Polk Omni A1 Amp to power LSi7/LSi9

pbaumer

I'm wondering if the Omni A1 play-fi amp is powerful enough to run the LSi7 or 9s. I'm also looking at various 600/68X series B&W bookshelves. Any input would be appreciated. Thanks!

mantis

I think you will be fine under a few conditions. First off the LSI's are a 4 ohm load speakers. Not the hardest to drive but put a strain on the amp when they are not equipped to handle such loads. Polk claims any Polk speaker will work with that amp so at their word you can take that at face value.
I suggest using the App and using the crossover features with a hard wired to the amp subwoofer. This way you can redirect bass energy to the sub and lift most of the strain off the amp. The 7 and 9's don't dig that deep so I don't think they will strain it to badly if you don't use a sub. But to complete the musical cycle the 7 or 9's have no ability to do so without a subwoofer.
The B&W speaker's will work much better with that amp as they are 8 ohm load speakers and much easier to drive. They tend to strain some amps at louder volumes but what your looking at in the 600 series you'll be completely fine.

I have not fooled around with the Polk version of Play Fi but it looks to be a coo Sonos like system with less abilities.

pbaumer

Thank you very much for the input - exactly what I was looking for.

I've been using the A1 amp for a few years, and it's been great. I also have the Definitive version, and it's great as well. I almost exclusively use Spotify, so when Spotify added play-fi, all the criticism about integration became obsolete for me. If you just want to push music wirelessly, I think it's a great solution for the price.

mantis

Very cool man