Floor-Standing vs Bookshelf w/Sub

Lute

I need advice. I have the RM7500 surround system and the PSW505 Subwoofer. I want to upgrade my left and right front speakers for better sound when listening to music. I initially went straight to the LSI M floor-standing speakers, assuming that's where good sound comes from. But then I read that the LSI M 703 Bookshelf speakers were basically the LSI M 707 without the subwoofer drivers.

My question is: will the LSI M 703's in conjunction with a good powered subwoofer compare adequately to, say, the LSI M 705? Or put differently, given that I already have a decent powered subwoofer, will the LSI M 705's sound $1500 better than the LSI M 703 joined with a powered subwoofer, which is basically how the $$ works out?

I'll wrap by saying I fully understand that everything is subjective- source material, receiver, room configuration and personal opinion are all major factors. I'm not asking anyone to define what sounds better or best, just asking for honest feedback to a subjective question.

Oh, while I'm asking silly questions, is it possible to offer an opinion as to how the LSI M 703's would compare to the RM7500's? People often compliment me on the excellent sound coming out of them, it's hard to imagine it getting better by orders of magnitude, which is what the cost of the LSI M speakers seem to reflect.

Thanks in advance!

thsmith

I cant answer your question but the good thing is you should be able to listen to both and decide for yourself provided you can get to any major city.

thesurfer

From what ive heard, the new polk LSIM bookies are stunning, without a sub period. Its all up to room size, acoustics of room and so on, Ive always preferd bookies over towers, as they seem to deliver far better imaging and seem to be more tighter and accurate than towers, however this is just my OP, It all depends on what size room you have, and what your aiming at, A question such as you ask will simply give you differant OP,s its all really what you like, as its your ears, and your money.

AsSiMiLaTeD

You'll get differing opinions on this. I prefer bookshelves, and with a good sub they can be dialed in to work very well. I don't have a sub in my room and even without it I'd still argue that the 703s are a better buy, they're fantastic speakers.

The 703 will just crush that RM system in every conceivable way. You really can't even compare the 2. Let's put it this way, if you get a pair of 703 and find that you can't hear the difference or don't like them better than the RM then return the 703 and count yourself very luck to not have to endure the audiophile curse :biggrin:

NewHTguy

It wasn't clear to me whether you were contemplating a NEW sub with the Lsims, or sticking with the PSW505. I don't want to diss the psw505. In fact, I recently purchased one from amazon on Cyber Monday just because it was so cheap ($170). However, the 505 is not in the same league as the Lsis, which I know fairly well, let alone the Lsims, which I have not had the pleasure to hear. For HT I think the 505 is a good buy and shakes the floor when things blow up. But if you're seeking music nirvana, you either need to go floorstander or move up to a much more "musical" sub. For example my little REL T3 blends wonderfully with my Lsi7s and the T3 is not even the most musical sub.

If you do not plan on buying a new sub, Lsi 15s from Polk's ebay site @ $850 would be my budget conscious suggestion as long as you have the right amp (I doubt you want to drive $3000 Lsim speakers with an AVR). Or, Lsi7/9 with a REL T2 ($499 at Vanns).

You'll never get an answer to the "is it $1500 better?" question.

Just my subjective 2 cents. Good luck!

EDUBAG

thesurfer wrote: »

from what ive heard, the new polk lsim bookies are stunning, without a sub period. Its all up to room size, acoustics of room and so on, ive always preferd bookies over towers, as they seem to deliver far better imaging and seem to be more tighter and accurate than towers, however this is just my op, it all depends on what size room you have, and what your aiming at, a question such as you ask will simply give you differant op,s its all really what you like, as its your ears, and your money.

this is exactly what i was going to say, depending on room size a good pair of bookshelf speakers might not need a sub. I had rtia7 towers as fronts and now have changed to kef r300 bookshelf and granted, the bass output is not comparable in quantity, however i only use the kef for music and in my 17 x 17 room it fills it up with very strong and nice bass, much much better sounding than the rtia7 (cleaner sound). I left a separate system for ht, which you could do with the rm that you have and just integrate a separate 2 channel system for music.

assimilated wrote: »

you'll get differing opinions on this. I prefer bookshelves, and with a good sub they can be dialed in to work very well. I don't have a sub in my room and even without it i'd still argue that the 703s are a better buy, they're fantastic speakers.

The 703 will just crush that rm system in every conceivable way. You really can't even compare the 2. Let's put it this way, if you get a pair of 703 and find that you can't hear the difference or don't like them better than the rm then return the 703 and count yourself very luck to not have to endure the audiophile curse :biggrin:

+1,000,000 to this

EDUBAG

jus to give you an idea of what i did. Maybe this will help you with your decision

Glowrdr

I agree with NewHT. The PSW505 - while a great dollar per value ratio, is not in the same park of the LSIM's. You will probably be disappointed paring a $200 sub with some $1500/$4000 dollar speakers.

I've got a $650 sub paired with some $800 speakers (MSRP of course). My opinion is that you should strive to buy stuff once. A sub will never change or be outdated as quick as the rest of the system. I'd get the bookies, and check them out. If you are unhappy with the sound - then pair them up with a better quality sub. Heck, you can buy a nice $500 sub and still come out 2k ahead in the pocketbook.

Lietuvis91

At this stage, you're talking about dropping a lot of coin, so I don't think you can make this purchase without first seeing, smelling, touching and most importanly HEARING these speakers. I know I wouldn't.

You are asking important and very subjective questions that really cannot be answered through a web portal.

CzechM8

Well I can't speak specifically to the components mentioned, but I will share my experience with this topic....

With my system I was running Polk Tsi100s for my fronts and a Polk DSW Pro 500 for my sub in my 15x19 living room... At the time I found that running presence speakers helped quite a bit.

Just before Christmas I bought some Polk Monitor 60s on Newegg for $100 per... Now that I have them as my fronts, I have eliminated the presence speakers as they are completely unnecessary now.

Also, another nice benefit is that when I run pandora from my Bluray player, it usually comes in with just the sub and the fronts... before I would always have to switch to 7ch Stereo on the receiver to get any sound depth at all. Now, with the M60's and the sub, it's some great sound for streaming music.

Dawgfish

I used to be a die hard, full-range tower with no sub only guy for two channel systems. My current setup running a pair of LSiM-703s with an REL R205 sub has totally changed my opinion on this. This setup sounds as good, if not better than any of the full-range towers I've ran in the past. As many others have said, the LSiM703s put out enough bass where you very well may not need a sub. I like to hear the entire frequency spectrum, so I like to run a sub with mine. Having a good musical sub like any of the RELs makes a huge difference. You'll love the 703s. They are an amazing speaker and put out more sound than any bookshelf speaker has a right to.

NewHTguy

Dawgfish wrote: »

I used to be a die hard, full-range tower with no sub only guy for two channel systems. My current setup running a pair of LSiM-703s with an REL R205 sub has totally changed my opinion on this. This setup sounds as good, if not better than any of the full-range towers I've ran in the past. As many others have said, the LSiM703s put out enough bass where you very well may not need a sub. I like to hear the entire frequency spectrum, so I like to run a sub with mine. Having a good musical sub like any of the RELs makes a huge difference. You'll love the 703s. They are an amazing speaker and put out more sound than any bookshelf speaker has a right to.

Just the other night I was thinking the same thing while listening to my office system. I wonder if the simpler crossover on the Lsi7's is the key. They just seems to blend so well with my REL T3. For two channel I am now convinced that I either want a simple monitor and a musical sub, or two hefty floorstanders with no sub.

pyrocyborg

Bot? Well then, I'll try to answer too, if it's of any use.

It all depends on the speaker itself. Some bookshelf are "smaller versions" of their Tower counterpart, and sometimes, Tower speakers are only Tower versions of the same line bookshelf. It seems to be the case in low-end/mid-end speakers where a Tower isn't in any way better than the bookshelf or vice-versa.


However, if both speakers are constructed as if they were different ones, there is a good probability that both are good enough. Then it all depends on room acoustics, room size, listening distance/position, and personnal preferences. For example, if you're in a big sized room, using bookshelf might make them struggle to fill the room.

Personnally, I prefer bookshelf, as they somewhat offer a better imaging when compared to their towers counterparts while lacking in the bass department, and that I am a nearfield listener. On the other hand, owers offer a far wider soundstage, a more homogeneous sound and clearly, more bass. However, this can be resolved with a good sub. The main drawback is that with bookshelf speakers, you gotta buy good stands (or at least, stands that do them a favor). Overall, if you take everything into account, a pair of bookshelf + stands + sub might exactly cost the same than a pair of towers; but it will be less taxing on the amp/receiver, and might offer the same overall performances. As some people don't like stands, it might be better for them to get the towers.

pietro944

NewHTguy wrote: »

Just the other night I was thinking the same thing while listening to my office system. I wonder if the simpler crossover on the Lsi7's is the key. They just seems to blend so well with my REL T3. For two channel I am now convinced that I either want a simple monitor and a musical sub, or two hefty floorstanders with no sub.

You have the exact set-up that I'm looking at.....Lsi'7's with the T3....This is for music only.In a small room,how do you like the sound?.....I listen to mostly jazz,with female vocals the most important.Some classical with violins.

Does the revel intergrate well with the 7's?.....thankx,peter

NewHTguy

pietro944 wrote: »

You have the exact set-up that I'm looking at.....Lsi'7's with the T3....This is for music only.In a small room,how do you like the sound?.....I listen to mostly jazz,with female vocals the most important.Some classical with violins.

Does the revel intergrate well with the 7's?.....thankx,peter

It is a great combination. I don't even know the T3 is there because it blends so well. Just firms up the lower end. Others recommended the REL Q205, but that was out of my price range.

Vanns seems to be out of the T3, but you can grab a T2 for $499 while they last.

Good luck!

pietro944

NewHTguy wrote: »

It is a great combination. I don't even know the T3 is there because it blends so well. Just firms up the lower end. Others recommended the REL Q205, but that was out of my price range.

Vanns seems to be out of the T3, but you can grab a T2 for $499 while they last.

Good luck!

Good stuff....thanks buddy