bi amp my LSi 25's??

pmckeealaska

OK.....so I'm happy with my current set up now. I'm using it as both a 2-channel HT rig and for music, and I dont plan on ever going strictly to music. But now, I have some extra cash and wanted to get everyones opinion on my next course of action. I was wondering if getting another 2-channel amp and bi-amping my Lsi 25's would be a useful upgrade. My set up is a NAD T763 reciever that I use as a pre-amp for music (and no, I'm not looking to replace it), a Rotel RB 1080 power amp and a Denon DVD 2900 Universal CD/SACD/DVD-A player. Again, I'm really happy with my set up at this point, and I dont want to really replace any of the components for fear of it not sounding as good. I was wondering if bi-amping might provide me with greater dynamic range, more "balls" in music and HT, and lower distortion, or whether it really wouldn't make a difference. Your opinions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Emlyn

I'd say it's not worth the cost. Remember the RB1080 puts out at least 300 watts per channel (I've seen it tested to really put out around 400 watts continuous) to four ohm speaker loads. Also, the LSi25's are already powered. If there is a problem, adequate power to the speakers isn't it.

unc2701

You can't bi amp (or more accurately, you can't tri amp) LSi 25's without ripping them open and replacing the crossover with one from a LSi 9. I've confirmed this with Polk CS.

The top binding posts go to the tweeter and the two mids; the bottom posts are just a high level input for the subwoofer.

Airplay355

how would an Lsi9 xo work? that would send the same signal to the woofer as the midwoofers.

Emlyn

Originally posted by Airplay355
how would an Lsi9 xo work? that would send the same signal to the woofer as the midwoofers.

I've assumed its upper posts powering the tweeter and lower powering the two midwoofers (cascaded) for the LSi9's. The LSi15's are a mystery. I never found that bi-amplification did any good at all with those.

Good point about the LSi25's not being capable of bi-amplification from external amps. What brought me to Club Polk originally was me wondering if Polk's powered tower speakers could be bi-amped. Seems as though things haven't changed with the design after all.

Airplay355

Save your cash and instead of buying two amps to biamp with, stick one really powerful amp on the mids and tweet. I don't think it would be that big of a deal

unc2701

currently in your 25, the upper post goes to the tweeter and the two midwoofers; the lower post is a high level input for the sub. In order to triamp, you would either have to ditch the high level input for the sub and just use the RCA input or add another set of binding posts (for three pairs total). The highest binding posts would go to the upper LSi9 connector (which then goes to the tweeter), the middle one would be for your midwoofers (and feed the cascading array for the 2 mids) and the bottom one would be your high level input for the powered woofer.

Granted, the lower midwoofer wouldn't roll off at 80hz like it currently does. I've never cracked open my 25's but you might also be able to get the tweeter input isolated on the crossover board and run that to a seperate set of binding posts.

Bottom line, you can probably improve other places first.

pmckeealaska

OK...so if Bi-amping is out, where would you folks suggest I try to improve my set-up. Again, replacing the NAD with a pre-amp is not an option, but I'm open to any other suggestions.

marker

Originally posted by Airplay355
Save your cash and instead of buying two amps to biamp with, stick one really powerful amp on the mids and tweet. I don't think it would be that big of a deal

^ What he said, or, get two big a$$ed mono blocks, one for each speaker.

Edit- I just noticed you had a NAD T763/Rotel power amp. The NAD T763 alone would be MORE than adequate to drive the tweets and mids on a set of LSi25, much less the Rotel power amp. As others have already pointed out, you are already in effect bi-amping anyway with the power towers.

Frankly, I don't know if adding an amp or amps will give you enough of a perceived performance increase as to jusify the $$$. You might be better off to just stand pat.

cfrizz

Do you think your setup is lacking in the dynamic range or balls dept? Are you actually hearing distortion? With the power that you are giving the speakers with the Rotel, I tend to doubt it.

If this isn't the case, perhaps you should now start looking into the HT side of things.

unc2701

I'd say you've got a pretty good system going there. The Rotel gives you plenty of power... You can always add more, but you're not going to see a huge difference.

Why not get yourself a high-powered Odyssey amp- either monoblocks or one of the dual mono amps... they've got a 30 day money back policy (no questions) and have a great reputation. It's a safe way to see what a ****-ton of power will do for your system. If you like what you hear, keep 'em or send 'em back and start doing research into what amp you _really_ want. If it sounds about like your rotel, save the cash and find something else to buy.