Polk LSi's or B&W 700 series?

okiepolkie

Has anyone compared the Polk LSi's(9's or 15's) to B&W 700 series speakers(like the 704's or similar)?

I am presenting a system to a new home owner within the next week and would just like to give some comparisons. I've listened to some B&W's on Rotel gear and it sounded very good, but I didn't have Polk's right beside for direct comparisons. I know a couple of people use B&W's around here and I'm sure there are some others with experience with them.

The Polk's or B&W's will probably be run with Rotel or Sunfire gear.

There is a local B&W here, but there are no local Polk dealers that carry anything above the Monitor series(@ CC).

Any suggestions or opinions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Zach

2+2

I will chime in with Sean to say that when I listened to B&Ws, my impressions of the tweeters were very similar to that of Sean's.

I will also say that if you go Rotel and LSi15, go at least 200w/ch. IMHO, 120 watts of Rotel (such as RMB1075) could not handle the woofer of the LSi15s.

opus

Okie,

Let me know if you get a side by side comparison. I was thinking of posting this same question.

kevin

dorokusai

I've heard the 2 primaries of the B&W 700 line, on Rotel gear, in a demo room and wished I liked it....but I didn't.

I've heard the LSi series on less than "ideal" gear, and CRAZY gear.....I was impressed in both sessions.

Go Lsi.

okiepolkie

Thanks guys. My intuition was to go with the Polk's, but I just wanted to make sure. I know Polk isn't the only brand out there, so I wanted some other opinions for reference.

It looks like I'll be able to do several installs for a prominent architect and builder. Basically I'm getting to design my dream systems with other people's money. Too bad I don't get to enjoy the system for an extended period of time.

Have a good one all.

unc2701

I haven't done side by side, but I'll try to talk my friend into bringing over his 700's. He's running them on a dennon AVR, vs my LSi's on a bryston 4b, so it isn't fair for him, but all my friends who've heard them both prefer the LSi's.

Mazeroth

"but all my friends who've heard them both prefer the LSi's"

Sorry, I had to

mantis

Side by side I agree is the very best way to decide which you like better.

Both the Lsi and 700 series B&W are good to high quality speakers. B&W has better built quality , then again B&W has better built quality then almost everybody.

B&W speakers sometimes can be an aquired taste. Meaning they are picky on which what you send to them. This is my experience since I installed them for 7 months. They are extremely hard to break in as they take forever, they some terrible out of the box to the point of crap , but once there broken in and are powered by matching electronics , they can be one of the very sweetest sounding speakers made.

The 700 series I gotta go listen to. I know the Lsi's as I own them myself. they are really great speakers for what you pay for them and I still enjoy sitting down and listening to them. Like B&W , you have to give them good power or they sound terrible. I also Install Lsi on a regular basis. I have powered them with Denon receivers while the Denons power them , they sound aweful doing so. It's funny as I install them in peoples houses and listen to them after a few hours of play time( I allow them to play while I run the rears and do whatever else is apart of the job) and get annoyed mostly at the sound quality.

You have to decide this choice by yourself. I can't tell you to pick the Lsi's if your ears tell you you like the B&W's better. You can't go wrong here unles you pick the speaker not to your liking.

Get off the computer and go listen to as much as you can find.

Dan

racer4551

I definatly agree to go get your listen on,i recently switched from lsi's to B&W 703's,htm7 and 601 s3's for the rears.The 700 series really has a different sound vs the lsi's,the high's and the mids really stand out vs the lsi's.And yes they are very picky about what you power them with.All in all i'm happy with the switch but it was one the hardest decisions i ever had to make in gear for the home theater.

okiepolkie

I listened to some 704's on Saturday at one of the local shops. They do have a very wide soundstage. The salesman did a side by side comparison to the 603(I think). They have the same woofers and tweeters(maybe even the same crossovers), but the tweeter placement on the 704's allows for much better off axis response.

B&W speakers traditionally sport a wide sound-stage that is not completely directional. This means that these speakers are less critical of a sweet spot, allowing you more room positioning options.

Wouldn't this be better for HT? Since there are usually so many more people that are NOT in the "sweet" spot, I would be more inclined to use this type of configuration for the application.

Don't get me wrong. I loved my LSi7's, and will probably get some more as soon as I we are back in the swing of things.

If I still had my 7's, I would take them in the store to test the differences. I didn't think about doing that while I still had them.

I guess if it came down to looks, I would probably choose the B&W's over the LSi's, but that is my personal opinion.

I'll present both to the owners and let them decide.

I'll let you know how it turns out.

miner

I recently replaced my Denon AVR 881 with Rotel gear - RC-1070 preamp & RB-1070 amp (130 w/ch conservatively rated). My Polk RT20p speakers are next to be replaced. I have auditioned the LSi15, Lsi25 & Lsi9 along with B&W 703 side by side. The B&W were the audible winners BUT they do require at least 200 hours of break-in time before sounding their best. This of course IMHO. Retail wise the B&W 703 = LSi25 in co$t. I was able to get the dealer to fooer the LSi25 @ $2150/pair vs the B&W 703 @ $2600/pair.