Polk LSiM705 vs other floorstanding speakers near or under 2.5k

Hi!

I’m looking for some input concerning the overall quality of some of these speakers (2 ch. stereo : 80 music/20 movies). My budget is around the 2k/2.5k CAD, I prefer a new speaker as I want to be able to demo it in my room, and also because I can’t find anything interesting on Canucks Audio Mart right now (at least, within my taste and budget).

Here is what I could get:

Bigger 3 way tower speakers :
- Polk LSiM705 (2400$, maybe less... would probably wait for them to go near the 2k mark)
- B&W CM8 (2400$)
- Focal Chorus 726 (2000$)

Smaller tower speakers like:
- Totem Sttaf (2100$)
- Vienna Acoustic Bach Grand (1700$)
- Focal Chorus 716 (1700$)

Thing is smaller towers might not cut it as my living room will be kinda large (11x14 ft with some rear and side walls, but this is within a 450 sq ft open floor with the kitchen and dining room). I’m kinda tired of the tiny sound my LSi7 produce in such a large and sub optimal room. I liked them in my old living room, but now, I wish they were bigger. Small towers could be better, but still, they would most probably probably need a sub.

I’m not sure I want to go with bookshelf speakers as I would need some sturdy stands (200-300$ or more?) and a good subwoofer, which would roughly cost the same than bigger tower speakers. Plus, I do prefer the look of a tower, and I might not want to mess around with subwoofer placement.

Anyways, I’ve heard the LSiM705 in a less than optimal room (read Futureshop/Bestbuy kind of shop with no dedicated listening area). The room was a 15 ft x 15 ft area within the store with little to no walls except behind the speakers. The speakers were to able to give better bass, imaging and overall sound than my LSi7 do, but yeah, these are towers that cost 5 times as much as my little bookshelf speakers, so this is expected.

However, I was disappointed by the Midnight Mahogany finish: I thought it was brownish/purple, not completely dark with a very slight hint of purple… but the sound quality kinda made up for it. I was amazed, to say the least, and these were driven by a 50w per channel Marantz NR1604. I even tried the LSiM703 and they sounded incredible in less than stellar position (on a metal shelf and not in a dedicated room). So yeah, I have the LSiM705 as my benchmark now. I could also try them at home for 30 days and send them back if I’m not happy with them, thing I couldn’t do with others brands because they could only be bought from smaller shops with no return policy.

Anyways, there is not a lot of dealers around here and choice is somewhat limited. I would like to try the KEF offering in this price range, but there is no dealer around that carries this line, at least, not that I know of.

How do the Polk LSiM705 compare in term of built quality and overall sound quality to the rest of my small list? Considering that they are built in China, they must be a “better” deal in term of drivers quality, right? They are by far the heaviest in the group, too.

Thanks a lot!