LSi M703 placing and stand

cusco69

Hi, I'm getting my stands for the 703 custom made and like to have some advice:
1) Should I use the rubber taps provided or better to have it sit on a flat rubber sheet for better sound?
2) Do I need to spike the stands at the base to the floor for better sound?
3) What is the best position for the speakers in terms of distance from side and rear wall?
Thanks for helping.

F1nut

Who is making the stands and what will they be made with?

Tip: don't copy/paste your posts and they won't come out all funky looking.

cusco69

Hi F1
Its made from what the local call iron wood (hard wood). The height is 68cm to suit my listening chair. Its made with 2 vertical support with the top 2cm and bottom 2.5cm. The top is in the same contour as the speakers and the bottom is 35cm x 40cm. The vertical support is 6cm x 4 cm rounded ?n the longer ends.

F1nut

Ok, that's a very dense and heavy wood, not easy to work with. Your base dimensions seem rather large, the tops don't need to be the same size as the speaker and the vertical supports seem undersized compared to the other dimensions, but it's your choice.

1. The rubber feet will be fine.
2. Always use spikes.
3. That will depend on the room, you'll have to experiment.

[Deleted User]

Hello,
This might be helpful, I hope. One of the ways I use to determine how far to pull a speaker out from the wall behind them is to stand with your back against the wall facing towards the listening area. Simply begin talking in a normal voice, recite "Mary had a little lamb" a few times. Listen to how your voice is changed by the reflections coming off of the wall behind you. It should sound a bit "chesty" kind of "boomy" but not how your voice normally sounds. Then begin taking a single step forward and again repeat the same thing and see if you can hear how moving away from the wall has changed your voice. Continue moving forward and backward, maybe 6" at a time and find the distance away from the wall where the influence of the wall's reflection seem to go away. If there's another person available ask them to sit in the listener's spot and see when your voice sounds more normal to them. This will give you the minimum distance to move your speakers away from the wall behind them. You can use this same approach to figure out how far to place your speakers away from the side walls, but this time your shoulder will be against the wall as you face forward towards the listening spot.
Regards, Ken

monepolk

Never thought of that I'll have to try it out too.

cusco69

Thanks Kenneth & F1. Will try it out

adb3da

What a great tip KS!

[Deleted User]

Glad the information was helpful.

halo71

Ohhh Iron wood. Those are gonna be some nice and heavy stands! Please post pics when you can. I don't think I have ever seen a wood that'll dull a saw blade faster than iron wood. I have a friend in Idaho who spends the winter in Arizona. He builds custom acoustic guitars. Maybe 3 or 4 a year. He used iron wood for the fret board on one once and that guitar was very front heavy. But had a nice tone and great sustain.

No charge for that last tid bit of useless jabber.:redface:

cusco69

Hi halo_71
Should get it next week shall post a picture. I still have one thing not clear here, sorry for being a nut. Do I put the rubber studs under the speaker then onto the stand or place the speaker flat on the stand with a thin rubber mat then spike the stands?

cusco69

hi guys
got the stands but dunno how to post the pictures. It weighs about 10kgs each

cusco69

hi guys
I am only able to use my phone for the forum. I had written to the administrator for help. I would be glad to send the pictures t? any one interested via email.

halo71

You should just post them here so everyone can see them. Use a photo host like photo bucket or something.

cusco69

halo71 wrote: »

You should just post them here so everyone can see them. Use a photo host like photo bucket or something.

I have loaded 3 pictures of the stands on photobucket. Is there anything I need to link to get it in here? Sorry not It savy

cusco69

cusco69 wrote: »

I have loaded 3 pictures of the stands on photobucket. Is there anything I need to link to get it in here? Sorry not It savy

Here are the 3 pictures of the "iron wood" stands. Before treatment with lemon oil and after.

cusco69

Hi All,
Just read in the review on Harbeth speakers and they mentioned that wood stands will cause the base to be more muddy. Any one experience as its my first time using stands.
The stands are really heavy. Do I need to spike the base as its quite big?

[Deleted User]

Cusco69,

Chao ban tu Quang Ninh Vietnam! That is pretty cool that you have access to the LSIM 703's out there. A friend of mine in HCM city was interested in opening up an Audio shop there. Will your speaker setup be in a room with primarily tile floors and the type of walls that are typical in Vietnam? If so, I would pay more attention to those (floors and walls) then adding spikes to the stands. From my experience when visiting Vietnam and listening to many setups, the room setting really kills the sound. By the way, there are audio shops up your way that carries Unison Research tube amps, they sound amazing with LSIM's.

By the way, I would love to have some furniture made from that wood.

Cheers,
Halen

cusco69

hi helanhoang
Chao, are you from vietnam? The cost of shipping is too much due to the wood, but if you are interested let me know.
As for room and accoustic it is nightmare here. Tileđ flo
I am also thinking of opening a hifi shop as in my area there is non within 30km.or, windows and open aladdin all round. I need to sit in the sweet spot to really isten to any music. Its important to think of the room and placing before thinking of any hifi. Đơn't make the mistake I made.

Dawgfish

Those are some really beautiful stands! Regarding the tile floors and "live" listening environment it appears you have, some area rugs and tapestries hung from the walls may help. Of course acoustic treatments would be the ideal, but I don't know if you have a significant other or not that may not approve. The area rugs and tapestries may have more of a wife approval factor (waf).

cusco69

Hi Dawgfish
The waf is not a factor but my environment is a problems. I am in the middle of coal mining district and the fine coal dust (back) is a mess for care. I have thought about it but gave up the idea for the time. I will see how to navigate from here. There are just too many factors for me at the comment. I have to weigh all this long term problem to my plan of having a dedicated music room where environmental factors can be avoided. Cost cost cost, this is hifi hahaha

Dawgfish

That does make things complicated. At any rate enjoy the LSiM-703s. I own a pair also and love them. On a different note I own an AirPower tube preamp that was made in Vietnam that I picked up in the Atlanta area on Craigslist. I did not know much about them, so I did a little research and was surprised to see that there was a vibrant audio scene in Vietnam. I like the AirPower Pre, it's very well made and sounds good also. I use it for a backup. I would love to visit Vietnam and Southeast Asia in general someday.

cusco69

There are lots of local and China made products here. The 2nd hand market is also doing a vibrant biz here, however for the ones that cannot speak or read their language its very tough to get things here.
I am still not happy with the 703s until my e406is in proper place. Its stuck in the customs for more than 10days already. Sorry for the misleading signature
I cannot get the 703s to open up. See my other thread on the problem. I have moved the whole system to another position and its a little better. Have more space on the rear and sides. The speaker resonance reduced but the sound stage is still not there, maybe its the room itself. I really need to be on the exact sweet spot to get some decent music. Maybe its my expection too as I just paid 6 times the price of the tsi100s.

Dawgfish

How many hours do you have on the 703s? It was my experience that they do not open up until you get at least 80 hrs on them. They have a wide and deep soundstage with a large sweet spot so I would have to agree that the problem is amplification and/or listening environment. They should mop the floor with the tsis. Based on the fact that the tsis did sound good in your listening environment, it sounds like to me that it's probably amplification.

cusco69

I have close to that hours now. I place it a foot from the rear wall, 3feet from the side wall and 8 feet apart. My listening position is exactly 8 feet from the line. Here I can hear the stage a little. Its very sensitive as compared to the tsi.
Think maybe exchange it for the 707s. Any comments on the 707? Cannot find much review or comment from the other forums either.

Dawgfish

I've hear great things about the 707s, even greater things about the 705s. Still I think the 703s with a good sub (I'm running a REL R218 with mine with great success) should be just as good as either of the floorstanders. Wait till you get some more time and good amplification on the 703s before you make your final judgement. You may have a defective pair of 703s also, as what you describe is nowhere near the experience other 703 owners are having.

cusco69

Yap, I have to wait for the amp to test it out and of course have more hours behind it too. But you mentioned the 705s are better? I am not one that likes head nobbing bass but good solid clear bass. The 703s have decent bass but the high mids and twiters are just a little laid back. Is the 7s more up font? All my friends here are using KBPs with huge driver. They give better or boomier high mids and their highs on the JBLs are very airy . Thats what I find lacking on the 703s.

Dawgfish

The 705 and 707s are going to have similiar sound to the 703s. You may just like a speaker with more emphasis on the highs. I find the LSiM series to be very nuetral to slightly warm sounding. I don't find the mids and highs to be lacking at all with them. On the contrary I find the mids and highs to be very strong with them, especially the mids. They are a very revealing speaker and what you put into them from a source and ampification standpoint is what you are going to get out of them. The new amp may give you what you are looking for. Keep in mind you're going to have some break-in time with the amp also. Having said all of that, it could be you prefer sound with more emphasis on the highs as I stated earlier. Changing to the 705s or 707s is not going to change this as they all have very similiar sonic characters in terms of mids and highs. It's in the lows where the differences between the three become most apparent.

cusco69

Thanks for your patience and detailed explanation. Will wait till the #@%&#@ customs clear my amp.

jtshaw43

Your custom stands look really nice!

cusco69

Thanks for the comments. By the way I paid only $70 for the pair raw. Did some sanding and then 2 coats of lemon oil and wax it after 2days. Now its month to the touch.