What surrounds to get? Will my receiver handle LSi15's?

RedRaptor

I have a Sunfire Cinema Grand 5 channel that I use to power 2 Lsi25's, an LsiC, and 2 LsiFX's and just simply LOVE it! This amp handles the LSI series very well and makes for a fantastic piece to have that does not loose too much value over time.

Nice endorsement for the LSi series and Sunfire combo

RedRaptor

Anyway, the LSi's are really sweet for HT. I'm really digging some 5.1 channel concert DVD's! So much so, in fact, I've been seriously neglecting the 2-channel rig!

I just picked up a few of those concert DVD's with 5.1 sound. Haven't listened to one yet but I'm anxious to hear music in 5.1.
The LSi15's and LSiC arrived and I'm about to unbox them. LSi7's will be here on Monday.

Still looking at amps. Lots of nice amps in the Bay for $1500 to $2000.

James

pyrocyborg

Adcom! I'm sure you can find neat used ones for less than 1.5k. You could always get a brand new 300wx5 one for around 2000$, if there is any sale.

falconcry72

Dude, I recently used (3) Adcom GFA-545's (2-channels each) for my LSi HT setup (15's, dual 9's for a center, and FX's). Those amps are only rated at 100 WPC into 8 ohms, but they are very stout, smooth, solid amps, and they hanlde low ohm loads with ease. They powered my setup excellently. Great bass.

Best part? You could probably score all (3) amps for around 400 bucks. That's some bang for your buck!

PSOVLSK

http://home-audio.audioadvisor.com/search?w=nad+t955

I'm sure you saw this the first time I posted, but it's well worth a look. $800 would leave a lot of cash in the pocket for other things.

RedRaptor

Unboxed the 15's and went to do the woofer upgrade. Close inspection of the cherry wood on the side shows lot of wear and some nicks and gouges. It is apparent that the speakers were shipped UPS. They always rough handle anything shipped with them. The wear is where the styrofoam touched the speakers. It's all on the base and around the bottom of the wood. I used some Murphy's oil soap to clean them but it didn't clean off.

The woofer upgrade went smoothly.
Plugged them in and let them run for a few hours at low volume on Pandora. My first impression was they sounded terrible. Like they were in a tunnel. Didn't want to mess with them so let them run. Did some shopping for about 6 hours. They still sounded bad so I went through all the settings in the receiver. Turned off all equalization and set it to "direct", plugged in a USB with some FLAC of Euge Groove and Richard Elliot.
I laid my head back on the couch and increased the volume little by little..

Outfreakingstanding! The music was 3D. I could tell exactly where each instrument was placed. Some high, some low, left side, right side.. Richard was wailing on the sax and it was right there on top of my coffee table. I actually went to the center speaker to make sure it was not coming from there.
The bass was a joy to behold. With the subwoofer turned off (accidentally had it off in the receiver) I could tell that it was the foot pedal hitting the drum.. not some artificial tone generated by electronics.
I have to say.. the best musical experience I've ever had. Even better than my Ultimate Ears and I thought they were good.

what's funny is that a few days ago I took my brother to Fry's and we listened to some 15's and I was not impressed.. sounded muddy, very muddy. They must have something hooked up wrong because these things are outstanding.

Ok enough ranting.. Bring on the amps!!

James

RedRaptor

http://home-audio.audioadvisor.com/search?w=nad+t955

I'm sure you saw this the first time I posted, but it's well worth a look. $800 would leave a lot of cash in the pocket for other things.

PSVOLSK, I did see it and looked at them hard as well as an ebay search.
My thinking is.. double my power from the receiver so 250 to 300 watts per channel.

The Sunfire 425x5 price dropped to $1895. He refused my offer of $1300 and $1400.
May try $1500 then $1600.

James

pyrocyborg

RedRaptor wrote: »

Turned off all equalization and set it to "direct", plugged in a USB with some FLAC of Euge Groove and Richard Elliot.
I laid my head back on the couch and increased the volume little by little..

Outfreakingstanding! The music was 3D. I could tell exactly where each instrument was placed. Some high, some low, left side, right side.. Richard was wailing on the sax and it was right there on top of my coffee table. I actually went to the center speaker to make sure it was not coming from there.

Glad it worked! As I said on another topic, it really helped open up my speakers. For critical listening, straight mode is a must IMO. For a more laid-back experience, I turn the straight mode off (while I study or read for example... or else, it captures my attention with every sound... quite impossible to do anything else). With this setting off, everything "falls" back to a point where you can't pinpoint certain instruments: it's not bad, but it's not what I would call precise. I like that sound too, but it's less involving: When you really want to feel the music and be part of it with the LSi, you gotta turn straight mode on. It becomes more analyctical, but yet, it doesn't feel sterile as there is a sense of cohesion between every sound comming out of the speakers.

And also... I think an EQ on a receiver is not to be used, except on some kinda "rare" situations where you must temporary tame brightness or bassy-ness in a certain movie. Otherwise, it doesn't feel very natural. A receiver or amp with every bass/treble/gain knob set @ 0 won't sound bad, it will sound sighly colored, less defined (expecially if it overemphasis on bass), but it won't sound bad. At least, mine doesn't.

RedRaptor

For a more laid-back experience, I turn the straight mode off (while I study or read for example... or else, it captures my attention with every sound... quite impossible to do anything else)

I see what you mean. I've been listening to them while working on a computer build and they seem a little "harsh" for lack of a better term. I flicked it over to "Stereo" with some processing (dynamic volume, what ever that is) and it smoothed them out nicely.

Thanks

James

RedRaptor

Third day of life with the LSi15's and I have to say I'm very pleased.

I just walked through the living room where I had some smooth jazz playing and the sound just floated out of the speakers. Even at a lower level they are magical.
Maybe they are getting "broke in" ??

What ever.. I can't stop listening to them.
Just what the doctor ordered.

Thanks for all the advice.
Still trying to get that Sunfire Signature 425x5 off ebay. Up to $1700 now and biting my nails whether I want to go higher or not.

James

RedRaptor

Just hung the LSi7's
Used an angle bracket to point them toward the listening area to take advantage of the directional qualities mentioned above.

I can honestly say I've never listened to more satisfying sound.

That was with the Onkyo. I can not imagine how it will sound with more power, even though the Onkyo will drive them to unbearable levels I think the higher power will give me more headroom (Yes I've been doing my research!)

Just about settled on the Sunfire TGA 7401

James

RedRaptor

One question. The speakers came with feet which I did not install.

Should I try them with feet??

James

Monster Jam

I run the Sunfire 200x5 amp on an all LSi HT setup. I also run an Adcom GFA-555 for a dedicated computer rig that runs LSi F/X speakers.

Both are more than capable. And all of the other brands that have ben mentioned are all capable as well.

RedRaptor

I bit the bullet and got the Sunfire off a seller on theBay. It's being drop shipped from Sunfire and is due next week.
I've got the two LSi15's in front, LSiC and the LSi7's in rear. That leaves two channels open on the Sunfire. Maybe bi-amp the LSi15's ??

Next comes a good pre-processor.
I've been recommended the Onkyo 5508. Any opinions??

Red.

txcoastal1

Since your using an amp you can step to an Integra pre-proccessor Integra DHC-40.2 also Onkyo

Monster Jam

Got to give us a review when your set up and running.

EndersShadow

If your going 7.1 I would get the lsi f/x for your side surrounds and then put the 7s as rear surrounds

RedRaptor

The Sunfire arrived last week. I didn't take it out of the box until I had some interconnects made. 26ga silver wire inside teflon tube soldered to silver plated RCA using silver solder. That should be enough silver
They turned out real nice looking with the opaque teflon tube, clear heat shrink and silver plugs. Clean looking.

First impressions of the Sunfire TGA-7401
Looks a little plain. For $3500+ I would expect something a little more developed looking. It looks a little crude. The front panel is just a piece of brushed aluminum. Nothing that screams quality or advanced design. Anticlimactic to say the least.
Turning my attention the rear.. I wanted to send it back almost immediately when I saw the 5 way binding posts. Cheap Chinese junk. The posts on my Monitor 70's are better than this junk. Plastic "nuts" that feel like the cheapest Chinese plastic. One of the "nuts" just spins when I tighten it down with nothing under it because the threads are not long enough. The banana jack part of the 5 ways are very shallow. I could only get my plugs in about 2/3 of the way in before they bottomed out. Luckily the plugs gripped OK. The front speakers are using locking "nanners" and I feel OK with them. The surrounds are using some of those Nakamichi type. They fit OK and hold OK but look like crap because they don't go in very deep. The cheap 5 ways on my wall plates are better than these pieces of crap.
Powered up and all seems OK. No noise at all from the speakers or amp. Played some high res flac to start and the sound is outstanding.
I don't have all those audio terms in my vocabulary but I can hear the difference right off the bat. At low listening levels you can tell that there is more there. I will call it more range. The highs are clear and sharp, the lows have more authority. Even at low volumes the lows are felt as well as heard (sub woofer is off during this test and frankly I don't think it's needed now).
Increased the volume a little to what I feel is a normal listening level when I'm sitting on the sofa which is too loud to go about your daily business but great for getting into the music.
Wow.. Just WOW. I had chill bumps. It was all there.
I can't explain it but I can tell that there is plenty of power on tap. The music has breathing room. When it's quiet.. it's quiet. When it needs to get louder.. it gets louder.
The clarity is incredible. The bass is very nice. Tight and crisp if you know what I mean.
Overall I really like the sound quality but the physical look and feel of the amp is not consistent with a $3500+ price tag and I'm left with a feeling of being ripped off.

James

tonyb

James,
Glad you like the sound at least. For me, 3500 is twice what I'd spend but just curious bro, didn't you look at pics of the Sunfire, visit some reviews before buying it ? I know what you mean about the plastic binding posts. They'll strip if you hulk out tightening them down. Your using banana's so no worries there. My Butler amp was over 3 g's too and while I love the thing, don't think I would fork out that kinda cash again. Demo's and used is the way to go and you'll save yourself half price. Chalk it up to lessons learned and enjoy the tunes.

RedRaptor

Hey Tony,
Yes I looked at pics and I did not see any cheap Chinese binding posts. They were clear with gold plating and looked well made.
I emailed Sunfire and they wrote that they would replace the binding post under warranty but would not upgrade the posts.

Just to update on the amp and speaker combo.
Let me preface this by saying that I'm not high nor have I been drinking.

The past few days I've had time to listen to some music. Broke out some SACD's and WAV files.
Listening to music is a whole new level. I have transcended "listening" to music. Now the music takes me to a different plane.
If you saw the movie "Sunshine" and you remember when Icarus turned the filter down from 2.0 to 3.1 and the guy had an experience. That is what I'm talking about.

When you can feel the mid range vibrating the frame of the sofa, hear every little nuance, ever little tinkle of the symbols, feel the hammer hit the strings of the piano.. then you know where I've been.
The sound gets louder and louder and louder then it goes into a different zone. I am surrounded by sound, enveloped in pure, clean, powerful sound.
I had no idea speakers could even produce such sound. I mean I've felt bass before but never felt the mid range.
One passage had the sound going from right to left. I actually felt it in my right hand then my body then my left hand as it moved through the sofa.
Needless to say I am very impressed.
By the way.. the amp was almost hot to the touch after that session.

Lietuvis91

And that my friends, is an LSi setup done RIGHT!

Congrats and enjoy! :cheesygrin: