Modifications for LSi15's?

TRINADS

Just a question, I have the LSi 15's for my fronts, and the LSiC for the center, anyway, is there any "mods" that i can perform to enhance the speakers. Such as, I remember reading that people replace the connection between the speaker posts with speaker wire, will this help? Anyway, what else have you guys done to the speakers, any information would help as I am curious to know what people are doing. Thanks for your time!!

McLoki

There have not been alot of people modding the LSi's Here is what I came up with from a quick search (and memory).

• Replace the jumper plate with quality speaker wire. I have done this with mine, but to be honest, did not hear much (if any) difference when I did it.
• The crossover could be upgraded. There is one member looking into doing that now.
• A member has Dymatted the inside of his LSi9 with good results.
• Here a member was talking about modding a pair of LSi7's but I am unsure if they went through with the project. (don't remember reading about the results anyway)
• Here someone was thinking about modding some LSi15's but was talked out of it.
• Here someone pulled the wood sides off his LSi7's. (I think it ended up looking pretty nice.. )
• I have had a few conversations with Russman (who, in turn, spoke with some Polk engineers) about replacing the woofer in my LSi15's with a higher quality one. The DB series 8" sub from Polk is supposed to be a good drop in, higher quality, replacement, but I have not done it yet. (Some consider good bass to be the biggest LSi15 weakness)
• Plugging the power port on the LSi15's have helped the bass for some members. I believe an old sock was the stuffing of choice....

The the best and most consistantly successful mods are:

• Drive them with a high current amp
• Work with placement (toe them in a little)
• Check into room acoustics (perhaps adding acoustic panels)

Whatever you end up doing, report back any successes or failures and good luck with your project.

Michael

(oh, and Welcome to Club Polk )

iskandam

When you say plugging the power port were you referring to the two small ports between the midrange drivers and the tweeter or the big power port at the bottom of the speaker? I'd like to try this tweak as well

TRINADS

Thanks for spending the time and providing those links, definitely helpful and informational. They are GREAT speakers, there really is no reason for me to want to tweak it, but I was curious on what people were trying.

McLoki

iskandam wrote: »

When you say plugging the power port were you referring to the two small ports between the midrange drivers and the tweeter or the big power port at the bottom of the speaker? I'd like to try this tweak as well

The big one at the bottom. (effectively making it a sealed speaker.)

BLACKHAMMERJAMM

McLoki wrote: »

The big one at the bottom. (effectively making it a sealed speaker.)

Could this damage the speaker in any way? Will it void the warranty.

ben62670

No it would actually dampen the speaker a little better. The stock caps in any major brand speakers can be upgraded. The LSI's are great speakers, but they are still fairly generic caps none the less. I feel this will be more apparent as the years pass. I would suggest replacing them with Sonicaps if you really wanted to mod them.
Ben

TRINADS

What are caps and what do they do? What rewards do you get in upgrading them and how much does it typically cost? Sorry for all of the questions, I appreciate your replies.

BlueFox

McLoki wrote: »

[*]Check into room acoustics (perhaps adding acoustic panels)

This really cannot be emphasized enough. I have gone through this, and now the sound is really great, versus just great.

After upgrading the amp, and adding acoustic foam to the walls I really noticed a big difference in sound improvement. However, after a while I realized that something was still not quite right. Then one night I was playing a new SACD of “Symphonie Fantastique”, which has much more low frequency energy than other versions, and I realized the top part of my TV was vibrating. In fact, at certain freqs and sound levels it was clearly audible.

This created a delima since the TV is a 57” Hitachi digital monitor, and the top part is essentially a 57” hollow plastic drum. The question was, how to reinforce the top part and stop the vibrations without ruining the TV. The solution was to get adjustable length shower rods and run them between the top of the TV and the ceiling, and between the sides of the TV and the opposite wall. After placing the rods, tighten them and this reinforced the TV to stop the vibrations. To be safe I also put a 2’ x 2’ acoustic tile on each side of the TV, and it is held in place by the rod.

Well, it might not look the best, but it works great. Music is now so clear, detailed, and precise it should be illegal.

F1nut

Got a picture of that?

MikeC78

Yeah, no kidding... We need pics of that!

BlueFox

MikeC78 wrote: »

Yeah, no kidding... We need pics of that!

I'm recharging the useless rechargables for the camera. Everytime I need the camera, the batteries are dead.

Demiurge

Mine are modified.

MikeC78

Please hurry.

ohskigod

Bluefox,


I'll give you points for creativity in wiping out a room vibration....that said.....I GOTTA see that picture

and why do I have the sneaky suspiscion you arent married? thats not to say you might not have the most understanding wife on god's green earth either..LOL

busting aside, if it works.......can't argue with results

Face

If someone were to upgrade the woofer to a DB series? They would use the single voice coil model, correct? Which would work better, the old or new DB series?

ben62670

TRINADS wrote: »

What are caps and what do they do? What rewards do you get in upgrading them and how much does it typically cost? Sorry for all of the questions, I appreciate your replies.

They are part of the crossover(capacitors). They are generic made in mexico pieces.
Ben

jon s

caps can really vary in price. The LSi15 uses a 18-uf and a 12-uf cap in the HF circuit. A generic brand would set you back maybe 20 bucks... Daytons would be about $50 a set, Solens about $60, Sonicaps $88, Jantzen Superiors about $250 and Jantzens Silvers about $400...

general consensus is that Solens and Daytons are not recommended as they sound harsh. Sonicaps are generally the most recommended replacments because of their price performance ratio.

I just upgraded my Polk Model 10s from stock to the basic (cheap)Jantzens and they some improvement but after i upgraded to the Sonicaps, the differences were magnified. The Sonicaps made a BIG difference and I can easily recommend that as the route to go. I am looking at upgrading the LSi15s myself but the crossovers have some limitations; small PCB (note as a general rule, the more expensive the cap the bigger it gets), small area to work in and they are not easily accessible.

BeRad

BlueFox wrote: »

I'm recharging the useless rechargables for the camera. Everytime I need the camera, the batteries are dead.

Where are those pictures? Would towels draped over the horizontal rods act as dampening acoustic panels? What if they were damp towels? Would the damp towels dampen as well as un-damp towels?

You are in a position to answer these questions which the audio gods have pondered for thousands of years. (ok, ok, these **** questions which I typed out of boredom.)

BlueFox

Okay. Here you go for your mocking and sarcastic approval.

BeRad

OMG that is **** SWEET. Wrap those babies up in some thick gunmetal split-loom and invite people over for assimilation.

Seriously though: Good idea. Great idea if it works. This is the definition to "thinking outside the box (or in this case, the TV)"

edit: Did you try something like adhering long hardened steel strips to the plastic that was vibrating?

F1nut

Interesting.

How about removing the bezel and filling it with foam material and/or using double sided 3M tape to secure it better?

McLoki

BlueFox - that is priceless.

The only thing that would add true greatness to that is having Ben62670 make you a pair of SDA speakers and 7' sonosub....

Rock on.

ben62670

McLoki wrote: »

BlueFox - that is priceless.

The only thing that would add true greatness to that is having Ben62670 make you a pair of SDA speakers and 7' sonosub....

Rock on.

The SDA's are 7'2" The sonosub is only 5' tall now, but I feel it may have a slight growth spurt;)

Dennis Gardner

I think this would be the perfect place for some Dynamat/damping of some sort. Just make sure you leave vented cooling slots clear. The key is to reduce the resonant frequency of the panel.

m00npie

Face wrote: »

If someone were to upgrade the woofer to a DB series? They would use the single voice coil model, correct? Which would work better, the old or new DB series?

That someone would be me. I wouldn't mind trying it.

McLoki

It was the old DB series that I was talking to RussMan about. (have not contacted him about the new series)

Also - you would want the single voice coil model as the speaker is set up to be 4 ohms. If you ran a dual voice coil, you would only connect to one of them.

If you change the ohm of the speaker (hooking both voice coils up and making the woofer a 2 ohm or 8 ohm speaker) it could change the crossover setting or slope away from what was intended. That is what I was told (or at least how I understood it).

I was going to ask at PolkFest about the using the new DB series in the LSi15's. I will let everyone know what they end up telling me. (Hey, they wouldn't have engineers walking around on the day of PolkFest if we weren't supposed to ask questions would they???)

Michael

m00npie

Thanks Michael,

face and I just may try it on my 15's prior to Polkfest so I'll share my findings. I don't know the difference between the old and new Db series or if you can even buy the old series anymore. I'll have to ask one of the 12V guys.

Kelley

TRINADS

Thanks for the information. Ok, the general consensus is that Caps will help the sound quite a bit, what kind of sound improvement did you get, or would i expect?
I'm also very curious on the sub exchange, I would love to hear how that turns out!

jon s

The LSi15s are not friendly to cap upgrades... the crossover board componensts are between the board and the binding plates with only 1.5" space in between.

To complicate matters, the opening for the binding plate is quite small and the internal wiring for the speakers are cut to specific lengths. They are so short, you cannot extract the crossover thru the binding plate cutout.

If you want to replace the crossover caps, you literally have to remove the woofer and work thru there. Then you have the problem of the clearance between the side-firing woofer and the crossover to consider since the cabinet is extremely narrow.

TRINADS

So it sounds like its really not worth all that trouble. Sounds like you need surgeons hands to perform this upgrade!! Did you find the work worthwhile in the gain in sound improvements?