LSiM707 and LSiM703 Demo Ready

[Clipdat]

Second this, except for up north - SF Bay Area!

I'd like to get on the 703 demo list if they ever make their way back thru Southern California.

[Conradicles]

Hey Cody who gets these next?

[codyc1ark]

I think Travis, I need to email him today or tomorrow. It would work best if we could meet in or outside of Boone on a Friday, but I'll just have to see his details.

[scottyboy76]

I can see him smilin right now.

[TNHNDYMAN]

Cody- try to call me between 9-11pm any evening and we can discuss logistics of handing these off and in what order. If it's easier for Conradicles to get them next, I'm fine with waiting and then trying to get them to Scottyboy after my turn.

What's your impressions of them so far??

[codyc1ark]

Cody- try to call me between 9-11pm any evening and we can discuss logistics of handing these off and in what order. If it's easier for Conradicles to get them next, I'm fine with waiting and then trying to get them to Scottyboy after my turn.

What's your impressions of them so far??

Good deal, we'll figure it out. I have to post my impressions?!?! To sum it up so far, I've been wide open at work, and haven't had a whole lot of time with these to do any critical. But, they do sound great. I'm working on getting something together for everyone, it's mostly going to be how I think these sound vs. the LSi9's. The 703's do somethings better, but I can't say they do everything better. I need to tinker with some setup to be completely fair, and I should have a few nights this week to do that.
Dan said you we're wanting to hear a decent sub the other day on the phone, so if you wanted to make a day trip down here I have an Outlaw LFM-1+ you could get your ears on, just another idea.

[brgman]

Who runs the list nowadays?
I'd like to hear these suckers one day.

[EndersShadow]

Dan said you we're wanting to hear a decent sub the other day on the phone, so if you wanted to make a day trip down here I have an Outlaw LFM-1+ you could get your ears on, just another idea.

HMMMM..... interesting. Call me when you get a chance, got something to throw out as an option as well. Just whenever your not busy at work .

[bklynNupe]

Any chance of these coming back the NYC region within the next few months? I would really like to hear these!

I reached out to Polk to find a authorized dealer. They told me J&R music world was the only dealer in my area. (The Polk website search is not accurate for my area.) J&R only had the 707?s crammed into listening room. They were connected to an Onkyo avr, the didn?t sound so great as you could imagine. Apparently they had some 703?s that sold out right away. However, the sales guy said they would not be getting anymore Polks because they are afraid to get stuck with any stock. Overall their listen areas felt like more like a pawn shop rather than a show room. They?ve really gone downhill for mid-fi. I remember buying my first Polk product from J&R. The sales guy?s sentiments were that they were setting them up to fail.

[codyc1ark]

As far as I know, which isn't much, but if you guys can get another NE run if you can get a list together of four or five established Polkies you can get another demo. I don't think any other region has spoke up of trying to do anything. I think they will be in the NC/GA area until after the first of the year. I'm not sure that favors you guys, because it'll be getting awfully close to tax season! If you can drum up some interest, PM Jon_S and I'm sure he will be more than happy to help you out. Alright, time to go throw a couple of tracks at the 703's!

[xsmi]

Any word of the 707's coming to the mid-west? Anyone within 2hrs driving distance of toledo oh with a pair they're willing to let a polkie get his ears on?

[Inspector 24]

Let's get em to Utah, that's half way!

[xsmi]

Let's get em to Utah, that's half way!

I thought that pair went back to the warehouse.

[rromeo923]

Interested in the 703s when they make there way back to md. Thanks!

[Upstatemax]

Any chance of these coming back the NYC region within the next few months? I would really like to hear these!

I reached out to Polk to find a authorized dealer. They told me J&R music world was the only dealer in my area. (The Polk website search is not accurate for my area.) J&R only had the 707?s crammed into listening room. They were connected to an Onkyo avr, the didn?t sound so great as you could imagine. Apparently they had some 703?s that sold out right away. However, the sales guy said they would not be getting anymore Polks because they are afraid to get stuck with any stock. Overall their listen areas felt like more like a pawn shop rather than a show room. They?ve really gone downhill for mid-fi. I remember buying my first Polk product from J&R. The sales guy?s sentiments were that they were setting them up to fail.

If they head back to NY, I'm in for the demo!

I would love to see how these compair to me LSi 9's.

[codyc1ark]

703'S ARE GONE! TNHNDYMAN has them now, nice meeting you! I'll try and get some thoughts up this weekend.

[TNHNDYMAN]

Nice to meet Cody in Boone NC today and was a great day for driving over the mountains between TN and NC. Look forward to setting these up this weekend and getting some tunes going thru them. Thanks Polk, Doro, Jon S, and all the others who make this forum such a great place and experience!

[Geoff4rfc]

Did these babies happen to already grace the northwest and I just missed them? Orrrrrrrrr is there a chance they'll be heading this way?

[scottyboy76]

Nice to meet Cody in Boone NC today and was a great day for driving over the mountains between TN and NC. Look forward to setting these up this weekend and getting some tunes going thru them. Thanks Polk, Doro, Jon S, and all the others who make this forum such a great place and experience!

Awesome, did not know they were in the trav mans hands.

Not only interested in his and codys impressions, but one step closer.

[Jon_S]

How did they sound over the weekend, TNHNDYMAN? Hope you're enjoying the demo!

[codyc1ark]

Alright, I've had some time back with my 9's and penciled a few thoughts out over the weeks that I had the 703's. I'll keep this brief, as I've already talked to a few members about my thoughts.

First off, let me say that the 703's are EXTREMELY pleasing to the eye, a very nice looking speaker. The finish is great, although I'll ask Travis to find the factory flaw in the finish now that he has them. It's there, I promise, look hard! The magnetic grills rock, why doesn't every speaker have this? Simple enough to do, and the relief of never having to worry about a broken grille peg is worth it to me. Just another bonus to the great finish on the speakers. Packaging was great, I loved the insert design. I would like to see a side by side in person cut away of both, I feel like the 9's had a more solid feel when doing the 'knuckle test'. The binding posts we're great, the wire was great versus cheep copper jumpers.

I tried these in more than a few placings, I'm not sure they we're friendly to my room. I believe the 703's would have sounded better in a larger room, although the placement I ended up liking the most worked well. After many tries, I felt these liked a very minimal toe, but they did enjoy some. When I say some, I mean just that, a little, a few degrees at most. Placement was about eight inches from the wall.

As far as the attributes that I look for in a speaker, the 9's bested them. Don't get me wrong, the 703's are a great sounding speaker. My feeling was that for a dual purpose speaker, doing 50/50, or more HT go with the 703's. If your looking for a better two channel speaker the 9's are where it's at. So both have compromises in my opinion.

I'll start with the 703's, and what they did really well. Overall, a very smooth sounding speaker. Great bass response, great mids, and a nice sparkle to the top. Everything I played through them, either in two channel or 2.1, they took, and loved every second of it. They we're fantastic in HT, anyone with a LSiC and considering switching to the M line, don't be afraid to add the M's before you can upgrade your center. Good match between the lines, most likely to the similar tweeter. Just like with the 9's I was surprised at times with the bass from the speakers, I think with a good integrated these would be great for a small system. I'm also happy with the fact that I would be comfortable running these off of an AVR, at lease a beefy one.

The areas I feel like the 703's lacked, IMO, are the two most important for me. Imaging and soundstage. The 9's defiantly gave more in that area. I can pinpoint sounds better, and the depth to the sound was better as well. I'm not sure this was a placement issue, like I said I tried more than enough placement options with the 703's and they may excel in a more well suited room. I feel like my results in these areas are backed up by many previous reviews of the 9's, and this is where Polk hit their mark on the line in this area.

I guess in conclusion, if I was more interested in strictly an HT system and bookies, I would be all over the 703's. However, I spend more of my time with music, and I really enjoy my 9's. I would really to get my ears on some modded 9's. I know the 9's are not my end all be all speaker, I already know the speaker I would like to go to next, but I really think we're all chasing a dogs tail in this hobby. I'm jealous of the members that found the setup and speaker for them, I know I haven't had enough experience in his hobby to be there, but hopefully someday.

Feel free to bounce any questions off of me about my feelings, I'm more than happy to have a nice discussion about it. Here is the gear used..

Pioneer SC-25
Adcom GFA-7000 amp

Pioneer Elite DV-47Ai (For two-channel and SACD playback) Two-channel Emo RCA's. (Thanks Bob!)
Oppo BDP-83 (Blu-Ray/DVD) Random HDMI
SBT - Streaming two-channel (I really can't count this)

Belkin PF-60
Velo SMS-1

MIT-IC's
Canare speaker wire

LSi9/C
LSiM 703
Mirage OMD-5 surrounds
Outlaw LFM-1+

[scottyboy76]

Honest thorough review, thanks.

Looking forward to getting my ears on them, and travis sharing his thoughts.

[TNHNDYMAN]

Guys I haven't had as much time listening as I'd like. Alot going on at home and some extended family health issues that have not allowed me to rerun Audyssee or do any critical listening. So far mainly some TV watching, blu ray of the latest Spider Man movie and some tunes.

Bass response is unbelievable to me for bookies. Granted I've not heard the LSi series so I can't compare to 7's or 9's. I do not have any suitable stands so I am using a pair of KLH23 about 24" tall as stands which puts the tweeter about 34"- close to ear level for me on the couch.

Placement is 7' apart, off back wall 8-12" and sitting close to 7' away. Looks are very elegant with a nice finish. I'd like to see the darker shade as it would go with my furnishings better most likely. The grills are sweet. Not sure if the jumper wire is factory or if one of the demo guys put it in. Looks to be about 12 or 10 guage.

Using Onkyo 706 as pre with Adcom 5400 supplying the current. Sources are a Denon 2910 universal player for cd and sacd's and a ps3 for blu ray. I've not streamed any pandora thru them as of yet. RCA's are audiquest sidewinders with Kimber Kable speaker wire.

Bass is great. Mid are lush and smooth. Highs are a little harsh to my ears. It may be the adcom. I'm going to swap out to a Rotel 981 amp later this week and try an adcom pre to get the onkyo out of the chain. They don't fill the room with sound like the 2.3TL's do obviously but I think unless you have a really large room they would do great up to a point. My room is not nor will I ever be able to properly setup the big SDA's so I've not heard them at their potential unfortunately. They are stock as well.

I wish I had a spare $1800 and I'd snap up the pair of 707's in the for sale section and drive to Wilmington tomorrow. Some people seem to feel the 705's are the sweet spot in the lineup but I don't have any dealers close to do an audition. I'll do some more listening and share my thoughts in the next week or two that I have them. I'll be talking to Scottyboy soon about maybe coming to my place for a visit and pick these up for his demo period.

The bottom line for now is that I like them enough that I am definately interested in buying a pair of these speakers. Very, very, impressed....

[EndersShadow]

Travis - those jumpers are stock. I liked the new binding posts and jumpers very much as well.

[Conradicles]

Don't forget me before they make it to the ga polkies...

[TNHNDYMAN]

Haven't forgotten about you Eric. Just was trying to work something out with Scott coming up during the holidays. You 2 are next in line and I don't know if it matter who goes first as long the next leg is oked with Jon S. We can take the particulars to PM and or email with Jon and figure out what the next steps are. I'd still like to have a couple weeks with them before they go if possible.

[scottyboy76]

Whatever makes geographical sense,as far as the least travel and such, what part of the n.c. are you in conrad.

To tell the truth, my old brain had forgotten about you being in the mix.

Travis, take your time, you, like the rest of us have waited quite awhile for this, whatever you guys work out between yourselves and jon is fine with us.

Would still love to get together with travis and his deb soon, but seeing as its about a 5 hour drive, one way, its going to depend a lot on debs health,the condition of both our backs , and whether a trip to the grove park inn for a romantic couple days can be worked in to the trip, instead of just a dedicated 10 hours driving and trying to have a nice visit to boot.

[TNHNDYMAN]

Urdu Poetry- Really??

Loving these speakers. Swapped out the Onkyo as the pre and am now using ScottyBoy's old Adcom GTP 450 and it made a nice positive differance. The Onkyo was running out of steam with the phono pre going thru it's tape input but the Adcom has more headroom for some reason. I'm not sure why that would be since both are just source switches basically going into the same amp. Anyone able to explain to me why this is?

[scottyboy76]

Urdu Poetry- Really??

Loving these speakers. Swapped out the Onkyo as the pre and am now using ScottyBoy's old Adcom GTP 450 and it made a nice positive differance. The Onkyo was running out of steam with the phono pre going thru it's tape input but the Adcom has more headroom for some reason. I'm not sure why that would be since both are just source switches basically going into the same amp. Anyone able to explain to me why this is?

Because, before selling it to you, I put the jamma which is mamma on it, simple enough.

And by the way, urdu poetry yes!!!!

[David R]

Still waiting for the LSIM 705/707 here in Los Angeles.