A worthy upgrade ~ LSi7's --> LSi9's (first impressions)

michael_w

I had LSi7's for over a year and loved them since the day the fed ex guy dropped them off. I recently parted with them and have been without LSi's for about a month and a half. The monitor 7's stood up to the challange but just couldn't fill the hole the lsi's left. A day or two after selling the lsi7's I placed an order for a pair of ebony 9's. Since I get an absolutely amazing deal on them through work I decided to upgrade because it would basically be a lateral move money wise.

It took about a month to get them because I had to mail a money order to Ontario and then they shipped the speakers from polk hq somewhere south of the border. I got a little worried at first when I saw the tennis ball sized hole in the side of the box (at that point I could see the ebony veneer) but they managed to survive without a scratch.

I got them home and started moving things around to make room, turning my sub off in the process. I sat them down in about the same spot I had my lsi7's and threw in a cd. Immediately I was floored by the bass. I went checked again and my sub was in fact turned off. Never have I ever heard a bookshelf that I liked without a sub. I ran my lsi7's sometimes without a sub and always felt it was really lacking something for 95% of the music I tried. I was expecting an improvement but I had no idea the 9's would be such a different speaker. Honestly, it's hard to do a comparison between the lsi7's and 9's because I've been listening to monitor 7's for the past month.

Now that I have the 9's I'm tempted to get rid of my sub or put it to use elsewhere. I've been playing around and for the most part I just don't need it. Getting a good blend might take a while, but in the meantime it'll be staying off. Who knows, maybe the Atlas 15 will make it into my '68 beetle (if I can somehow make room for it).

The finish on the new generation of lsi's is even nicer than the old style. I love the seamless look and it looks like they've done a better job with the driver cutouts. On my seamed 7's I noticed it looked pretty jagged and rough around the drivers but on the 9's it has nice smooth edges. The veneer, as usual, is top notch and looks great. My 7's were cherry so I tried out ebony this time and I think I chose well. The ebony is much much darker in person and looks just fantastic. I was thinking it would be a bit lighter with a hint of purple (as seen in photos) but it's nearly black in person.


I'm so glad I took the chance and sold my 7's so I could order the 9's. It cost me next to nothing to upgrade and the wait was well worth it.

Discs in que for tonight include Rush Gold, Zeppelin III, Joes Garage, Steely Dan and some Supertramp to finish things off. Probably get some more photos and comparisons later.

Ciao!

tonyb

Glad you like them....now tell me...are those puppies under rated or what?
Keep jammin' pal!!:)

michael_w

For what I paid for them I can't think of anything that would even come close.

Toka78

Good going! I don't know of a speaker line on the planet (current production that is) more underrated than the LSi line.

AndyGwis

Michael, congrats! I've wanted the 9s for a while now, but I'm not sure where to put them or what to run them on. I'd like to put some new speakers on the Pioneer Elite A35-R in the bedroom, but at only 65wpc @ 4-ohms, I'm guessing it wouldn't do justice to the 9s and I'd end up getting a new amp/integrated within a week.

What are you running your 9's on now? I'm thinking I'll start with the 7s as you did and go from there. 65wpc won't be great, but should be enough for the 7s to best my current monitor 30s by roughly 500%.

cfrizz

Congrats Michael, enjoy!

Refefer

I might myself grab a pair of these soon. My folks are trying to set up a rig for themselves and have asked that I help them out with it, the only caveat being that they don't want to spend an obscene amount and don't want floorstanders... and I've never heard a speaker that fits the bill quite as well as the Lsi 9's do.

They definitely are the punchiest damn bookshelves I've ever heard.

beardog03

I`m glad whomever took a shot at the box, missed the speak inside...

Enjoy !

I have 7`s & 9`s both, and like them both (for what they are respectively)

michael_w

They're running off a NAD C352 integrated amp and a channel islands passive pre (to get rid of the nad pre section). They claim 80 wpc from the nad. My next upgrade will either be a good source (looking at good deal on a toshiba hd-a2 from work) or a new amp, but that won't be for a while. I won't be upgrading the amp until I can do it right and make a big jump.

At work, the land of home theater in a boxes and bose systems, people now think I'm crazy for buying these :rolleyes:

I loved the 7's but the 9's are a true giant killer :cool:

sbpolk

michael_w wrote:

They're running off a NAD C352 integrated amp and a channel islands passive pre (to get rid of the nad pre section). They claim 80 wpc from the nad. My next upgrade will either be a good source (looking at good deal on a toshiba hd-a2 from work) or a new amp, but that won't be for a while. I won't be upgrading the amp until I can do it right and make a big jump.

At work, the land of home theater in a boxes and bose systems, people now think I'm crazy for buying these :rolleyes:

I loved the 7's but the 9's are a true giant killer :cool:

Hmmm, I think you should pass on the great deal on the 9's (to me!) and REALLY hook yourself up with some LSi15's! Then we would both be happy!

michael_w

I had the option to get the 15's for about $400 cdn more but I opted to take the cheap route and went for the 9's. Honestly, I have never heard a tower speaker with a side firing driver that I liked. I've listened to many diy designs (some pretty well established ones) that offered side firing drivers and liked none of them. They always seem to sound a bit unnatural and exaggerated like they're playing lower than they should if that makes any sense.

sbpolk

michael_w wrote:

I had the option to get the 15's for about $400 cdn more ....

$400 Canadian??! Isn't that like three bucks american??! Haha, used to live in Toronto, and that is the crap I always gave my canadian friends!

Anyways, I am sure that the folks here would tell you that the 15 doesn't sound unnatural at all. Great move on the 9's though. I would sure love a pair!