H/K 435 and LSi 5.0

Drew_veloce

Can a Harman/Kardon 435 or 635 provide enough power to run a 5.0 setup of Polk LSi 9 or 7 fronts, LSiC center, and LSi 7 surrounds, or would it need a separate amplifier, either for just the fronts or for all five channels?

phuz

It'll work, and it'll sound pretty good.

A seperate amp will take it to another level though.

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Toxis

it'll run it with absolutely no headroom. Be prepared to have some distortion at higher volumes. They will do 4 ohms but they don't like it all to well.

shiu

I don't think the 435 can do justice to the RTi10, let alone the 4 ohm, 88 dB efficiency LSi9. You need to add at least a 2 channel amp to help power the fronts.

gregure

I agree, HK is not the way to go. Unfortunately, many people do not realize that ponying up for higher priced speakers means ponying up for higher priced gear. No offense, but if you're throwing all your money into speakers, either wait and build a bigger budget, or go with lower priced speakers. Honestly, if you want to go w/ receiver alone and drive the LSi series, look at NAD or B&K (NAD being the cheaper, B&K being the better, more powerful of the two). The B&K AVR 505 S2 runs about $3100. The NAD T763 runs about $1700. Both will be enough to drive the LSi speakers well.

The receivers alone will work wonders, but you could even eventually upgrade to a separate amp for the 9's and have the perfect system. You could always consider entering the wonderful world of no-interest financing as well, and justify those monthly payments every time you sit down and listen to music on a kick-**** system. Really though, don't get LSi and run them on a crappy receiver, you will have wasted your money. And by crappy, I mean anything under $1500 (compared to the LSi speakers). Good luck.

Drew_veloce

Originally posted by gregure
Really though, don't get LSi and run them on a crappy receiver, you will have wasted your money.

Thanks for all the replies. I am definitely trying to avoid that combo of great speakers and crappy receiver, which is why I'm asking these kinds of questions.

I've been looking at the NAD receivers -- is there a minimum power or something the LSis would need? I'm not looking to scrape by with the minimum, but I'd rather not pay for features I don't need (like the T773 looks incredible, but it seems like a lot more receiver than I need).

Dennis Gardner

Drew,

Any $500 receiver will have adequate bells and whistles to make a great surround processor. Some add higher levels of audio and video switching and controls, but for sheer sound, you want the highest current amps in a receiver to power LSis. 100 true wpc at least.

The NAD 773, HK 7300, B&K, and Rotel models will do the job. Lesser models will do the same job if external amps are added.

An HK 235 and Outlaw 7100 amp (7x100wpc) would also be great.

If LSi 9, or 15s are in the mix, I would go seperate amp. If LSi7s are used, set to small with a great sub, the HK 635 would do a nice job. Lesser receivers will require outboard amps.

Another Route:

Buy the receiver new (for the warranty) buy a great 5 channel amp used as they are built tougher and require little maintenance.

Just my .02,

DG