Why no love for LSi25's?

[hockeyboy]

I demo'd 15's and 25's side by side for over an hour. Hands down, IMO the 25s were dramatically better than the 15's.

Why is there no love for the 25s when it seems to be the flagship speaker for Polk?

[venomclan]

I demo'd 15's and 25's side by side for over an hour. Hands down, IMO the 25s were dramatically better than the 15's.

Why is there no love for the 25s when it seems to be the flagship speaker for Polk?

I find that a lot of audiophiles prefer passive speakers in general. Outboard amps seem to outperform active speaker amps a lot of the time, and you do not need to plug in your speakers. Another reason is that many also use subwoofers with their towers, which also hit harder than active speakers anyway. IMHO
V

[heiney9]

I prefer to power my speakers with my own amplification. Plain and simple. The LSi 25 is a great speaker.

[Gaara]

I would imagine it would also be because of the price. At $1000 more then the 15s you don't seem to gain a whole lot...powered woofers that don't go deep enough. Paying an extra $1000 to make a speaker full range makes sense for some, but the LSi25s aren't full range. You would still need a sub to go deep, which kinda defeats the purpose of spending the extra $1000.

I would also think that it would be difficult for some to plug them in. It makes things all the more complicated to have to run the power cords out of them, and run interconnects to them, on top of the standard speaker wire.

Plus once you start getting close to the $3000 range theres better out there for the money. I for one would much rather go with a pair of 9s or 15s with a good quality sub then 25s.

Jared

[ND13]

I'm not much in favor of using powered towers, either. Give me 9s with a good sub, too.

[ben62670]

I'm not much in favor of using powered towers, either. Give me 9s with a good sub, too.

Exactly

[engtaz]

I prefer to power my speakers with my own amplification. Plain and simple. The LSi 25 is a great speaker.

I second that!!:)

engtaz

[kaisersose]

So are you guys saying you would pick 9's over a 15?

[marker]

As far as the 15s vs the 25s, I personally would pick the 25s for two reasons

1- a sweet little integrated amp would be more than enough for the top end on them since they power their own bass (thus leveling the playing field somewhat on the price difference considering the 15s need a lot more power)

and

2- I'd rather have more control over their bass than just placement. You can dial the 25s in as to how you think they sound best, whereas the 15s limit you to trying to adjust them via macro and micro positioning in the room.

[VXR8]

So are you guys saying you would pick 9's over a 15?

I'd be interested in the same as I'd consider the 25s and / or the 15s, but if you think the 9s are sufficient with good separate amplification and a sub, I too may go down this path with the 9s.

Thanks in advance.

[hockeyboy]

So if I am understanding the group, the feeling is that the 15's under proper amplification (I am using a Sunfire 7200 and Marantz SR8001) will give better result than the 25's up front?

For me the difference will be about 6oo dollars for the pair.

[ben62670]

I would go 9's, and take the extra coin, and get an SVS sub.

[TN_Polk_Lover]

The best speaker placement for imaging, soundstage, etc. may not be the best placement for the lowest frequencies. If you are buying the 25's to get better low frequencies, then the placement can be problematic.

If you buy the 15's for just a good all around speaker, but aren't trying to reach the lowest octave, then you can place them for best imaging, and let the lowest frequencies fall where they may. If you just want good music, but don't listen to pipe organ music, then these are probably your all around best choice.

If you do want to play the very lowest octave and/or want thunderous sound effects from movies AND you still want good control over imaging / soundstage, then the LSi9 / subwoofer combination is probably the way to go.

[xsmi]

I like the 25's better because i would use them only for HT and I have a small room so floorspace is at a premium. If I do music, i want a passive speaker and NO sub at all.

[Holydoc]

If you do want to play the very lowest octave and/or want thunderous sound effects from movies AND you still want good control over imaging / soundstage, then the LSi9 / subwoofer combination is probably the way to go.

Could you expand on this statement? Why wouldn't an LSi15 / subwoofer combination be better?

I can understand the problems with the LSi25 powered woofers as opposed to the unpowered LSi15. But I do not quite understand yet why anyone would recommend the LSi9 over the LSi15. Isn't the LSi15 just an LSi9 with an 8" woofer added below the box acting like a stand? I know that Driver 1 is a bit different as far as crossover settings but that is to allow the woofer of the LSi15 to catch most of the lows. Maybe I am totally off base here, but it would appear to me that the LSi15 gives you the most flexibility of placement and combinations.

Of course I am just typing to pass the time. After all, I own the RTi series and thus have NO dog in this fight. :o

[VR3]

My vote is for the LSi13

Its a LSi15 without subwoofer. Its a shame it does not exist.

The LSi9 has insane amounts of bass. If they would harvest that trait into a tower and extend it to 35hz or so and get rid of the punchiness in the mids - would have a stellar speaker on our hands!

[TN_Polk_Lover]

Could you expand on this statement? Why wouldn't an LSi15 / subwoofer combination be better?

I can understand the problems with the LSi25 powered woofers as opposed to the unpowered LSi15. But I do not quite understand yet why anyone would recommend the LSi9 over the LSi15. Isn't the LSi15 just an LSi9 with an 8" woofer added below the box acting like a stand? I know that Driver 1 is a bit different as far as crossover settings but that is to allow the woofer of the LSi15 to catch most of the lows. Maybe I am totally off base here, but it would appear to me that the LSi15 gives you the most flexibility of placement and combinations.

Well, first let me qualify that I don't yet own a subwoofer, so what I'm saying is really just based on what I've read or heard other people say, plus just a little of my own opinion. I have had experience with positioning tower speakers (RTi70's) and smaller speakers on stands (RTi38's), plus some other older non-polks that I used to have.

Yes, LSi15's with a subwoofer would certainly be a good combination. You could have the subwoofer crossover fairly low, since the LSi15's will play pretty low all on their own. I would think that if you were definitely planning on having a subwoofer (or subwoofers), then it would be cheaper to go with the LSi9's. Plus, sometimes a smaller speaker (LSi9) will often image better than a tower speaker. I'm not really sure why this is, except maybe there is less surface area around the "plane" of the tweeter. Although I like my RTi70s because they have lower bass, my RTi38's image better. At times the RTi38's almost sound magical -- the image floats out in space between them and the speakers seem to disappear.

Of course, your mileage may vary!

[hockeyboy]

Okay Ben. I started emailing SVS and that guy Ed over there really knows his business. He's a helluva salesman at any rate. I had a couple of extra channels open on my Sunfire 7200 so he talked me into dropping a grand onto a pair of 2039CSPlus (gave me a little discount). I clearly have the bass covered.

This of course trimmed my budget for speakers. I have 400 watts per channel and am planning on FXi's in the back for my 5 channel. I will stay with my B&W60 for center for now. It is down to 15's or 9's for the front. Please help with some more opinions based on experience guys. Basically my whole system is being built on guidance from the Polk forum!

[ben62670]

I would get the 9's. Its a lot more coin to get the 15's, and you allready have the bass covered. Don't let the size fool you. The 9's are very capable speakers.

[Ron Temple]

Okay Ben. I started emailing SVS and that guy Ed over there really knows his business. He's a helluva salesman at any rate. I had a couple of extra channels open on my Sunfire 7200 so he talked me into dropping a grand onto a pair of 2039CSPlus (gave me a little discount). I clearly have the bass covered.

Great deal...Ed sometimes drops by here and he definitely knows his stuff. ;)

[venomclan]

Okay Ben. I started emailing SVS and that guy Ed over there really knows his business. He's a helluva salesman at any rate. I had a couple of extra channels open on my Sunfire 7200 so he talked me into dropping a grand onto a pair of 2039CSPlus (gave me a little discount). I clearly have the bass covered.

Ed's great, ask him if he still has the Outlaws I sold him a few years ago. :)

V

[hockeyboy]

I asked Ed what he recommended the same time I posed the question to the group and he responded today:

I like the LSi-15s up front at this point - you get an 8" woofer internally XO'd at 150 Hz from what is essentially an LSi-9 up top. The 8" woofer will work very well down to 80 Hz, providing much more upper bass percussive impact than will the LSi-9 alone.