LSi series! I dove in with both feet!!

JohnGalt

Well I just picked up a 5 point LSi series set up today...
LSi 9's
LSiC
And two LSiFX surrounds
Got a great deal locally off a guy who I dont think wanted to let them go but he didnt have the room for them anymore and is moving to something else I guess.
I had heard the same set up some time back and the 9's had always stuck in my head. I am listening to them now,(Sade- Is it a crime ...... absolutely stunning), and am reminded of why all the talk about them.
I am driving them 2 channel rite now with a NAD amp and an OPPO 970.
They are stock and I have no intention of upgrading the XO. For now anyway. I am sure I will get the itch eventually but for now I am just getting lots of love from them.
I am going to need to get a different set up to run 5.1 as I my AV receiver doesn't handle 4ohm.
So I am on the hunt to finish off my new set up....
Maybe Yamaha as I really am partial to them.... but may pick up a used Outlaw or Emotiva amp and pre/pro. not sure of my budget yet as I did not clear this purchase with my accountant first. She doesn't know yet and I may be heading for a divorce as she thinks I "have enough stuff"...
I will be back later if I am still alive and with my skin attached....

msg

I had some LSi7s, and liked them a lot. Lots of people like the 9's.

As for enough stuff, just tell her your new friends here said there's no such thing.

Next, since you'll be on a roll, tell her you're hungry and that she should get back in the kitchen and make you a sandwich.

JohnGalt

msg wrote: »

I had some LSi7s, and liked them a lot. Lots of people like the 9's.

As for enough stuff, just tell her your new friends here said there's no such thing.

Next, since you'll be on a roll, tell her you're hungry and that she should get back in the kitchen and make you a sandwich.

yeah I will do that when I have a more comfortable couch. Not what I want to spend money on rite now.
I am not looking forward to this

msg

More seriously though, you could present it as an investment. If you enjoy listening to music or watching movies together, this can be for both of you.

Most chicks aren't impressed with these components on their own. It's not until they're immersed in a sound experience with you that they'll get it. Even then they don't even realize it sometimes. They're just really engaged. I've observed this and it's fun to watch it happen. It's another layer of the hobby's enjoyment - sharing your hard work with someone close.

dromunds

My girlfriend is using my LSi-9’s, and she loves them. She uses them as 2 channel. They are good speakers. LSi-FX are also really good. Good luck on procuring new 5 channel power, but nothing wrong with 2 ch until then

Clipdat

msg wrote: »

It's not until they're immersed in a sound experience with you that they'll get it. Even then they don't even realize it sometimes. They're just really engaged. I've observed this and it's fun to watch it happen.

This happened to my wife when she experienced some nice surround sound action from the simple 5.1 HT setup I hooked up. When I was hooking it up there were several comments like "Why did you have to buy a receiver", and "I can't believe you're drilling into the wall to mount speakers and running ugly speaker cables".

Previously we were just using the speakers built into the TV.

After some particularly good surround effects she looked at me and said something like "I can't believe we used the TV speakers for so long!"

Strong Bad

Very nice score! You're gonna love those LSi's in a surround setup. You might want to look at the Outlaw Audio model 5000 power amp for $650. I have 3 of their 2200 monoblock amps and they're fantastic! The 5000 will give some good power all around...

"180 watts RMS x 5 (all channels driven simultaneously into 4 ohms from 20 Hz to 20 kHz with less than 0.03% total harmonic distortion, A-weight filter)"

Enjoy and good luck with the marriage!

JohnGalt

Im still here!! Yes in all seriousness, she loves them already and hasn't even heard the surrounds and CC yet. We have been using some home brew speakers I built ten years ago for all channels using Dayton classic woofers and "Silky" tweeters and she is always complaining that she cant here the voices in most movies. I have slipped several different brand CC speakers in and they just couldn't satisfy her. I think these will put a big grin on her face.

Strong... I have been drooling over that very model for some time now. I have heard a lot of Outlaw gear over the years but never wanted to invest that much $ into a system. My Onkyo TX-NR646 doesnt have pre outs. So just picking up an amp wont do. I bought it awhile back from Accessories4less refurbished because it was cheap and handles 4K HDCP 2.2
So I am not sure what direction I am going to go yet. I would like to get separate's but funds may dictate an AV receiver. It looks like I can get into one that drives 4ohm all channels and has multichannel pre-outs for $700 to $800. Then I can add amps later on.
I probably jumped the gun buying these but $650 for all 5 was to good to pass up...IMO
I am going to explore the used market for awhile and see if a pre/pro and amp pops up that I can afford, I still dont know what my budget is going to be....I have some gear up for sale so I will see how that goes.
So for for now we are just loving the 9's!

Dennis Gardner

Congrats on the LSi buy! You got a nice deal! Jumping into the LSi line really begs for 5 channels of solid amp power. Get the cheapest receiver that has pre outs and enough other inputs add the amp when you can and you will be set up for a long while. I went with the cheapest Anthem AVR and never looked back for more features.

Nightfall

I keep seeing this thread at a glance as you drove an LS V8 with two feet.

mantis

You see this is why I have so much stuff in my basement not being used. I find some of these deals, buy them and play for awhile then they sit and go unused.
The LSD's I already had a full 7 channel system with them and sold them off many years ago. They where a very happy speaker system and I really enjoyed my time with them. BUT what happens when I read things like this makes me want to go down memory lane and find another set or whole system.

JohnGalt

Mantis... I cant seem to hang on to things. I pick something up, use it for awhile, then sell it and move on to something else. I have a hand full of items that I will never let go of and I think the 9's are going to be another that I keep. I wish I could be like that and have stacks of amps and vintage gear, the old lady wont let me...




I have visions of a house made out of gear... a foundation of 80's monkey coffin speakers, walls made of Polkie SRS and SDA, furnishings made of silver 70's amps and receivers, with a wife that serves me dinner on turntable platters with visions of sugar plums dancing in my head....

tonyb

JohnGalt wrote: »

Im still here!! Yes in all seriousness, she loves them already and hasn't even heard the surrounds and CC yet. We have been using some home brew speakers I built ten years ago for all channels using Dayton classic woofers and "Silky" tweeters and she is always complaining that she cant here the voices in most movies. I have slipped several different brand CC speakers in and they just couldn't satisfy her. I think these will put a big grin on her face.

Strong... I have been drooling over that very model for some time now. I have heard a lot of Outlaw gear over the years but never wanted to invest that much $ into a system. My Onkyo TX-NR646 doesnt have pre outs. So just picking up an amp wont do. I bought it awhile back from Accessories4less refurbished because it was cheap and handles 4K HDCP 2.2
So I am not sure what direction I am going to go yet. I would like to get separate's but funds may dictate an AV receiver. It looks like I can get into one that drives 4ohm all channels and has multichannel pre-outs for $700 to $800. Then I can add amps later on.
I probably jumped the gun buying these but $650 for all 5 was to good to pass up...IMO
I am going to explore the used market for awhile and see if a pre/pro and amp pops up that I can afford, I still dont know what my budget is going to be....I have some gear up for sale so I will see how that goes.
So for for now we are just loving the 9's!

Your not going to find a cheap receiver capable of driving all those Lsi speakers. Any receiver in that price range claiming to be able to drive a 4ohm speaker is stretching the truth. What they do is limit current to keep the power supply in the receiver from over heating. 4 ohm speakers need more than usual current, not less.

You have to put powering this setup as a top priority. It is very possible to damage the speakers by driving them underpowered. Look on the used markets for a 5 channel amp, or at least a 3 channel one. Expect to pay around 600 to 800 for a decent amp. Used receivers are also cheap.

JohnGalt

I have noticed a bit of breakup coming out of one of the tweeters on the 9's. its not the NAD as I switched them. I had them set up so the tweeter's where inward or towards the center. and it was coming out of the left one. I swapped them to tweeters outward and it was still there coming from the right so I know its not the NAD. It happens at even medium volume and gets more noticeable as the volume climbs. I am not cranking them to much I know not to do that.
Can you guys tell me if the LSiFX's and the lSiC use the same drivers? I am thinking about swapping them out with the FX's to see if it is the tweeter or something internally like a bad solder or connection somewhere. I can run the fx's in two channel to check or I can just swapp with the CC to see if it is still there.

JohnGalt

I am going to sit tight for awhile and , as Tonyb put it.. " make powering these a priority". I agree no cheap amp is going to pull it off...
The NAD amp is rated down to 2ohm and drives the 9's effortlessly. I just recently serviced it and she is dialed in.
I really put the cart before the horse planning my next system. So I am going with my original plan and see what opens up on used market, save some more coin while I am at it.
Meanwhile I need to find what is causing the distortion in one of the 9's. So today I will focus on that.

dromunds

Shouldn’t be too hard to fix whatever it is with the 9’s. Keep us informed.

JohnGalt

Got it... loose negative wire on the tweeter..... the curled over part on the quick connect was curled upwards and bent out of shape. really loose. It was barley on the tip of the tab. I am surprised it never fell off or that the previouse owner didnt have an issue sooner. It probablyhas always been loose but slid almost off while being moved during the purchase. Easy fix tho, thankfully nothing serious.

JohnGalt

Has any one ever played around with adding poly fill with these?
I haven't looked around the forum yet but I have some and may add a little. This is my favorite part of this hobby. Just playing around seeing if an improvement can be made on an already perfect speaker. I cant imagine that's possible tho.

msg

Whatch it, man! Talking like that about poly will get you banned.

Are you just trying stuff for fun, or are you looking to make a specific adjustment?

Sounds like someone was already in there if you found a tang bent out like that?

ZLTFUL

Be careful as you can over-damp them and that would have negative effects.
Same way you can over-treat a room and deaden it to the point of being a detriment to sound quality.

Hermitism

JohnGalt wrote: »

Has any one ever played around with adding poly fill with these?

Here's a thread with a couple great posts about polyfill.

https://forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/comment/2366303/#Comment_2366303

JohnGalt

Yeah yeah.... I changed my mind. Why bother as these are modern speakers and have what they have for a reason. I am used to tweeking much older speakers and ones I built myself.
I had some fun and A/B'd them last night against my favorite speaker I currently own.
I got to say my MB Quart 280'sheld there own. Completely different speaker as they are a 2way sealed with and 8" woofer. The 9's blew them away as far as having a fuller mid range obviously. But that is where differences end. Almost. I give the 9's the nod. They are both very easy on the ears, no fatigue, with great imaging. But the 9's are just a bit fuller having the extra driver. I had to get up and look to see which one I was listening to a few times as I would forget. They are that close.

JohnGalt

Man there are a lot of 9's for sale rite now.

msg

Where, local to you?

JohnGalt

msg wrote: »

Where, local to you?

There are like five pairs on ebay rite now. one that I was watching, just listed yesterday, just sold for $244. They had upgraded caps to. There is another pair for $477.

JohnGalt

Sorry... 4 pairs.

dromunds

Yeah but shipping speakers these days is real pricey

msg

Yeah, but how much for shipping, and did they have original boxes? It can be dicey if you get a seller on Ebay who doesn't know or care about packing properly. Personally, I'd only consider buying something modded if I knew the modder and they were skilled, not to mention the parts quality. You never know what you're going to get when you buy something that someone's taken upon themselves to change from stock.

You got a pretty good deal on that set. Next steps!

JohnGalt

I totally agree... that's why I was so pumped about getting mine from a guy 20 minutes down the road. If shipping wasn't so high I would have ten pairs. As far as the re capped ones, if the shipping hadn't been a 100 bucks i would have pulled the trigger but I would have only bought them with the assumption going in that they are screwed up and would need a new XO. $244 is still a good price even if it is. $344 is not, maybe borderline at best if they are not all beet up and abused .... IMO...
That pair didn't last long so somebody took the chance.