theater package with them. I had a very musical theater package in Dynaudio and It basically was boring. Musically ,they where incredible.
What are you driving them with? What did you use for the Mythos? You say they sound more real, I'd like to know more as I really like the LSIM's.

mantis

polkatese wrote: »

Bslep, thank you so much for your response and thoughts (btw, thanks also to skip and beefjerky for chiming in). Welcome to the club, and as I can see, that's how you do it: taking a complete plunge to the fold with all LSiM and be happy! (I did that 10 years ago with all LSis and have been happy too). At one point in the past 5 years, I almost switch over to SF Cremona Center to replace LSiC, but decided that would be such a steep investment.

Anyway, can I impose on you to take a pics of your setup and share with us? I have no doubt that you are a few (if not the first one) to own a complete LSiM setup in place? I don't even think if there is a B&M store who has an all LSiM setup on display.

Thank you in advance..

I don't see the sonic signature matching the LSi's, if you get your ears on the LSIM's , get the entire package matching. These LSIM's are much better then the older models. They are much more refined and matured if you will.

polkatese

Dan, I am going to take it slow this time around. A full LSiM definitely would be the best way to go, however, one thing that I learned from the past 10 years of being on the journey, what matters to me now is different from then. The front 3 speakers matter more than the rest. Over time, the surrounds and back surrounds speakers don't get used much (low utilization) in my listening habit. It sounds great to play MW3 or BF3 for the surround effect, or 5.1 DTS/SACD experience, but most of the time, I am listening to the front 3 speakers much more significantly. But, that's just me. Btw, my front two main still the SF Cremona. The 15s is still on the second bedroom system, 6 years passing by since then and I haven't had the drive nor interest to move them around.

mantis

polkatese wrote: »

Dan, I am going to take it slow this time around. A full LSiM definitely would be the best way to go, however, one thing that I learned from the past 10 years of being on the journey, what matters to me now is different from then. The front 3 speakers matter more than the rest. Over time, the surrounds and back surrounds speakers don't get used much (low utilization) in my listening habit. It sounds great to play MW3 or BF3 for the surround effect, or 5.1 DTS/SACD experience, but most of the time, I am listening to the front 3 speakers much more significantly. But, that's just me. Btw, my front two main still the SF Cremona. The 15s is still on the second bedroom system, 6 years passing by since then and I haven't had the drive nor interest to move them around.

Brother I need a full update on your current system. I don't remember you replacing your LSi15's in your theater rig. I remember you messing around with the bedroom rig. Give me the details bro, maybe I can help.

bslep

polkatese wrote: »

Bslep, thank you so much for your response and thoughts (btw, thanks also to skip and beefjerky for chiming in). Welcome to the club, and as I can see, that's how you do it: taking a complete plunge to the fold with all LSiM and be happy! (I did that 10 years ago with all LSis and have been happy too). At one point in the past 5 years, I almost switch over to SF Cremona Center to replace LSiC, but decided that would be such a steep investment.

Anyway, can I impose on you to take a pics of your setup and share with us? I have no doubt that you are a few (if not the first one) to own a complete LSiM setup in place? I don't even think if there is a B&M store who has an all LSiM setup on display.

Thank you in advance..

Took some pics for you, but they are not the greatest quality. Bob

bslep

mantis wrote: »

I have the LSIM703's and compared music to Mythos ST for music and learned a few things about both speakers. The LSIM703's are a warmer sounding speaker with a laid back tweeter. The high's are not as impressive as the Mythos ST. The Mythos ST is a up front speaker that excels at theater as it sound more dynamic and punchy.
There are things about the LSIM703's that I like more for music but really fear a whole theater package with them. I had a very musical theater package in Dynaudio and It basically was boring. Musically ,they where incredible.
What are you driving them with? What did you use for the Mythos? You say they sound more real, I'd like to know more as I really like the LSIM's.

I have a Parasound Halo A21 driving the fronts and the A51 driving the center and surrounds. Same amps with the Mythos, but also had a variety of other amps and receivers as I had the Mythos for four years. The sound is simply truer I think. The ambient sounds are very real and not direction driven. The two channel is a more "I'm there" sound.

polkatese

Excellent setup Bob! thank you. I bet it sounds great and very clean install. It's interesting to see that 706c appear to be dwarf in size in your setup, although I know it is pretty big relative to LSiC.

dkg999

Polkatese - I as setup my HT in the house I just moved into I'm going to experiment with dual LSiC's to see if I can improve the center channel dispursion and low level clarity in the new HT room. If that doesn't help then I'm going with a Paradigm center channel as I have already borrowed and played with one of the Studio Reference centers and it is amazing how well it blends with the LSi drivers.

polkatese

Be interested to hear your findings, Doug.

Face

Using a LSi7 in the upright position would have better dispersion.

cfrizz

Beautiful setup Bob!

polkatese

mantis wrote: »

Brother I need a full update on your current system. I don't remember you replacing your LSi15's in your theater rig. I remember you messing around with the bedroom rig. Give me the details bro, maybe I can help.

Dan, I think you just forgot what I went through. It has been a while since I did anything major.

in 2005 I moved my 15 to the bedroom rig and replaced the front with SF Cremona.