LSi25 vs RTiA9

Geoff4rfc

Just out of curiosity, who can give first hand knowledge of the sound quality difference between these two speakers?

cstmar01

two different breeds really.

Are you looking for HT or for music? personally I would recommend A9's for HT and then LSI for music. If doing LSI's I would look at the 15's or 9's or 7's with a good sub.

Geoff4rfc

cstmar01 wrote: »

two different breeds really.

Are you looking for HT or for music? personally I would recommend A9's for HT and then LSI for music. If doing LSI's I would look at the 15's or 9's or 7's with a good sub.

Thanks, I'm an H.T. guy first, music second, way second.

As far as subs, I've got an Epik Empire on the way

PSOVLSK

9's (or 7's) with the Epik Empire will make you VERY happy.

mantis

I'd go with the RTia series , excellent home theater speakers , easier to drive and still has a nice musical presentation.

Geoff4rfc

PSOVLSK wrote: »

9's (or 7's) with the Epik Empire will make you VERY happy.

I can dig it. I just got my M70's for Christmas and already looking over my shoulder at the 9's, my wife is pissed. That upgrade will have to wait a bit, especially since I've got the Empire on the way.

My original tax present was going to be the emo xpa3 but having the onkyo 807, I really didn't need it, so I get the sub instead however, my reasoning to my wife was, I get the xpa3 to drive the 9's that I should have and move the 70's to the surrounds. That's the first time I actually thought my wife was going to stab me :eek:

mystik610

I went from the RTi's to the LSi's and never looked back.

If you have room in your budget, the LSi25 (I'd probably go with the LSi15) is overall a better speaker.

just my 2 cents.

leroyjr1

Rti A's get my vote.

Monster Jam

Both very good speakers if not distinctly different in requirements and sound characteristics. Can't go wrong with either of them, but I would listen to each of them then make a decision.

IRLRaceFan

This is an interesting topic for me...
I previously posted that my gf burned up the x-overs in my M70's, due to high volume for an extended period of time.
When I talked to the Polk customer service guy, I asked about these two speakers - already thinking about replacing the M70's. Although my intention is 90% music, the Polk guy (sorry, I'm really bad with names) actually recommended the A9's over the LSI series. Keep in mind that a big part of his reasoning was the obvious tendency to play it LOUD here... I was told that the LSI's can't handle high volume levels. I'm not talking about damage from distortion either. He made it clear to me that these are speakers for critically listening to music and not volume (hope that my wording makes sense...).

I did end up limiting the overall volume on my receiver and after I handed her the bill for the parts, the system no longer sees full throttle for hours on end.
BUT the truth is that I do like to rock out from time to time (within reason) and now I'm a bit confused and frustrated. There aren't too many places by me where I can just go and listen to these speakers and from reading these forms, it sounds like (maybe) I would be disappointed with the A9's for music (classic rock, hard rock, industrial, and when my son is with me, classical).
I've started to wonder if Klipsch might be a better option (an idea I sort of got from the customer service guy), but then some say the horn-loaded tweeters can give you a headache...
Any suggestions or comments would be appreciated

ben62670

IMHO Polk kills the newer Klipsch speakers. LSi's go plenty loud enough with proper amplification. Anytime I see someone mentioning that music is important I recommend them over the RTi's

photocrazy

A newbie question..how are musical speakers different from HT speakers ? or what exactly is a musical speaker ?

danz1906

xcapri79 wrote: »

I have both LSi25's and the RTi12's (predecessor to the RTiA9's) on my main system and often use them together. Both speakers require a separate amp to sound their best.

The LSi25's give you finesse of Ali. The RTi12/RTiA9's give you punch of Frazier.
Take your pick.

Well said!

Sherardp

Rti series are awesome, go for the A9s.

virtualdean

IRLRaceFan wrote: »

.....it sounds like (maybe) I would be disappointed with the A9's for music (classic rock, hard rock, industrial, and when my son is with me, classical).
Any suggestions or comments would be appreciated.....

You will not be disappointed with the A9's for any reason except for not being easy to lift up and move around...unless you don't like clarity, soundstage and definition. I play a lot of sacd's and like to use my Sunfire sonic holography for a changeup, the a9's just keep on keeping on.

The a9's continuously amaze me as I pop in my various music. I keep hearing new music I never heard on my various old speakers.

I can't speak for lsi25's as I've never owned them. I'm sure they are good.
But I love my a9's.
:biggrin:

F1nut

IRLRaceFan wrote: »

This is an interesting topic for me...
I previously posted that my gf burned up the x-overs in my M70's, due to high volume for an extended period of time.
When I talked to the Polk customer service guy, I asked about these two speakers - already thinking about replacing the M70's. Although my intention is 90% music, the Polk guy (sorry, I'm really bad with names) actually recommended the A9's over the LSI series. Keep in mind that a big part of his reasoning was the obvious tendency to play it LOUD here... I was told that the LSI's can't handle high volume levels. I'm not talking about damage from distortion either. He made it clear to me that these are speakers for critically listening to music and not volume (hope that my wording makes sense...).

What did you burn up on the crossovers, a 5 watt resistor or two? If you change them out to a higher watt rating they will handle higher volume levels for a longer period of time. Of course, driving them with a couple of $300 amps isn't helping matters.

LOUD isn't the end all. The trick to great audio is having a system that will sound great at lower volume levels and still have the same finesse at 115dB. Right now, you're trying to get an IRL car to do what an F1 car will do, which of course, will never happen.

Toolfan66

I say if you can afford either one of these speakers my vote would be getting the LSi15's with a great sub and calling it a day. If your heart is set on the 2 your asking about then I say get the RTiA9's...

mdaudioguy

Go RTiA9 and sell the Monitor 70s. Then buy a pair of FXiA6 surrounds. The concept of towers as surrounds doesn't do it for me. Surrounds are meant to be positioned higher than a floorstanding speaker.

mdaudioguy

Uh-oh, an F1 vs Indy car debate is brewing above. This could get worse than a cable "discussion"! :eek::biggrin:

IRLRaceFan

mdaudioguy wrote: »

Uh-oh, an F1 vs Indy car debate is brewing above. This could get worse than a cable "discussion"! :eek::biggrin:

Haha - no, I'm a fan of both and completely understand the technical differences between the two.
F1 cars (most) to me are as beautiful to look at as a naked woman

I'm an IndyCan fan because I worked on IRL engines back in the 90's.

cheddar

I can't speak to the A9s but I've owned a full LSi system with 15s as mains and powered them with a Denon AVR and several 400 watt into 4 ohm amps. And I can tell you it's not necessarily the loudness that's a limiting factor in LSis but the sound quality (and safety for the speakers) with poorer amplification.

On an AVR, the LSis sound somewhat lifeless and muddy, even when you try and turn up the volume. With proper amplification, even at lower volumes, the LSi 15s gain a real punch in the bass (even without the 25's powered woofers) and bring out nice details in music and movies. And with a good subwoofer, the system is great for HT. But it took quite a lot of gear, including proper amplification to get it to where I certainly wouldn't worry about playing the whole system 'loud'. But the amplification also made the 15s into entirely different speakers at both ends of the volume dial.

mdaudioguy

^^^ IOW, it takes a good investment beyond the cost of acquiring the LSis, but the results are gratifying. This is something to keep in mind when making the RTi vs LSi decision - it's not just about trying to justify the difference in cost between the speakers themselves. Many people I've seen here have seemed to stretch their budgets to afford LSis, and then they're not able to run them to their satisfaction, without spending more $$ than they had originally planned. RTi series are often able to run well off of better quality AVRs, although the bigger towers also benefit greatly from additional amplification. I think an RTiA bookshelf system with a good sub would be wonderful for HT, and wouldn't necessarily require amplification beyond a decent AVR to sound good.

IRLRaceFan

F1nut wrote: »

What did you burn up on the crossovers, a 5 watt resistor or two? If you change them out to a higher watt rating they will handle higher volume levels for a longer period of time. Of course, driving them with a couple of $300 amps isn't helping matters.

LOUD isn't the end all. The trick to great audio is having a system that will sound great at lower volume levels and still have the same finesse at 115dB. Right now, you're trying to get an IRL car to do what an F1 car will do, which of course, will never happen.

It looks like two resistors and one of the caps, plus the tweeters; but I didn't bother to do any electrical tests.

I hear what you're saying and I am looking at everything as a "system".
Just recently I hooked up my Carver amp to my M70's and noticed a fairly big difference in sound quality. Never bothered to do it before, because I bought that amp for my gf's 901's. So there is something to be said about amp quality, but...those 901's still sound much better with the Emo's than the M70's with the Carver.

I'm not trying to play at 115dB all the time - 85 to 90 from time to time is more like it.
I just got deep into this hobby a year ago and so I haven't had a chance to experience much better equipment than what I'm currently running. I want the kind of musical sound (sort of warm, live feel) and volume capability that I hear from my gf's 901's, but with more "detail". This is what has me wondering about a higher efficiency speaker.
I should note that my hearing is not the best. I'm completely deaf in one ear and have loss in the other, in the higher frequency ranges, from exposure to industrial noise (grinders, loud engines, airflow benches,...).

cheddar

IRLRaceFan wrote: »

I'm not trying to play at 115dB all the time - 85 to 90 from time to time is more like it.

Well, I can tell you from listening to stuff with an SPL meter in hand that having a system that doesn't struggle at peaks of 90-95 db certainly sounds 'louder' to me than one that does. While I was running off of the AVR, I would often have to keep turning the dial up to hear detail in the music. With the seperate amplification, I was satisfied with much lower volume levels.

You also might want to think about what it is you really respond to especially with your hearing loss. I find if I turn off my subwoofer, the system sounds less 'loud' without the slam. So thinking about what portions of a track you respond to best might really pay off in deciding where to put your money to get that 115 db experience. Upgrading my subwoofer ended up not being so much about bumping the SPLs of the room as it was just not having the subwoofer struggle so much when it dug deep. I don't have to run my subwoofer 5-10 dbs 'hot' just to have the impact down low I want to hear.

txcoastal1

If you are trying to balance the tonal frequencies you have lost in your hearing, I would demo some LSi9's and get a sub to accomadate your room...1 large or pair the next size smaller...just my 2 cents

F1nut

It looks like two resistors and one of the caps, plus the tweeters; but I didn't bother to do any electrical tests.

Ok, that's a typical result from amp clipping. Adding higher watt resistors will not help with that.

I'm not trying to play at 115dB all the time - 85 to 90 from time to time is more like it.

That is not loud. Your present speakers would never have a problem running at that level all day, neither would the LSi's. I suspect your GF was cranking it up much louder than you know.

IRLRaceFan

F1nut wrote: »

Ok, that's a typical result from amp clipping. Adding higher watt resistors will not help with that.


That is not loud. Your present speakers would never have a problem running at that level all day, neither would the LSi's. I suspect your GF was cranking it up much louder than you know.

I have a pretty good idea of how loud she was cranking it... All my components were still very hot to touch when I got home, about 30min after she shut it down.

You mention amp clipping. Yes, the amps I'm using with my M70's are not considered top of the line, but what about playing .mp3 files? Could a non-lossless format be a factor? Normally I play music through my computer (digital coax out to the receiver), but haven't had time to rip everything in a lossless format.
IF she was playing something in a compressed format, could that have contributed to the death of my speakers? Or was it simply turning the volume knob to "11"?

F1nut

To "11"

Lietuvis91

Very interesting topic...

Im just like the OP, i have m70s, but want to move up to a more capable polk speaker and was considering a9s or lsi15 or 25s for the purpose of fairly loud music playing with some punch. I have a parasound 1500a to run this, so i would think power should not be a concern for me.

I see many suggesting the lsi9s w a sub over the towers, can anyone shed some light on that, why would lsi9s be better over the 15s or 25s?

txcoastal1

Lietuvis91 wrote: »

Very interesting topic...

Im just like the OP, i have m70s, but want to move up to a more capable polk speaker and was considering a9s or lsi15 or 25s for the purpose of fairly loud music playing with some punch. I have a parasound 1500a to run this, so i would think power should not be a concern for me.

I see many suggesting the lsi9s w a sub over the towers, can anyone shed some light on that, why would lsi9s be better over the 15s or 25s?

IMO you have the chance to demo and choose the bass/subs and make a choice with nice highs and mid's with the LSi9's with(single or dual subs), second choice for music would be the15's and a sub. I love my 25's for HT but lack the musical part of the system unless I make changes between genres...25's are hard to have a happy medium..thats why I am building a seperate music system

Lietuvis91

So you are confirming that lsi9s would be your preference over lsi15s for a music setup, I guess I'm still a little unclear of the reason behind that. What is it specifically that the lsi9s do better than the 15s?