A Couple of Firsts - And Look What Followed Me Home LSIM705's

MrBuhl

So last weekend, during the spate of something like 21 straight days of rain (well, out of 23) in our nation's Capitol, I managed to knock off a few firsts here at Club Polk.

First, I ventured out in the area and met my first Polkie! Was a pleasure meeting and chatting with Jesse (F1nut), yes, that F1nut and really enjoyed meeting him and seeing a few projects that he's currently working on. That is a gent with a seriously exacting eye for quality and detail (and spins a good yarn to boot)!

Second, when I met with Jesse, I picked up a set of new speakers that I just love in the short couple days that I've had them hooked up! (Jesse was kind enough to volunteer to be the drop-off/pickup coordinator for this fine set of speakers saving both the seller and I a good amount of time and travel - and it was much appreciated.)

So - without further ado - I give you my new LSIM705 setup, and the very reason that I have now placed my beloved 1c's in the Flea Market to pass on to another appreciating Polkie!

I spent about 3 hours on Sunday integrating them into my system, removing the 1c's, swapping Dreadnoughts (so the 2bTL's now run on the 1000v/a Avel dread), while I was at it I swapped in some MIT S3's interconnects and a pair of AVt3 speaker interfaces on the 2b's as well... Finally, because length of run issues, (and truthfully, partly because I know Russman demo'd the LSi series on the Dodd at LoneStar), I flipped the LSIM's to run on the Dodd 50W - and the 2bTL's now run on the McCormack setup. So that all took a bit of sweat and time...





What a speaker these are, smooth contours, beautiful cherry wood veneer, small footprint, just a well executed design from Polk. Cool sculpted grills are secured by magnets for a clean low profile look. Heavy duty binding posts with thick jumpers on the back. Down firing power ports (essential to my placement, can't have back firing drivers or ports in my room) are grounded by nice heavy duty spikes (they come protected with rubber feet if you have wood floors) are effective and adjustable. Initial setup without toe-in is pictured.

They sound amazing as well, in my short amount of time with them, I feel the tightly controlled abundance of bass, with an excellent balance across the board. They image extremely well and (with just a little toe in) produce a surprisingly large and pleasing sound stage. Listening to VanCliburn's Emperor Concerto on SACD, I can literally hear the shape of the orchestra on stage in front of me, with VanCliburn's piano just off dead center! But then moving on to something crunchy like Rammstein's Mutter, pounding metal crunches at you like you're in the audience at a small club and the band is playing just feet from you. Pink Floyd's Meddle is magical, they just sound so... real I guess. No thinness or glaring discrepancies, nothing missing or loose. I think Jesse said it best, Polk got these 705's right. Indeed. These are truly well rounded gems to listen to!

So cheers to Jesse for helping me get these from their old to their new home, (including helping me load them up - they're heavy buggers) It was a pleasure sir, and I hope to cross paths again!

[Deleted User]

Nice setup! Were you watching Gentle Ben?

MrBuhl

^^ LOL ^^ that's the reflection of my ursine from a few years ago. I couldn't let go of him. He guards one of my record Expedits.

dromunds

Nice. Good to hear the Dodd is powering those puppies too!

msg

Congrats!
and what a great looking setup!

F1nut

Hey Ed, the pleasure was mine and you're welcome back any time. I'm glad you like them....was pretty sure you would and the set up looks very nice.

Thorton

Congrats! Very nice looking set-up.

Nightfall

Very cool, congrats. Was there anything about the SDA's you liked better than the 705's or was it a clean sweep?

MrBuhl

Thanks all - I'm really enjoying them immensely!

@DSkip I have pulled that out for now, I'm not sure if it's going to find a place back in or not yet honestly, time will tell as I get reorganized...
@dromunds I was unfoundedly a little worried it wouldn't be enough juice, but it handles them no sweat!
@F1nut I just have to talk the Mrs into a new TV, that way I can make room to set in that center channel - oh yeah, that will be easy!

MrBuhl

Nightfall wrote: »

Very cool, congrats. Was there anything about the SDA's you liked better than the 705's or was it a clean sweep?

Well - I'm gonna quote Jesse again "nothing beats SDA's Ed" - LOL.

Honestly that's very true still for me. That's why I'm keeping the 2b's. The 705's have a nice wide sound stage, but it ends... the SDA's, well they envelop you... Sometimes it seems to come from right beside you, sometimes from almost behind you. Sometimes it's so deep its beyond the wall in the neighbors yard. It's impressive. So I'd say the sound balance all decked out on the TL's is closer than you would think, especially running on the McCormack with the new MIT wires and beast of a Dreadnought. They sound great in fact. But...

There is a slight smearing that just seems to come with the SDA sound, and it's not that noticeable until you hook up the 705's. The are balanced, accurate, musical, and dead on - I want to use words like etched or precise, but I don't want to color the description with thoughts of sharp tweeters, nothing could be further from the truth, they are very well balanced, there is just no smearing whatsoever to me. And there is bass in spades, again in balance, but they definitely "go to eleven".

They're the best speakers that I've heard to date.

teekay0007

MrBuhl wrote: »

First, I ventured out in the area and met my first Polkie! Was a pleasure meeting and chatting with Jesse (F1nut), yes, that F1nut and really enjoyed meeting him...

You know the rule......pics, or it didn't happen!


Sweet setup there, Buhl. Party on!

lightman1

Did you have to show up after sunset?

tonyb

Nice grab Ed, and kudos to Jesse for helping you out. I guess we have another witness....the Ogre that lives under that bridge is NOT F1NUT.

MrBuhl

LOL thanks guys!
@lightman1 fortunately it wasn't a full moon!
@tonyb I was reminded of the book "Where the Wild Things Are" tho!

Incidentally, Mom's in town for the holiday weekend (my Mom, she's 80) and I put on one of her favorites last night, Aaron Copeland's Fanfare for the Common Man & Appalachian Spring - when the timpani were struck on Fanfare she looks at me and says "is that thunder?!" LOL - yep, definitely some bass there!

erniejade

Nice setup! Glad you like the 705. I am going to also agree with you on the down firing ports. They do help in more difficult rooms. They can get loud but because the are smooth, some people don't think they are loud enough. I feel people get loud fatigue ringy confused with on how loud a speaker really is. They also can do dynamic music well. Peter Gabriel Rhythm of the Heat, the power vu on my mc402 will read 30-40 watts until that ending and they will hit 300+ peaks.

Someone told me before I got mine they are a fun speaker. They were right!

Btw. Stevie Ray Vaughn Tin Pan Alley if you have it, the bass and dynamics on that song shows them off nicely.

MrBuhl

^^ LOVE SRV ^^ have an original gold CD master disc from the 80's of it as well as on vinyl, thanks for the recommendation, i will check it out!

scubalab

Nice score there Ed! Very nice setup as well - very neat and clean!

Kudos as well to Jesse for helping you out. Great folks around here!

vmaxer

erniejade wrote: »

Nice setup! Glad you like the 705. I am going to also agree with you on the down firing ports. They do help in more difficult rooms. They can get loud but because the are smooth, some people don't think they are loud enough. I feel people get loud fatigue ringy confused with on how loud a speaker really is. They also can do dynamic music well. Peter Gabriel Rhythm of the Heat, the power vu on my mc402 will read 30-40 watts until that ending and they will hit 300+ peaks.

Someone told me before I got mine they are a fun speaker. They were right!

Btw. Stevie Ray Vaughn Tin Pan Alley if you have it, the bass and dynamics on that song shows them off nicely.

Which version of Tin Pan Alley you referring to?

erniejade

I have the mofi sacd of couldn't stand the weather.

erniejade

Even the song couldn't stand the weather you can hear them counting off in the opening clearly chords on the mofi sacd.

MrBuhl

I have the Epic label "Master Sound" version of Couldn't Stand the Weather myself from back in the mid-eighties, the first "expensive" or limited CD I ever bought!

D2Lo

MrBuhl wrote: »

What a speaker these are, smooth contours, beautiful cherry wood veneer, small footprint, just a well executed design from Polk. Cool sculpted grills are secured by magnets for a clean low profile look. Heavy duty binding posts with thick jumpers on the back. Down firing power ports (essential to my placement, can't have back firing drivers or ports in my room) are grounded by nice heavy duty spikes (they come protected with rubber feet if you have wood floors) are effective and adjustable. Initial setup without toe-in is pictured.

Reading this with Ken Chae, director of industrial design here, and the lead designer on the LSiM series. We are smiling ear to ear. glad you are as happy with them as we are.

This ad was the inside back cover of Sound and Vision a few months back. We are really proud of a lot of the details you pointed out. I'm especially fond of the magnetic grilles eliminating the need for those "catch cups" that visually impact the front of most speakers. It is the small things that I believe add up to a design with integrity and quality. I also love the downward firing power ports (there are actually 2 of them). It loads the floor nicely and I think has a smoother effect on the sonics.... you can look to this kind of attention to detail spreading through more products in the line up soon... that's all I can say right now.

One small tip, use a conditioner on the rubber dampening ring around the sonic engine and the Cassini oval bass radiators. A simple Armorall while or "back to black" does the trick nicely. It is a real rubber, not synthetic.

MrBuhl

@D2Lo - I'm sorry that is so cool! I read your post out loud to my Mom and Wife, even they are impressed that you guys are reading this forum. Trust me, I'm only returning the ear to ear grin favor you folks have been providing me since I first heard the Monitor 5 & 7 in college!

Question - how often should I Armorall? I assume not very frequently as they aren't exposed to UV/UVB?

Please give my best to Ken, as far as I can hear, he and the Polk team have outdone themselves here. (Love Matt with the plywood and paintbrush it looks like, juxtaposed with Ken and his autocad computer!)

I'd also offer, I think if this is the shape of things to come at Polk, things are looking very up at Polk indeed! I have to make sure I'm available for Polkfest this year!!

tonyb

Don't hold your breath. To me anyway, the LSIM's are what the LSI's should have been. How long did that transformation take again ?

F1nut

My first comment, why use anything on the rubber? My second, Armor All is a horrible product that attracts dust and actually degrades rubber.

MrBuhl

Wow! You guys are a tough crowd! I'd expect nothing less! LMAO.

I'll await the response on the rubber - without exposure to sunlight I was wondering myself a bit.

But I think you have to have faith - the LSIM did happen after all - maybe it's the supertanker turning, once it starts turning, it keeps turning.

indyhawg

Congrats! Great looking set-up.

MrBuhl

Thanks Indy!

voltz

Glad you are enjoying them ED, they are looking Good!

MrBuhl

Thanks Darryl!

cfrizz

Terrific looking setup Mr. B, and to see people from Polk giving us feedback on our posts, is one of the reasons why I stick around this forum!