I brought my LS90's Rosewood new in 1995 while in the United State Navy. I still have them. The sound they produce always amaze me. So clear and life like. I have them in my home theater know. And after 20 years they still sound outstand.

I have been using the Polk LS90's as the mains in my home theater where I actually do more audio listening than anything else. I have LS70's as my rear speakers and the CS350 as my center.

These Polks are great speakers. I run the gammut of volumes and genres and they always perform. In other 2-channel listening rooms I have brands like Krell, Audio Research Corp, Bryston, Apogee, etc. I am a scrutinizuing listener. Mids are clear and the Tri-Lam tweeters are soft enough yet detailed. Bass is not lacking, in fact it can be too much without proper speaker placement which is often the case with a rear-ported speaker. My room doesn't allow me to bring them away from the wall 2 feet so I have used a semi-passive foam plug in the rear port to regulate bass response.

The sound is very active and clear at all volume levels and the speakers do not distort at high volumes. The tiered design of the speakers makes them much more attractive than basic box speakers of this size. Cabinets are very well built with each driver having its own separate enclosure. The rubber driver surrounds that Polk uses will last "forever". These speakers are 15+ years old now and I have used them daily at varying levels of fine and abusive listening. Ther are louder speakers, there are more detailed speakers, there are prettier speakers; but there are very few speakers that do this many things this well in this price range and beyond. It's 2014 now. In my opinion if you find a pair under $400-$500 depending on condition buy them.

My Speakers are over 10 yrs old and still sound great. I had stored the speakers and they got a little water damage and the speakers are just fine, The boxes got wet while storing them but all sounds good like new. A+ 5 star speakers.

Great Sound.

When shopping for my current system, I listened to lots and lots of speakers for days and days in the approx $2000 price range. I brought my own CD's and listened to each model in more then one showroom. Some speakers were several hundred more and several were a few hundred less but nothing sounded as good as these Polk's. Furniture constraints in my living room made it difficult to find the correct placement, but once I did, imaging was excellent. I like that fact that they are tall and have a small footprint. They are also nice looking.
It is interesting that only two of the 4 midrange drivers fire for midrange, the extra two are used for base only. I have them connected to a Adcom 5800 which puts out 250 watts per channel, it is a capable of high current. It was amazing to play them at high levels, they handled all the power still sounding tight and musical. My friend has a theory that when you play speakers very loud, if you are annoyed by the volumne, it's because you are hearing distortion. Quality speakers will still sound sweet. I don't know if it's true but the LS-90's are still pleasent at very high listening levels.

Similar Products Used:

Bose 901's JBL.

Clarity at high levels, great bass for size

none

I was considering spending $1000 on a pair of speakers while shopping at the local rob you retail store. Around that time I bought a trading times to check the ads. Some guy said he had a pair of LS-90s for $550. He said he had just moved into an apartment and they had to be loud to be appreciated. I stopped over there the next day after work with the cash. When i walked in I looked at these beatiful speakers and had to ask do they work? I figured they had to be broke for the money. They worked great, so great I fit them in my 1997 mustang (it was tight). When I got home I put in some of my favorite cd's. The clarity was incredible at all levels, clear at levels that I think are too loud. So clear that they have changed my perception of how music should be listened to and what good quality is. Definatly a happy camper.

Similar Products Used:

Bose, JBL, Pioneer

clean extended highs...cleaner midrange too ( with pods and tiptoes )...solid bass with pitch difinition....once large tiptoes and vibrapods were added

treble purity B+....but still very good

Granted I have them in a dedicated listening room with acoustic treatments...the best of Audio Alchemy's gear and Kimber Select cables...interconnect and spk. cable ( read this issue of the absolute sound about room treatment ). A year and a half ago ( I have had them running on the Alchemy gear since 1995 in this room with treatment )I read in the May/June 1999 issue of The Absolute Sound ( B&W spks on cover )about vibrapods ( or is it vibro ? ). Anyway, I took thier placement under my spks. one step further. They perfectly fit an large tiptoe brand spike ( buy the appropriate weight pods )between the spike and the spk.. I drilled holes and screwed them in with the vibrapods....leaving enough cush and bouency to offer resonance control. I was skeptical and busted my butt laying these spks on their sides to do it.... . Was it worth it! WOW! the low end was now tight and tune full and no longer muddied the midrange! Instead of sounding like separate drivers the spk had top to bottom coherence!
You might give up some hertz in the low end 26 up to a now clean 36hertz....but you get in midrange improvement and detail is no joke. Obviously, other spkrs would benefit too...I would guess. The key is the tiptoe with pod bouency adustment and they are dialed in! I'm not saying that I won't buy the new Revel Monitors....but what this tweek did for these spks. is beutiful! ( Read the review that I mentioned above...but you need the perfect fitting tiptoe spikes I mentioned too! )

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Maggies....and others

Fantastic overall sound. Great bass, midrange and high frequencies. Wood (cabinet) quality is furniture grade...looks great.

Tweater is very harsh at high power levels. I suspect the max power rating was set too high by Polk.

I cant say enough about these speakers! With a better cross-over circuit and a tweeter that would handle more power, they might just be the best sounding speakers in the world...period! Too bad Polk disconinued this product line. Their new speakers dont hold a candle to the LS90's. Ive heard demos from speakers costing 5 times as much and wasnt impressed! So here's the real problem... Now that the LS-90's are getting older, what could you possibly buy to replace them??

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B&W (way overpriced for what you get).

None

muddy bass,congested mids. Everything!

Poor speaker. After listening to it I can understand why Polk went into H/T! SDA Aeries was much better. Mids are very congested. Bass is sloppy and limited. Minimal power handling. Was lucky to get rid of them! Don't waste your money,save a little more and try a real speaker like even the PSB Stratus Gold!

Similar Products Used:

Polk SDA Series. PSB Stratus Gold's. Thiel CS 7's,6's, 2.3's,MCS 1's. Eggleston Andra's. Magnepan 3.6.

Clear Midrange, Spatial image, see-thru image with no fuzziness. MUSICAL

to big for a little room, compatibility with other equipements.

Well I'm not sleeping with them for 6 years but during my studies they have been with me in my rooms at university and college. It's difficult when you hear a proac at 6000$ sound more than them but it's 6000$ dollars for what? For me It's music that is important and matching them with an 9180 hafler, a audio reaserch ls7 with my onkyo 706 cambridge dac1 wired with maestro from straight wire and other silver cable. I've managed to create a good ambiance and musicality to listen 10 hours a day with a smile. Some are talking that the mid is far away, the bass is boomy, the hi is to dark. But we are in hi-fi world and when you listen to a concert youre not at 1 inch of the trumpet so it's your taste that counts and everything can be improved in a hi-fi world. 6000$ dollars to have a little difference... why bother. no four stars sorry for the perfect gentlemens.

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LS-4, B&W, KEF.

Solid Midrange and Bass response to 3O hrz usable clean out put to 25 Hrz

Slight spittiness in the treble. Bass not as well defined as the very best of speakers.

These speakers are well balnced over Achievers. The best speaker that polk has ever made. The newer models with all the powered subs have such a midbass hump that they sound really fat now. It's too bad that polk discontinued these fine all round speaker for designs that are better for home theatre. The LS90 has been in my system now for approximately 3years. I purchased them at close out for $950.00 a pair they retailed for $1800.00. These speaker have the clean treble, a natural midrange, and solid bass making them a winner in either an home theatre or music system. No speaker in the $1000 price range has ever came close to thier overall sound quality. All either traded off treble extension, midrange clarity, bass extension, or bass clarity to some degree. The only speakers that best it at twice the cost are the Paradigm 100s and the PSB Stratus Golds. But only by a slight margin in the treble. I don't normally like to give an overall rating of five to any speaker. Five means to me its capable of reproducing the live experience. A technical impossibility. But these speakers were such a value that I made an exception. Are these speakers the best money can by no. Many other speakers do have superior sound quality. But no speaker came close to the versitility and sound quality of these for little less than a grand.

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Paradigm Referance 100, Klipsh, Definitive Technologies, EoSound, PSB silver, NHT SuperTwo, Mirage