Polk Audio LSiM703 Speaker System Reviewed

A

admin

Audioholics Robot
Staff member
There are a lot of Polk Audio fans out there, especially on our very own forum. When Polk introduced their LSiM series of audiophile speakers, we simply had to hear and review them. The LSiM703 bookshelf speaker system is the focus of this review. Did we like them? Read the review to find out and please share your experiences with this product too!



Discuss "Polk Audio LSiM703 Bookshelf Speaker Review" here.
 
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brianedm

brianedm

Audioholic General
Good to see Polk speakers getting a little love around here :p
 
BoredSysAdmin

BoredSysAdmin

Audioholic Slumlord
For all my disapproval of Polk speakers , LSi always have a special place in my heart, too bad they are way to expensive.
Imo At $1500 there are plenty of options for pair of Towers or bookshelves
 
J

jcunwired

Audioholic
I wish I still had my LSi9's. At their ebay store prices there isn't much that can touch them.

Congrats on picking up Santana, there's always amazing things going on and in his last few recordings the engineering has been top notch.
 
internetmin

internetmin

Audioholic
Good to see Polk speakers getting a little love around here :p
I completely agree. It seems like there's a correlation between Polk's reputation and the number of gray hairs one has. There are many good and venerable speaker makers and technologies and I think it's great when a company comes out with a knockout product that provides great value to the buyer.
 
S

-Stan-

Audiophyte
While owning the LSi15's I decided to give the 703's a try since they were getting such great kudos from owners. I've had them for about 5 weeks now and since I'm retired I have been able to listen to them extensively with music and Blu-ray movies. Note that I have a capable sub for the bass and I recommend having one to run with the 703's as it will of course greatly enhance the listening pleasure. At least for me it does.
The one thing that lacked mostly for me with the 15's was the voice reproduction. More so with a female voice than a male voice. I'm not saying it was bad, it just lacked for what I've heard in the past compared to some higher end speakers. Both male and female voices sound simply stellar to me with the 703's. I'm enjoying music much more than I did with the 15's.
The review reads very accurate in comparison to my thoughts on these fine speakers. I agree the weakest link is with the treble smoothness but please don't read into it that I'm saying it is bad. Only the weakest link in a very fine sounding and beautifully made speaker.
 
j_garcia

j_garcia

Audioholic Jedi
Sounds like they should have kept the old tweeter config and the new midbass? I loved the single Vifa tweeter on the LSis7 but the midrange was always disappointing. A shame for such a well built and good looking speakers.

It seems like there's a correlation between Polk's reputation and the number of gray hairs one has.
If anything, that would simply be because we've heard the OLD Polks, which were excellent speakers :)
 
J

jcunwired

Audioholic
^^^ I feel old, gray and thinning in all the wrong places when I mention (to the right audience only!) how much I liked my old Infinity speakers. I know the feeling.
 
jinjuku

jinjuku

Moderator
Maybe for Polks next round they will bring back a truly large, no holds barred, forget about being skinny speaker. Just charge what you have to charge and make small production runs of it.
 
E

English210

Audioholic
^^^ I feel old, gray and thinning in all the wrong places when I mention (to the right audience only!) how much I liked my old Infinity speakers. I know the feeling.
I am SO with you on that!!! 25yr old Kappa's with failing polydomes. The end of an era....'sniff'....I know I should upgrade, but all the listening I've done tells me it's gonna take north of $3K to improve on them, and even that will involve compromises...
 
Pyrrho

Pyrrho

Audioholic Ninja
For all my disapproval of Polk speakers , LSi always have a special place in my heart, too bad they are way to expensive.
Imo At $1500 there are plenty of options for pair of Towers or bookshelves
If you don't mind refurbished, you can get LSi speakers direct from Polk starting at $399.99/pair delivered with Polk warranty:

Pair LSI7 Cherry Bookshelf Loudspeakers Polk Audio 047192108671 | eBay

That does not seem like too much for those speakers at all. The retail price on them is only $800/pair, so they start much lower than the $1500 you mention. Usually, with Polk, I think their bookshelf speakers are a better deal than their tower speakers in the same line, but that does not mean that one should only consider their bookshelf speakers. Come to think of it, I think there are other brands where the bookshelf speakers are a better deal their tower speakers, so much so that one can often get better bass by buying the bookshelf speakers plus a subwoofer for the price of the tower speakers.
 
S

-Stan-

Audiophyte
I purchased my LSiM 703's from Polk ebay. At the time they were having a 20% off sale. That put them at $543 per speaker. The cabinets only had two very small marks on the bottom of each speaker about the size of a grain of rice. The rest of the cabinets are perfect. Of course you only get a one year warranty but speakers usually don't go bad unless you drive the crap out of them. I sold my LSi15's about two weeks after getting the 703's. I really enjoy the 703's more than the 15's for sure but I really recommend having a decent sub to go along. Especially for movies.
 
Cliff_is

Cliff_is

Audioholics Content Manager
Maybe for Polks next round they will bring back a truly large, no holds barred, forget about being skinny speaker. Just charge what you have to charge and make small production runs of it.
Might be a cool idea.

Klipsch has certainly embraced it.
 
J

jcunwired

Audioholic
I am SO with you on that!!! 25yr old Kappa's with failing polydomes. The end of an era....'sniff'....I know I should upgrade, but all the listening I've done tells me it's gonna take north of $3K to improve on them, and even that will involve compromises...
I hear ya. Mine were Infinity Interlude, IL60, IL40 and IL36C center (the sub died long ago). I used them for 12 years, and 5 years ago I decided I would upgrade. Every year I would do my pilgrimage to B&M stores to listen, walked away dissatisfied. I ultimately settled in Philharmonic Audio fronts and center, keeping the IL40s (my favorites - great speakers) for surrounds. I gave the others to an old friend who was a bit down on his luck. I gotta say, I was a little verklempt driving away from the UPS store. :D
 
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