400 watts at 4ohm too much?

[Steven_1085]

Hello,
I am using class d amp that puts out roughly 180watts per channel at 4ohms would moving to a 400watt per channel at 4ohms, class d amp improve sound quality for a lsi setup or would my money better be spent on a preamp(using avr, sounds good mind you).
Thanks for your help

[nooshinjohn]

they should be fine, but class d amp? arent they supposed to be a bit dirty in terms of power? thought a/b was best but I just don't know. maybe i need some schoolin' on this

[comfortablycurt]

More information would help. What LSi series speakers do you have? What amp are you using now? What amp are you looking into buying?

Welcome to Club Polk.

[BlueFox]

I went from the Sony 7100ES digital amp at 175W/ch to the Sunfire TGA-5400 which is rated at 800W/ch x 5 with 4 LSi15s and an LSiC. No problem. The biggest change in the sound was the bass came alive. Its tight and clear. I didn't realize the 15s had so much bass. The rest of the sound also improved. In the living room I have 2 Cambridge-Audio 840W amps in mono mode. They produce 800W/ch at 4 ohms and each drives a PSB Synchrony 1 tower. Sounds great. Going from 1 amp producing 350W/ch to 2 amps really made an apparant differance in sound quality

[TNRabbit]

First of all, Sony can't touch the Sunfire or Cambridge amps in sound quality REGARDLESS of wattage....

[Lasareath]

First of all, Sony can't touch the Sunfire or Cambridge amps in sound quality REGARDLESS of wattage....

I agree about the Sony, I had a Sony ES Amp and it totally sucked. No Power at all. No High Current Power. That's what you want if you want to hear new things coming out of your speakers. Better Bass, More Detail, etc.

[Lasareath]

Hello,
I am using class d amp that puts out roughly 180watts per channel at 4ohms would moving to a 400watt per channel at 4ohms, class d amp improve sound quality for a lsi setup or would my money better be spent on a preamp(using avr, sounds good mind you).
Thanks for your help

Steven Welcome to Club Polk!!!


What you NEED is an AMP like this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/CARVER-TFM-55-PO...QQcmdZViewItem

[TNRabbit]

Steven Welcome to Club Polk!!!


What you NEED is an AMP like this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/CARVER-TFM-55-PO...QQcmdZViewItem

He just said he had a Sunfire that made them come alive; what else does he need?!? Was there a question in the first post?

[devani]

I have XPA-5 and even in 2 channel, LSi15 are getting good amount of power. I used HK445 driving LSi15's. While there was an improvement in sound quality, I did not notice major improvement.

[mmadden28]

Hello,
I am using class d amp that puts out roughly 180watts per channel at 4ohms would moving to a 400watt per channel at 4ohms, class d amp improve sound quality for a lsi setup or would my money better be spent on a preamp(using avr, sounds good mind you).
Thanks for your help

He just said he had a Sunfire that made them come alive; what else does he need?!? Was there a question in the first post?

Huh? The OP did not mention anything about a Sunfire.

[BlueFox]

First of all, Sony can't touch the Sunfire or Cambridge amps in sound quality REGARDLESS of wattage....

Who said Sony did?

[TNRabbit]

Huh? The OP did not mention anything about a Sunfire.

My bad; wrong poster....that was BlueFox... (DARRRH~)

[MSALLA]

Some of the older members on here would know better then me but, There was a post on here awhile back and listed some other specs (besides wpc) that were important for a quality amp to have. You could do a search or ask on this thread. As far as your 400wpc hurting your Lsi's you should be fine. Sound quality would depend on more then just power.

[Steven_1085]

I am using a Rotel rmb-1085, I like the sound very neutral. I hear people always recommending high amounts of wattage so thats why I am asking on whether going to a stronger amp would help.

[TNRabbit]

I am using a Rotel rmb-1085, I like the sound very neutral. I hear people always recommending high amounts of wattage so thats why I am asking on whether going to a stronger amp would help.

That depends ENTIRELY on the amp. A quality amp will sound good no matter the wattage, but you get more headroom with higher power. All things else being equal & IF you drive them near the max often, a higher powered amp would be advantageous.

[reeltrouble1]

Steven,

The amount of current flow is what is important. You want something around 30ampre pk2pk minimum, I suspect the Rotel would have that.

RT1

[ohskigod]

my LSi15's get 500 watts of Carver power, and they love every bit of it. as long as the speaker doesnt distort (i.e. you doing something monumentally stupid) they'll be A-OK.

the LSi's do love their power. I've never owned a speaker that improved so dramatically as it was fed more power than the LSi line.