Writer2

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 1.00 votes

Price Paid:  $395.00 from Ebay

Summary:
I have been building two complete systems for the last couple years. I rarely write a review, but I feel motivated to do so in this case.

When I first acquired a pair of Lsi-7s, I thought they were frankly a little underwhelming--certainly not on a par with the Lsi-9s and things higher up the food chain like Dynaudio. Recently, however, I happened to acquire a pair of used Channel Island VMB-1 monoblocks to replace a Rotel amplifier. To make a long story short, the sound is now positively captivating. Great range and detail without being at all analytical.

From this, I have learned an important lesson. The match between the amplifier and the speakers is enormously important, and we all need to think long and hard about reviewing a single link in the chain. To my ear, the combination with Channel Island is ridiculously good. So, I sold my little Dynaudio Contour 1.1s. I think that pretty much says it all.

Strengths:
Effortless high end
Natural mid-range

Weaknesses:
Bass is what you expect for a high quality bookshelf

Similar Products Used:
Polk Lsi-9
Paradigm Titan
Dynaudio 1.1
Dynaudio Focus 140

lmg4

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

Price Paid:  $300.00 from eBay

Summary:
I bought a set of these bookshelf speakers to use as main bookshelf speakers for a 15 x 20 family room. I auditioned their big brothers (Lsi9s), and really like them, but they were way too deep for the space I had. The Lsi7s are not too deep to put on a standard bookshelf and are designed to be placed close to walls. Especially considering their small size, I have been amazed at the sound they produce. They give a broad, natural soundstage and reproduce midrange and higher extremely well. When I auditioned these speakers in stores, they always sounded quite warm to me (especially compared to, for example, Klipsch) and I was concerned that it would translate into distorted sound in my home. Perhaps because the room is sparsely furnished and lacks curtains, the speakers sound very natural in the room. The biggest testament to my satisfaction with these speakers is that I bought a second set for my home office!

Strengths:
These speakers excel at piano music and jazz, especially with female vocalists. Female vocalists sound extremely natural and phrasing comes through clearly. To my ear, male vocalists do not fair as well, and this may represent a shortcoming of this speaker in the low midrange and bass range. Though some have noted that with 4 ohms, these speakers are power hungry, I have had no trouble driving these speakers with even an inexpensive 100W amp, though they truly sing with a higher quality Denon receiver.

Weaknesses:
As noted above, male vocals seem to lack the same vitality as female vocals with these speakers, though they are certainly still quite good. As others have noted, the bass is relatively thin, which is to be expected for a speaker of this size. For many months, I enjoyed these speakers immensely without a subwoofer, but after adding a high quality subwoofer, I feel that they are nearly perfect (for their price range)!

seaan

Overall Rating
 3 of 5

Value Rating
 3 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
3.67 of 5, 3.00 votes

Price Paid:  $200.00 from Frys Electronics

Summary:
I purchased the Lsi-7 as a factory refurb. I first heard the LSi line at a HE2003 and was impressed with the Lsi-9, but was unable to find any local retailers. When I saw the great price at Frys I bought them without further audition. They have become my knock-about speakers, normally they reside in my bedroom system - but I've trucked them around a fair amount.

My initial impression of the Lsi-7 was quite good - I found it very easy to set them up with a very nice sound stage. In some ways I preferred the treble to my long standing reference speakers (25 year-old ADS L810). From midrange on up, these are great speakers! They defiantly imaged better than the L810 (to be fair the L810 did not image well compared to even it's contemporary speakers - I bought them for different reasons - had to double the price or more to get good imaging out of the ADS line).

The Lsi-7 mid-bass was the big let let down. I'm not talking the deep bass, after all this is a bookshelf model with a small woofer - a good sub can fix that type of problem. My disappointment was more in the mid-bass area - say 200-400 Hz. I'm very sensitive to bass micro-dynamics (part of the reason I love the L810 so much - two very light-weight 8" woofers with strong magnets - unusual when built in the 70's but luckily much more common technology now). The Lsi7 mid-bass was noticeably lacking in dynamics - things just came out kind of fuzzy (ironically this is the same area that finally turned me off the inexpensive Martin Logans ES speakers - loved everything else about them). This type of bass problem can't be fixed with a sub! I never got a chance to A/B these with the Lsi-9, but from my more limited listening to the 9's they don't appear to have the mid-bass problem of the 7's.

Things got worse when I moved the speakers into my bedroom. It became evident that my 30 year-old mid-range JVC receiver was a leak wink, especially when compared to the main system (Lexicon/Carver). The top end was rougher, and the bass was less controlled (also the speakers were now wall mounted). Later I replaced it with a 10 year-old Sony receiver (best non-ES receiver of the time), which improved things. Safe to say that this speaker is very sensitive to electronics.

Perhaps the most interesting part of my review came when I started shopping for home theater speakers (a two year process). I was looking for bookshelf speakers approximately around $1000/pair (max $2k). The ADS were harder to schlep, and more valuable (I liked them better and replacement parts are not easily come by), so I ended up hauling around the Lsi-7 as kind of a portable reference point when comparing speakers in different locations. I was able to A/B them with most of the speakers on my short list, and tried them out with a good variety of different electronics (high-end receivers and mid-priced separates).

This is where the individual nuances of the reviewer come in. I'm a "front row" person, and I love to listen to the details of different sounds. I do a lot of listening to live un-amplified music (both small ensemble early music groups and long time symphony season ticket holders). Over the years I've found that I prefer sitting in the first few rows where you get dynamic (and louder) sounds and the ability to hear lots of details. My father-in-law by contrast (a former musician) liked to sit in the back of the hall where he could listen to the combined sound of all the instruments. Nothing wrong with either approach, but you can see how this might effect the aspects that you really care about vs. the faults you can live with. The ADS L810 became my reference (limited by cost of course) because it's strengths (decent bass, very accurate transients and micro-dynamics, ability to resolve fine details) were more important to me than it's weaknesses (imaging).

To cut the suspense short, I ended up with the Klipsch RB-75 speakers (although the Paradigm 20v3 and NHT M5/M6 were close). Both the Klipsch and the NHT have a reputation for brightness, and there may be some element of truth to that. But for me the details these tweeters presented were worth any potential treble brightness. By contrast the Lsi-7 treble was more laid back, the details were still there - but harder to hear. The Klipsch tweeters also had an "air" about them (probably micro-dynamics) that really complements live recordings. I can live with the way the Lsi-7 presents treble, but ultimately I several comparably priced speakers that I preferred.

To wrap up this overly long review, hauling the Lsi-7 out to a bunch of different show rooms was very instructive. I never found a location where they did not present a nice spacious sound stage with good imaging - definitely a strength and nice that it is not too hard to leverage (noticeably better than Rb-75, the 20v3 was more competitive). The mid-bass continued to be a noticeable weakness, and it came out second to every speaker I directly compared it too (including some $300-400 pair Boston and Definitive speakers). This was despite the use of decent electronics (Aragon, Parasound, and Adcom amps; Denon receivers).

Strengths:
Imaging, Smooth treble, Mid-range

Weaknesses:
Bass - both deep (not to surprising) and mid-bass (disappointment)
Picky about electronics

Similar Products Used:
I did extensive auditioning in 2006 with these speakers as I was shopping for a new HT system. From the short list of my top preferred speakers during this time period: Klipsch RB-35/75, Paradigm 20v3, NHT M5, B&W 705.

I also listened (although not with direct A/B comparisons) to various Energy, Monitor, Boston, Canton, Vienna, Martin Logan, and Definitive models.

My long term reference speakers include (including friend's system - I don't own all of these): ADS L810, KLH 9, Bozak Concert Grands, Klipsch La Scallas, Klipsch Reference

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Paldiel

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

Visitors rate this review
3.50 of 5, 4.00 votes

Price Paid:  $400.00 from Ebay

Summary:
WOW , when hooked to a good amplifier they sound great. I have mine hooked to a Krell Kav-500 and I am so immpressed with them that I am now looking for the larger LSI-9 for front speakers and these for rear speakers. Great for small apartments or small listening rooms. You will need a Sub for the very lowest frequencies.

Strengths:
High's are sweet and cleen, Mids are as acurate as it gets, drum bass is authorative and fast.

Weaknesses:
Sub low bass is missing but these speakers are not intended for that so i guess its not realy a weakness

vetrano

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
Less than 1 month

Visitors rate this review
4.00 of 5, 1.00 votes

Price Paid:  $700.00 from Tweeter.com

Summary:
I have usually thought of myself more of a home-theather dobly-digital movie watcher up until I bought these speakers. After taking the time to listen to a few audio CDs, I now do more music listening than TV/Watching - that's how incredible these speakers are. My litmust test for all speakers is how clear the sound is reproduced at increased volumes and I have to say at the loudest I would ever play music the music/voice is still crystal clear - I can almost hear the breath of the singer. These speakers have turned me into a pure music listener. I really struggled between getting the lower Polk series, but after hours of listening ot the LSi series - I definitely made the correct choice.

Strengths:
Perfect diffusion. Solid range. In playing with Sub settings - there are times I had the sub turned off and they still carried a solid bass range.

Weaknesses:
none

Similar Products Used:
B&W 601 Polk 600i