Mr. Polk, My thoughts about future update to LSI speakers

cfrizz

I would really love to get an all LSI speaker set. The main sticking point for me is the tower speakers. I like & want to keep tower speakers however, I simply can't handle the weight of the LSI 15's! Moving them would be impossible.

I was browsing the forum yesterday & came across a thread in which Dan (Mantis) was extolling the virtues of the Dynaudio Audience 72 speakers.

I went onto their website & looked them up, & what I found really appealed to me big time! :eek: Here was a speaker that is about the same size as what I have right now, and according to Dan gives the LSI's a run for their money!

I WANT TO STAY WITH POLK SPEAKERS!!!!

So Mr. Polk, I think you could find even more people who would be interested in getting LSI's if you could in addition to the 15's & the 25's add a third smaller tower with a weight of not more than 40lbs.

I know I would be standing at Tweeters door the day they arrived to purchase a pair!

What do you guys think, & is this a possibility Mr. Polk?

Cathy

kingsqueak

The weight is going to come from a solid enclosure construction, which is critical to speaker design.

If they dropped the quality of the LSi enclosures, I wouldn't ever buy them myself.

Nelson57

I don't know how much weight the subwoofer adds to the 15's, but what about doing something similiar to the LSi9's to whats done on the Monitor line with the M40 bookshelf and M50 floorstander.

In essense doing an "LSi10" which is floorstanding version of the LSi9 sans the subwoofer on the 15's, but maintaining the quality of the enclosure. Just an idea.

audiobliss

An 'LSi10' may be interesting. However, I certainly would not be in favor of Polk putitng together a cheaper enclosure to make it lighter. I personally think, you want a nice speaker, you expect it to be heavy.

heiney9

I feel for you Cathy, but I'm not sure they could get it done and sound better than the Lsi 9. I'm with you you in the sense that I strongly prefer towers. But the Lsi 9 on a nice HQ stand sounds incredible. I'm not sure a smaller (than the Lsi 15) tower would sound any different than the 9's using the current ported design.

I know you own the RTA-8's and you are probably looking for something similar to those in weight and size, but I'm not sure it can be done with the Lsi's and still justify adding a 5th speaker to the line. I think you would be absolutely amazed at the 9's on shot filled stands. The only reason I am constantly contemplating either the 9's or 15's isn't size, it's cost for me personally.

H9

RuSsMaN

I've personally always wanted to see an LSi7 floorstander, with or without a non-powered side firing woofer (6.5" perhaps). A small, non obtrusive tower, but would load up full range (30-35Hz) in a small to medium sized room.

That is something I would be interested in.

Cheers,
Russ

Shizelbs

RuSsMaN wrote:

I've personally always wanted to see an LSi7 floorstander, with or without a non-powered side firing woofer (6.5" perhaps). A small, non obtrusive tower, but would load up full range (30-35Hz) in a small to medium sized room.

That is something I would be interested in.

Cheers,
Russ

I'm with Russ. I would be totally interested in a towered, one woofer Lsi.

F1nut

I simply can't handle the weight of the LSI 15's! Moving them would be impossible.

Hand truck.

cfrizz

H9 I don't see why they can't take the 9's & put them into a tower. I don't need to have the side woofer since I already have a sub.

No Jesse, I don't want another peice of equipment just to move my speakers around when necessary. I can manage to move 40lbs, but that's about the limit.

I am ready to move to the next level speaker wise. But right now Polk doesn't have what I want. If I know that they are at least willing to think about it & put it into the works within 2 years I would wait. If not, it would be time for me to start thinking about another brand of speaker.

If they can make 2 bookshelves & 2 huge towers, surely it is possible to make a 3rd smaller tower as an option for people and not have quality suffer.

Early B.

A heavier enclosure doesn't mean the speaker will sound better.

cfrizz -- just buy another speaker brand and forget about what Polk plans to do in the future. You'll have to spend quite a bit to move up a notch in SQ if you want to stay with floorstanders, especially if you buy retail.

Anyway, the weight should not be a significant factor in your purchasing decision. Once you have them set up properly, there's no need to move them. I'm sure some Polkies in the Boston area would be thrilled to help you move them if you need to do so.

dorokusai

Why don't you start playing with other speakers and keep the LSi's...time to move outside the box.

cfrizz

I happen to like Polk boxes Mark!:D

I have to think of the weight factor Early. I shouldn't have to & don't want to have to call someone to help me rearrange my speakers.

Feel free to tell me of other 40lbs speakers that can rival Polks LSI series speakers.

For example, check out www.spearitsound.com line of speakers & give me recommendations to check out. I'm planning on going there to check out the Rotel RB 1092 digital amp to see if it sounds better than the 1077.

Thanks fellas.:)

danger boy

i got the solution. put wheels on the LSi floorstanders. Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!

cfrizz

Hey if that can be done without affecting the sound I would probably get the 15's. I'M SERIOUS!

danger boy wrote:

i got the solution. put wheels on the LSi floorstanders. Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!

Early B.

Cfrizz -- can you use those flat pancake-looking puck things that are used to move furniture? They come in different sizes and you can find them cheap at any hardware store or even at the dollar store. I use them under my 100+ lb. DIY subwoofer and they work very well. Whenever you wanna move the speakers, just lean it over, take off the spikes, and lean it back over onto the pucks and push them into position. They work on carpet and wood floors.

Otherwise, as Zero stated, there are tons of 40 lb. or less options available. Too many to name. It'll take some experimenting for you to get what you want. The Lsi's a great speakers, but the same can be said for many others in their class. Just gotta find the one that's right for you.

wingnut4772

Cathy...get a weight set. In 3 months they will be easy to move.:D Working out has enabled me to move everything in my set up all by my little lonesome. Just remember to lift with your legs:p

cfrizz

C'mon guys! This isn't very helpful! Help me narrow it down at least a little. What are some good speakers within the parameters I have that would sound close to the LSIs?

heiney9

cfrizz wrote:

C'mon guys! This isn't very helpful! Help me narrow it down at least a little. What are some good speakers within the parameters I have that would sound close to the LSIs?

Other than my suggestion of 9's on rock solid stands.....I can't help as one of the last specs I look at is weight. Sorry it's just never occured to me before.

cfrizz

Sigh, I know H9. No problem.

reeltrouble1

My wife can easily move my SRS with the stock glide feet.

A Houseboy would fill the ticket, give me a good ole heavy speaker anytime, big magnets, solid construction materials, not really interested in more of that digital light weight stuff. One person may want 40 another 30, really small stature 20 or even 10, come on, really now.

RT1

F1nut

Cathy, you don't have to lift a speaker to move it. You can "walk" just about any speaker.

PolkThug

The Martin Logan Montage is only 30lbs per speaker.

http://www.us.martinlogan.com/speaker_intro/montage.html

pjdami

The LSi 15s are great speakers. With all the speakers I've had through my house, I still have them. I wouldn't let the weight deter you.

The hand truck or "dolly" is a great suggestion. 200 lbs rating and affordable. Folds up nice and neat in a closet. Lay a bath towel on there when you rest the speaker to prevent scratches.

http://www.handtrucksrus.com/CrashDetail.aspx?id=342

wirebill

Cathy,
I don't know if Danger boy was joking or not but "Ohm Acoustics" puts wheels on some of there larger speakers so I don't see why you couldn't do the same.
Bill

Joey_V

PolkThug wrote:

The Martin Logan Montage is only 30lbs per speaker.

http://www.us.martinlogan.com/speaker_intro/montage.html

Above that, the Martin Logan Mosaic is slightly heavier but better and worth the upgrade in price. I found that I preferred the Mosaic over A LOT of speakers in terms of sound. Not too much below the 40hz mark, but above that, it gives up little to some of the better speakers out there. I feel that realism is what it lacks compared to the upper tier ML, but it's utter transparency is eerie. I liked it better than the LSi9s (by a long shot) and even the LSi15 (with the exception down low).

My .02.

danger boy

that's what i'm talking about..

why couldn't those wheels be put on the rear end of a tower speaker that retract, just like they use on luggage? Those luggage wheels sometimes retract and are one of the best inventions ever made.

those wheels.. plus at the top end of the rear part of the speaker.. you place a handle. nothing ugly or anything like that. something simple. how often do you show off the rear of your spearks anyways? No one ever looks at the hind end of your towers.. if they do they are freaks. ha ha ha.

So to move them around the room or wherever.. all you do it enable the wheels and lean the tower gently backward, and off you go.. wha la! Instant hand truck.

I think i'm going to roll with this idea.. get it? Roll

Musophile

Hey Cathy,

Have you looked at Magnepan, B&W, or Martin Logan floorstanding? I think you can demo the Martin Logan's at Tweeter. I checked out some Summits last month but they were $8000. A little bit out of my price range. There are lower models like Aerius or others that would be closer. It'd still give you a chance to hear an electrostatic speaker as an alternative.

Joey_V

Musophile wrote:

Hey Cathy,

Have you looked at Magnepan, B&W, or Martin Logan floorstanding? I think you can demo the Martin Logan's at Tweeter. I checked out some Summits last month but they were $8000. A little bit out of my price range. There are lower models like Aerius or others that would be closer. It'd still give you a chance to hear an electrostatic speaker as an alternative.

The Summits are $10,000... with $1000 upgrade for silver aluminum rails and $900 upgrade for exotic veneer and $7000 upgrade for chrome rails. No dealer sells them for $8,000 unless they want ML to cut their dealership ties since all ML are price protected - much like BLose.

They do have a semi $3K speaker - the ML Vista that just came out last week. I think it's like 50lbs though... not sure if Cathy approves of that weight. They go solid down to about 40-42hz so you may want to add a sub. The Vantage at $5K goes to about 32-34hz with its own ICE amp... slightly heavier at 55lbs. The Summits are heavy at almost 80lbs.

The Mosaic/Clarity may be the way to go... you may still need a sub to get to LSi15 infrasonic level, but I think that the overall midrange may make up for it. Just MO.

cfrizz

Now we're getting somewhere!:)

Thanks for the picture of the handtruck! I had no idea what it was, and I didn't know that they could fold up at that size!

I wish Polk would put wheels on their larger speakers!

Keep the ideas flowing guys! Thanks!:)

wirebill

hey Danger boy,
Judging by the lack of response I guess you and I are the only ones thinking wheels.
I’m thinking of putting some wheels on my Ohm I’s. I typically move them every weekend to vacuum around my equipment and they are heavy speakers.
Bill

Musophile

Ok, I stand corrected, but I still think it'd be worth a trip to Tweeter for Cathy to hear an alternative speaker type. Maybe that'll convince her to shift her weight requirement. I'm trying to find a place where I can audition the Magnepan 3.6's. I've not heard a ribbon speaker and their soundstaging yet.