My first HT put together, not out of box. ?'s

[j.k.livin]

Hello, this is my first post. I have been a lookie loo for a month or so. Thanks for all of your interesting and informative posts.

I finally threw away my sony HT in a box my in-laws gave me for x-mas a few years ago. I just decided to check out some polk stuff, and did not want to really ever buy another set of speakers again. My dad purchased the SDA's back in 89' and has not moved them out of there "spot". So I just thought I would try out the LSI 15's, LSI Center. I looked, and looked at what amp to buy. I was going to go with the onk 805 or 806, but when I called Accessories for less, I decided to upgrade to Marantz sr8001, per Mark's salesmanship stating it will run these speakers fine. It sounds really nice, but when my wife and I throw house parties (few times a week) and have the volume up to +8 and higher, it only plays a few songs and gets so hot, you can't touch it, and starts playing distorted, so we turn it down. The amp got great reviews saying it was an audiophile and videophile AVR. Since our last party I have been looking at the Marantz Mono block amps 500/700 to just power the Lsi15's. Those amps are pretty cheap 125/200 respectively. It sounds great and we love these speakers.

Any suggestions, I am still looking for a sub. Thinking DSW Micropro 1000/2000. Thanks for all your help. Jeremy

I find that I am on this forum more than Project-JK, My old Jeeper forum, that I was on every night!:D All my Casino friends say I went from spending all my money on my Jeep, to speakers.

It's a Jeep thing, you would'nt understand... I find that phrase applies to this as well...

[McLoki]

For what you are doing and experiencing - definately go for the 700 (200wpc) rather than the 500 (125wpc).

If will not really play that much louder, but the small amount of additional headroom will be well worth it.

The micropro subs are a great sub that is fairly small. If size is not as high a consideration, there are other subs to look at for the money as well. (SVS, Epik, HSU, Outlaw all come to mind)

Welcome to Club Polk.

Michael

[AudioGenics]

cool... 1999 Jeep TJ Wrangler here ... Just Empty Every Pocket (mine has holes)

[dkmuch]

Have you experience literally knocking people's socks off with a good sub? I mean literally, their socks will fly off and stick to the walls. If you're throwing parties and don't share walls or floors with neighbors, you've got to looking into one of the earth-moving subs (or two or three). Quite a few companies offer 30-day auditioning.

[cnh]

Congrats...and WELCOME TO CLUB POLK!!!

The Marantz 8001 while an older unit and the flagship AVR, at one point...is getting HOT because it really can't handle the LSIs the way they wish to be powered. So McLoki's got you there. You need external amplification, period.

Subs will also help (those mentioned are fine...I'd add higher end Velodynes into that mix, i.e., anything 1000 watts RMS or 12" or more!

cnh

[Ron Temple]

Welcome...+8 ...you need an amp(s) for sure...and...it's always better to leave some headroom in the tank. I'm sure AVR was clipping. It's a good thing it went into protection because speaker damage was right around the corner. Even with the Marantz monos (nice little amps), you're going to light the clipping lights on them just slightly north of -0. If you want louder, you're going to have to rethink your speaker choice.

[beardog03]

I personally suggest a Parasound HCA-2205 amp (or similar), and a nice SVS (or equal) sub


then you will start to realize what you really have there

[j.k.livin]

Welcome...+8 ...you need an amp(s) for sure...and...it's always better to leave some headroom in the tank. I'm sure AVR was clipping. It's a good thing it went into protection because speaker damage was right around the corner. Even with the Marantz monos (nice little amps), you're going to light the clipping lights on them just slightly north of -0. If you want louder, you're going to have to rethink your speaker choice.

With the Mono Amps will the volume be louder at lower levels, so I will not need to crank it up as much? The speakers sound awesome at +8 with no distortion at all, until I play it few songs. The speakers will do, I just want to be able to crank them for 3-4 hours full load, then tone it down a bit to maintain.

[Ron Temple]

With the Mono Amps will the volume be louder at lower levels, so I will not need to crank it up as much? The speakers sound awesome at +8 with no distortion at all, until I play it few songs. The speakers will do, I just want to be able to crank them for 3-4 hours full load, then tone it down a bit to maintain.

LSis aren't the most sensitive speaker and take a ton of current to drive them to loud levels. You usually wouldn't get more volume with the monos, you'll get more top end volume gain and better sound. It's never a good idea to turn the volume to 11 (or +8). Peaks in music and especially movies can demand 10 to 100x more power for short periods. For dance or party mixes, running at max, even with the amps, you're asking too much of your gear and speakers. Back off the volume. I doubt if your rig got any louder after -0. It just clipped, distorted and shutdown your receiver due to heat. 3dbs additional volume takes 2x the power. Most AVRs are pretty much going balls out at -0. You were asking it to put out more than 2.5 times it's rates power (give or take).