Vienna Acoustic Hayden grand or Polk audio lsi9

Hi Pete,

I've auditions both of these speakers at different times. I prefer the Haydns by a wide margin. The bass on both speakers is good for a monitor; however, the bass on the Haydns has less boom and is more controlled. The polk's tweeter (vifa XT) is a great driver, but when I listened to them I noticed a lack of detail in the upper frequencies. I don't know if this was from the source or just poor implementation. I did NOT do a back to back comparison with identical equipment, so don't take these statements as fact.

Stereomojo.com has a very critical review of the Haydns that is an interesting read. It just goes to show that different people like different things.

Finally, the finish on the Haydns is far superior in my opinion.

Jml,

I've heard LSi9's a few times. I wouldn't say they have a lack of detail, they're just laid back.

Don't know if I would classify the sound signature of the LSi9 as laid back, I think it is more a lack of detail. If you listen closely, the treble is there but the mids are muddled by the poorly defined bass.

i've auditioned both--i think tweeter used to carry both lines, and honestly wasn't blown away by either, the vienna are way too polite while the polk were basically uninvolving without much low end (i thought the smaller lsi-7 imaged better and was preferable). i do recall that both were very well finished, but for actual sound quality, i think there's better choices in the same price range (e.g. von schweikert, dynaudio, focal).

I havent heard tis particular Vienna but I have heard others and found them very nice. I purchased a pair of LSI 15's mail order and neither my wife nor I could stand them . Sold them after 2 months. They lack HF definition and detail - had to keep the treble dial at 4 o clock to make them alive but that created an unbalanced sound. I auditioned the LSI9's a few months back, just to see if it was my equipment or the speaker - they had the same lack luster sound.

Vienna's. no question. I listened extensively to both with a variety of music and similar electronics and locations. I was able to play with the setup on both and in every way the Vienna's were better. I found the Polks to be disappointing in several respects. I thought the Vienna's were nice but somewhat overpriced. I personally went with ERA's but in this question I would go Vienna.

my $0.02