Polk LSim 707 impressions?

I'm guessing Oct/Nov. but purely conjecture.

 

Yes, more bottom heavy.

 

The first time I heard them I was fairly impressed, but that was not at my house. I was given a pair to demo in my house where I noticed a disconnect between the mids and treble. I was then given another pair to demo with the same results. In speaking with a trusted audio friend who has different gear/room he heard the same thing. I did not hear that in the 705 or 707 even though they share the same basic components. I suspect it's the crossover.

 

Thanks. I plan to upgrade my bookshelf speakers at some point and want to keep an eye out. Sounds like, from what you say and a number of the amazon reviews, that the 703 is not where it's at.

 

Didn't mean to imply that the cherry color was actual paint. Dyes that are added to clear coat that is sprayed on, I would consider to be a "painting" type process.

Since you did bring this factoid to our attention in the other thread, I did want to bring this to the attention of the OP, least he might be thinking that the speakers he might decide to select are not real cherry wood. I for one, would not be a happy camper if I paid $4K for cherry speakers and found out that they have just been "colored".

Curious about the "most speakers" are done with this tinting clear coat process. None of my speakers are done this way. They are all wooden cabinets, either natural wood, stained wood or painted wood. Some do have a clear coat applied over the underlying finish. To the best of my knowledge, the LSiM line seems to be the only Polk speaker line that is finished this way. Their other premium loudspeakers are made with authentic wood finishes. Their less expensive speakers are covered in a nice vinyl covering that simulates wood.

What other speakers are you familiar with that use this same "tinting" process?

I would like to actually see the cherry LSiM line in person so that I could form my own opinion of how it looks. Could it be something that I could live with or even like, from an aesthetic aspect?

I have never seen or listened to the 705's to compare them. But, I would think that if you look at the 707's and the 705's, one is a smaller cabinet, with less drivers. The same thing is found in the Polk RTi speaker line and other manufacturer's do the same thing.

It's more than just a price point, it allows someone to better match the speaker to the size of the room. Since my listening room is about 450 sq. ft. the 707's provide enough drivers and speaker surface area to fill a room this large with sound. When you want to pressurize a larger room with bass, you need speaker surface area, the demands that deep bass places on a listening environment rises greatly as the room gets larger and larger.

Speakers like the 707's don't belong in smaller rooms. They are better served with the smaller and less bass heavy 705's.

Usually, speakers designed to produce the bass energies that are necessary to energize a large room, would be excessive and unbalanced in smaller rooms, which can make the speaker appear to be bass heavy.

I just turned down the volume on the other amps and muted the subs and there is no apparent excessive bass, they seem very well balanced.

Switching over to the Zu's, the music becomes louder and more dynamic. They are also more efficient, by a fair margin and the volume does have to be cut back a couple of notches to obtain the same SPL's. The Zu's seem to have a tighter bass signature than the Polk's.

 

I had not read the Amazon reviews until now. I only see two negative comments, one says bright treble, which I can assure you is not the case therfore you can ignore that one. The other negative review is so far off base that I tend to think that person had ulterior motives.

I've mentioned the disconnect to others who own them, but they do not hear it. Could be just the way my friend and I hear things as I know he hears like I do.

 

Nah, I don't read it or TAS despite having continuous subscriptions for the past 15 years so what do I know? In August's issue they reviewed speakers costing 14 and 38K. Yes, they have reviewed cheaper speakers the average guy can afford but they usually short shrift the reviews and oftentimes eschew any testing by JA. They did however test the Emotiva which the average guy can afford at 999.

To me it's much more surprising when a low cost speaker can be built that sounds excellent, than for a 50, 100 or 600K speaker that sounds great.

I come from a time when almost everyone and their mother had at least one stereo in the house but nowadays you'll be lucky to find a stereo in one home out of 10 and I think that is being very generous. I know that I am alone among every person I know that has an audio system here in AZ, except for the musicians I know who generally have old stereos.

I gave a neighbor some older copies of TAS and Stereophile and when I next saw him he just shook his head in disbelief at the prices of equipment being reviewed. He laughed.

If this hobby is to expand it needs publications, hardcopy and online, that review less expensive equipment like Stereo Review and High Fidelity did in the 60s - 80s, notwithstanding their review policies. Their reviews influenced me in my purchase of equipment, and equipment that I as a middle class guy could afford to buy.

 

Could be the room and equipment too.

 

As stated, we have different rooms and gear.

 

Currently I own both the RTiA9 and RTiA7 models and I have to say the comments by @F1nut and others concerning tonal balance of the LSiM707 & LSiM705 bear a striking similarity to my own experiences between the A9 & A7: The A7 presents (IMO) a better overall balance between bass and the rest of the spectrum. This is not to suggest the A9 lacking by any means but overall I think the A7 is the better way to go for most music and it makes do with less power.

Based on this and the comments here, there's a good chance the 705 may be the better way to go as well. If more concerned about powerful and authoratative bass, the A9 (and probably the 707) will deliver in spades - when supplied with the right amplification.

 

Reviewing "affordable" gear isn't the answer because as you noted, most homes do not have a dedicated 2 channel rig these days. Those that do tend to have the means to acquire higher end gear. Therefore, the reviews are targeted to the most likely audience.

 

But many people who are interested just don't have the means to buy expensive stuff and those who want to get started buy the mags to see what to buy and are shocked at what this hobby can cost putting them off. I have met people who have told me as much.

Moreover, you need a big freakin' house/room for most of the equipment reviewed as if the cost of equipment wasn't enough. Smaller homes need smaller speakers and except for some smaller uber speakers they aren't covered enough. Yeah there are some reviews but not enough especially if you're an apartment/coop/condo dweller as I was for 30 years.

Do you really think a majority of these magazine readers can really afford this over the top equipment? I sincerely doubt it. And those who can afford it don't read the mags as was related to me by more than one dealer here in AZ.

 

Well, the best speakers companies are never top subwoofer companies. One exception...can't remember. Paradigm, perhaps. Subwoofers are special beasts that really need tremendous focus and testing, it is a very different skill set than designing full range speakers.

They incorporate sugar can stalk protein into their diaphragms for a sweeter sound.

Ok, not for realz. I haven't heard these Polks, so the most I can say as a loudspeaker design engineer is I have a long-running respect for Polk engineering. As for "Great for the money" I believe reviews of something like the aforementioned cheap Pioneer mean "SO inexpensive and the sound is decent." When used at higher prices like the Polks, I think it tends to mean "these things have sound quality equal to a number of significantly more expensive speakers."

If you were in America, I'd say to try Crutchfield, but I'm not sure who sells Polk up in Canada, or if they have that annual sale up there.

Whatever speaker you get, if via mail be sure the return policy is clear. Your particular hearing may simply not prefer the sound of a particular "better-than-your-Energys" speaker in your particular room. Along those same lines, don't judge immediately. Our hearing does get used to the sound of something, there is a kind of adaptation time (that's my take on "break-in").

 

A lot of readers simply enjoy reading about high end equipment even though they don't necessarily have any intentions of purchasing it - whether it is within their means to do so or not.

 

Perhaps you should express your views to the publications in question. I'm sure you will get a well thought out response.

I know people who can afford high end gear that do read those publications. I also know people who read them despite the fact they can't afford much of it. Heck, there's a lot of it that I can't afford and I still enjoy seeing what's out there. The high end, cutting edge gear does tend to trickle down to the more affordable gear, so I, for one, am grateful that audio companies keep pushing the envelope. Why shouldn't it be celebrated in print?

 

I've always figured reading about oddly expensive products in HiFi mags was in the same vein as reading about Lambos in car mags.

 

gonna be a significantly bigger market for lambos and ferraris than 40k cables and 100k turntables.

 

Sign up for their newsletter. I receive one or two promotional emails a month. The 50% off sale on the high end models seems to be a bi-annual event.

 

I'd imagine the same percentage of those who enjoy reading about Ferraris who actually buy one roughly similar as that for those reading about high end turntables and cables.

 

How 'bout them Polk LSim 707s?

 

Speaking of the "cherry veneer" on the LSiM's: Personally I think it looks like wood that's been dipped in high-gloss plastic. Like the dashboard trim on a new Cadillac. It's very similar to the finish on PSB's flagship Imagine line.

That being said the LSiM's sounded good, but I only heard them in a retail environment.

 

There are plenty reviews out there on these speakers that I think will give you some idea of the sound quality. As mentioned above, some of those reviewers thought they sounded better that much higher priced boutique speakers.

In my opinion, since Polk is a larger company with the financial capabilities than most of the boutique speaker companies, they can price their high end speakers accordingly (even discount them), produce higher quantities (faster) and therefore make money on volume, plus the company has years of R&D and monies to back it. The boutique companies can't do this like Polk can. Hell if I hand build one unit per month (just an example), I can't price it like a company building 100s per month.

Too many people think that because something cost more, it has to be better. Not always the case. While some of us just don't think something is worth a certain cost, no matter how good it's supposed to be. We have certain reality limits.

I can tell you my set produces great bass, mids and clean highs. I am not one who have tons of audiophile type adjectives to describe the sound, but I can say these speakers sound great in my home with or without my subs. I can crank them and they don't break loose at all. I've used the Monolith 7 (200w/ channel amp) to push these speakers. At the moment, I am using one Behringer A500 in bridge mono (500w) for each speaker and they just sound great. They don't break a sweat.

I have no experience with other speakers - not one who change often. I've only used Polk speakers. I upgraded from the RTi10s - big step up in sound quality. I see where folks just dismiss the Polks for reasons I don't know, but 707s have received very positive reviews.

Not sure if this will help, but here's a video on these speakers. Again, just google "LSiM 707 reviews" and you will find more than enough reviews out there. I got mine during the 1/2 off sale in April from Crutchfield.

 

Thank you very much for that thought out and comprehensive post.

Would be curious to hear from someone who's compared these to similarly priced boutique options. I have a pair of Ryan R620 on my radar as well as I am a sucker for a good 2-way. I'd imagine the Ryan's don't go quite a deep, nor do they sound quite as full (the 707s I ascertain could sound too full in some rooms, mine included) but I wonder if they can throw a similar soundstage with better driver integration (being that there's less of them).

 

It's odd that you would say that because the clear coat on the LSiM's only comes in a satin sheen.

 

I wouldn't call it satin finished. The marketing department can call it whatever it likes but I'd say it's on the high-gloss side