Too Much Speaker??

BetaSteve
BetaSteve Posts: 3
edited April 2012 in Speakers
Hey guys, I'm new to posting so I apologize in advance if this is in the wrong area.

I'm slowing trying to convince my wife to give me the green light on the new LSiM 703s. She had me sell my old Bose towers and I had to downgrade to bookshelf's when we moved into our house. I now have a 2.1 setup that has been doing well to replace them.

My concern is that if I upgrade, my AVR won't be enough power and I won't be able to notice a big difference.

The 703s seem to be getting great reviews and at least some think they can be driven by a little less power:
http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?120007-LSiM-703-Review&p=1588577&viewfull=1#post1588577

However, I'm concerned after reading the "underpowered speakers" thread that got everyone fired up:
http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?131088-Underpowered-speakers

Am I wasting my money by trying to drive 703s with less power? I don't plan on adding any more speakers to the setup so I'm not too worried about losing watts if I were driving a 5.1 or 7.1 HT setup.

My current setup:
AVR: Yamaha RX-A800 (specs: http://usa.yamaha.com/products/audio-visual/aventage/rx-a800_black__u/?mode=model)
2 RTiA1's and a DSW Pro 440wi

Thanks for your help guys! I'm hoping I get some good feedback that this is possible. It's a stretch to get to go ahead on buying the 703s. Having to buy another amp on top of that though? No way that's getting approved...
Post edited by BetaSteve on
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Comments

  • VR3
    VR3 Posts: 28,782
    edited April 2012
    If you dont have a good source, preamp, amplifier with those speakers you are missing ALOT of what they can do.
    - Not Tom ::::::: Any system can play Diana Krall. Only the best can play Limp Bizkit.
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  • falconcry72
    falconcry72 Posts: 3,580
    edited April 2012
    VR3 wrote: »
    If you dont have a good source, preamp, amplifier with those speakers you are missing ALOT of what they can do.

    Very true. That said, they will still sound light years ahead of your RTi's, even with that Yamaha, as opposed to with separates.

    I say go for it, and then try to get the "approval" on other components down the road. The LsiM's are a great speaker to grow into because they'll sound great on a receiver like the one you have, they don't require a separate, more powerful amp like some lower ohm speakers, and they'll respond well to any upgrades you can muster later on.


    Oh, and welcome to CP!:cheesygrin:
    2-Channel: PC > Schiit Eitr > Audio Research DAC-8 > Audio Research LS-26 > Pass Labs X-250.5 > Magnepan 3.7's

    Living Room: PC > Marantz AV-7703 > Emotiva XPA-5 > Sonus Faber Liuto Towers, Sonus Faber Liuto Center, Sonus Faber Liuto Bookshelves > Dual SVS PC12-Pluses

    Office: Phone/Tablet > AudioEngine B1 > McIntosh D100 > Bryston 4B-ST > Polk Audio LSiM-703's
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  • BetaSteve
    BetaSteve Posts: 3
    edited April 2012
    Thanks for the welcome. Glad to finally be posting after reading the forum a lot lately.

    What about possibly damaging the speaker? After reading the 'underpowered' thread I'm concerned. I would probably cry if I spent that much $$$ and then ruined them...
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  • txcoastal1
    txcoastal1 Posts: 13,328
    edited April 2012
    Polk specs 8 ohm compatible, plus you have an upper end yammy that can drive them. They will work fine but will blossom under the power of an amp...like Falcon said gettem while she says yes and shop around for the upgrade later

    Cheers
    Ron
    2-channel: Modwright KWI-200 Integrated, Dynaudio C1-II Signatures
    Desktop rig: LSi7, Polk 110sub, Dayens Ampino amp, W4S DAC/pre, Sonos, JRiver
    Gear on standby: Melody 101 tube pre, Unison Research Simply Italy Integrated
    Gone to new homes: (Matt Polk's)Threshold Stasis SA12e monoblocks, Pass XA30.5 amp, Usher MD2 speakers, Dynaudio C4 platinum speakers, Modwright LS100 (voltz), Simaudio 780D DAC

    erat interfectorem cesar et **** dictatorem dicere a
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  • falconcry72
    falconcry72 Posts: 3,580
    edited April 2012
    BetaSteve wrote: »
    Thanks for the welcome. Glad to finally be posting after reading the forum a lot lately.

    What about possibly damaging the speaker? After reading the 'underpowered' thread I'm concerned. I would probably cry if I spent that much $$$ and then ruined them...

    You'll be fine. That fact that you're only running (2) speakers off your receiver is great, plus that yammy has a pretty good output, and those 703's aren't that hard to drive. I wouldn't run them to ear splitting levels, but even at pretty healthy volumes you shouldn't have any issues.
    2-Channel: PC > Schiit Eitr > Audio Research DAC-8 > Audio Research LS-26 > Pass Labs X-250.5 > Magnepan 3.7's

    Living Room: PC > Marantz AV-7703 > Emotiva XPA-5 > Sonus Faber Liuto Towers, Sonus Faber Liuto Center, Sonus Faber Liuto Bookshelves > Dual SVS PC12-Pluses

    Office: Phone/Tablet > AudioEngine B1 > McIntosh D100 > Bryston 4B-ST > Polk Audio LSiM-703's
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  • tonyb
    tonyb Posts: 33,011
    edited April 2012
    You'll be fine with the gear you have. Like the above posters said, as your good graces with the other half improves, upgrades down the line should shine on those speakers.
    HT SYSTEM-
    Sony 850c 4k
    Pioneer elite vhx 21
    Sony 4k BRP
    SVS SB-2000
    Polk Sig. 20's
    Polk FX500 surrounds

    Cables-
    Acoustic zen Satori speaker cables
    Acoustic zen Matrix 2 IC's
    Wireworld eclipse 7 ic's
    Audio metallurgy ga-o digital cable

    Kitchen

    Sonos zp90
    Grant Fidelity tube dac
    B&k 1420
    lsi 9's
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