A question of power!

[Tsayid]

Greetings!

In the last week I have gone on an upgrade binge, and here's my current setup which will preface my questions.

LSi15 Mains
LSiC Center
RTi4 Surrounds
Denon 4802 (125 watts per channel, not rated at 4 ohms however)

The upgrade I did was replacing my RTi8 mains with the LSi15's and the CSi3 with the LSiC. The difference is astouding in 2 channel music (set the receiver to pure direct for music) and in movies after an hour or two the center really opened up and I just love it.

A couple questions for you.

1.) I know I'm not pushing 4 ohm power to the speakers. From my reading on the forum I have come to the conclusion that I'm missing out on a LOT of good sound by not powering the lovely things very well. This must be rectified! (but on a budget ;))

2.) Is it possible to power them "too much"? IE: the LSi15's are rated at 125 watts according to specs... if I push over that can I damage them? If so, where do I draw the line in the sand in terms of power?

3.) I'm looking into a couple options for amping those mains. First option is to simply use the preamp outs on the Denon AVR 4802 and put in a B&K reference 125.2. This will push out a rated 185 watts at 4 ohms. Another option is hooking them up to my roommates 200.5 reference and reference 30 preamp and try that out because he ALSO has the upgrade bug and I may be able to buy that setup from him. His setup would push an incredible 375 watts at 4 ohms. Whoa. Is that too much?

Thank you all for taking the time to answer what you can, I appreciate it!

-Nate

[F1nut]

Nate,

It is much easier and more common to damage speakers from too little power than too much. As long as you follow the general rule of thumb and not turn the volume up past half way, you'll be fine. IMO, get the 200.5 and the 30.

[cfrizz]

"Recommended Amplifier Power 20 - 250 w/channel"

Hook your Denon up to your roommate's amp & listen to your LSI's shine! As I said in another thread, more is better.

You'll know what you have to do then!

[Tsayid]

Gah! You're right, I did misread the specs. Too many numbers flying past me lately ;)

I'm looking forward to hearing them on the 200.5!

[madmax]

BIGGER IS BETTER!

For reference the LSI 7's specify a lower power than the 15's I'm sure. The 7's work great with one of the amplifiers I just sold which was 625 watts for channel. They handled the full peaks with ease and just sounded bigger no matter what the volume I was using, low medium or high. They became effortless. Go with the highest power you can afford and don't look back.

[phuz]

I've been feeding my LSi15s 330wpc @ 4ohms for a while with no problems :)

F1 is right, less power is more dangerous than too much. I doubt you'll be throwing huge parties and trying to use the system as a PA system, so your options sound perfect.

The B&K stuff. Man, go for it. I'd go for the 200.5 and Ref 30. A good deal on that gear from a friend whos got the upgrade bug? I'd be ALL OVER IT. Congrats on the upgrades. Let us know how you like it when you are done!

[Tsayid]

Unfortunately it's looking like it won't be possible to purchase the ref 30 and 200.5 from him, so I'm looking into the 200.2 option for the mains running with preamp outputs on the Denon, and the center and surrounds straight off the receiver.

Has anyone tried that type of thing?

[Tsayid]

As an addendum to the above:

Ideally I'd love to upgrade to the 200.5 and the ref 30, but the issue is the cost. Right now I can't go that high on the cost, but I could certainly spring for the reference 200.2 and use my current equipment, then sell it off later and go full seperates.

I guess I'm wondering what I'd be sacrificing in that setup... or how significant that sacrifice would be.

[cfrizz]

Tsayid, how much are you looking to spend? Are you willing to consider used?

A good bang for the buck amp maker is Outlaw Audio I have one of their monoblocks running my center channel. They only cost 299.00 each. The more you buy the more you save.

Check them out at www.outlawaudio.com.

[McLoki]

Originally posted by Tsayid
I'm looking into the 200.2 option for the mains running with preamp outputs on the Denon, and the center and surrounds straight off the receiver.

Has anyone tried that type of thing?

My Cinepro amp only has 4 working channels (out of 6 total). I am running my LSi7's, LSiC, and subwoofer off the Cinepro and am running my RM6600 surrounds (I really need to upgrade those) off of my Onkyo 777 avr. I just use my AVR to balance the sound to all speakers and it works great. (BTW - amp is 500watts/channel to the LSi7's and LSiC)

You have not mentioned it, but can you just borrow your friends amp and try out different senario's. (hook up just the 15's to the amp and everything else to the AVR. Then hook up the front stage to the amp and the rears to the AVR, as a final test, hook everything up to the amp. That way you could test for yourself what to upgrade first. (When I purchased my Cinepro, I was looking for a 3 channel amp for my front stage.)

Just a thought,

Michael

[Tsayid]

I made the "mistake" of hooking up my LSi15's to my roommates 7520 amp and Reference 30 preamp tonite and listened to the following:

Selections from Return of the King Soundtrack
Dreamtheater: Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
Kill Bill Soundtrack

I was absolutely astounded by what was coming out of my speakers. Incredible sound... rivalling that of any speaker I've heard before.

I'm now convinced I need to up the power running to my speakers, though I'll have to run some tests to see how much effect that preamp is having on things as opposed to the power.

As for Outlaw, I hadn't even looked and I think I will now, thanks for the tip! In regards to money I'm willing to spend, I'm really in no position to spend more than 1k at this point, though that's just for now.

-Nate

[bknauss]

Originally posted by F1nut
Nate,

It is much easier and more common to damage speakers from too little power than too much. As long as you follow the general rule of thumb and not turn the volume up past half way, you'll be fine. IMO, get the 200.5 and the 30.

Wouldn't be so common if everyone could hear all the distortion when they crank the receiver up too high ;)

[cfrizz]

LOL! Keep us posted with the results of your testing & I look forward to watching the buying spree you will be on!:D

Originally posted by Tsayid
I made the "mistake" of hooking up my LSi15's to my roommates 7520 amp and Reference 30 preamp tonite and listened to the following:

Selections from Return of the King Soundtrack
Dreamtheater: Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
Kill Bill Soundtrack

I was absolutely astounded by what was coming out of my speakers. Incredible sound... rivalling that of any speaker I've heard before.

I'm now convinced I need to up the power running to my speakers, though I'll have to run some tests to see how much effect that preamp is having on things as opposed to the power.

As for Outlaw, I hadn't even looked and I think I will now, thanks for the tip! In regards to money I'm willing to spend, I'm really in no position to spend more than 1k at this point, though that's just for now.

-Nate

[Tsayid]

Quick update for everyone who was so helpful.

After doing some homework and looking into various options, today I ordered the Outlaw 755 amp (200 watts at 8ohms 5 channels, or 300 watts per channel at 4ohms), along with the PCA interconnects that Outlaw sells.

I'll be running the Denon 4802 as the preamp for now and a couple months down the road replace it with the Outlaw 950 or maybe the 990 after the specs are finalized on it.

Thanks for all the help, and I'll be sure to post my thoughts on it after it arrives!

-Nate

[malikarshad]

I use Outlaw 770 (300 x 4) and have been very pleased with it.
Look on the used market for Outlaw 750 amp and you may be able to get it under 1K.
2 channel with LSi15 + SVS is awesome.