Customer Reviews

Polk Audio LSi9 Bookshelf Speakers (Pair, Cherry)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have a media cabinet that I needed to install some bookshelf speakers (no room for floor mounted ones). After a lot of checking around, I went with the LSi9 speakers from Polk. I really like the sound of them. Their compact size does not take away from the great sounds. And I love the cherry finish.

Couple of things to be aware of ... as the other poster mentioned, these bad boys are heavy! Also, as with all speakers in the LSi line from Polk, they are 4 ohm impedence which means you need a strong receiver to drive these.

But like I said ... I love the sound. I use these with the LSiC for the center channel and RTiA3s for the rear surrounds and a Polk subwoofer to complete the 5.1 system :)

Hello. This is one of the first products I actually felt compelled to write a review about. I spent a couple months researching speakers before I purchased these guys. I went to most of the high end audio stores in Manhattan. I listened to Focal Chorus 806/807, Totem Rainmakers, Rega R1/R3, and the B&W 685/CM1. All are great, but I liked the Polk's because they do everything you want from a speaker. These are speakers that you can listen to album and after album. They are not overly bright like the B&W's are. Also they produce excellent bass that is tight, not boommy. I have a large Kef sub, that I no longer use. I am using these speakers with a NAD A/V receiver. For stands I went with Lovan Affinit 29 inch.

The quality is superb. What Polk has achieved is marvelous. The finish is elegant. The clarity is excellent. That said, these babies are heavy, require stands (and nice ones to match the finish), and the speakers (and stands) must be positioned for the best "sweet spot" (they are directional). While the bass is adequate, given today's tastes, many will want to add a sub-woofer for bass and precussion clarity. When you factor the add-ons and positioning the stands it may make you wonder why you didn't buy a floor-standing speaker and be done with it. This is a convenience and not a quality trade-off.

Polk wrote the book on customer service.

We have two pairs of LSi9 speakers. I bought the first pair in March 2009 after reading wonderful reviews about them here at Amazon. We have a set of Polk SRS 3.1s in our living room, so I didn't want to get anything else but Polks. The SRS 3.1s are 48 inches high and weigh 100 pounds EACH, and they are 19 years old, but they sound as fabulous as the day we got them, so my preference for Polk is justified. The LSi9s were placed in our master bedroom, to be used mainly with the computer where I store most of our music. They sound just as good as the towers in the living room, perhaps tighter and better focused, even though they are only a third of their size. I loved them so much that three weeks later I went back to Fry's Electronics to get another pair for my office, to replace the Klipsch bookshelf speakers we had there for a while. Well, Fry's only had one set left, an open box pair which were in use as demonstrators. The price was right, so I bought them on the spot.
Now comes the good part. One of the open box speakers didn't sound right. I reluctantly called Polk Audio's customer service, expecting a run-around from voice mail hell. To my surprise on the second ring a pleasant young man named Eric answered. I told him about the problem with the open box speaker, and Eric said I could ship it to San Diego for repair, or he could send me the parts and I could repair it myself. He said there are only one or two parts which might be bad, and replacing them takes only 10 minutes. I didn't want the hassle of shipping the 35 pound speaker, so I asked Eric to send the parts. The crossover didn't help, so I called again and asked for the 5 1/2 inch driver. Well - the driver arrived next day, I changed it in 5 minutes, and I sent back the old parts to San Diego. The only tool needed was a Philips screwdriver. It is absolutely amazing how quick and efficient is Polk's customer service, especially in this age, when horror stories abound, just read some other posts here about any other brand.
By the way we had other speakers before the Polks, such as Acoustats and Magnepans, but I personally find the Polks, tower or bookshelf, much superior to anything else I owned or heard anywhere else. One of these days I'd like to hear the top of the line LSi25s - I'd probably get a pair if they weren't so very heavy. Thanks, Eric, and thanks, Polk Audio.

These are probably the best bookshelf speakers you can buy at ANY price!

YEs, they are 4-ohm impedance so you need a high-current amp or receiver and yes, they are heavy but oh, what beautiful sound!

oh yeah, they look at good as they sound.

I use these speakers as part of my 5.1 home theater setup. LSi 9's for front channels, LSiC center channel and LSi 7's rear channels, and a self-powered Velodyne DD 12 (1250 watts/channel) for sub-woofer. I have two Adcom 545 II (125 watts/channel into 8 ohms)powering the rear and front speakers, and I bi-wired the center channel with a third 545 II Adcom amp. I have the Integra 40.2 surround processor as the brains of the system. So you can do home theater well on a limited budget as all of the components in the system are a fraction of what you could spend. The LSi 9's with the cherry wood cabinets are beautiful, but my wife had to build custom oak shelves for them as a consequence of their usually large depth dimension for a book shelf speaker. Not a problem as my wife loves wood working and it saved the cost of stands. The speakers themselves require much power and the original 100 watts/channel Sony integrated amp system just was not up to speed; the resultant sound was dull and muddled to the extreme (not all 100 watt amps are built the same as the Adcoms are vastly superior, albeit, I have heard that Adcom is not the company it once was). Still, comparing the LSi 9's to my Dahlquist DQ 10's speakers powered by the 200 watt/channel Counterpoint tube /solid state hybrid amp and Counterpoint tube preamp, the LSi 9's come up short especially in mid range clarity, but than again, anything would sound inferior (and it may be more a function of the other components rather than the speakers themselves). Hence, I have two systems in my front room, one to play music and the other for home theater applications. The LSI 9's do have a lot of bass for a book shelf speaker, but if you want to "feel the sound" then you will still want a subwoofer to augment the lower frequencies. The Lsi 7's are a perfect match as surround speakers for the LSi 9's. In short, the Polk LSi speakers are a steal at even their listed prices, because not only do they produce great sound, they are fantastic looking speakers. In short, I highly recommend all the speakers in the LSi line.

I bought these - I am kind of embarrassed to say - without testing them and hearing any other speakers. OK, call me crazy, but it paid off! These speakers sound so good, it makes me cry. I am running them with a Harman Kardon HK3475 receiver and they are wonderful. I have played vinyl and CD and both sound superb. I am able to run my laptop into the receiver and play music from the computer and it sounds great.
I bought these from Polk direct as refurbished product, and they look brand new - I'm not sure they were ever used - and they were a screamin' price. Polk customer service is really great, too, a true pleasure to work with this company.
The speakers themselves look beautiful - the cherry has a nice classy look, it's a nice finish that reminds me of hand-rubbed Danish oil furniture.
Note that these are 4 Ohm impedance speakers and not all receivers/amps are stable running 4 Ohms - check with the manufacturer of the receiver.

The Polk LSi9 is a nice little bookshelf speaker .It's a bit pricey , but if you're looking for a punchy midrange and a decent bottom end this is actually a pretty good speaker for it's size . The negative with the LSi9 is you're not going to hear the detail or nuances you would expect from a speaker that retails for around $1000 . And imaging is nonexistent . I've pushed these speakers with a variety of different combinations of amps and pre- amps ( solid and tube ) and the sound is basically the same . You're just not going to hear the strum of a guitar or that cymbal in the background that you would hear from a Revel or Wilson , but in fairness this speaker is not in that class . But it is a nice little bookshelf that packs some punch for it's size . And In this price range you're probably not going to do much better .