Really upset with LSiC!!

haveldl · February 2005

Hey all, I am new to the forum so I look forward to chating with you all.

Anyway, I am having a problem that hopefully someone can help with. I just received my LSiC yesterday and I couldnt be more disappointed with it.

I am fairly new with Polk products and I currently have the LSi9 as my mains and a set of LSi7 as my rears and those speakers are "awesome". For Ref, I am using a brand new Adcom 175watt, 5ch amp to power them.

I hooked up the LSiC today and could not beleive how bad it sounded, there were no crisp, clear highs compared to the other speakers, just a muffled sound. As bad as my neighbors Bose VCS10 (yes that bad!!)

I have checked and double checked all connections and setting on my Denon Receiver and could find no problems.

I have purchased all speakers from Cruthfield, an authorized dealer, so could it be possible I got a defective speaker and need to return it?

Thanks in advance for any adivce.

Dan

PolkThug · February 2005

The LsiC has dual binding posts. Remove the jumpers. connect your speaker wires to the top posts only, and make sure the tweeter is working.

Regards,
PolkThug

Frank Z · February 2005

Pull the drivers out and make sure everything is connected properly, wires do come off the speakers or crossover during shipping. Rare, but it does happen. If everything looks okay, contact Ken at Polk Customer Service, he'll get you taken care of in a heart beat.

McLoki · February 2005

Originally posted by anonymouse
You need about 100 hours of burn in for those tweeters to light up. Just put in something that is exercising the center and leave it on continuous play for 4 days :-)

When I first got my 7's I thought the same thing (sounding bad). After a few weeks, they really opened up and sound great now.

When you leave for work in the morning, turn on the radio and put the system in pro-logic mode (so most signal comes from the center and only the different signals go to the right and left speaker). After about a week, report back and let us know what you think.

Michael

haveldl · February 2005

Hey All, thanks for the info. I went ahead and tested the tweeter and yes, it does work. So I went ahead and swapped my left LSi9 and the LSiC and WOW the LSiC is an awesome speaker and the LSi9 in the center place sounds like crap now!!
With that said, it's pretty safe to say I have an issue with the signal coming from the center channel connection and not the speaker.
Well off to another forum to figure that problem out.

Thanks All for your help and advice.

Toxis · February 2005

What kind of electronics are you using? Because if you swapped the two speakers and the "new" center sounds like ****, obviously something is jacked up elsewhere.

haveldl · February 2005

I have a Denon 3803 and a Adcom 7605 power amp. I have tried several troubleshooting options and all of it seems to lead to the receiver.

I am at a loss right now and wondering if I should contact Denon for a warranty service.

McLoki · February 2005

If you run from the center pre-out to one channel of your amp does it sound ok? (just trying to determine if the problem is in your amp or further upstream...)

Michael

haveldl · February 2005

I can take the center preout on the receiver and plug it into any 1 of the 5 channels on the amp. Which ever channel I plug the center preout into is the one that will sound awful. I called Denon and they said it could be in the sound processor. Could that be it and what would cause that to go bad only after a year of using it?

F1nut · February 2005

With electronics anything is possible at any time.

lomic · February 2005

I'm having a similar problem with my new LSiC. When someone is singing in the upper-mid range the voice sounds fantastic, but people with low voices sound very muddy. Started watching the Band of Brothers DVD's and some voices sound mufled - like David Schwimmers (sp) - but other voices sound perfectly crisp and clear, it's really strange, I'm banking on things just having not broken in completely, only been a week of part-time listening.

I HOPE it clears up anyway, when it sounds good it's amazing and well, there's not really any replacement for it besides trying the LSi9 crossover trick.

reeltrouble1 · February 2005

haveldl,

Wow I see your along from stateside. Anyways, you never said, did you:

Try a different interconnect?

Try hooking the speaker directly from the speaker outs on the denon?

Just a shot before you send the receiver away.

RT1

jrlouie · February 2005

To go along with lomic's comment, I've recently noticed that low voices sound muddy when my tone controls are not set completely flat. For the most part, mine are always flat. But I did have the bass kicked up only one notch. I was watching the movie Ray and noticed some dialogue was muddy. Dropped the bass down one notch back to 0 and the LsiC seemed clearer. I could actually turn down the overall volume just slightly and still hear all dialogue cleanly.
Don't know why.

haveldl · February 2005

Ok,
I did all of this:

1. I tried a different interconnect and it changed nothing.
2. Then I took the center cable going TO the amp from the Recv preout and connected it to the left main input on the amp and put the center channel cable in the left mains place on the amp. The really bad sound now came from LSi9(hooked in the center) not the LSiC.

I havent tried yet to bypass the amp and hook the center directly to the Denon. Just from the test I did above, I am pretty sure it points to a bad center signal in the Denon but I could be wrong.

The LSiC when plugged into my left main on the amp sounded really awesome, just like the right side LSi9 so I am not having a problem with the speaker sounding crappy, just the center signal from the Denon.

scottnbnj · February 2005

lomic and jrlouie, your problems sound more like room problems (reflections, modes, resonance, speaker aim) or insecure connections or hardware (wires, cables, drivers or player, speaker, platform resonances). they deserve a different thread.

you might be able to isolate the problem by recreating it, setting the player to repeat the distorted clip so that it can be heard consistently at the listening position. then check the gear and platforms for vibrations, listen if the distortion is coming directly from the drivers, if it can be heard everywhere in the room or just in certain areas and so on.

since you don't want to check cables or move gear while powered up, if you know the clips and volume levels that you can recreate the problem with consistently before changing things, it will be easier to go back and see whether what you've done has helped after you power up again.

)

Really upset with LSiC!!

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