But yes, the Polk's mid range is fairly weak. When playing piano tracks and solo acoustic guitar tracks, it's quite apparent that they are lacking. |
@audiothesis I got your PM and we will talk soon.
And normally no, that definitely wouldn't be at the helm of a system but at that package price, it was a no brainer for the time being! |
@helomech I kind of assumed the power coming out of the Yamaha was pretty meh and that as a pre it would probably be....decent.
I'm thinking the Halo 21 or comparable would probably be the most logical first step, since I would need to acquire one eventually regardless.
I'm not really going for a full blown system of separates. I have looked into two mono blocks as opposed to a two channel amp.
But all this being said, Eminent tech does offer a 30 day trial for the LFT8s. But I know once I purchase them I'd have a hard time sending them back ;).
I may just up my budget (which I can do), and go with both hah!
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@audiothesis I'm located in Norman, Oklahoma. |
@audiothesis, Oh don't worry. I acquired 2 new polk LSIM707s, 2 new polk 703s, a polk lsi706c, AND a new Yamaha adventage 3070a receiver for $2,800 on a deal earlier this year from Adorama.
I know they definitely aren't worth their MSRP and wouldn't pay anything close to it.
I use the 703s in my office with a rotel receiver. the 706c is still sitting in its box new, I will probably sell it as I don't have an interest in 5.1 or 7.1 audio.
And yes, My living room is roughly 20'x18'. I've got plenty of space for positioning. |
and @gdnrbob I agree. I do need to take some time and make a road trip to Dallas one weekend to audition tons, and tons, and tons, of different speakers that simply aren't available in my area to hear. |
@soix Thank you for the advice. I doubt i will really get rid of the receiver since i do use it for my 4k TV for various video sources, but i certainly won't be using it to power my 2-channel setup by the time I am finished. The polks however will most likely be sold/traded hah.
@bdp24 I have plenty of space. At the moment my polk towers are spaced about 7-8' apart (The seem to sound the best to me at this spacing. All vocals and mids still sound centered when they are supposed to be). I have more than 16' of space to play with horizontally and more than 2' to play with in depth from the wall. I currently sit about 14' away from the speakers themselves. |
@mrdecibel Unfortunately the infinity's belong to my father =P. He's had them since the 80s. Until recently however they had just been collecting dust until I connected them up with an older rotel integrated amp and a decent CD player. He didn't realize what he had =) |
@mrdecibel i have listened to many audiophile quality recordings to get a good idea of what the polks can do. I've listened to some remastered MQA 32bit pink floyd tracks, some MQA 32bit Daniel Barenboim pieces, along with a few MQA tracks from various female vocalists. Diana Krall being one of them.
Overall for their MSRP and what i paid for I'm incredibly impressed. The only real basis I have for comparison are inifity r.s. 2.5 tower speakers with the 10" subs and 4 electrostats per tower. Which needless to say, blow the polks out of the water in the mid range and vocal area.
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@soix @charles1dad
I was inclined to agree from the beginning with essentially starting over. And in a post above i mentioned the probability of buying a different set of speakers and an amp. Adding a matching preamp to the setup will be just fine.
As far as the preouts and loop in/loop outs go I have a fairly good understanding of it and that won't be an issue.
The other thing I've thought about, which @2psyop mentioned, is, speakers for different purposes.
The Yamaha Adventage 3070A has so many various decoding modes for home theater and surround type setups its ridiculous. small/large center presence for L/R. small/large surround presence for L/R. Ref SUBw presence for L/R, that I really dont need a full surround system with the Polk 707s. The Ref SUBw presence is enough to shake my house with the 707s. and the small surround and center on the polk 707s also do the job. They actually do make it sound like most of the surround coded audio is coming directly from the left or right of me. So overall, I'm happy with this for home theater. I'd add the 706 center or the 703s for surround but this would obviously sap too much power and strain the receiver and probably just weaken the bass and overall system and I would need to get it it's own 5 channel amp. Which I don't want to do.
I may keep the 707s and AVR for this home theater setup.
When I want to listen to music, simply move some a few interconnects and banana plugs around and hello new music 2.0 setup!
I really appreciate everyone's input and posts on this. And I think I've learned there is no need to try and cheat or cheapen my way around it like @soix mentioned with an AVR preamp setup baha.
I will be trialing new speakers, and then looking into pairing a pre amp/amp after finding a pair of speakers that sing to me. Maybe it'll be harbeths, maybe it'll be EMTs, who knows. Let the fun begin! |
@mtrot I actually was not aware. I don't think I got your message. I know there is a company called audio dimensions in Oklahoma city but their ratings are very poor, and I have a few friends that have been there and I hear it's not a company you want to visit or work with. They essentially push one set of home theater speakers on you with amps they need to sell and don't really let you demo much. |
@soix That does make sense. The banana plugs wouldn't need to go anywhere. and the audio input would simply go into the preamp along with the AVR output. *facepalms* |
and yes @soix I'm know I would need a pre/amp/dac or an integrated for that to work. Along with a new set of speakers. So like you said above, essentially starting over =) |
@mtrot thank you for helping me with the pre/integrated search! |
I have listened to the Parasound Halo integrated, Peachtree nova 300 integrated, Rotel RA 1952 integrated, paired with my Polk LSIM707s. I know these aren't the greatest speakers, but, they are full range.
As far as the integrated amps go, I like the Parasound Halo and Rotel over the Peachtree.
The Peachtree seems more neutral and dynamically bland when compared to the Rotel and Halo. Honestly, I think my Yamaha 3070-AVR sounds better than the Peachtree and seems to almost have as much power.
I like the punch and precise accuracy of the Rotel when listening to rock and most music made post 1990.
However, i prefer the parasound when listening to vocals like Norah Jones, solo piano, jazz, and classic rock.
The Rotel almost seems to take the classic out of...the classic. The best way I can explain it. When listening to The Who, Crosby stills and nash, and a few others everything feels forced, even when tonally adjusted, and to my ears it takes away from the classic feel and tries to bring them into the 90s. Some of this may be the polks, but I didn't have the same sense with the Parasound.
Also note that I was using Flacs and MQA files through the 3 integrated's DACs. I do not use turntables or SACD players.
Between the three I would pick the Parasound Halo hands down.
I will be demoing some Focals, Martens, Rogue hybrid amps, and Harbeths soon. |
Yeah I saw that integrated and have thought about it if I can find a place to demo it. The Halo also has the bypass option. As does the rotel I believe.
The dealer you referred me to is whom I'm going to be demoing the speakers and rogue amps I mentioned with when we both find the time.
Thanks! |
That was one of the reasons I was learning towards Parasound Halo as a whole. They seem to hold their value and are U.S. based making any problems easier to deal with.
I was considering the A21 before I looked into an integrated. The Specifications seemed great for the price point and the reviews were all top notch.
I agree with you on the speakers. As I've been playing with the various integrateds I mentioned what I thought were weakness in the speakers had nothing to do with the speakers.
The integrated Parasound and Rotel boosted the mid range and bass response that seemed a little weak before on the Yamaha AVR as a lone paired component.
At the moment i have the budget to replace all components if I choose to do so. So I am also looking at various speakers.
However, I definitely agree with you after pairing my speakers with various integrated amplifiers that the source, (amplification) is the most important. |
And let me add Pre/DAC to the most important as well. The ground as you would say. |
