LsiC upgrade?

acmf74

Polks,

Currently I have the LsiC for my center (original owner) and was thinking of going to a newer center. I was thinking along the line of the Lsim 704c or another brand.

Can anyone recommend a newer center? This will be powered by a NAD T757 AVR.

TIA

la2vegas

https://orangecounty.craigslist.org/ele/d/lake-forest-polk-lsim-704c-speaker/7282225060.html
No affiliation.

ken brydson

acmf74 wrote: »

Polks,

Currently I have the LsiC for my center (original owner) and was thinking of going to a newer center. I was thinking along the line of the Lsim 704c or another brand.

Can anyone recommend a newer center? This will be powered by a NAD T757 AVR.

TIA

What are you running for your mains? You really want at least your front 3 to be timbre matched.

rooftop59

@daboyz has one for sale I believe.

The LSiMc is a great center!

acmf74

ken brydson wrote: »

acmf74 wrote: »

Polks,

Currently I have the LsiC for my center (original owner) and was thinking of going to a newer center. I was thinking along the line of the Lsim 704c or another brand.

Can anyone recommend a newer center? This will be powered by a NAD T757 AVR.

TIA

What are you running for your mains? You really want at least your front 3 to be timbre matched.

I have the Lsi15's for my mains powered by an amplifier.

daboyz

Make me an offer.....

WLDock

acmf74 wrote: »

I have the Lsi15's for my mains powered by an amplifier.

The LSiM704c or better, the LSiM706c is a logical choice. They are easier to drive and are a little more lively than the LSi.

However, if you are willing to go with a non timber matched center, one could try out a big three-way speaker like the Onix Rocket RSC200 'Bigfoot' with the ring radiator tweeter. They show up from time to time but are getting rare to find.


Who knows if the above options will be an improvement/ upgrade in sound, seamless integration with the mains, dialog clarity, and intelligibility. The best center channel would be a matching LSi15 or get your LSiC vertical.

If you could pull off something like below, this would be the ultimate center channel upgrade! WOuld have to find a single or a great deal on a pair.

mantis

Since you have LSI15's as your mains, I suggest sticking with the LSIC. It's a perfect match and no reason to upgrade it.
You can however post some pics of your setup, I'm willing to bet I can make what you already have sound better then it does now.
Placement and position angles all make big differences as well as a properly tuned calibration.
Also adding Badass subs will make a bigger difference than changing to a center that doesn't match perfectly.

Emlyn

The LSiM704C is a good speaker but so is the LSiC. But, the only solid performance reason I can think of to replace the LSiC with the 704C is to help justify getting LSiM705s or 707s to replace the LSi15s.

The 706C would be a good step up though.

Kex

I agree with mantis: I would NOT mismatch your front three for the sake of upgraditis.

I also agree with Emlyn: the ONLY reason to get a 706C would be if you intend to upgrade LSi15’s with LSiM’s in the foreseeable future. 😉

acmf74

Thanks for all the replies. While I don’t plan on upgrading my mains anytime soon. This is my current setup.

rooftop59

acmf74 wrote: »

Thanks for all the replies. While I don’t plan on upgrading my mains anytime soon. This is my current setup.

I disagree here a bit with the others. The LSiC was the weak link in that line, and the 704 is a step up, which the 706 is a HUGE step up. There will be a slight difference in timbre, but not much. While the L series is very different, the LSiM series was only subtlety different (though I think clearly superior) to the LSi series.

If you want a real upgrade, save your pennies for a 706. I think the 704 would be a much smaller imho...

mantis

So from looking at your picture , all I see is reflection right off the top of your cabinet.
What you wanna do is move the center channel forward and go out and buy a pair of rubber door stops. Use the Door stops underneath the Center channel 1/4 in on both sides in front and lift the center Channel so that it's pointing directly at your listening area. It will take a few degrees to do so but the overall sound quality will greatly improve.

Make sure you level balance it with the rest of the system. You can even run it hot at most 2db louder then the rest of the system BUT that is ONLY if you are hard of hearing and hate getting scared out of your seats every time something dynamic happens at higher volume levels.

This is an art and should be treated as so. 75 db level matching all the way around the room is key.

Also the LSI15's are crushed in there and pointing straight. Measure the distance from your seating to the front of the cabinet. Take this measurement and go 3/4 that distance and separate the front channels that distance or slightly more. You can go equal triangle and make them the same distance apart but sometimes you get some holes in your sound stage.

Another trick with the LSI15s is to tilt them back slightly. Take a level and use the carpet spikes to level the speaker from left to right. Then put the level front to back and now give them a slight tilt backwards. This will really open up the front sound stage. You will be shocked how just little adjustments make a huge difference in overall performance.

I owned the entire line of LSI except the LSI25's , never had them but owned all the rest. The LSIC is not a weakness of that line only when those who don't know how to setup a proper Home Theater will feel this way. Yours my friend is not setup correctly.

Clipdat

Dan does it matter if the tweeters in the towers are oriented inside vs outside? It seems like it might make sense to reverse them so the tweeters are on the outer edge of the baffle vs inner how they are now.

And yeah get that center channel scooted forward to the edge and re-run your calibration program. That alone will make a huge difference in the performance of your center.

rooftop59

Clipdat wrote: »

Dan does it matter if the tweeters in the towers are oriented inside vs outside? It seems like it might make sense to reverse them so the tweeters are on the outer edge of the baffle vs inner how they are now.

And yeah get that center channel scooted forward to the edge and re-run your calibration program. That alone will make a huge difference in the performance of your center.

Well iirc the tweeters are on the inside and the subs face the outside. I don’t think he can change them.

But yes x2 on the center position...

Clipdat

Oh ok, that's right. I forgot about the side firing subs! Sorry.

acmf74

Great thank you for the tips!

mantis

Clipdat wrote: »

Dan does it matter if the tweeters in the towers are oriented inside vs outside? It seems like it might make sense to reverse them so the tweeters are on the outer edge of the baffle vs inner how they are now.

And yeah get that center channel scooted forward to the edge and re-run your calibration program. That alone will make a huge difference in the performance of your center.

The Woofers are supposed to fire to the outside so that places the Tweeter to the inside. BUT you can however swap them depending on distance from the listening area. Toe in also effects placement. I think you can fool around here and try swapping the left for the right and adjust your toe.

acmf74

I spaced the mains apart and toed them in a few degrees. I defiantly heard a better sound stage. The best part was my center sounded it was on while in 2 channel stereo.

Hansvelton

The Lsic is a great center. VERY neutral sound, and no real weaknesses, and quite small!

I am not "Sure" going with the 704 or 706 is truly an upgrade, at least in my experience, I found the Lsic to be more neutral sounding overall. Maybe the 706 could go louder for sure, but just the actual sound quality, hard to say an upgrade to me.

Vette C6.r

My 2 cents. Keep what you got.

I upgraded my LSi C crossover with Sonicaps and Mills.

Night and day difference. It's an outstanding center now.

acmf74

Thanks for all the replies...|

I tried using the search function but its still not working.

Where do I have the Sonicaps and Mills work done?

Vette C6.r

I use Google instead. Never had much luck with the search function on this forum.

http://www.soniccraft.com/index.php/sonicap-gen-c-301_49_50


They only sell the caps and resistors. Some people on the forum will do then for you or if you have decent soldering skills you can do it yourself.

If memory serves me right I didn't replace the very large capacitor on the one driver.

Look at the schematics on one of the stickys and you'll see what I'm referring to.