I did it

rookiejk

Well, I gave in yesterday. I bought a full system, Lsi25s, Lsic,& xs. I have 2 questions about how to handle the setup. #1 I ordered a Denon 3803 to run the system. With the powered amp on each of the 25s, is this receiver sufficient to handle the speakers? I know it will probably run a little hot b/c of the 4ohm rating on the Lsi series, but nonetheless, has anyone had any experience? Will it work well?

#2. My second question is about connecting the receiver to the Lsi25s. Should I use the LFE out or pre-amp out to connect the sub? Should I set the speaker (other than the sub) to small or large on my receiver? Should I bi-wire the 25s, from the 2 channels I am not using? What is the best way to set them up? I read the manual, but it doesn't help that much. A

#3. How efficient is the video switching component on the 3803? I know that it converts the S-video and composite signals for use with component out. Would it sychronize the audio better if I used the video switch on the receiver, or if I have enough inputs on my TV should I just use those and run strictly audio into the receiver?

I know this is long, but any help would be great.

Ceruleance

Hey, Congradulations on the purchase, that should sound excellent. I can't really help you with the Onkyo specific questions but I will do my best. You may want to try searching this forum for threads about the 3803 and its ability with 4 ohm loads. There are many new owners of the 3803 on this forum and one at least will probably have the LSi's.

You will have to read your manual regarding bi-amping, the only way this is possible is if the amplifiers are assignable to different inputs. It's possible that they are but you need to make sure of course, or else you could be sending two different signals to the same speaker. I don't know if you would notice an improvement in sound, but my guess is that if you can do it, you should, the difference will be most noticable in two channel listening.

I would recommend using the speaker input for the subwoofer, just because it eliminates 2 long interconnect cables and a splitter which you would need for LFE, and also, even though the 3803 has many options, The crossover which is built into the 25's should allow you more opportunity to really 'dial in' the best setting for your system.

Many say that bass is not localizable (you cant tell where its coming from) but I believe that above 50 hz or so that you can tell, which is another reason for going with speaker level inputs, because you will have a left and right discreet input, as opposed to one single input that is split between the two speakers if you used the LFE jack.

The last reason for going with speaker level inputs is in case you decide to add a standalone subwoofer anytime in the future.

(btw I have powered towers too, and I am using speaker level input)

I hope someone else can answer the more specific questions regarding the 3803, and happy listening


EDIT: I just read Question # 3 more carefully and I can answer that: The signals travel at the speed of light and syncronization is not going to be a problem whether you go straight to the tv or through the receiver. The benefits of using the upconversion are that you can use several shorter cables if your sources are close to your receiver and you dont need cables that are all long enough to stretch to the TV. (this makes a difference as high-end cables can get real expensive if you need a lot of length) The other benefit is that to switch between sources all you need to do is press a button on your receiver. If you go straight to the TV you will need to switch your TV's input and your receiver's input, although depending on how nice a remote the 3803 comes with, you might be able to assign a macro to this task and switch both inputs (tv and receiver) with one button.

Lastly, before you decide which route to take you might want to hook it up in the different ways and see if you can tell a difference in quality between going straight to the tv and going through the receiver.