LSI15's

[Scout4]

I am new to this forum but a 15 year veteran of Polk, I need help with the set up of my LSi's, they seem to be out of balance depending on the recording.
I bought the LSi's originally for my HT which consists of an HK AVR8000, Pioneer Elite DVD, and various other Polks to complete the 5.1. As time went on I got bored with HT and decided to set up a 2 channel room.
I moved the LSi's in and replaced them with some older Polks I had. The 2 Channel set up consists of Musical Fidelity A5 int., Denon DVD 2200 Multi format, the VPI Scout TT with a Clearaudio Aurum Beta S MM Cart. All cableing is from a British company called QED, and it is the Qunex 3, and QED speaker wire (biwired). When I listen to Nora Jones it's like I am there, the new Who's next release on Classic Vinyl is Awesome, but I put on other CD's and it's like the balance went 70/30 to the left channel. Is this common? I never used to play in this higher end stuff so I don't have a reference to compare to. Is it the LSi's? Help!

[Frank Z]

Sounds like a set up issue. Are youre speakers pulled into the room...away from the back and side walls? How about toe-in, it's critical with the LSi's for proper imaging.

[Normanality]

Greetings from another recent LSi 15 owner!

I'm going thru the same growing/adjusting pains as you.
These speakers are the toughest I ever owned to get perfect.

It truely is a love/hate relationship with me LOL.
I just listened to Leo Kottke with nothing but acoustic guitar and these LSi 15's are the sweetest, most realistic sounding speakers I've heard.

Then I put in Dire Straights XRCD and the balance L - R and midrange to deep bass goes nuts. I've found the toe in on both pointing to just behind the center listening point gives me the best soundstage. I've got a couple bass traps ordered to see if that removes the 'mud in the middle'.

Good luck and enjoy!

[Scout4]

The speakers are about 18" off the back wall, and are about 60" apart. I have a problem in that the room is wider than long & the system is in the one half of the room. The left speaker is about 30" from the side wall and the right speaker is 216" from the side wall. I am trying to coexist with she who must be obeyed so I am trying to make it work.

[scottnbnj]

frank, i think it might be reaching a bit to say toe-in is "critical" with lsi's for proper imaging.

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[Scout4]

Personally I don't understand why changing the speakers orientation would be the major concern when some of the recordings seem very focused, and others seem mono. Maybe I am misunderstanding the way these things work, as I said I am relatively new to the audiophile thing, I know what sounds good and what seems to be only coming from the left channel. Robert Harley has a book I have been thinking of buying, is it the final word on this stuff or are there other books someone could recommend on system set up.

P.S. I tried the toe in before, I find it improves things but not to the extent I would like based on the capital I have invested so far..

[scottnbnj]

welcome scout. ok, balance is heavy towards the side close to the wall.

you need treatments in that corner if it's just in low frequency ranges. if the image is unstable or pulls to the left at higher frequencies, treat the side wall too.

if you google up something like "sidewall corner acoustic treatments hz", it should get you started. if you want to experiment with your own treatments instead of buying acoustic treatments, add "diy" to the search.

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[Emlyn]

Does the balance shift with CD's only, or also with music played from your turntable? From your description, the sound from some CD's seems to be offset from left of the central imaging you're looking for?

You seem to have the speakers set up well with plenty of space from the side walls and a good amount from the rear wall. The side firing woofers on the LSi15's shouldn't be a problem with the amount of space you have. But, I had a similar problem with a room that is open on the right but enclosed on the left. With a pair of LSi15's, and other speakers I had, that could only be resolved by using the balance control on a preamp to shift the volume up 1dB for the right channel speaker. Not all recordings need this adjustment in this room, but most still do.

[scottnbnj]

heh, heh. get in line. you need more treatments too.

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[organ]

Try a different source on the "CD" input in your MF. There's a chance that the problem could be from the RCA jacks ins on your int or outputs from your source.

Maurice

[Scout4]

So much info; here goes.
I will try the corner and potentially the side wall treatments, there is a rather substantial window on the wall to the left of the left channel so I don't know how I can deal with that.
As for the source, it can happen on the CD, Phono, and the SACD/DVD A. so I think it is either the amp or the speakers. The Musical Fidelity A5 integrated has no tone or balance controls so I can't make any adjustments that way. Here's hoping the treatments do it.

By the way, I am rather handy and I have a great workshop so I was thinking about making my own speaker cables, any suggestions on a good quality wire to use, and what guage. The speakers are 250 Watts and the Amp 250 Watts a side also if that helps.

[eugene65]

I'm using the Lsi 15's in a 2 channel set up as well. I seperated the speakers 8 feet apart , made sure they were even and toed them in a bit and found the sweet spot by moving my chair around. Seems to have worked out for me. link to my system http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/show...p?userid=48376
I tried variouse amplifiers and found the Carver/sunfire combination worked out great for me, no balance issue. I also gave up HT, my AVR heated up and has not been the same. I'm not missing it much with this powerful 2 channel system for movies and music. I'm happy for now..

[scottnbnj]

So much info; here goes.
I will try the corner and potentially the side wall treatments, there is a rather substantial window on the wall to the left of the left channel so I don't know how I can deal with that.

heavy drapes might help if you don't need to treat frequencies that are too low. for the most part, the lower the frequencies, the thicker and/or denser the material needed to treat them.

anyway, if whatever you can cover the wall or window with isn't enough, you'll just have to be more creative (or crazy). items that normal folks have around the house like coat racks and multi-hanging-comforter display racks can work just as well too.

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