LSi9 in the house! First Impressions

organ

They finally arrived! I've been listening to them for over an hour and I am pretty damn impressed. These speakers sounds much better than I expected! I was worried my Onkyo wouldn't power them properly, but damn they sound great. I actually think the Onkyo enjoys powering the LSi9 better than my 800i. The presentation sounds more effortless and they SLAM way harder than the 800i's(hell, their ports even smell better). I actually went up to the subwoofer twice to mae sure it wasn't on! The bass is just amazing and it hits hard and fast. Imaging is very good and I'm expecting improvements as they begin to break-in.

Maurice

mantis

I 2nd that..............congrads dude....

Shannon W.

Hey Organ I hope you injoy the 9's as much as i do..
now my next quest is to put some power to the things...
"Rotel power" !!!!!!!!
Shannon

mantis

Shannon W,
Another fan of Rotel..........hell alot of people in here is going Rotel, we should start a Rotel fan club.........LOL

I'm all About Rotel.

Steve@3dai

I'm all about Arcam.

The Arcam - LSi match is phenominal IMO.

Enjoy the goods!

hoosier21

I have been a fan of Rotel for years, great stuff.

organ

I'll be powering them with some Rotel juice this summer(RSX-1055). My Onkyo doesn't seem to be stuggling at all. I was even pushing them pretty hard earlier today. Anyways, I'm having a blast listening to them especially after fixing the left speaker(see my other post).

Maurice

mantis

checking out the rsx1055 huh.....super cool man.Thats one hell of a killer receiver(intergraded)

Soccerplyr

Organ-
Which Onkyo do you have and did you switch the output to 4ohms? I have a 595 and am thinking about getting the 9's and am curious as to whether or not people are running them at 4ohms and if so does this hurt my other 8 ohm speakers

organ

Soccerplyr,
I have the 575 which I believe was replaced by your 595. 75w/channel right? I don't have an impedance switch on mine but I have read several articles where they suggested leaving the switch at 8 Ohms even when running 4 Ohms speakers. They said the 4 Ohms setting will compress the sound and it should be safe to use 8 Ohms. It's better to try both settings and use the one that sounds best to you. I'm sure you'll really like the 9's. Mine has been breaking in fo 18+hrs and I can hear improvements in the mids. The soundstage is much bigger now and the speakers are much more transparent.

mantis,
That rotel looks like a kick **** receiver. I'm also planning on getting one of their 2ch amp for music. Which one would you recommend?(<$1000USD)

Maurice

mantis

Maurice,
check out the RB1070....it's only 699.99.It has 130 x 2 into an 8 ohm load and 210 x 2 into a 4 ohm load.It's got 400 dampening factor.Plenty of head room,you could goas far as saying it was limitless headroom.
At this price point ,you'll have 300.01 to put towards there preamp.add alittle and get alot.

joe logston

good going organ, that the speaker that i want, for my aragon stuff

Soccerplyr

Thanks organ. The 595 did replace the 575x. Any trouble with heat?

Now I need to decide if I want to get the 9's and matching center channel or the RTi70's and a 43" wide screen Hitachi. If only I was rich!

mantis

We all wish we where rich my man..........I would live,breath,be audio and video........not that I don't already,I would just.................................................

organ

mantis,
Thanx for the info. I checked Rotel's site and I think that should be the best choice for me. I don't think I'll need more headroom or power than what the amp provides since I do near-field listening.

Soccerplyr,
No problems with heat here. The receiver gets as hot(warm actualy) as having a pair of 800i which I had used before getting the LSi. Just be sure to provide plenty of ventilation. This may be why the receiver doesn't get hotter than running my 800i. Mine has 5" of space around the sides and 6" from the top of the receiver to the top of the rack.
I just found out in anoter forum that setting the switch to 4Ohms will cut off some power to the voltage supply to prevent the receiver from over-heating. But by doing this, the speakers won't get as much current and you'll get bad compression. Leave the switch at 8 Ohms. I was checking out the impedance graph for the LSi9 at soundstage.com and they look more like 5-6 Ohms nominal instead of 4. I remember a member from this forum contated Polk's customer service and he was told the LSi9 are 6Ohms even though the specs say 4.

Joe,
I'm sure you'll enjoy them. They are the best speakers I've ever heard. I could listen to them all day long and not get bored. They are just fun to listen to.


Maurice

Soccerplyr

How do they sound in a home theater application? Most of what I've found out only has people refering to music, but little discussion about movies. I will use them for about 40% TV (directv tivo, best toy ever) 40% movies and 20% music (I love dvd-audio, even on my normal dvd player)

organ

Soccerplyr,
I haven't tried HT with them yet because I listen to music a lot more then HT and I have a CSi40 center and RT5 surrounds. This is not a good match until I upgrade to LSi all around. But last night I was playing Splinter Cell on my XBOX using 2 channel instead of the game's 5.1 DD and it sounded very good. So I guess HT should sound as impressive as music with these speakers.

Maurice

bigsexy1

I still haven't yet actually heard the LSI's as there is no dealer yet within an hours drive from me (and I'm in what would at least be considered a mid-major sized market), but I'd almost be willing to bet that on movies and/or hard rock/heavy metal music, the RTi line might actually be better than the LSI for those purposes.
What do other's who have extensive experience with both think?

jrausch

I prefer listening to the Lsi's during movies and programs. The detail these speakers produce makes voices more intelligible. For instance I was watching an episode of the Sapronos where Tony was talking to the one legged russian girl in a hospital. She would say something in a thick russian accent and they would print her words out knowing most people could not make out what she was saying. The Lsi's produced her voice so clearly, there was no mistake in what she saying. As far as Heavy Metal music. I'm not into it but if I was, I would not even consider buying Polks. Klipsch has this beat hands down. Heavy metal and hard rock for the most part does not contain alot of channel seperation and this is where the Klipsch speakers shine. Loud and in your face is the best way to listen to that kind of music. I can't even imagine listening to Megadeath on a pair of polks.

organ

bigsexy1,
The LSi can certainly rock. They blow away my 800i for black, goth, death, speed and power metal. They hit harder and remain clear. I'll put it this way. The 800i sounds thin compared to the LSi9. the 800i is like mild coffe and the LSi is full body.

jrausch,
90% of metal music have great channel seperation. Rhythim guitar on left, lead on right, drums dead center, keyboards is like an orchestra(left high strings, right low strings) and vocals can be found all over the place depending on whether there is a lot of backing vocals or not, but main vocals are usually centered. I can hear a much better channel seperation on the LSi than the RT line becase the soundstage is way bigger and deeper.

Maurice

gtbiker

The LSi's are great for HT. Toss in the Blade 2 DVD and listen to all the detail the LSi's put out. You'll think the sword is actually slicing right in your room. As for the 8 ohm 4 ohm debate. I don't know yet. I have a Sony STR-DE435 ( upgrading soon ) switched to play 4 ohm's and I can make some scrambled eggs and hotcakes on it if I really pump the 9's in "2 channel music mode" for an extended amt of time.