I need a little feedback please

[Bob F.]

I own a Pair of Polk LSi9's and a LSi Center Channel and LSi Surrounds and two 15 inch Subwoofers. I am extremely pleased with the sound that I am getting from the LSi's. These speakers are all rated at 4 ohms and I'm thinking about buying a new Home Theater Receiver. I'm curious and would like to get some feedback on different types of Home Theater Receivers that many of you may be using with your LSi speakers. I may be investing in a new Home Theater Receiver in the near future and your feedback will be very appreciated.

Bob

[Toxis]

B&K 507, Sunfire Ultimate Receiver, Onkyo TX-NR1000... why, what price range were you looking? BTW, 99% of all answers below will be "Buy seperates or at least a seperate amplifier." I highly agree with this. I own the Denon 3805 and am using it as my pre/pro and have a Myryad MA500 as my 5ch. amp to drive my LSi 9's and C (don't have rears right now). This is how you SHOULD do it but it all depends on what you wanna spend.

[lomic]

Don't want to disappoint so I'll recommend seperates!

I saved a little money by luckily having a reciever that can drive my LSi7's as rears - and while I wouldn't want it to drive my mains, for handling rears the H/K works great since the load isn't constant/loud for the most part. Getting a better 3 channel amp for the front stage seems to be perfect, as I would have had to settle for a lower-power 5 channel amp otherwise. But if you're running LSiFX's or such as rears, a 5 channel amp would probably be best. For the LSi's you listed I recommend around at least 200wpc into 4 ohms.

BTW: What reciever are you running right now?

[danger boy]

Bob,

go with a seperate amp. either 2 channel for just your fronts or a 5 channel for all your speakers.

do you really need a receiver? receivers are usually the least expensive way to go. but the compromise is that they don't sound are clean as seperates. A receiver had to do all things.. amplify, pre amp, tuner, etc. all in one unit.

I can testify that the tuners in most all receiver are sub par. Really how many of us listen to FM or AM radio anymore? it sounds like crap from a receiver.

[polkatese]

Bob,
If you are going the receiver route, I would support Toxis' recommendation of going with B&K 507, alternatively:

Rotel rsx-1067 (7.1)

These receivers are very close to having separates. Plenty of (current) power and dynamics for Lsis to sing.

Have fun shopping!

[Bob F.]

Yes, I think, after reading your responses, I may be looking at separates (5 channel power amp). I'm not too pleased with the receiver I have. My price range will be between $2,000 and $3000. My Home Theater receiver that I have has all pre-amp out jacks so I can used it as a 5 channel Pre-amp. I would really like a 5 channel Power amp that I know will be clean with a very high signal to noise ratio. I have to agree - I have tried inexpensive receivers and a few expensive ones and many of them are terrible.
Again, I do thank you all for the feedback and, hopefully in two or three months, I'll let you know what I bought.

[Frank Z]

Best bang for the buck.Outlaw B-stock

[Tour2ma]

Decent budget...

What AVR are you now running, and what do you and don't you like about it?

[Toxis]

$2-3k? That could get you a really nice setup via used gear if you look. eBay and Audiogon can and will be your friends. I just picked up my combo for $<1500. If you look hard enough, you will find some AMAZING deals!

[lomic]

If I had that kinda budget I'd continue going Parasound. First question is with the amp: Is it at all possible you will be getting LSi25's or any other floorstander that has a built in sub in the future? If so, take the plunge on a 300-400wpc amp like the Parasound HCA-2205 which will probably run $1200-1500 (havent seen recent prices). If you're set with the LSi9's, the HCA-1205 will suffice running around $700.

I'd definitely make sure I was spending over half the budget on the Processor, since you can't really get an older used one that has modern features. The Parasound C2 runs around $2500 used on Audiogon, so that would about max your budget with the 1205 amp.

This is just the Parasound perspective, there could very well be alternatives out there that will give more of what YOU want for less money.

[disneyjoe7]

Parasound.....

My vote is HALO a division of Parasound Great stuff very nice sounding Clean out of this world... Got to thank Doro for hooking me up with this one.

[sbrst58]

I have pretty much the same setup, I use three 2 channel QSC power amps with my Denon receiver's pre outs and it sounds great
I think you get more for your money using pro audio power
I also hooked up a SVS passive sub to one of the channels it is a suberb system