LSi System Suggestions Please

[Murray1]

Considering LSi 9's for the front, LSi C, and LSi 7's for surround rears. Also looking at Onkyo 806(130W/channel) to drive the rears and an Emotiva XPA 3to drive the fronts and center. If anyone already has this configuration I would like to hear your comments. One of my questions is if the 806(130W) will drive the rears sufficiently. Application will be mostly HT. Since it appears the Emo XPA 3 outputs more power than the XPA 5, I am leaning towards the 3 - opinions? Lastly, wondering if I can hold off initially on the amp and operate the system at normal movie volume and not damage speakers or receiver. Understand the amp is the way to go, but it would be nice to pick up the amp after the checking account recovers a bit.

[Face]

Don't crank the volume too much and make sure the receiver is set for 4 ohms, you'll be fine for a while.

Once you get a amp for your front end, your 806 should have no problem powering the rears.

[Pepi28]

^+1. What face said.

[mmadden28]

Since it appears the Emo XPA 3 outputs more power than the XPA 5, I am leaning towards the 3 - opinions?

I think you have that backwards. The XPA-3 and XPA-5 are almost the same thing except for the # of channels. But the XPA-5 has more power to offer-at least according to the listed specs (when comparing the same # of speakers being driven at a time).

XPA-3

# 200 watts RMS/channel into 8 ohms, all channels driven
* 3 channels - 8 ohm = 200 watts per channel
* 2 channels - 8 ohm = 225 watts per channel
* 1 channels - 8 ohm = 300 watts per channel

# 4 ohm rating:
* 3 channels - 4 ohm = 300 watts per channel
* 2 channels - 4 ohm = 400 watts per channel
* 1 channels - 4 ohm = 500 watts per channel

XPA-5

# 200 watts RMS/channel into 8 ohms, all channels driven
* 5 channels - 8 ohm = 200 watts per channel
* 4 channels - 8 ohm = 230 watts per channel
* 3 channels - 8 ohm = 250 watts per channel
* 2 channels - 8 ohm = 275 watts per channel
* 1 channel - 8 ohm = 300 watts per channel

# 4 ohm rating:
* 5 channels - 4 ohm = 350 watts per channel
* 4 channels - 4 ohm = 375 watts per channel
* 3 channels - 4 ohm = 400 watts per channel
* 2 channels - 4 ohm = 450 watts per channel
* 1 channel - 4 ohms = 500 watts per channel

[Fatwalnut]

you need to make sure that the center and surround channels are designed to handle 4 ohm speakers. Alot of receivers can only handle 6 or 8 ohm on these channels. You could damage you receiver. Check the manual of the one you are buying. Don't go by the salesman, as he is only trying to sell you something. Good luck.

[cfrizz]

The most important factor is that he could damage his SPEAKERS!!!

Just buy a nice beefy separate 5-7 channel amp & be done with it. Otherwise get 8ohm speakers.

you need to make sure that the center and surround channels are designed to handle 4 ohm speakers. Alot of receivers can only handle 6 or 8 ohm on these channels. You could damage you receiver. Check the manual of the one you are buying. Don't go by the salesman, as he is only trying to sell you something. Good luck.

[Hilbert]

"Considering LSi 9's for the front, LSi C, and LSi 7's for surround rears."

I have this set of speakers being driven by an xpa 5 and it sounds terrific, imo. So my advice is the 5 and stop worrying about amplification. Worry instead about paying for it. :)

Since your interests are mostly HT, have you considered RTi As? Haven't heard them myself but there seems to be consensus they are relatively easy to drive and very good for HT, maybe better than LSis for that app.

Pair of A9s on Polk Direct now for $900 + tax and shipping. Roughly what 2 LSi9s would cost new from Crutchfield.

[LessisNevermore]

"Considering LSi 9's for the front, LSi C, and LSi 7's for surround rears."

I have this set of speakers being driven by an xpa 5 and it sounds terrific, imo. So my advice is the 5 and stop worrying about amplification. Worry instead about paying for it. :)

I also have the same LSi set and an XPA-5 as well. You can likely save some money by getting the 5 to power all the LSi's, and look at a 706, or 606 for the processing. (depending on how cheap you can get the Onks for) Or, for ~ the same money as the 6/706, you can get one of the new Emo pre/pros,(when they arrive) and skip the AVR all together.

If you already have a receiver with pre-outs, you can run the amp off it, to bide time until your account recovers. You might decide you didn't need the upgrade after all. (but I suspect you're after the new audio formats...):D

[doug lang]

You know this Lsi 4ohm with the 806 onkyo receiver or others is asked again and again. Almost to the point of saying go try it let us know what possibly may or may not happen. Don't get me wrong all questions are important and that is how we all have learned. i just think this has been beaten to a dead horse.
The lsi are fine speakers and as we all know they are 4ohm. hungry. As surgested read up on these units before you purchase. Most sales people will sell you anything for a buck. And lastly low volume with the lsi series may not be the way to go. You will want to get a taste of the lsi speakers.

[Murray1]

"Considering LSi 9's for the front, LSi C, and LSi 7's for surround rears."

I have this set of speakers being driven by an xpa 5 and it sounds terrific, imo. So my advice is the 5 and stop worrying about amplification. Worry instead about paying for it. :)

Since your interests are mostly HT, have you considered RTi As? Haven't heard them myself but there seems to be consensus they are relatively easy to drive and very good for HT, maybe better than LSis for that app.

Pair of A9s on Polk Direct now for $900 + tax and shipping. Roughly what 2 LSi9s would cost new from Crutchfield.

Never considered RTi family but am open to suggestions. I am not into super high volume anything so starting to wonder if LSi's are for me. What RTi configuration would be good for a 5.1 surround system. Thanks everyone for your input.

[leroyjr1]

Never considered RTi family but am open to suggestions. I am not into super high volume anything so starting to wonder if LSi's are for me. What RTi configuration would be good for a 5.1 surround system. Thanks everyone for your input.

Rti A9/ Rti a5 fronts
Csi A6 center
Fxi a6/ rti a3 rears

[cfrizz]

Sigh. The LSI's are good for BOTH it is simply going to take more power to get them to the same volume that would be the equivalent of the RTI series. Because they are 4ohm speakers. But they will sound a whole lot better for both. But most especially for music.

It is NOT about loud volume, it is about giving the speakers what they need to operate to their full potential. And most receivers can't do it for the LSI's.

All speakers sound better with separate amplification, with 8ohm speakers, an amp is optionial. With 4ohms speakers like the LSI's it's really not, unless you want to sit on top of them to hear them or push them without what they need & risk damage to them.

Never considered RTi family but am open to suggestions. I am not into super high volume anything so starting to wonder if LSi's are for me. What RTi configuration would be good for a 5.1 surround system. Thanks everyone for your input.

[daboyz]

I you are more of a HT kinda person then the Rti's will do you beautifully. With all due respect to Leroy,you can go the used route and get Rti8's,Csi5etc. and have a helluva HT for a very good price. You won't really have to worry about separate amplification but it definitely wouldn't hurt. The Lsi's would definitely need an amp. It's not about the volume but the power.

[xcapri79]

Considering LSi 9's for the front, LSi C, and LSi 7's for surround rears. Also looking at Onkyo 806(130W/channel) to drive the rears and an Emotiva XPA 3to drive the fronts and center. If anyone already has this configuration I would like to hear your comments. One of my questions is if the 806(130W) will drive the rears sufficiently. Application will be mostly HT. Since it appears the Emo XPA 3 outputs more power than the XPA 5, I am leaning towards the 3 - opinions? Lastly, wondering if I can hold off initially on the amp and operate the system at normal movie volume and not damage speakers or receiver. Understand the amp is the way to go, but it would be nice to pick up the amp after the checking account recovers a bit.

Murray, I agree with Face and Pepi28 on this. I did exactly that same in my case except using a Pioneer receiver. Many of us are not made of money and acquire our system over time. The LSi's are far better than the RTi's so I would go that route and start off with your Onkyo 806 and an Emotiva XPA-3 which is on an excellent sale right now.

The issue about running Polk LSi 7's on a Onkyo receiver came up in another post. You might want to read it.
http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=76541
Face presented an impedance-frequency curve for the LSi7 which shows that it doesn't really dip below 4 ohms and so technically it would not be too difficult to drive as others have suggested. Eric Wong from Polk also confirmed that the Onkyos will drive the LSi7's fine.

Some of the purists may disagree but the facts are the facts, aren't they?

[zede]

There's a pair of LSi7s on ebay for $189. One speaker has a damaged tweeter, but the sellers states that the other works fine. As the seller notes, this could be a good fron center or rear center on the cheap:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=190279400630

PS. I don't know the seller. Just thought I'd put this out there.

[MSALLA]

IMHO it is not worth spending the extra money on the LSi's if you are not goin to run them off of something with the amps to properly drive them. When I added amps to my system it sounded like a got new speakers. The RTi line has a great sound and will run off any AVR with no problems. This is just my 2 cents. Do a search on here. This topic has been around for a long time.

[be83663]

Stay with Onkyo 806 and LSi setup. They will sound nice.

When you have enough money, then go for XPA-3. :)

[Murray1]

IMHO it is not worth spending the extra money on the LSi's if you are not goin to run them off of something with the amps to properly drive them. When I added amps to my system it sounded like a got new speakers. The RTi line has a great sound and will run off any AVR with no problems. This is just my 2 cents. Do a search on here. This topic has been around for a long time.

Went to frys today to demo RTI a9's. Difficult to compare to LSi 9's because both sets of speakers were driven off receivers only. Seemed like LSi 9's had more depth to their sound but again no amp was connected. Someone mentioned RTi's may be better for HT. Any ideas why? LSi 9's sounded very good without an amp so am wondering how they fare against the a9's when an amp is connected.

[xcapri79]

Went to frys today to demo RTI a9's. Difficult to compare to LSi 9's because both sets of speakers were driven off receivers only. Seemed like LSi 9's had more depth to their sound but again no amp was connected. Someone mentioned RTi's may be better for HT. Any ideas why? LSi 9's sounded very good without an amp so am wondering how they fare against the a9's when an amp is connected.

I think you need to decide whether you are going with the RTi series which sounds great or the LSi series which is more expensive but prehaps sounds even better, IMHO. The LSi9's are awesome with an amp but so apparently is the RTiA9.

It is strongly recommended with the LSi25's, 15's, 9's and C's to use an external amp with at least 4 ohm 200 wpc rating. The LSi7's will benefit from an external amp but should run on your Onkyo 806 just fine. Many recommend an external amp for the RTiA9 or A7 but it is not as important as with the LSi's since the RTi's have an 8 ohm rating. Pretty much any decent receiver will power the A5 and lower RTi's just fine.

You will have to decide for yourself based on what you hear. Many find that the LSi's have a clearer more refined sound which is important for classical music for example. To your ears, what is the cost/benefits of each?

Both will do well in HT, glass breaking is a sensation with LSi's, I know that for sure.

To many, aesthetics are important too. How do you want your system to look relative to your room and furnishings? Is this a factor? It is for many wives.

It's like trying to decide between platinum and gold. Whatever you end up with is pretty nice.

[lumpy]

I have just finished putting together this set up. I am driving the center and the 9's with sepperates and the 7's with a yamaha 863 and a powered sub added in. I am currently saving for the lsifx's at which point I plan to moove the 7's to be additional fronts.

I think that this set up sounds great. the 9's sound great but deffinetly needed the 200+ wpc amp.

right now the 9's are set up about 2.5 feet off the floor and need to come up another foot to sound better though.

I listen to all music forms - mostly clasical. pink floyd Dark side and crystal method leagon of boom also kicks some but.

my vote would be to get the Lsi's and save for the amps. I've started with budget amps and will eventually move up to better ones. A man has to have a hobby other than fishing.

[Face]

I am currently saving for the lsifx's at which point I plan to moove the 7's to be additional fronts.

Why?

[cfrizz]

Welcome to Club Polk Lumpy. Sounds like you got a smoking set up. Congrats!

[lumpy]

Why?

A. why not - I have only been at this for about a year and a half. do you have any advise - please share.

B. my rxv863 can output an additional front set of channels that provide what they term diagonal lift. I was using this with my 661 and liked the ability to bring the vocals more to the center of the screen. I find that this helps with an 106" screen where the center chanel is placed just below the screen.

C. I do not have a place for rear channels - therefore LsiFx

[xcapri79]

A man has to have a hobby other than fishing.

I agree.

[Bass_Pedal]

I owned a pair of RTiA7s for about three months. I had them runing off an Adcom GFA 545 amp. For HT, they were awesome. The bass was crazy, impressive slam. Action movies in particular blew me away. Unfortunately my usage is about 85% music 15% HT so after much deliberation I sold them and got a pair of Lsi9s. Since then I have purchased an LsiC. IMO the Lsi's are in a different league for music than the RTi's. For HT, I have to say I prefer the RTi's. The fact that they are easier to drive should sway you more in that direction. A full suite of RTi's would be well served by that 806 receiver.

[Igo]

...../ Rti a5 fronts
Csi A6 center
Fxi a6/...... rears

I have an earlier generation of this set up and can't sit in the room with it at volume. It's a great music set up as well.

[timmythugs]

I have the hookup. PM me for details. Want the best but dont want the price?

[Igo]

I think you need to decide whether you are going with the RTi series which sounds great or the LSi series which is more expensive but prehaps sounds even better, IMHO. The LSi9's are awesome with an amp but so apparently is the RTiA9.

It is strongly recommended with the LSi25's, 15's, 9's and C's to use an external amp with at least 4 ohm 200 wpc rating. The LSi7's will benefit from an external amp but should run on your Onkyo 806 just fine. Many recommend an external amp for the RTiA9 or A7 but it is not as important as with the LSi's since the RTi's have an 8 ohm rating. Pretty much any decent receiver will power the A5 and lower RTi's just fine.

You will have to decide for yourself based on what you hear. Many find that the LSi's have a clearer more refined sound which is important for classical music for example. To your ears, what is the cost/benefits of each?

Both will do well in HT, glass breaking is a sensation with LSi's, I know that for sure.

To many, aesthetics are important too. How do you want your system to look relative to your room and furnishings? Is this a factor? It is for many wives.

It's like trying to decide between platinum and gold. Whatever you end up with is pretty nice.

The A5 with a sub is probably the most musical set up in the Rti family. Two efficient and strong mid drivers with with a sub bringing up all the bottom end. This is speculation but I don't think 3 7 inch low frequency drivers tied to a 130wpc receiver OR a 200wpc amp will stay with a 150 watt amp on a dedicated 10 or 12 inch sub.

[Igo]

I have just finished putting together this set up. I am driving the center and the 9's with sepperates and the 7's with a yamaha 863 and a powered sub added in. I am currently saving for the lsifx's at which point I plan to moove the 7's to be additional fronts.

I think that this set up sounds great. the 9's sound great but deffinetly needed the 200+ wpc amp.

right now the 9's are set up about 2.5 feet off the floor and need to come up another foot to sound better though.

I listen to all music forms - mostly clasical. pink floyd Dark side and crystal method leagon of boom also kicks some but.

my vote would be to get the Lsi's and save for the amps. I've started with budget amps and will eventually move up to better ones. A man has to have a hobby other than fishing.

This sounds like a whole lot of really bad math to me. Tweeters 2 feet above the listening position? different sounding amps running each speaker set? TWO sets of fronts? RT fronts and LSI rears? Stick around and read before you spend the bucks my friend. Of coarse I might just be reading this wrong too.

[lumpy]

Of coarse I might just be reading this wrong too.

I guess so -

to clarify - all Lsi + all fronts 2.5 feet above the floor and driven with one brand of amp. 7's as rears via the receiver.

http://www.edhelper.com/math.htm?gcl...FQG7Ggod03o9mw

I am sorry that your listening position is 1/2 foot off the floor.