Powering a set of LSIs

91Supra

I'm new to this site and to LSIs and I'm looking for some help so I do it right the first time. I recently bought LSI 15s, LSI 9s, LSI Fxs, and a LSIC for a home theater I'm in the process of building. I'm wondering what suggestions people have in powering them? I originally was going to buy the Yamaha 2600 to power them because it had the video up conversion for the Sanyo PZ4 projector. Recently reading your site it has made me think that this would not have enough power for these speakers. I can't really afford to buy the 4806 Denon receiver especially if it will be out of date in 5 or less years so I'm now thinking perhaps of buying one of Outlaws 7 channel amps and using their 970 or 990 preamp. The other thought was buying the Yamaha and also buying the 7125 amp or the 7700 amp to go with this. I'm not sure this would even work? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
My room size is 26 by 14.
I'm also going to order an Oppo DVD player although I would like something with superaudio. However, I have to draw a line somewhere as to costs.

kingkip

The yammy would probably run them, but not real loud. Their amp sections have gotten stonger in my opinion. Keeping the yammy and going with an outlaw would be a fine idea. The 7125 would probably be more than enough, and the 7700 overkill, but overkill is kinda nice. Also the 7075 should work fine especially if you don't plan on making your ears bleed, and at $700 that is only $100 per amp! You'll get a ton of other opinions here, some of which I am sure will differ from mine. The important thing to remember is that they're wrong:D

F1nut

Welcome to the fray.

TroyD

I'd go with the Outlaw option...

Nice speaks!

BDT

organ

If you don't mind used, check ebay, audiogon, etc. You'll save a lot of money.

cfrizz

Hi & welcome. You can do either option. I would go for the Outlaw separates all the way & definately get the 7700!

There is no such thing as too much power when you are driving big power hungry speakers like the LSI's they will love every bit of it & ask for more!

91Supra

Thanks for the feedback and the welcome. I'm leaning towards the seperates so the speakers sound as good as they can. I also want to use them to listen to music from DVDs. I just hope the Outlaw sound processor will give me the picture quality the PZ4 can give from DVD and satelite. From what you are telling me the power from the seperate amp will certainly make the difference in the sound.

Sthrndream

Sunfire Theater Grand and Cinema Grand 7....These little LSI guys love power......give it to them.......Its like a frail watermelon needing water and fertilizer


Cheers

kingkip

It doesn't necessarily need to be separate power, just enough. There are plenty of great receivers that would power the Lsi's. Receivers get a bad rap because there are so many crappy ones out there, but good ones do exist at the same or lower price as separates.

DesertPilot

Hi,

I don't see how you can go wrong with the Outlaw setup. A nice price for a lot of power. If you are going to listen to SACDs I think separates are the only way to drive the LSI line. Works for me anyway.

Have fun!

Marcus

ohskigod

kingkip wrote:

It doesn't necessarily need to be separate power, just enough. There are plenty of great receivers that would power the Lsi's. Receivers get a bad rap because there are so many crappy ones out there, but good ones do exist at the same or lower price as separates.

gotta roll against ya on this, I havent seen a reciever for less than 3g's that I would consider powering the lsi's with. There are recievers that will make themn function sure, but the more power the better is the order of the day.

I wouldnt consider less than 300 a channel into 4 ohms. the Outlaw 7700 will do that. You just wont be geettin gout of them what you should.

kingkip

I agree with you ohskigod, my point was that separates are probably going to be 3g's anyway, so if you wanted to go the receiver route it would be allright.

And I absolutely agree that the more power you give em the happier they are.

cfrizz

But if you are going to shell out 3g's for everything anyway, you might as well go with separates.

kingkip

cfrizz wrote:

But if you are going to shell out 3g's for everything anyway, you might as well go with separates.

Just to shake things up, I am not entirely convinced that is true anymore. Zero (sorry to drag you into this man) gave me a pretty convincing argument about separates vs integrated. Not to mention that most lower cost pre's don't have much in the way of video options. Newer receivers have multiple switching options for digital video and that could be a deal breaker if you need this function. It seems to me that this is important to you based on your previous post.

Zen Dragon

I agree if cost is a consideration, and isn't it usually, the most cost effective solution is to go with an AVR receiver and gradually build separate ampliifers off the preamp outs. This way you have all the bells and whistles at a reasonable cost. You can start with a good 2 channel amp off the pre-outs for the mains and run everything else off the amplified outputs of the receiver.
This has the added benefit of freeing the AVR from driving the main speakers. Part of the problem with AVR receivers is trying to drive full power into 5 or 7 channels puts too much strain on the power supplies of the AVR and tends to degrade the overall available output from all channels.
Just running the mains through a pre-amp out to an external amp goes a long way to improve the sound from the rear channels from the AVR.
Given that there will be LSI-9's in the rear, a separate amp for them would be a good second step.

F1nut

gave me a pretty convincing argument about separates vs integrated

Let's not confuse the above with AVR's.

unbridled_id

http://www.northamptonaudio.com/nad/potentpair.asp

cheddar

I know monster cable gets a bad rap 'cause of its copyrighting tactics, but maybe you can rationalize it by saying you're sticking it to their retail sales. On ebay, if you search for 'monster mpa', you will find their two and three channel amps for sale for under $1000 each, many factory sealed and new.

These are Marsh amps with power meters and the monster label and put out 400wpc into 4ohms. Mate them with a cheap denon receiver for video switching and it seems like another good option...

polk_audio_lsi

Cheddar has good advice I really love monster products and I see nothing wrong with they're amps connected to a Denon. I have a lot of good things to say about denon also

kingkip

polk_audio_lsi wrote:

Cheddar has good advice I really love monster products and I see nothing wrong with they're amps connected to a Denon. I have a lot of good things to say about denon also

I am confused. How do you ask so many beyond-dumb questions, and then chime in like an expert. This is probably why the folks around here are diven nuts by you man. Are you just jerking everyone's chain? Do yourself a favor and just listen for a while. You can learn so much more when your mouth is shut.

tonyb

Take the man's advice dude.Best you just not say a thing for awhile.
Given the earlier threads,it's good advice.

91Supra

I appreciate everyones feedback. I am certainly going to order the Outlaw 7700 to power the speakers as that seems to be the concensus for making the speakers run well. I just haven't decided on buying an AV reciever like a Denon 3806 or the Yamaha 2600 for video up converison. I know the Outlaw 990 would likely give me better sound but I also want a good picture since I have bought a front projector and have almost finished my home theater room(Carpet goes in on Friday). The receivers would convert analog to HDMI which the 990 won't do. On the other hand if I buy a good DVD player that up converts like the Oppo or even the new HD Toshiba and watch just HD channels then I could still go with the 990 or even the 970. The only problem with that is much of the hockey I watch is still not broadcast in HD and that would mean a poorer picture with out up conversion.
If I had loads of money I could just buy what I need and the problem would be solved. This unfortunately applies to most of us.

Lowell_M

I just bought a Harman Kardon AVR-635 refurb for $500. It upconverts any signal to 1080i, but not through HDMI..but component video. This AVR makes my RTi70's sing like I didn't know they could. Even with the high current capability of the HK's, though, by the sound of things you should still go with the 7700....My point to this post being that if you don't mind going with a refurb, you could go to the HarmanAudio ebay store and see what kind of a deal you can get if you aren't set on Denon or Yammi.

I am not sure, though if any of the lower HK models upconvert (235, 335, etc.)

cheddar

Supra,

Sounds like you're putting together quite a nice system. That 7700 seems like a good all around solution. I did decide to go the monster amp route that I suggested and put a little more power into the front five speakers while using my 3803 to power my rear surrounds. DVDs don't really use the surrounds or especially the surround rears that much. But I have LSI 7s for rears and the 9s I hear are much harder to drive. Who knows, with the new HD sound formats, maybe the surrounds will get a harder workout.

I don't have any experience with the Yamaha or the 3806 but my denon has been a solid performer for years. Does anyone know if the new HDMI spec will affect any of this switching hardware? I know outlaw used DVI specifically because the HDMI standards are still in flux. I think the next revision is 1.3 or something like that and is a major format change. I was holding off on pre-amp shopping until the dust settles.