LSi Series for voice clarity?????

Murray1

OK all you LSi owners, I need your input. The wife says no to Mythos series from DT(too much $) so I am back looking at the LSi series on Polk Direct. Probably end up with 15's or 9's. How have you found the LSiC for voice clarity(music & movies)? My old ears struggle understanding words so center speaker clarity is real important for me. Since the center will go directly above or below flat screen, can current receivers with audyssey, etc. bring center speaker more forward in the sound stage? Do current receivers let you overide their audyssey settings. The left and rights will be approximately 1.5' from the wall for best results. I have had a number of speaker demos but find it almost impossible to hear what the speakers have to offer because of poor demo conditions or CD's played. I know it would be best to take my own CD's but seem to forget every time I hit the stores. With all the LSi owners on this forum, I am sure I can get a feel for LSiC clarity from you all. Thanks for all your input.

BlueFox

Speaking only for myself, I have 4 LSi15s and an LSiC. While the audio is DVD dependant, I find that I do not have any problem at all with understanding voices. Sometimes I have turn it up a bit for better clarity, but, to me, that appears more due to a poorly recorded DVD than speaker issue.

One important point is my HT is in an used bedroom 11'x12' with only one door. So, that helps the acoustics. For what its worth, I am using a Sunfire TGA-5400 amp to drive the speakers.

Bernal

En una comparativa con cajas de tipo monitor del mismo fabricante y serie porque, no lo olvidemos, existen monitores de alt

Face

To translate dingbat's post:

In a comparative case-type monitor from the same manufacturer and serial because, lest we forget, there are displays of high quality and price they would blush many of columns Postino, all playing in their favor. The higher level of gross, the highest allowable power that allows higher sound pressure levels when the occasion requires it were nothing out of a virtual stage and larger, consistent and credible, are its main strengths. Contrary to general opinion, a column that occupies the same space a monitor, even less if I rush, as the bases of its media often larger than the base of the box behind. By contrast, in an inappropriate room and lounge-perfect sound level does not exist, the highest level of bass in a column can excite the modes of the room-own the negative waves, making his appearance the unpleasant "balls serious, "there's no way to get into line.

I make these considerations because in the last issue of CEC I presented a pair of cabinets of the type of monitor LSi9 American Polk Audio, and were such good vibrations occurred to me that, with the acquiescence of the direction of CEC, contact your distributor in order to try and introduce you to their older sisters. A few days had in my room a couple of columns that brought me personally LSi15 Mr Jorge Gomez of Joytel, its distributor. In response to those readers who do not read regularly every month, remember that Polk Audio is an American company based in Baltimore (Maryland, USA. UU.) Founded in 1972 by Matthew Polk and George Klopfer in order in the post less potent pockets so that they could enjoy high quality cabinets at reasonable price.

Polk Audio achievements reached these latitudes in 1982 at the hands of its current distributor, Joytel but not finished to convince the music lovers for its brilliant and spectacular beauty of sound, which I personally share findings to some extent, since the SDA series of no more level left indifferent. But I long ago came news of the benefits of the current series LSI over the level of the firm, tried to you the LSi9 and, based on their excellent sound qualities, I endorse the statement that SL Joytel We transcribed in the "We replied that CEC offers shops and distributors who claim to respect fit" before you invest a considerable sum of money into your speakers, Free of prejudices and listen before deciding about LSi9 " phrase that I extend my own risk to LSi15, a model that has to like me for their sound construction and performance offered at an interesting price.

But as I began to suspect that what should be the end of the article, go to parties. Personally, I think the smart LSi15 as a "broad" or the magnificent LSi9-it as a "reduction" of LSi15 since coming to market at the same time, to which was added a third way to low frequencies. This LSi15 want to say that not only shares all of the technology was developed by Polk Audio to them in the story cited above, but its upper part is nearly identical to that of her younger sister, though in the case the houses LSi15 sections for middle and high frequencies, while low is dedicated to the rest of the cabinet. Whole column is an attractive, tall and slender, lacquered in glossy black with a whole, except the bottom of the sides, which some appliqu

BlueFox

Bernal wrote: »

En una comparativa con cajas de tipo monitor del mismo fabricante y serie porque, no lo olvidemos, existen monitores de alt

Bernal

Con objeto de probarlas para ustedes, el se

Murray1

I am one lost puppy. Never been that smart to follow alot of different types of humor. Oh well, if anyone has a more "bottom line" comment, I am all ears.

devani

LSiC has the clarity that you are looking for. I just found out how my LSiC sounded much better after adding XPA-5. I didn't have to turn it up a notch to compared to LSi15's that I have. I also have my LSiC located above the TV and is about 5ft from ground floor.

If you go with amp-less method, then you will find LSiC less clear and will have to turn it up a little like alot of people here(that's also what I did).....

Murray1

Thanks devani for the input. Nice to hear that a supplemental amp improves the LSiC clarity. I was at Fry's yesterday and was struggling with vocal clarity. The center had the 25's on either side but only a high end Oink was powering a complete 7.1 system. Thanks again....

McLoki

The LSi series excells at clarity in my opinion. With that being said - the LSiC is the weakest speaker in an LSi home theater. (just my opinion and not counting any sub you may have) I am not saying it is bad, but may benefit most from improvement.

your options are cables, amps, crossover upgrades, placement, etc. They also open up quite a bit over the first 100 hours or so, so don't sweat a boxed in sound when you first hook a new one up.

For voice clarity - I would play with placement first (as it is free) then look at a crossover upgrade. If you want more - upgrade the amp. I am not saying an amp upgrade will not benefit an LSi theater - just that the other speakers will benefit more from it than the center based on the type of sound it usually has to reproduce compared to your other speakers.

If you already have LSi's for your main speakers - an LSiC is a no brainer. With that in mind - some people do use a single LSi9 instead with good results. Personally I have an LSiC and think it is great. (I do have an amp and have upgraded the crossover though)

Michael

Murray1

McLoki wrote: »

The LSi series excells at clarity in my opinion. With that being said - the LSiC is the weakest speaker in an LSi home theater. (just my opinion and not counting any sub you may have) I am not saying it is bad, but may benefit most from improvement.

your options are cables, amps, crossover upgrades, placement, etc. They also open up quite a bit over the first 100 hours or so, so don't sweat a boxed in sound when you first hook a new one up.

For voice clarity - I would play with placement first (as it is free) then look at a crossover upgrade. If you want more - upgrade the amp. I am not saying an amp upgrade will not benefit an LSi theater - just that the other speakers will benefit more from it than the center based on the type of sound it usually has to reproduce compared to your other speakers.

If you already have LSi's for your main speakers - an LSiC is a no brainer. With that in mind - some people do use a single LSi9 instead with good results. Personally I have an LSiC and think it is great. (I do have an amp and have upgraded the crossover though)

Michael

Thanks Michael for your input. I am not up on the crossover upgrades. Did you do it yourself? Can you tell me how it improves vocal clarity? Did you do this upgrade to the entire sound stage or just the center?

Also a bit confused on L & R benefiting from an more than a center. Since vocals are mostly sent to center, I thought amplifying the center would improve vocals equally as it would the L & R.

Wonder how much better a 9 would be for a center. Probably stand out a bit since it needs to stay close to the flatscreen if I understand center speaker placement correctly.

Thanks,

Fred

Bernal

The LSi have excellent clarity. Initially I had problems in achieving the effect. Then consider the acoustics of my room. Changing the position of the speakers had amazing improvements.


__________________________________________________ ________
1) DENON AVR-4308CI: Advanced 7.1 CH/5.1+2 CH/ 3.1+2+2 CH A/V Home Theater /MultiMedia Multi-Source/Zone Receiver with Networking and WiFi/170 watts x 7 channels
2) HITACHI P55T501. 55" HD1080 Plasma HDTV
3) DENON DVD-1740: Progressive Scan DVD Video/CD Player
4) DENON DVD-2500BTCI: Blu-ray Disc™ DVD/CD Digital Player/Transport
5) POLKAUDIO LSiC (Center speaker)
6) POLKAUDIO LSi15 LEFT (Front speaker)
7) POLKAUDIO LSi15 RIGHT (Front speaker)
8) SONY SS-MSP16 LEFT (Surround speaker)
9) SONY SS-MSP16 RIGHT (Surround speaker)
10) SONY SS-CNP16 LEFT (Surround back speaker)
11) SONY SA-WP16 ( Sub Woofer 2X200W)

McLoki

Murray1 wrote: »

Thanks Michael for your input. I am not up on the crossover upgrades. Did you do it yourself? Can you tell me how it improves vocal clarity? Did you do this upgrade to the entire sound stage or just the center? -

Also a bit confused on L & R benefiting from an more than a center. Since vocals are mostly sent to center, I thought amplifying the center would improve vocals equally as it would the L & R.

Wonder how much better a 9 would be for a center. Probably stand out a bit since it needs to stay close to the flatscreen if I understand center speaker placement correctly.

Thanks,

Fred

I did the upgrade myself - you can read about it here.... . The benefit was very noticable (once again - their was some amount of break-in that took place). A month or so after the upgrade, I was able to compare it to a stock LSiC and everyone (myself included) thought their was a noticable difference. I will upgrade the rest of my speakers in a similar way - but chose to do the LSiC first as it was the cheapest to do (since there was only one speaker). Based on my results - I will eventually do the rest, but have been spending money on other things for now.... as far as how it improves clarity - it is hard to descibe. It's not so much that voices are louder, as they seem to be coming from a quieter background. Thing of someone talking in a call center verses a quiet room. even though you may be able to hear both clearly - one is definatly easier to understand than the other.... Its not exactly like that - but thats as close I can compare it to....


Rgarding the amp - I think (and this is just my opinon) that your fronts and surrounds will benefit most from an external amp because those channels typically need the largest dynamic range. Your center typically has to play from a whisper to a shout - your other speakers play from wind blowing through the grass to a planet exploding. Not to mention that Bass requires the most energy to play and the center is just not asked to go as deep (typically) as the front speakers are. (not to mention - in my case - my fronts are larger than the LSiC and therefore have more drivers to power.) All this adds up to the center does benefit from more power - but your fronts will benefit more from it. (once again - in my opinion)

Even before I upgraded my center I was pretty happy with it. Due to that - I never really tried an LSi9 as a center. I know some people who were not happy with the LSiC - tried the LSi9 and were happier (there have also been a few people who swapped an LSi9 crossover for an LSiC one - but I have not tried that either). As I stated above - I upgraded mainly because I wanted to see if there really was an improvement in an LSi crossover upgrade and the center, since there was only one of them, was the cheapest to upgrade. There was enough of a difference, I will upgrade the rest of my speakers eventually (certainly before I consider upgrading them for something else).

Michael

Face

IMO, I find LSi9's more coherent than LSi15's.

Murray1

Face wrote: »

IMO, I find LSi9's more coherent than LSi15's.

Face,

Would like to hear more regarding LSi9's. Being more coherent are you saying better clarity? Do you think 15's would have a bigger sound stage? I have never heard the 15's- only 25' at Fry's. Heard the 9's and they sound awesome for music. Do you think the LSiC would perform better with the 9's than the 15's for vocal clarity. How about comparing 9's and 15's for HT?

Thanks,

Fred

McLoki

Fred,

Where are you at? Maybe you are close to another polkie and can check out some other LSi speakers....

Face

Hey Fred,
Yes, I mean overall clarity. I can't make a fair comparison on soundstage since I've never heard both in the same room. The LSiC should be a good match for either speaker. For HT, you can't go wrong with either one. The mains in my HT have 15" woofers, I find it more enjoyable to be surrounded by bass.

candjhuntley

xcapri - i'm curious - you are using 2 LSi9s for your center and have 2 centers as rears. Did you first try 2 LSics as your center and with what results?

Babulas

Murray1

I did have several issues with voice clarity using the LSiC. At the beginning it was hard to admit it as i like very much the LSi9s. But my wife really helped in highlighting the LSiC's shortcoming. I don't understand wat is the point of making such large speaker where only one driver is mainly used.

I ended up putting a LSi9 as a center and the LSiC when to the a shelve in my closet.

Face

The LSiC and LSi9 are both tapered arrays, meaning one woofer is only for low frequencies and one woofer plays low and mid frequencies. There are some slight difference in the crossovers, cabinets, and driver spacing which is why they sound slightly different.

To get the best performance out of your LSiC, it should be angled directly towards the listener area. Placing it above your TV and having it fire straight across the room will reveal it's shortcomings.

Murray1

McLoki,

I am in San Diego. Starting to get a bit concerned regarding the LSiC and vocal clarity. Using LSi 9's for centers probably puts me back close to the DT Mythos System for price.

Thanks again all.........

Face

A few members here have used a single LSi9 as a center, no need for two.

McLoki

Once again - not saying it is bad, just giving you as much info as possible to start with....

Murray1

Face wrote: »

The LSiC and LSi9 are both tapered arrays, meaning one woofer is only for low frequencies and one woofer plays low and mid frequencies. There are some slight difference in the crossovers, cabinets, and driver spacing which is why they sound slightly different.

To get the best performance out of your LSiC, it should be angled directly towards the listener area. Placing it above your TV and having it fire straight across the room will reveal it's shortcomings.

Babulas & Xcapri,

Any chance you did not have LSiC pointed correctly?

polkatese

In my experience, for HT/Movies, calibrating LSiC hotter (relative to the others) alleviate/mitigate most of the issue mentioned here.

Babulas

Murray1,

I tried multiples positioning of the LSiC. So I don't that not being pointed properly was the reason.

BlueFox

xcapri79 wrote: »

I whole agree whole heartedly that the LSiC is the weak link. It's weaknesses to me are exposed when playing the Cars Greatest Hits in a reasonably large room using Dolby Pro Logic which puts a lot of the music on the center channel.

Is this artifical? Is this a stereo CD and you are using the AVR to mangle the sound into multichannel? Or is this an SACD, or DTS surround, where the center channel audio has been engineered to be on the CC?

McLoki

BlueFox wrote: »

Is this artifical? Is this a stereo CD and you are using the AVR to mangle the sound into multichannel? Or is this an SACD, or DTS surround, where the center channel audio has been engineered to be on the CC?

If playing in pro-logic, it is manipulating a 2 channel signal into multi-channel. If he would have said in the beginning that he just did not the LSiC due to that reason, I would have said that is the main reason for it. Since he does like the LSi9 in that same position with the same configuration - I still say it is not the ideal configuration but it is a valid test of one against the other...