LSi9's coming this week!

dougy

Sold my big klipsch LS2's.:( -due to medical bills. Found an alledgedly "mint" pair of cherry LSi9's on Ebay. Got'em for $409. + shipping. A decent price, me thinks. They should ship Monday. Should have'm Thursday or Friday. Hope they really are mint and arrive undamaged by UPS. Nail-biting time! Ordered Sanus SF30 stands from Parts Express. Should be here Monday. And the wheel goes round and round...

I will power the LSi9's with my Onkyo A9555 amp. It's a class D conservatively rated for 200W peak into 4 Ohms. Hopefully that will be enough grunt, considering I will also be using a pair of 12" 400W Velo subs. We'll see.

Getting pretty excited about the LSi9's. So many positive reviews. I know they've been around a few years, so knowing Polk, the line is probably up for a redesign. That's OK. If the 9's work out for me as well as I hope, maybe when my finances improve I'll move up to something in the new line. Maybe not! The wheel's gotta stop sometime! But then I guess I wouldn't be a "true audiophile" (or phool?), would I.

Any suggestions about living with LSi9's from all you funky cats who own'em and love'm would be appreciated.

Let there be music!

engtaz

Congrats on the lS9's.

mantis

Nice man, te Lsi9's are very nice speakers.

Dan

haimoc

Congrat on great speakers..

danz1906

Congrats-Enjoy your new speakers:D

dougy

T'anks guys! I'm gonna miss the slam, the ease and the clarity of the big ol' horns, but I will hopefully gain big in the depth and three dimensionality departments. My biggest complaint with the horns is the way a lot of music tends to clump at the speakers, if you know what I mean. The speakers don't often disappear, sonically. The La Scala II's were better in this regard than the other horns I've owned (Klipsch Cornwalls, Klipschorns), but still not too good. This is not a slam of Klipsch. I love a lot of things about Klipsch speakers. Their lack of ability to disappear into a three-dimensional soundstage is not one of them.

pearsall001

Congrats!!! Very nice speakers indeed. I'm almost tempted to pick up a pair myself for a listen. Nothing but great reviews all across the board.

SKsolutions

Get some stands, and pull them away from the wall. The rest is the fun part.

DForeman

Love my LSi9's. Have had them for 3 years now. Jazz sounds s-w-e-e-t!

dougy

SKsolutions wrote: »

Get some stands, and pull them away from the wall. The rest is the fun part.

Got my Sanus SF30 stands yesterday. They seem pretty solid, although the "wire management" is pretty cheesy to say the least. I'm just waiting for the sand I bought to dry out now, before I fill'em up. They are pretty ringy when empty, for sure.

thsmith

Congrats, where are the pics ?

dougy

thsmith wrote: »

Congrats, where are the pics ?

In time, in time - I still don't have the speakers! I've got my a/d/s/ HT300's on the Sanus stands right now. When the Polks get here, the ADS speakers go back to the home theater rig.

steveinaz

What's the hold up man? If there are no pics--it didn't happen...:D

BTW, as you'll find out soon, the Lsi9's "do" slam pretty good...

xj4094dg

My LSi9's are fantastic. I bought them refurbed pretty cheap direct from Polk. A new pair will join them soon for surrounds and the LSi7's will become a makeshift center. You'll be amping up soon I imagine, they need lots of juice. Enjoy!

dougy

They're here, they're here! Got here today via UPS. Seemed to be packed well, considering they weren't in original boxes. Unfortunately, they weren't quite as "mint" as advertised -a little veneer chip on one front corner and loose veneer on the same piece, but at the back. I think I can glue the raised veneer and putty the chip. Otherwise, they look great, so overall I'm OK with the condition. The drivers look fine.

I only had a little while to play with them before I had to go to work, so I only got to listen to a couple of things -a recent Dave Benoit CD and a remastered Warren Zevon "Excitable Boy" CD. I didn't even have time to really integrate them with my subs, but I did listen. So, first pre-tweak impressions are as follows:

WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW !!!!!!

I'll try to illucidate after a more thorough set-up.

dougy

...still playing with placement and subwoofer integration...having to wait for sand to dry before I can fill stand...with sand...so I can't do my "wire management" thang until all that is done, so no pics yet...really bummed about the raised veneer and chips:mad:...I've got some wood glue and some putty, so I will try to repair the veneer as best i can...if that's not satisfactory...don't know what I'll do then...but I think I can make them look almost mint.

I'm still very impressed with the sound. I put on Eva Cassidy's "Songbird" CD this AM -absolutely lovely! Currently running pair of subs inboard of speakers, at room width 1/3 points. Low pass crossover to subs is @ 120Hz. High pass to 9's is 80Hz @ 8 Ohms, so considering their 4 Ohm rating, it may actually be closer to 160Hz. But that's OK, it's only a 1st order x/o and the 9's response seems to rise around 90Hz anyway, so it actually smooths it out a bit.

Pics to come when everything gets squared away and at least temporarily settled.

danz1906

Looks like everything is going according to Plan-Enjoy:D

jimbo1421

dougy wrote: »

...really bummed about the raised veneer and chips:mad:...I've got some wood glue and some putty, so I will try to repair the veneer as best i can...if that's not satisfactory...don't know what I'll do then...but I think I can make them look almost mint.

dougy,

If you post some pictures of the veneer damage, perhaps I can make some recommendations for repairing it. One tip is to use a syringe to inject glue under the veneer then either clamping it with a wood block covered with waxed paper (to keep the glue from sticking to the block, or taping the loose part down with masking tape if the loose spot is on a corner. Use a minimum amount of yellow (PVA) glue to avoid lots of squeeze out.

Wax fill sticks like these can be used to fill cracks and voids:
http://woodworker.com/cgi-bin/fullpres.exe?PARTNUM=926-103&search=Putty&smode=&showsingle=

For light scratches and worn spots use something like these marking pens:
http://woodworker.com/cgi-bin/fullpres.exe?PARTNUM=926-250&search=Finishing%20Supplies%20-%20Touch%20Up&smode=&showsingle=

Do not use sandpaper to smooth things out, you will damage the surrounding finish. Use 0000 steel wool lightly.

Good luck,
Jim

engtaz

Hey where are the pics.

dougy

jimbo1421 wrote: »

dougy,

If you post some pictures of the veneer damage, perhaps I can make some recommendations for repairing it. One tip is to use a syringe to inject glue under the veneer then either clamping it with a wood block covered with waxed paper (to keep the glue from sticking to the block, or taping the loose part down with masking tape if the loose spot is on a corner. Use a minimum amount of yellow (PVA) glue to avoid lots of squeeze out.

Wax fill sticks like these can be used to fill cracks and voids:
http://woodworker.com/cgi-bin/fullpres.exe?PARTNUM=926-103&search=Putty&smode=&showsingle=

For light scratches and worn spots use something like these marking pens:
http://woodworker.com/cgi-bin/fullpres.exe?PARTNUM=926-250&search=Finishing%20Supplies%20-%20Touch%20Up&smode=&showsingle=

Do not use sandpaper to smooth things out, you will damage the surrounding finish. Use 0000 steel wool lightly.

Good luck,
Jim

Hey Jim, that's real nice of you. Here's some pics of the bad places:

Gtocl

Nice man, te Lsi9's are very nice speakers.

dougy

engtaz wrote: »

Hey where are the pics.

OK, for all the nay-sayers and the non-believers:D, here's some bad PM pics just to prove this old klipschter has been polked. Please excuse dangling wires and general state of disarray. I ain't done, yet!

lightman1

How do you keep the photos on the shelf? Two subs and all.... Some of the extra glue:D
Nice and simple set-up, thumbs up.
Court Jester

shadowofnight

Congrats on the speakers

Even though you said they were packed well , Did you check inside the box for that one corner piece of missing veneer ? To be honest, those are a lot larger then what I would call a chip....more like a flap :eek:

Other then the mentioned issue, they look very nice

jimbo1421

dougy wrote: »

Hey Jim, that's real nice of you. Here's some pics of the bad places:

Eeek! (my first reaction)

SON is right; find the missing pieces if you can.

Next: You will need to remove the damaged panel from the rest of the box. I think they are separate pieces but I don't know how they are attached. You might have to call customer service to find out. It may involve removing the mid range speakers to get at interior screws.

Picture 2 looks as if the veneer is just lifted. Can it be pressed back down or is a piece actually split off? If it is still intact the first thing to try is to iron the piece back down with clothing iron on low setting. This may reactivate the glue and make it sticky again. Tape it down quickly and tightly, wrapping the tape around the edge. Or better, devise a clamping block out of a piece of cove molding with a matching radius and clamp it. This is a low risk method; if it doesn't stick, no harm done.

If that doesn't work, find out from Polk CS what kind of adhesive they use for the veneer. If it is a solvent based contact cement you might be able to reactivate it with a little bit of lacquer thinner carefully brushed onto the mating surfaces. Allow it to dry then tape or clamp as before. If it is a water based contact cement or PVA (yellow glue) you can use the yellow glue instead, but carefully scrape away the old glue down to bare wood on both sides.

If you find the missing chips and they match up well with the break, you can glue down the loose veneer as described above, keeping glue off of the place where the chip goes, as best you can. Then glue on the missing piece, taping or clamping as before.

If you can't find the missing pieces, here is another method I have used. A well made veneer panel should have a balance veneer applied to the back side to keep the panel from warping. You can steal a small piece of this to make a patch by slipping a razor blade under the veneer and carefully lifting. Cut a piece oversize that looks like a good color match.

Use a flexible straight edge and Exacto knife to trim a straight line on the damaged section and trim your patch to match that line. The trim line should be somewhat angled away from the grain direction, not directly across the grain. Match the color and texture of the grain of the patch as best you can. Glue and clamp as before. Touch ups can be done with the fill sticks and markers that I mentioned earlier.

Then again, the better part of valor might be to see if Polk sells replacement panels, or have a good antique repair shop do the work.

Good luck,
Jim

dougy

Never one to wait and think things through, I plunged ahead and re-glued the veneer on the back side of the speaker. I used Super Glue wood glue. It looks just like Elmers and is supposed to be good for all wood to wood applications. I put'er on thick, using a craft brush to work it down next to where the orignal adhesive was still holding, and then mashed the veneer down to squeeze out the excess. I wiped that off with a damp cloth (it's water based -duh) and then started laying the 3M painters tape on, pulling the veneer down as tightly as I could. I let it set over night and all the next day 'til I got home from work. I then carefully pulled the tape off and...so far so good! The veneer is down snug from top to bottom. The remaining excess dried glue has been fairly easy to peel off for the most part, but I'm not done yet.

I do have one of the chips -the top one. I couldn't find the other one in the packing, but being on the bottom corner, at least it is not so noticable. I had already bought some cherry putty, so I may try that on the bottom, after I glue down the veneer and the top chip. At least if the putty doesn't look OK, I can just remove it and go to plan B. I don't know what that is yet, but I'm a little skeered to try the utility knife thing.

I was tempted to just try to rip all the side panels off and make some new ones out of solid oak, but then I decided -"I'm the decider!":rolleyes:- I'd attempt fixing the bad panel first (all the damage was on the left panel of the left speaker). I am still curious about how the panels are attached, in case I ever want to go that route.

Thanks again, Jim, for all the advice, and to all for the nice comments in spite of the veneer problem. BTW, has anyone else had veneer lifting issues with their speakers?

jimbo1421

Good work, dougy. Please post some pics of the repair when you are done. You can buy small amounts of veneer from Constantine's, both raw and with a backer.

http://www.constantines.com/

I think the veneer must have lifted before something snagged it and broke it off. Not very well bonded. On a good veneer job crunching a corner will not pull a larger area with it, just break the spot at the point of impact.

dougy

Well, I tried the cherry putty on the bottom chip, but the color was too light. I tried using furniture markers to darken it and did get a good match, but it doesn't really work on the putty -the next day it was gone- either absorbed or evaporated. So, my next plan of action will be to remove the putty and try to fill in the chipped spot with a finishing wood filler that will take stain. If that works satisfactorily, I'll get some "after" pics up.

I've also got my wire management routine done, so things are looking much better in that area -I hate clutter and tangled rat's nests of wire! Otherwise, only filling the stands with sand and blu-tacking the speakers to the stands remain.

...well almost - there's always placement tweaking! For instance, I think I'll put the subs back in the corners. They have higher output there and are practically as smooth as along the wall. Plus they look right there, if you know what I mean.

dougy

Repairs have been successful, in my opinion. (they look worse in picture
than in reality.) But, bottom chip is up for a redo! I'll remove putty and fill with wood filler instead. Then stain to match as close as I can.

jimbo1421

Good job. I hope you enjoy them for a long time.

Jim

MLZ

Dougy - I have an Onkyo A-9555 driving RTi8's (prequel to RTiA5) and am thinking on upgrading though to bookshelfs since my den is a fairly small 11 x 12 foot room

How happy are you with how the Onkyo matches up with the LSi9's? Have you thought about upgrading amplification?