Jumped in the deep end....

[tghodge]

So I think I jumped in the deep end with regards to building my home theater yesterday. I am probably going in backwards, but hopefully made a wise choice. I was in my local Tweeter yesterday as it was closing its doors for the last time and ended up purchasing the LSI-25 and LSI-C for prices I could not believe. I am more of a video guy and wasnt planning on going high end for the audio, but I just couldnt pass up getting the amazing deal (my wife even made me go back and buy them....insane). With that said, I had planned on getting some basic speakes for a 5.1 system and a receiver that did HDMI switching, full codec support, and had good power. From what I am reading, I think that I need to go with a separate amp for the front three speakers which I guess changes what I need for the receiver. I still plan to do much more research, but I have read great things about the Emotiva XPA-5 which I think would handle the two LSI25's and let me bi-amp the LiC with one channel left over. Is that a reasonable idea or have I not been interpeting things correctly in my resarch? I would then get a receiver that had some built in amplification for the surrounds (which i have yet to purchase) that has the features I want plus the approporiate pre-outs?

I guess I should have waited to post until I became more educated, but wanted to get my first post in! Sorry to be such a noob....;)

I forgot to mention I would like to do some 2 channel critical listening in the theater, but mostly will be movies and some TV/sports. Probably a 20/80 split.

[dkg999]

Welcome to Club Polk! Great choice on the speakers. You are correct that the LSi25's will sound their best with a separate amp. If you can budget for it, a good 5 or 7 ch amp would be the way to go, that way you will be able to power your surrounds also. A good plan B would be to get a 2 ch external amp to power the LSi25's and use a good quality AVR to power the LSiC. What AVR are you considering?

[Early B.]

The Lsi and XPA-5 combo will sound fantastic. The XPA-5 has 5 channels, so forget about bi-amping. You don't need to do it anyway. I suggest that you set up a 5.1 system. You need a nice pair of rear speakers. Grab a pair of Lsi7's or Lsi-9's. Don't forget about a kick-ass subwoofer. Lots of choices there. Buy it on-line.

Don't buy a receiver. Instead, buy a home theater processor along with the XPA-5. Check out Emotiva's UMC-1. It should be available in a few weeks.

[Face]

You could pick up a Onkyo 706 for processing and powering your rears. The Emo amp will be fine for powering your front end.

[SolidSqual]

Now's the time to buy Emotiva gear. It's on sale until 2009.

[cfrizz]

Welcome to Club Polk. Congrats on your purchase!

If you also buy LSI's for the rears, you will need the Emo for those too!

[tghodge]

Wow, I went off to grab some dinner and there were already a number of replies, that’s awesome!

I am trying to determine what AVR to go with, but I have been reading about the Emotiva UMC-1 and it sounds like pretty much everything I want/need (although there is an XMC-1 coming out as well). I am probably a couple months away from having the theater finished so I am not in a rush, but would be nice to have the equipment ready to go once the room is complete. If I went with the UMC-1 as the pre and the XPA-5 as the amp, would I need anything else? I know the LSI-25s are powered so I assume I could go with an external sub as well, but that would have its own amp built in correct? If I went with the XPA-5 I would be good with the fronts on three channels and whatever surrounds I pick off the other two? There is no way to do 7.1 in my space with the angled roof (it’s a third floor attic theater) relative to the sitting position, so I am perfectly fine with a 5.1 system.

My other dumb question is the regarding the power portion of the 25s. In a theater setup as well as my occasional 2 channel listening, do I run a sub input to them or do they get their signal from the speaker wire I am running to the top terminals for left and right channel? I guess my question really is, if I get a dedicated powered sub, do I run a sub cable to each of the 25s or no?

Thanks for the help...you guys are fantastic.

[ben62670]

Welcome to Club Polk. What size room do you have? If you get a dedicated sub just run the mains at full/large.
Ben

[tghodge]

Welcome to Club Polk. What size room do you have? If you get a dedicated sub just run the mains at full/large.
Ben

The room is about 15 by 17 with 9 foot celings, so not to large, but best I could do.

Would you mind explaining a bit more on running the mains at "full/large"? I think I have an idea, but not sure....

[apphd]

I am trying to determine what AVR to go with, but I have been reading about the Emotiva UMC-1 and it sounds like pretty much everything I want/need (although there is an XMC-1 coming out as well). I am probably a couple months away from having the theater finished so I am not in a rush, but would be nice to have the equipment ready to go once the room is complete. If I went with the UMC-1 as the pre and the XPA-5 as the amp, would I need anything else?

Other than maybe some room treatments, I would say you probably don't need anything else. But......tweeking and experimenting with new stuff is half the fun:p One thing about the UMC1, its predecessor had some issues (which were mostly corrected), so Emo probably went the extra to avoid that this time around, but I might want to wait til some units ship before ordering. I think they have a huge amount of pre orders so even though it should start shipping soon it might take some time before you could get one if you ordered now.

But the Emo combo with your speakers and some LSi surounds and one or two subs and you should have a kick *&^%* system.:D
Great wife you have there.

[ben62670]

You would set the left, and right (L/R) to full range, or large. It is the same thing, but some AVRs word it differently. Now if you want to try not using subs seeing the 25's kinda have built in subs you would set your pre/receiver to send the LFE to the L/R speakers:)

[Early B.]

You NEED a sub. The powered bottoms in the Lsi25's are not a substitute for a good subwoofer by any means. If you hang around on this forum, we have a few fundamental rules. One of them is to buy the biggest, baddest sub you can't afford. You can't claim to have a real home theater system without it.

[Early B.]

Hey, you aptly titled this thread, so... do what you gotta do. Dig deep into your pocket and do it right or don't do it at all.

By the way, you should budget a bare minimum of $500 for cables.

[tghodge]

Ha, it sounds like not only did I jump in I actually want to stay! I would definitely want a seperate sub so I understand the towers would be set to full...that makes sense to me now. I will research the board to subs that you guys recommend. Is there any that match well to the LSI's? I dont want bog boomy, buy nice tight bass for movies and such.

With regards to a front end. I do like what I read of the UMC and have time to wait for it. If I decided to look at another brand, what might you recommend? I definitely want 4to 5 HDMI inputs, all the latest codecs supported and good video processing. Ideally the UMC and possibly XMC from Emotiva have everything I think I want, just not familiar with pre amps now that I have crossed over to the seperate world!

And yes, my wife is pretty cool...although I am adding an extra bedroom and a steam shower so I think she knew she had to keep my motivated to work on her projects while I work on mine!

[Face]

Check out the Polk DSW series and Velodyne SPL series subs, they both sound very clean.