polk lsi9, klipsch rb-5 II anecdote

Speaker Asylum

General speaker questions for audio and home theater.

This weekend took my wife to hear and possibly purchase the polks. I brought our Lionel Riched cd which we are both very familiar with. Let me first preface this comparison with the fact that these speakers were setup far from the ideal; up on a shelf, in a room loaded with many speakers powered by a pioneer receiver. We first compared the lsi9 to the lsi7. We found the lsi7's to project the mids a little more where the lsi9's had a fuller midrange. Both were very smooth overall with good detail. We then listened to the lsi15's which were very similar to the 9's with more bass. The bass was a bit boomy on both, more so on the 15's but that was to be expected with the close positioning to the rear wall. I really wanted to pull out my wallet at that time but both my wife and myself could not get past the way they look. The bookshelfs have black laquer on the front, bottom and top and a cheap grey woodgrain on the sides that clash horribly. The floorstanders aren't quite as bad but the lower half again has the side woodgrains that would have best been either left off, finished also in laquer, or at least finished in solid black oak. As much as I wanted to bring these home for a serious audition I realize that no matter HOW good they were I could not live with their aethetics. We left the listening room, me disappointed, the wife really not caring and were about to leave the store when I said to my wife lets listen to one more speaker. She agreed and we proceded back to fire up the klipsch rb-5II. The song we played over and over with the polks was "all night long" so we played that again. Then something happened listening to the klipsches that didn't with the polks. We were listening for about 30 seconds and as with the polks I'm trying to dissect and get a feel on the sound. Pretty smooth, vocals more upfront, imaging maybe not as precise as the polks but then I looked down to see my fot tapping in beat with the music. At that point my priorities changed as I began emotionally invloved in the music. My wife commented they were more lively but seemed a little bright at times. After this I plan on taking the rb-5's for a serios spin at home.

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Topic - polk lsi9, klipsch rb-5 II anecdote - fullmoon 16:08:29 04/21/02 (10)

Re: polk lsi9, klipsch rb-5 II anecdote - hk29 13:34:50 04/29/02 (0)

Re: polk lsi9, klipsch rb-5 II anecdote - Cuda 08:02:31 04/22/02 (1)

Re: polk lsi9, klipsch rb-5 II anecdote - RAYDOG 08:10:36 04/22/02 (0)

Re: polk lsi9, klipsch rb-5 II anecdote - RAYDOG 04:55:12 04/22/02 (2)

Re: polk lsi9, klipsch rb-5 II anecdote - fullmoon 05:56:17 04/22/02 (1)

polk lsi9 ebony finish not as nice - RU Experienced 06:41:34 04/28/02 (0)

Re: polk lsi9, klipsch rb-5 II anecdote - Bob Ward 19:45:01 04/21/02 (0)

I had the same experience... - samoore 16:39:58 04/21/02 (2)

Do you miss your Hales at all? - fullmoon 06:06:18 04/22/02 (1)

Re: Do you miss your Hales at all? - samoore 12:45:47 04/22/02 (0)

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