Polk LSiM705 at Home Theatre Shack $3000 Speaker Evaluation

cfrizz

Loud & Clear wrote: »

They used the same gear for all of the speakers. And if anything, the onkyo and Emotiva combo would bring about a more excitable sound from the LSiMs than the high-brow gear some others may be using. Trying to blame the gear for a review that doesn't meet your expectations rings hollow. It is what it is. Would this review prevent me from getting a pair of 705s? No. But then I have the 703s and respect their sound. I can't imagine the 705s not being musically enjoyable. They're also extremely attractive, imo. If I were looking for a pair of towers for a home theater/music combo room, I'd be very interested in the 705s.

Nice common sense reply!

I read all articles linked in this thread and the only common link is that the Polks performed excellently with ALL equipment that it was attached to. NONE of the articles made any suggestions of what you should or should not hook them up to...that is just people on here personal biases, that have nothing to do with any of the reviews done either by professional reviewers or just regular guys into audio.

What is clear is that the LSIMs performed well with all the gear it was attached to for both music and movies, and are pretty easy to place and sound great in just about any room. That is all anyone can ask for.

Polks have just about always exceeded the market class in which they fit, which is why they are a popular well selling speaker company.

drummer86

DSkip wrote: »

What am I really asking? Throw some fricking movies in the mix and see what its capable of in that arena as well. People who spend $10k to listen to nothing but music are very unlikely to have the front end listed. People with dual purpose rigs with an emphasis on HT likely will, so why limit the review to 2CH only? .

Maybe the best argument in the whole thread. Doesn't make sense to use an "HT" front end and do a strictly 2-channel evaluation.

WLDock

I guess they need to find some 2 channel sponsors or get the HT sponsors to send a complete 5.1 set of speakers. WAIT! When they did the $1000 speaker evaluation it looks like they did get some 2 ch gear sent to them:

Oppo BDP-105
Rogue Cronus Magnum Integrated Tube Amp
RAM Electronics XLR, RCA, and speaker cables

Also they had a Jolida amp & 3502 integrated, Emerald Physics, and Audio Space Galaxy 88 amps sent but were not received in time and not used in the eval.


The Official $1,000 Speaker Evaluation / Home Audition Event Results Thread
Read more: http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/two-channel-audio/69421-official-1-000-speaker-evaluation-home-audition-event-results.html#ixzz2vyEp8Nu5

Magnepan MG12
Tekton Model Lore
Vandersteen 2Ce
Focal Chorus 716v
HTD Level THREE
MartinLogan Motion 12
Klipsch RF-62 ll
Arx A5

So, maybe they had limited gear available this time around for the $3K event?

WLDock

The Official $2,500 Speaker Evaluation / Home Audition Event

Read more: http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/home-audio-speakers/70413-official-2-500-speaker-evaluation-home-audition-event.html#ixzz2vyHsUzij

Dynaudio DM 3/7
Emerald Physics CS2P
Magnepan 1.7
MartinLogan ElectroMotion ESL
Paradigm Studio 60
SVS Ultra Towers

OPPO BDP-105 Universal Player
Anthem Integrated 225 Amp (i225)
RAm Electronics Cables

cnh

WLDock wrote: »

I guess they need to find some 2 channel sponsors or get the HT sponsors to send a complete 5.1 set of speakers. WAIT! When they did the $1000 speaker evaluation it looks like they did get some 2 ch gear sent to them:

Oppo BDP-105
Rogue Cronus Magnum Integrated Tube Amp
RAM Electronics XLR, RCA, and speaker cables

Also they had a Jolida amp & 3502 integrated, Emerald Physics, and Audio Space Galaxy 88 amps sent but were not received in time and not used in the eval.


The Official $1,000 Speaker Evaluation / Home Audition Event Results Thread
Read more: http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/two-channel-audio/69421-official-1-000-speaker-evaluation-home-audition-event-results.html#ixzz2vyEp8Nu5

Magnepan MG12
Tekton Model Lore
Vandersteen 2Ce
Focal Chorus 716v
HTD Level THREE
MartinLogan Motion 12
Klipsch RF-62 ll
Arx A5

So, maybe they had limited gear available this time around for the $3K event?

WLDock wrote: »

The Official $2,500 Speaker Evaluation / Home Audition Event

Read more: http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/home-audio-speakers/70413-official-2-500-speaker-evaluation-home-audition-event.html#ixzz2vyHsUzij

Dynaudio DM 3/7
Emerald Physics CS2P
Magnepan 1.7
MartinLogan ElectroMotion ESL
Paradigm Studio 60
SVS Ultra Towers

OPPO BDP-105 Universal Player
Anthem Integrated 225 Amp (i225)
RAm Electronics Cables

What? No Polks? Well, I'll be.....! lol

cnh

eclypse

Another reveiwer finally added his comments on the lsim 705s and basicly didnt care for them! Thanks!

eclypse

Glad i payed around $4600 cash for my polks before i read that reveiw! They just put a smile on my face everytime i hear them! Oh and just last night we watching the new star trek movie (finally) and damn were they good! Crazy loud bass and i have no sub! I even paused the movie and played a sceen over causr of the crazy bass.. told my wife.. now look at my xpa-2 and watch the blue leds go nuts durring that bass section! It was awesome.. see i dont need no bass and my room is open to the hall way and front foyer! Nuts.

nhhiep

^ You paid MSRP for your Polk? I think you overpaid a little bit

as much as I like my 707/706/703 setup, I will never paid retail price. If I didn't get them half price, I would have gone with Golden Ear

eclypse

nhhiep wrote: »

^ You paid MSRP for your Polk? I think you overpaid a little bit

as much as I like my 707/706/703 setup, I will never paid retail price. If I didn't get them half price, I would have gone with Golden Ear

Naw actually i paid around $4270 after tax. Got them at polk direct and got a little better deal on top of that cause i asked .

There all paid for though.

FastGame

In another thread it seems some of the guys from this $ 3,500 review (shootout) would pick the Arx A5 from the $ 1,000 shootout over any of $ 3,500 class, sound wise.

Anyone here ever experience the Arx A5 ?

http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/home-audio-speakers/72317-arx-a5-initiation-listening-party.html

Inspector 24

You guys are funny, I found this thread expecting a Polkie perspective on the LSiM's which I found, but buried in complaints about the front end gear. You guys are a hard group to please.

I appreciated that all the front end gear was the same so that we got a better comparison between all the speakers and allow someone to make some guesses as to which direction to go with front end gear.

Although based on their reviews I do wonder if a LSiM/Parasound combo might lack a tiny bit of sparkle that I do like about the RTi Series, even if they can be overly bright and forward on less than high quality/awesomely recorded material.

At any rate I'd love to see what my ears think about them some time! Thanks for the info!!

tonyb

I would tend to agree with 'ol Skip on this. While I sill believe the speaker itself is the main component that offers up the most drastic sound differences, the electronics can change a speakers characteristics pretty drastically too. All in all, I take many of these shoot outs with a grain of salt, same with reviews. Anytime I hear that "giant killer" status thrown out, I usually turn the other way.

SCompRacer

kevintomb wrote: »

Even decent entry level gear is able to provide good enough sound to determine if a speaker is a winner or loser.

IMO you get the big stuff, but better gear brings out textures and nuances that make music playback more enjoyable. A good example of this is Pink Floyd/Happiest Days of Our Lives. The kick drum/choked cymbal notes. A great system allows to hear the drum and cymbal sizzle decay instead of a thunk/clunk. If that labels me as a detail freak, so be it.

Loud & Clear

kevintomb wrote: »

I highly doubt that going to much more expensive gear, is going to change things that really matter upon listening to the overall sound of a speaker.
The basic tonality and flatness of response, is not going to change more than a minor amount by changing components.

Even decent entry level gear is able to provide good enough sound to determine if a speaker is a winner or loser.

Indeed. The review would be unchanged regardless of whether upscale gear was inserted into the chain. I love the LSiMs. But the idea that bringing in some magical amp would (rightly) make the Polks stand out in the crowd while greatly (again, rightly) diminishing the competition is simply silly. The group of reviewers provided a fair assessment. Perhaps they have different tastes. If you don't like it, gather the same group of speakers and use a magic amp to come to a different conclusion. But be honest in your evaluations, as these fine gentlemen have been.

nhhiep

we need to accept the fact here. here is my view, they took a TOLT Toyota (polk) and compare it to other entry luxury models. what do you think the results will be?

WLDock

DSkip wrote: »

I haven't heard most of the speakers they tested, but I still wouldn't use this review as a reference for stereo reproduction, which is what my whole system is built on. If I had a home theater rig, I still wouldn't use it because they didn't test any fricking movies. NONE of the speakers were the limiting factor in these tests, so you really don't get a sense of what the speakers are truly capable of. It's akin to resting high dollar sports tires on a Kia - no clear purpose or audience for the test.

Man, I think we all know where you stand in regards to 2 ch audio...from this thread alone....LOL! You are at a different place in your journey....none can really disagree that a reference 2 CH rig would have been ideal. However, just for a moment consider:

1) All of the speakers tested have matching center channels available?
2) None are "true" dedicated basic black theater speakers in design or in aesthetics.
3) The $2500 a/v preamp is labeled as having audiophile build quality, pure audio direct mode, robust power supply, anti-vibration chassis, etc.

From this, you can bet that there are more than you think that have the pretty $3000 speakers sitting in their living/family room, with the top Onkyo pre at the helm..., with one or several amps (maybe even EMO) that have all the video stuff turned off, and the pre set to Pure Direct listening to 2 channel music....more of a "hybrid" crowd if you will. There are tons of them out there!

Still, we have to take these for what they are....but the guys did have a treated room, they went to pretty great lengths to place the speakers and wrote about the drastic changes they observed. I think their efforts are worth something?

Well....that is until you get the speakers in YOUR own room connected to YOUR own gear. Anyway, will see if I can "get lifted" this weekend...gonna listen to a lot of 2 ch!