General comments regarding overall impressions and size of speakers:
“The LS-6’s are very impressive speakers for sure and represent a truly outstanding value”
“First off I really enjoyed listening to these speakers as I could sit there all day and listen to any kind of music… The speaker was very balanced which is a major pet peeve with me. Everything was smooth and balanced. “
“But we played Nickelback to Berlioz, and all I wanted to do was just keep feeding them different stuff to find something they didn't play well - and from "Fluffy Clouds" to "Cocaine Hippo", it all sounded crazy.”
“I am also not a big fan of those ribbon tweeters, but Danny can make them sound a lot better than anyone else that’s for sure…”
“I do not know how much of my personal experience was created as a result of your front-end components or the speakers, or the liveliness of the room - BUT that being said - I thought they were pretty fantastic.”
“I came to your place thinking that if the LS-6 were everything that was written about them, then I'd buy these instead of the OB-5 that i was considering building. They did turn out to be everything that I expected them to be except in one major area, their size. These are much much bigger than I thought they would be. So until I move into a house, I'll try and finish up the OB5.
“I have not heard a speaker at this price point, yet, that can touch them. I am serious enough about it that I want my wife to hear them, and that is scary.”
“All in all the LS-6’s are amazing loudspeakers. These really should be selling for a much higher price point but I’m not complaining. Every once in a while during a song I would just get a big smile on my face. One such occasion was when listening to a track on “Amused to Death” when sounds were coming from way, way outside the speakers. I really like the LS-6’s. “
“Wow, that sums it up for me, wow”
“These will surely be the speakers that I'll buy once I move out of my smallish apt. But for now, these are too big for my 12x13 audio room.”
Staging, Axis and Imaging
“The first thing that struck me about their sound was the scale. Never before had I heard music so huuuge! Even at very high volume, they never sounded congested. Their imaging was pinpoint, and sound staging was like earlier mentioned, huge. With the speaker at the same height with me (I'm 5' 9"), i could not detect any loss in highs when I stood up.”
“They possess a wide soundstage, image great, and faithfully reproduce what is fed to them when in the “sweet spot”. The LS-6’s are physically big loudspeakers, bigger than I was expecting and the sound that emanates from them is every bit as big as the speakers themselves.”
“After listening for several hours, I realized that not only was the soundstage wide, but it was deep, a real transparent depth that frankly I have not heard the like of, except by modified exaggerated delay systems and synthesized "sound scapes", eg. processors that give fake depth of field mimicking a "cathedral" or "jazz club" - but these speakers gave this depth without the overly pronounced muddy muffled echo of those generated halls - it was immediate and yet expansive, enveloping and changed with the quality of the recording.”
“Overwhelmingly, most speakers I get a chance to hear have a tendency to get congested at times when playing recordings that are instrument and vocally “crowded”. Not so with the LS-6’s. Even with the full orchestral dynamics every instrument was identifiable and cleanly separate from the others.”
“Oh and the finger pointing was apparent to me too - I myself was pointing to instruments that were seeming to come from far to my left and right side, and a dozen feet from the closest speaker - the separation and imaging were superb.”
“I also enjoyed listening to them from all areas of the room… Yes the middle was the best however they are really enjoyable no matter where you were at…”
“I can’t find much at fault with LS-6’s when sitting in the ideal position. That would be sitting down and of course in front of them by 10 to 13 feet (they were placed 9.5’ apart from each other). While the speakers still sound good when standing, the magic of “being there” was diminished.”
“Hmmm...I think that these speakers could be finicky to room size and make-up, but I really have nothing to base this on - except that the timbre of the sound changed even with minor changes in listening position - not that it sounded bad when you moved from the sweet spot, but it was a different beast.”
Dynamics and Tonality
“These babies have dynamics in spades. The high frequencies are open and clean. Bass hits hard and fast. Equally, the LS-6’s have the ability to accurately communicate the subtleties and emotions of recordings in intimate settings. One of the tracks played was from an opera (“Martin Guerre” by Cameron Mackintosh) where a soft duet of a man and woman singing about their love for one transitions into a full orchestra onslaught with full dynamics of all the instruments. The LS-6’s handled it beautifully and with ease.”
“The bass at very low freqs was at times boomy but was not due to the speaker in my opinion. Art mentioned that he has future plans for the room that will address this issue”
”One issue that I did notice was the bass appeared to be a little muddy on some recordings. It seemed to me as if the 6.5 drivers where trying to work hard to get really low… When trying to go really really low (which these speakers will) I rather have a sub and let the 6.5 drivers do what they do best… Not act as a 10” +plus driver…”
“These were not quite as sparkling as I am used to, but they were also much less fatiguing and natural sounding after the first hour of all kinds of music...the weird thing is, the dynamic levels challenged and superseded my horns, which is a damn hard thing to do - If it hadn't for the lack of face shearing treble, I would have thought they were horns on first listen. Since the main problem folks have with horns is those uncontrolled high spikes that will shine the back wall of your skull, this may be a strong alternative.”
“The sound top to bottom was smooth and seamless, another thing to me that was rather amazing - I expected some roll-off given what I thought would surely be a three way system, I mean a line array with multiple cones having all of the (presumably) same characteristics would have the same roll off or spike problems between the notches, right? However, once I was told it was a two-way, I understood better the seamless transitions, but I was shocked at how low those little 8" cones could go - giving good and even bass performance (except for certain frequencies that caused some boominess - but the general consensus was it was a room problem, not these speakers) while playing high enough to make alto vocal jazz smooth and creamy - really an awesome feat. Usually, in my limited experience, several different sets of speakers are good at different things, some music that sound good on my horns, do not sound good on other competent but different speakers.”
“Jacintha sounded wonderful thru the LS-6. But I was kind of under whelmed when I heard Mark Knopfler. Maybe the recording wasn't up to the mark. These speakers could majorly rock as clearly demonstrated during the DMB track. I especially enjoyed Bela Fleck through these speakers, and its lows as heard by the "s8er boi" track, was powerful. Sound seemed seamless, and effortless ... which are the two most important things that i look for in speakers.”
“The speakers appeared to be lacking in detail just a little. However this was only noticed on one of my CDs that I know really well.”
“Now with all that said I am still thinking about buying a kit…It’s hard to beat and I think if the bass was brought/tightened up a little it would sound really great…”
A Nice Closing Thought….
“I also enjoyed the camaraderie of the get-together. It is always great to talk with others that share our passion for music. I get caught up in the waiting game too much these days. You know, waiting in lines, waiting in airports, waiting for this, waiting for that. Yesterday it just felt good to enjoy the moment.”
