Wtb LSIM Tweeter

ChrisD06

Gotcha. Good to know.

I've already designated my next upgrade path to be the LSi series. Probably LSi9 fronts on my RT3000p subwoofer bases, with LSi7 as surrounds.

Just need to wait another 5 or so years for them to be cheap enough lol

msg

Man, you could start looking now, Chris. You know about HiFi Shark and such, right?

Those LSi9s and even the 7s come up for sale periodically at pretty good prices.

I was always curious about LSi9s, but never got a chance to get a set. I have some LSi7s, and they paired very well with a Musical Fidelity A5 integrated and Velodyne and MartinLogan subs. Definitely one of my favorite setups. I even preferred this combination for 2ch over my well-loved 703s in same configuration.

Synergy - you know it when you got it, and sometimes seems to come in unlikely combinations. I'd written those LSi7s off a few years prior. They just didn't sound very good to me with other gear. They seemed flat, and strained, compressed. And I had to play them at higher volumes to get them moving in order to get any articulation out of them. Otherwise, little body, which made the highs more apparent.

Somehow with the MF integrated, they just came alive at more reasonable listening level, and it's not like the other gear wasn't reasonably well regarded. I used them previously with Parasound and B&K stuff, both in same-brand pre/amp combinations, and also mixing the stages. I've found that to work well at times with those two brands depending on the speaker and/or other pieces in the mix.

ChrisD06

msg wrote: »

Man, you could start looking now, Chris. You know about HiFi Shark and such, right?

Those LSi9s and even the 7s come up for sale periodically at pretty good prices.

I was always curious about LSi9s, but never got a chance to get a set. I have some LSi7s, and they paired very well with a Musical Fidelity A5 integrated and Velodyne and MartinLogan subs. Definitely one of my favorite setups. I even preferred this combination for 2ch over my well-loved 703s in same configuration.

Synergy - you know it when you got it, and sometimes seems to come in unlikely combinations. I'd written those LSi7s off a few years prior. They just didn't sound very good to me with other gear. They seemed flat, and strained, compressed. And I had to play them at higher volumes to get them moving in order to get any articulation out of them. Otherwise, little body, which made the highs more apparent.

Somehow with the MF integrated, they just came alive at more reasonable listening level, and it's not like the other gear wasn't reasonably well regarded. I used them previously with Parasound and B&K stuff, both in same-brand pre/amp combinations, and also mixing the stages. I've found that to work well at times with those two brands depending on the speaker and/or other pieces in the mix.

I would 100% start looking now if I hadn't just arranged a CS1000p purchase and bought my second pair of RT35s (looking for a 3rd) for my 9.2.6 setup LMAO. I'd LOVE to grab a pair of LSi9s right now if I wasn't focused on building an RT series home theatre. I'm pretty happy with what I have anyways, no need to upgrade as of yet though it'll DEFINITELY be my next upgrade path.

edubb46

smglbrth wrote: »

I realize that "not" supporting something for an extended period of time keeps money flowing as people purchase new instead of trying to jerry-rig something to keep it running.

Just my $.02...Sorry for the derailment!

Insightful. Makes sense from a business perspective.

RocketOCannon

I have the full line LSiM line up and damaged a tweeter in the 707 allowing my college kid to be a fool and crank them up when I wasn't around to like +7. Same issues with Polk. No support. I wound up buying a pair of 703's to cannibalize. Only solution I could come up with. Had to drive from PA to NJ Shore to pick them up. Had a "Speaker Guy" swap out the driver housing and it fixed my problem. Final price to all that was $800 plus my drive time. I'm not ready to buy up to my next level speakers yet. Looking at some of the nice Sonus Faber's. Some day...But ...at least I can listen to music.

Just went all out on a new 2 channel rig components. So, bank is empty. lol
McIntosh MC312 and C49 pre. Marantz SACD/CD player Solidsteele HF-4 rack. Picking up rack today. staging components in boxes as it all comes in. Cant wait to get that up and singing.

In the future, I will better prepare and maybe buy an extra tweeter or other drivers if it's my forever speakers.

stangman67

This was obviously handled poorly by Polk. Hope they learned a lesson but was one big reason I didn’t go to L800’s after the LSIM

It’s a shame because the LSIM line can certainly hold their own

msg

RocketOCannon wrote: »

I have the full line LSiM line up and damaged a tweeter in the 707 allowing my college kid to be a fool and crank them up when I wasn't around to like +7.

In the future, I will better prepare and maybe buy an extra tweeter or other drivers if it's my forever speakers.

Did you mean to share with us the house policy adjustment for stereo use? because you might have forgotten.

Cat 'o Nine Tails? Hostile takeover of all social media accounts and allowed to post embarrassing stuff and creepy comments on his friends' and cute chicks' content?

In this case, the cause of the damage is obvious. Other than situations like this, I don't get what people are doing to these speakers to toast the tweeters.

stangman67

Scott, I think this is a common enough issue to chalk it up to faulty parts in a lot of cases. I babied the **** out of mine and still managed to hurt a tweeter. I will say I had no issues when I had my 703’s, but that was 3 years before I bought the 707’s.

msg

Yeah, I thought that was really unusual when yours went. I was surprised because I know how good of care you take with your stuff.

I think there were some design changes that came later during the mass sell-off through Adorama. I remember seeing some - don't recall which model LSiM - that had different terminal plates and binding posts? This looked cheaper to me at that time. Was there a different version number, anyone know? Makes me wonder whether other parts went sub-standard as well.

Aside from that instance, I've only ever heard one other long time member comment, and that was Trey half jokingly saying the tweeters are made of glass, but, knock wood, that hasn't been my experience, and that's with multiple LSiM since 2014. So, mine would have been an earlier Gen, and, yes, 2pr 703s in that mix, I think maybe from around the same time you had yours.

BeefJerky

Just a followup that my LSiM tweeters are still going strong (2x707,4x703,706c, Sunfire Cinema Grand Signature 400 Seven Amplifier), with occasional reference level listening. Still no issues, but still have that spare tweeter if need be.

Also, still disappointed in Polk for their poor support of a flagship product, which will influence future purchases.

K_M

VR3 wrote: »

Polk claims it was built to their specifications but many folks have used the xt25 offer the years with little to no discernable differences

Again, here is what Polk said about it.........Specifications in this case meaning faceplate dimensions. Polk tended to use a bit of hyperbole to describe things...is all.

https://www.audioasylum.com/audio/speakers/messages/8/82119.html

"I'm with Polk Audio and can clear up some of the questions that have been raised in this thread.
The tweeter is a Vifa XT25 (shielded version) and other than the faceplate is identical to all other shielded XT25s used by other companies. Some have wondered why we went out-of-house for a tweeter despite our long history of developing our own designs. The simple answer is that the Vifa is an outstanding tweeter and it would have taken us years to develop something as good or better and we wanted to get this line to market.
The 5.25 inch mid driver was designed by Polk Audio but is not manufactured in our factory, again for reasons of time. The drivers are tested to the same standard of performance and consistency of all of our parts. The cone material is aerated (foamed) polypropylene that has better resonance damping characteristics than vacuum formed PP without adding mass.
The enclosures are built by Polk in our factory."


Paul DiComo said this back when they were released.

pitdogg2

Welcome back Kelly