Question about LSI15

donedroolin

Hey whats up been awhile since I have posted anything. I have some questions I would like to ask. I have RTI 10's now and they were purchsed at Tweeter as you know they let you upgrade speakers up to a year. Well it is that time to upgrade and I was set to go for the RTI 12's but then noticed they have the LSi 15's on sale for $100.00 more then the RTi's, so I listened to them both and were really suprised the difference in sound between the the two. Well then the sales guy also said they would upgrade my CSi5 for the LSic for a whopping total of $600.00 dollars so I'm like helk ya, all over this. Well put some money down and still have to do the actual exchange later this week. Well enough of that, SORRY to babble, here are the questions everyone says the LSi's are power hungry. How much can they handle before damageing them. I have a Parasound Halo C-2 controller and the A-51 amp. The RTi 12's can handle 50 to 500 watts and the LSi15's 20 to 250 watts
my A-51 is 250 watts into 8 ohm(RTi) and 400 into 4 ohm(LSi) is it worth for me to go with the LSi or will I damage the speakers. I love home theater but also love to listen to music at times untill my ears ring. THANKS in advance for your help.

Joey_V

The RTi12 and the LSi series are power hungry.

The LSi are 4ohms, so be careful not to utilize your run-of-the-mill receivers as they are not capable of such current throughput through them dinky little internal connections, hence, burning out and "goodbye receiver". You will need to get a good amp to run the amplification stage of your system, you could always use your reciever as the pre/pro.

That said, it is not necessary that you RUN out this minute and get yourself an amp, just dont play it that loud. I ran my LSi series with an HK330 reciever for 1.5 years and it worked just fine.

Joey

Emlyn

You won't damage the speakers by putting too much power to them at the A-51's output capability levels, but the RTi series, especially the RTi-12, is better suited to rocking out with if you like turning it up to "11" sometimes. The LSi series is more laid back and better suited to more subtle music. I've run about 800-watts per channel into a pair of LSi15's with no problem though.

Joey_V

donedroolin wrote:

my A-51 is 250 watts into 8 ohm(RTi) and 400 into 4 ohm(LSi) is it worth for me to go with the LSi or will I damage the speakers. I love home theater but also love to listen to music at times untill my ears ring. THANKS in advance for your help.

Ok.... re-read your post.... will add to my earlier answer.

Ok, it seems that you have a solid amp and virtually a solid front end electronics combo. You are PRIME candidate for the LSi series. You will not blow the speakers, unless you turn it up further than they deserve to be pushed.... and your ears will bleed before this happens.

Like Emlyn, I've pushed 730 watts into 4ohms through the LSi9 bookshelves with the Rotel RB1090.

Joey

donedroolin

Awsome, so you would go for the LSi's not the RTi's . That is allot of power you guys push to those speakers. The LSi's will be good for HT and music at high volumes. Now here is the question which speakers would you purchase? I

donedroolin

OH and THANK YOU for all the advice and help!!!!!!!!!!

donedroolin

Hey guys (or girls), I have one more question . I wont be changing my rear speakers right of way. they will stay the FXi3's for awhile. They are 8 ohm and the LSi's are 4 ohm will that do anything to my amp or can it handle the different ohms (speakers).

Joey_V

You're fine.

Get them LSi!

cfrizz

Hey Donedroolin! You should be fine all the way around!

Now go get those LSI's, and come back & tell us how much you are droolin over them!

donedroolin

COOL!!!!!!!!! Thanks and will go get them some night this week and let you know how they sound. One more silly question . How should I break them in ? Just average use at regular volumes for awhile or any special way. Cant wait to get them now!!!!!!!!!!!!

Joey_V

There's debate about break in.... but do as you wish. I think that letting the speakers stretch her legs by letting it belt out tunes at reasonable volumes for several days wont hurt... who knows, it might help and "break in".

Good luck, my friend!

Joey

reeltrouble1

There is no doubt your speakers will sound better after you have played them for a while.

You might want to consider some quality cabling if you are not using some already.

In any event, you are off to a very nice start with your rig a nice upgrade going from the rti to the lsi.

RT1

donedroolin

Well got my new speakers and for now I let the Halo C-2 controller auto calibrate itself. I'm not sure about these speakers yet. You need more volume to get them to sing. I am still likeing my RTi10's and am wondering if I should have just went to the RTi12's. I liked well loved the CSi5 did not realize how much smaller the LSic is. The sound you get from RTi's and the LSi's is totally different. I guess I have to give them some time to break in. I only watched one full movie and some different scenes from two other movies. I think I'm useing some good speaker wire . Its Audioquest X2 speaker cable that is 16 guage. With audioquest gold banana plugs. The LSi's sounded great at tweeters with 120 watts to them , I'm useing more then that so I don't think that is the problem. Well any opinions or feed back always a big help and apprietiated.

donedroolin

Kind of a dumb question probally does not matter but in all the pictures of the speakers on this site . The midrange speakers are blue on the LSi15's and the LSic, mine are black on the ones I got. Any thoughts.

cfrizz

Congrats Donedroolin!

It takes more volume to make the LSI's sing because they are 4ohm speakers which are harder to drive than 8ohm speakers like the RTI's.

You are correct that the sound difference between the 2 series is night & day & it will be up to you to decide if you like the more mellow sound of the LSI's rather than the 'in your face' sound of the RTI's.

Give them time to grow on you.:)

donedroolin wrote:

Well got my new speakers and for now I let the Halo C-2 controller auto calibrate itself. I'm not sure about these speakers yet. You need more volume to get them to sing. I am still likeing my RTi10's and am wondering if I should have just went to the RTi12's. I liked well loved the CSi5 did not realize how much smaller the LSic is. The sound you get from RTi's and the LSi's is totally different. I guess I have to give them some time to break in. I only watched one full movie and some different scenes from two other movies. I think I'm useing some good speaker wire . Its Audioquest X2 speaker cable that is 16 guage. With audioquest gold banana plugs. The LSi's sounded great at tweeters with 120 watts to them , I'm useing more then that so I don't think that is the problem. Well any opinions or feed back always a big help and apprietiated.

PolkWannabie

Since you asked and since you seem ?! to be more interested in HT then music ...

IMHO the LSI's are a better speaker, especially for music ... But I'd rather have the RTi10's or 12's for HT ...

:eek: ... Looks around for flame retardant suit ...

Midnite Mick

Am I reading that correctly? Black drivers on the lsi's?

Mike

McLoki

Never seen black drivers on the LSi series before. Did you get them new in box? Are they still 5-1/4 or are they 6-1/2?

The sound will change quite a bit over the first 100 hours or so. Let the radio play over them while you are at work for the first few days to get them broken in. (nothing outragous, maybe 80b or so if you are in a house - 75b if you are in an apt.)

I have not heard the RTi's, but many people purchase equipment to tone down the brightness of the RTi's. If you have done that, it would make the LSi's really laid back. (just a suggestion)

If you click on the lsi15 link in my sig, you should see the LSi15 home page on Polk audio. If your speakers look different than they do in the photo - I would be giving Polk Customer Service a call first thing in the morning.

Let us know what you find out.

Michael

donedroolin

Hey guys, Yes I did purchase them new from tweeters. Packaged all neat in the boxs. As far as I know they are 5 1/4 ,I will have to check I was just going by the specs. I checked out the pictures and my drivers are black not blue like in the picture. Both of the LSi's and the LSic. Do you think they changed them or is something up with my speakers. I am going to take McLoki advice and contact Polk customer service. I will also see if I can get my digital camera to woek to take some pictures.

donedroolin

Well I have contacted polk they said the Lsi series are suppose to have blue drivers not black. They are sending me a call tag and want me to send them the center, and they will send me a new one. They dont know what is going on with them. they have to see what to do about the LSi15's. Well they also want pics so hope my digital camera will work.

scottnbnj

i was thinking maybe this was like a golden ticket for a labcoated tour of the candy factory or something, but... i guess that's not the case.

anyway, i guess like everyone else here, i want to see pics too.

)

McLoki

Wierd, I wonder if they accidentally shipped the new LSi's? (I thought new LSi's were supposed to come out in 07 or something like that) It would be interesting to see if the drivers are still 5-1/4 or if they are actually 6-1/2.

Glad they are on the ball with them. Based on the fact they are shipping you an entire speaker instead of just the drivers, I would guess they are concerned that the crossovers may be incorrect for the 5-1/4" blue drivers as well. (or the holes are the wrong size...)

HMMMMMMM

Michael

Midnite Mick

In your post you say that you checked out the pictures of the drivers in your lsi's. Do you not have your speakers? I would want to actually look at the drivers and not go by pictures of them. Camera and shading and such may play tricks on the picture. This isn't totally making sense to me.

Mike

edit: oops re-read. I misinterpreted.

Midnite Mick

If you were to have a new design...I am guessing you would probably be better off. One would like to think a new design would be superior to an older one.

Mike

donedroolin

When I said picture I met I checked out the LSi's on the website to see if they matched mine. I took pictures of them they look gray silver in the picture. I am going to try to post the pictures. One thing they are not blue. Yea I would like the newer design. tell me what you guys think. How do you get your pictures on here.

McLoki

Click the go advanced button in the quick reply section.

In the Additional options section there is a manage attachments button - click that.

Browse to the picture file you want to upload. (resize it first to 1024x768 or so)

Click the upload button.

Click submit reply.

Michael

donedroolin

Well Here goes!!

McLoki

Try again...

donedroolin

Here are the pictures. They dont look black here but they dont look the deep blue like at tweeters or the pictures on the website

donedroolin

What do you think?

McLoki

The LSi drivers are not real blue. (it is almost like a clear plastic that is tinted with a very light blue color)

Anyway - they look about right from the pictures that I see. (they also look about the right size)

You could pull one of the drivers and see what model number is printed on the back of it to be sure.

I will take a picture of my driver when I get home for lunch (about 1/2 hour) and post that so you can compare. I assume they are 5-1/4 drivers? When you said black, I was picturing the same color as the tweeter.

Michael