Enough to power LSi25's?

cokewithvanilla

Alright, I have a Sony STR-DE935, which is a 5+ year old receiver that was rated at 505 watts, or about 100 watts per channel. I am doing a 7.1 LSi Setup, with LSi25 mains. Currently the LSi's sound like a set of $200 speakers.

My problem seems to be lack of power. The LSi25's sound terrible. There is no sound depth, and everything sounds muffled. The LSiC sounds great, but the 25's sound like crap. In another thread everyone agreed that I need more power.

Heres the problem... the highest model Integra receiver has 105 watts per channel... a 5 watt upgrade.

I could probably find another receiver with around 130 watts per channel, but still thats only a 30 watt difference.

Is the best bet going with a 2 channel amp, and a nice receiver? If so, would I need to go 200 watts? 300? In any case, I do not want to spend over a few hundred dollars, because an amp was never a part of my budget.

ben62670

cokewithvanilla wrote: »

Is the best bet going with a 2 channel amp, and a nice receiver? If so, would I need to go 200 watts? 300? In any case, I do not want to spend over a few hundred dollars, because an amp was never a part of my budget.

Thats the problem
The LSI series requires a lot of currant. You do need external amplification. Does your receiver have pre outs? If it does I would suggest an Adcom GFA-555. There are a ton of these out there, but you will have to spend about $350 shipped. Also check out audiogon.com. BTW no receiver will power those properly at an affordable price. When looking for an amp make sure it can handle 4ohm loads.

Ben

cokewithvanilla

is it just me, or was that amp made in the 80's? uhhh 800 watts per channel... my lord... does it do that?

ben62670

mostly 90's. They are a rock solid best bang for the buck amp you can get.
I have a GFA-5800, GFA-585, GFA-555, GFA-7500. They are all great amps.

Here is the page with Adcom manuals.

http://www.adcom.com/manuals.aspx

cokewithvanilla

I don't think my receiver has pre outs... how can I tell??

ben62670

Look at the back. It will be clearly marked pre out.

cokewithvanilla

no pre outs.

fatchowmein

If you go with a receiver, get something with a "High Current" rating. A friend of mine just got the 25's and has it hooked up to a high current 55w per channel Harmon and it sounds great. Bear in mind he lives in an apartment, listens at moderate to low levels, and is in a small room.

cokewithvanilla

I think that amp that ben recommended will be my choice. I would like the feeling of having the power behind the speakers. However, since I have no pre outs I will have to purchase a receiver. I was looking at the Pioneer Elites, Denon, and Integra... does anyone have a recommendation of a 7.1 receiver (under or around $1000 msrp) for an LSi setup?

Dennis Gardner

I would buy any Pioneer, Denon, HK, Yamaha, Sony AVR that has preamp outputs and get a 2/3 channel amp with plenty of power to drive the mains and center if you can. Surrounds can easily be handled by a receiver.

Here is a nice Acurus 3 channel for sale on our forum.http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=53250

There was another of these for sale a couple of weeks ago locally in Missouri for $350 here in our classifieds if you can find someone willing to pick it up for you.http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=52560

ben62670

HK or Denon. I used an HK AVR-235, and it was a great pre/receiver. You can get something similar from Ebay HKdirect for $300 shipped. Take your time, and wait for the right deal. Don't let the HK's low wattage figures scare you. Its all about currant. HK 50 watts = 100 watts store stuff. They way under rate their products. I have heard good things about Denon too.

HK manual page
http://www.harmankardon.com/product_support/interstitial.aspx?Language=ENG&Region=USA&Country=US&sJump=om

HK on Ebay
http://stores.ebay.com/Harman-Audio
Happy hunting, and take your time! You don't need to spend a lot to get good sound!

Edit
Also keep in mind that the center, and rears don't need tons of power for movie watching, just set the speakers at small that are not using a seperate amp. Works very well.

cokewithvanilla

why are HK's so cheap? I was looking at 1400 msrp units for 900 and was fairly happy, hks you can get 50% off msrp easy... I can get a HK-645 for $700... how do I make sure these are good units? I have never heard anyone recommend HK before... although I do like the prices.

cokewithvanilla

Why doesnt it say it suports TrueHD or w/e (you know, the 7.1 formats)?

ben62670

Any thing 235 and up will support HD. Spend some time reading before you jump the gun. Others will chime in.

cokewithvanilla

lately I have not had much time to look, which is one reason I am asking so many questions. The only reason I bought the 25's was I saw tweeters sign on the way home from work, and walked in.

I am just trying to get them up in running before the store closes (just incase they sold me a broken pair of speakers)

So it looks like I need one of those cool amps you told me about, and a receiver. HK is sounding good to me because of the price, and how easy they are to find. It is so hard to find an integra that you almost have to pay retail. Elites arent very hard to find, but they will cost me 900-1000. Denon's I think I have ruled out, as they don't put very good features on anything lower than the 4806.

I just want to get my HT up and running, when I had time I searched for about a month for the right equipment... there are no correct answers on what to buy, everyone has their own prefrence, and in that sense, no one can help. some people told me Denon, Yahama, Pioneer Elite, Onkyo, Integra, HK, and so on. Since I will probably never have two of them side by side, I just need something that will run a 7.1 LSi setup flawlessly. I also want the LSi's to sound better than a set of OM-9's ... if possible.

astrobruce

I saw those '25's at Tweeter and considered buying them but glad I didn't - they are HUGE power hogs. I ended up getting "only" the RTi12's (also at a fantastic 50% off) and still need more power.

HK (just to make sure, we're talking about Harman Kardon, not some possible knock-off using the initials HK to confuse people) is a great brand (just like Onkyo, Yamaha, Denon, yada, yada, yada). Probably any of their systems over $750 or so will have pre-outs. You would only use the front left/front right pre-outs for the 25's and use the amplified outs for the center and surrounds.

I'm setting up a similar configuration and will let you know how it goes.

--Bruce

AndyGwis

If I were you, I'd go for a Harman Kardon refurb receiver off eBay, then get a nice 2/3/5 channel amp. Harman makes great products, don't worry about them being refurbs or about them being sold way under MSRP.

I got a New in Box 635 over a year ago and love it. Has everything you need, including preouts, and enough current to run your surrounds if you only get a 2/3 channel amp. I actually have a beast of a 6 channel amp that I may be selling. Would be a good fit with a nice budget AVR as a pre-pro.

fatchowmein

I'm not familiar with the Sony STR-DE935 but my friend had an issue with the woofer not pumping out any sound on his LSi25. Turns out his harmon wanted the sub out connected to the 25's Line In, not the LFE in. That did the trick (along with a Y splitter).

Good luck.

skipf

There are a couple of Sunfire Cinema Grand 5 amps on e-prey currently. 200WPC into 5 channels. Plenty of current and headroom if you can get one.

MSALLA

HK's are a club polk favorite. They are a safe buy for a new commer as they make a good product at a great price. I have one of the GFA-555 talked about and it sounds great with lots of headroom. Hit the used market on e-bay and audiogon (even better). Even if you don't know much,it will be hard to get a bad rig sticking to a good mid brand receiver and a quality mid-fi amp.

DaveP_IHT

You could wait for the New Onkyo 805, 130 wpc at 8 Ohms, It is 4 Ohm Stable, cranks out something like 150 wpc at 4 Ohms, and costs about $1000. Or step up to the Adcom GFR 700, 145 wpc at 4 Ohms.