The Demo CD...you know who you are!

[Frank Z]

I told the "Usual Suspects" that I'd start another thread for them to post their findings on the Demo CD I sent them. So here it is!

This is the brief note that I sent with each CD, it kinda explains the reason for a little Lsi-15 comparo! Soory if anyone feels leftout, but my experiment was limited to what I own at the present time.

Here’s the deal. I would like your honest opinion about the capabilities of your Lsi-15’s to faithfully reproduce the enclosed CD without a subwoofer. As I stated in my PM, Jerry Rausch gave this CD to me some time ago, and I have no idea who the various artist are. I have used this demo on numerous occasions and have a lot of people comment on the quality of the sound as well as my 15’s ability to reproduce the lower frequencies without my sub’s assistance.

Some of the tracks do not contain a great deal of bass, but those that do are very impressive. Track #1 is nothing more than a Triangle being struck and is very clear. Track #2 is a Bass drum being thumped a few times, be careful with your volume on this one. The rest are….. well I’ll let that be a surprise!

Whether you agree or disagree really doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things. Just enjoy it!

Thanks for being part of my little experiment. Send me a PM after you’ve had a chance to listen and maybe I’ll start another thread on this subject.

FYI , So far the confirmed test subjects are Fireshoes, Polkatese, Pjdami, Phuz &
ATCVenom , and yes I even extended to the offer to one other member although he has not responded as of 9-24-03.



So have at it fellas...lets hear your opinions, findings, or thoughts concerning tracks 1-16!

[polkatese]

since I am not really in a place to do critical review tonight, I'll save it for tomorrow. But, one thing I want to comment, that demo cd is one hell of a recording! I've been using it back and forth between the 9 and 15, and enjoy it very much! thanks again, Frank!

Now, Track #3, I swear it sounded as it came from H Ford's "Blade Runner" or is it? may need to take out my old dusty laser disc to answer this question, but may be you can confirm it for me.

[Frank Z]

Polkatese,
You're welcome! Enjoy!!

Wish I could help, but I really don't know who the artists are. Track 3 does make me want to go outside and tell the neighbors dog to shut the hell up though! Have you heard it in the background?

I think one of the tracks (#12) is by Robbie Robertson, but I'm not certain.

[Zero]

Frank Z,

Received the copy today. Thanks.

I stated awhile back ago that I would be unable to give this cd a just review with the LSi's, till my sources come in. Fingers crossed, tomorrow I may make a purchase and by next week, I will hope to have my stuff in.

That being said, I just had to give this CD a run on something. I opted to use the computer rig. Consisting of a built in realtek soundcard, monster interconnect, ixos wiring, rotel , a pair of R15 speakers and a psw202..

You never asked for a review entailing this rig, so I wont give one. But I must say - the recordings are indeed of excellent quality. The bass was nothing the psw202 couldnt handle with absolute ease...

I am particulary amazed by the saxophone tracks. Truelly spectacular...even my R15's played with amazing authority. Just can't wait to get my chance with the LSi-15's.

Thanks for the wonderfull cd. I lost most of my deep bass and high quality recordings in a reformat, but I do want you to show you Evanescence's "Eternal". I believe the quality is on par with the cd you gave me, and will test out a speaker rather vigorously in the bass department.

Just let me know if your interested..

Regards,

Sean

[Frank Z]

Sean,
No sweat, post when you can. Thanks for offer, but I think I've already got it. Have you considered borrowing a receiver from work to power your 15's for awhile?;)

[Frank Z]

Come on fellas, lets hear it.

Phuz, Pjdami, I know you got it.

Fireshoes, did the CD ever make it to your mailbox?

[RuSsMaN]

Hey Frank, on a side note - thought you might enjoy this quote....

It's from ATC right after he got the 9's (and right before he blew them up) and a KLH 15" sub he was very fond of.

"This (KLH sub) is not meant to blend with the 9's. The 9's provide me with more then enough bass for most of the music I constantly listen to. The KLH is just there for hip hop and other heavy bass tracks -when Im in the mood to crank some volume...."

Cheers,
Russ

[TroyD]

I thought it was a pair of KLH towers that he bought that he was digging.....hell, mofo been through more gear than a person can keep up with.

BDT

[RuSsMaN]

Yeah, I remember that one. He went on his $300 KLH shopping spree, only to be talked out of it once he posted.

My fav quote there was:

"I have extreme high standards for quality, and low end -used- B&W, Polk, Infinity just dont cut it for me. If I have expectations of decent sound then I become incredibly intolerant of every flaw."

That being said, he went out and bought what could have possibly been THE worst speakers (klh towers) for sale today (at least top ten).

Funny to look back on those things.

[Frank Z]

It's all a learning process I guess. Hopefully Sean will be more than impressed with his 15's once he is able to put some decent amplification into them.

[Frank Z]

Hello Hello Hello

Anyone here here here?

Guess no one's gonna reply. Bummer.

[pjdami]

Hey Frank,

I haven't forgotten about you buddy. You were very kind in mailing us the demo cds. Thanks again. I refuse to allow that effort go to waste!

I just got back from a much needed vacation a couple of days ago and have done some listening mostly to get familiar with the music. I will post when I get a chance to demo some more so that I am sure.

I'm sure when I post my results that the others will join in. I may just have to be the icebreaker!

Paul

[phuz]

Frank sorry but I won't be able to reply and give a full report for a little while. I *will* do it when i have the chance though.

The CD IS GREAT! Thanks.

[pjdami]

Okay Frank. Here goes. I finally got my demo on last night.

Equipment used: Rotel RSX 1055 preamp output stage, Rotel RB 1070 amp, Rotel RCD 961 cd player. LSi 15 mains and PSW 350 sub.

Two channel mode for testing. Alternating between sub on and no sub on. With no sub, LSi 15 speaker selected as "large" on the receiver. With sub, LSi 15 set as "small", sub "yes", crossover set at 60 Hz. Subwoofer calibrated 2 db "hotter" than the LSi 15 mains to correct for the Radio Shack low frequency readout on an analog RS decibel meter.

Volume set to 50 / 90 on the Rotel which played to an average of 80 - 85 db continuously from the listening position with peaks over 90 db.

In summary, the LSi 15 played admirably; however, my personal preference is to have the sub playing as well. The bass has more weight to it with the sub on and the bass resonates a little longer after bass notes with more weight to the sound.

Track #1 - Some high frequency stuff. Sounds great on the Vifa tweeters. No bass on this track.

Track #2 - Bass drum being hit. LSi 15 a little thin sounding playing alone. With the sub there is definitely deeper bass and rumble that lingers around longer after the drum is hit.

Track #3 - Some Pink Floyd sounding song with dogs barking in background, peoples voices mumbling, electric guitar riffs. Sounds very good and detailed on the 15s. Not much bass difference between sub and no sub.

Track #4 - Some guy mumbling and drum beats. I didn't notice much difference between sub on or off here.

Track #5 - Good bass on this song. Not much vocals but people humming. I can definitely tell that the bass is deeper with the sub on and there is more weight. Almost "boomy" at times with the PSW 350. Interesting about 3:11 minutes into the song there is a solid continuos bass note that the 350 attempts to pressurize the room with. With just the LSi 15, pressurizing the room just doesn't happen at all.

Track #6 - Starts off with some bass. Good rumble with the sub on. Rumbel that hits and resonates for about 1 - 2 seconds. No rumble with just the LSi 15.

Track #7 - Not much discernable difference in bass here.

Track #8 - same. Mostly flutes/horns/and saxophone i think.

Track #9 - The bass notes at about 1:10 seem to have the same weight to them sub or no sub.

Track #10 - Sax and piano. No difference here.

Track #11 - Female and then male vocals. Can definitely hear some boominess with the sub on and more weight to the bass.

Track #12 - Not much difference here; sub or no sub.

Track #13 - LSi 15 held its own on this track. Slightly more weight to the bass with the sub but not by much. Bass seems to get stronger at the end of the song.

Track #14 - Some kind of Jimi Hendrix remix / cover song. Electric guitar. Not much bass on this song. Sounds the same either way.

Track #15 - Can definitely hear more bass at the beginning of the song with the sub on.

Track #16 - about the same here as well sub or no sub.

Thanks Frank for a great and clean sounding demo cd. It really does sound great with the LSi's. I wish I had a "real" sub like a SVS, Velo, Hsu, etc. to demo with and compare. The LSi 15 actually has a lower FR than the PSW 350 on paper; but in the real world the PSW 350 does reproduce lower notes and moves more air than the LSi 15. Its actually borderline "boomy" with the PSW 350 to me on some tracks.

[Frank Z]

Cool! Thanks for getting your review up for us. Hopefully the rest of the Lsi15 Chowder Head Crew will get their butts in gear soon!;)

I'm going to hold off on commenting until everyone has had a chance to post their review. Thanks again for getting it done!

[Zero]

I have tomorrow off..... will do the review then.

I dont have a sub to compare with................... so it will be rather limited.


Regards,

Sean

[Frank Z]

You know...There are probably a few people reading this thread wondering what the hell we're talking about.

[polkatese]

What happened on Polk forum, STAY on polk forum ;)

this chowder head has done it, and is waiting for the medication to kick in...(to start writing, that is)

[hoosier21]

"Jerry Rausch gave this CD to me some time ago"

Jerry, what is this CD?

[Zero]

Its been an unpleasent day here at the house, electronic wise. I turned on the computer in the morning and what sounded like the harddrive, began to make funky, high paced whirling noises. Very loud stuff. Generally its a sign of a drive thats about to die, but I checked to see if there was a wire getting in the way of the cooling fans, or anything of the sort. This drives not even 5 fucking months old, ah well. So I go down, get a new harddrive. Plop her in, same issue! $@!!*!!

So in a moment of brilliance, I disconnected what I thought was the fan. Turned out to be the grounds... And damned if I know how it was set up before, nor do I have the patience now to get it back to the way it was, just for the sake of getting my PC back up and running.

Frank, it's coming, but now I got too much shit to do. Manuals everywhere, sda's taking up space, its a freaking disaster area.

[Zero]

I will just echo Phuz's statements. Frank gave a few of us a demo CD at his expense, to test out our LSi-15's. The goal, as I understood it, was to test the bass capabilities of the speakers. A very generous offer to say the least.

I am using the Sony AVD S50ES receiver. Speakers: LSi-15's. Set to small and large. No sub. SDA's were also used for the tests.

Without further delay, here are my findings:

Track # 1: Chimes? No bass. A good, short test on the tweeters. Very clear.

Track # 2: A bass drum being smacked. Good impact and thud. SDA's best portrayed the slam and accuracy here.

Track # 3: Guitar work. Great song. Nothing to say here, the pluck of the guitar is just too much for the tweets to handle. It just distorts...Thats with every speaker I have used this track on so far.

Track # 4: Asian in influence. Guy mumbling/praying. Good impact on the bass drums. Lsi's had a lot of volume and force, the SDA's had greater accuracy, sounded more like drums, vice, a thud.

Track # 5: A slowish Techno song with chorus? It digs pretty low on occasion. The Lsi-15's sounded very thin on the lowest of note's. The SDA's missed the lowest one completely. If the speakers were set on large, it got a tad boomy.

Track # 6: Damn near the same riff over and over again. Good recoding quality. Nothing to report there.

Track # 7: A modern middle-eastern song. Sounds like something that belongs to a game. Great song to work out woofer excersion, pretty loud bass. Lsi-15's had no trouble. SDA's performed admirably.

Track # 8: A great relaxing track. Good bass, instruments sounded pretty real. SDA's excelled here.

Track # 9: Painfull to listen to. In fact, I didnt even make it through the song.

Track # 10: Ah, my savior is here! This track is absolutely stunning. Not for its bass, but for its sheer realism. While the piano sounded a tad thin, the Sax was something to behold. I've never once heard an instrument like that, come to life. It was right THERE, in the room... SDA's did a good job, the LSi-15's clearly took it to the next level. Excellent stuff.

Track # 11: Good pop song. Reminds me of the early 90's. Very energetic, the main vocal has a deep voice. Really tests the synergy of the drivers on the LSi's. They handled it with grace. When speakers were set to large, the bass was boomy. Everything was good when it was set back to small.

Track # 12: Same group/band. Tropical influence, same style. Still not sure what the hell Boogie street is. Sounds like a great place, in a sinfull/trapped sorta way.

Track # 13: Unexciting track, till you get to the middle. Thereon it takes the form of an 80's like song done on Herion. Great detail and dynamics.

Track # 14: A guy with a guitar (forgot the type of guitar, bass guitar??). A very quick song. The bass is quick too. Thankfully, the LSi's were up to the challenge. They had no problems keeping pace.

Track # 15: A good jazz song. The recording quality, again, is terrific. Really gives you the mood of being in a small lounge room, watching the artists on stage just jam out.

Track # 16: I could only play this on the computer. My cd player would not play it for some reason. No review to be given here.

Ultimately, I feel this CD presents some EXCELLENT demo material, specifically on the tenth track. If you want to WOW your friends, this CD has some tracks that are garaunteed to get that reaction. While I dont think it did a great job of giving the LSi-15's some real low or heavy bass notes to handle, it is a great cd to test the accuracy of your system.

Thanks for the opportunity Frank. Great stuff!