gregure
09-19-2004, 04:54 PM
Set foot in a Fry's Electronics store for the first time the other day. Not sure if the ones in CA are similar, but the one in Tempe AZ has a whole room dedicated to Polk Audio speakers. It was a dream come true. Made me wish I had a lot more money than I do. Went there to audition the Lsi 9/7's for a friend, and I was blown away.
They had the full Rti line, the full Lsi line and the full Monitor line on display, running all of the demos off a HK 7300. Even Fry's doesn't sell separates that I could see, but the HK did a great job, even w/ the Lsi's, although I wouldn't run that line off a receiver.
I just stood in there for awhile, watching "Driven," a crappy movie, but the surround sound was pretty cool. I asked the sales rep to demo the LSi series w/ 9's for mains, and the sounds was very impressive. He then demoed the 9's alone for me playing the live version of Hotel California, and the acoustic guitar intro sounded amazing. I am definitely a fan of the LSi speakers. No plans to upgrade right now, but eventually I'd like to go that route, and I will be recommending the LSi's to anyone I know who has some coin to invest in a system.
Funny thing, the 9's are a lot bigger than I thought, while the LSiC is a lot smaller than I thought. I was expecting it to be as big as the CSi5, but it isn't. The black laquer finish on the LSiFX and LSiC were very attractive.
On a more discerning note, the subs did not sound very good. They sounded over-driven and they bottomed out a lot, even the largest of the subs. They did not have a LSiW from what I could see, but it's obvious that the constant strain put on these display subs had diminished their performance. Only servded to solidify my resolve to use HSU or SVS over Polk subs.
Anyone who has Fry's nearby who hasn't gone in should, just for the fun experience of seeing the whole Polk product lines display. It was awesome.
They had the full Rti line, the full Lsi line and the full Monitor line on display, running all of the demos off a HK 7300. Even Fry's doesn't sell separates that I could see, but the HK did a great job, even w/ the Lsi's, although I wouldn't run that line off a receiver.
I just stood in there for awhile, watching "Driven," a crappy movie, but the surround sound was pretty cool. I asked the sales rep to demo the LSi series w/ 9's for mains, and the sounds was very impressive. He then demoed the 9's alone for me playing the live version of Hotel California, and the acoustic guitar intro sounded amazing. I am definitely a fan of the LSi speakers. No plans to upgrade right now, but eventually I'd like to go that route, and I will be recommending the LSi's to anyone I know who has some coin to invest in a system.
Funny thing, the 9's are a lot bigger than I thought, while the LSiC is a lot smaller than I thought. I was expecting it to be as big as the CSi5, but it isn't. The black laquer finish on the LSiFX and LSiC were very attractive.
On a more discerning note, the subs did not sound very good. They sounded over-driven and they bottomed out a lot, even the largest of the subs. They did not have a LSiW from what I could see, but it's obvious that the constant strain put on these display subs had diminished their performance. Only servded to solidify my resolve to use HSU or SVS over Polk subs.
Anyone who has Fry's nearby who hasn't gone in should, just for the fun experience of seeing the whole Polk product lines display. It was awesome.