LSi9??? Any Opinions on these speakers

Lsi9

HI Everyone,
This is my 1st post here, its looks like a great forum so I will stick around. I am very close to buying the LSi9's. I currently own the RT20's, which suck, I used to own Ls 50's and I loved them more than the rt20's...the subs stopped working and now the midrange driver on the left is going. There is a ringing sound and not much output, they work if messed with but not for long. I am looking forward to replacing them with the lsi9's, I think they will go well with my HSU Research Sub...I just wanted to ask everyone here What they thought of the LSi9's and what were the good and bad points if any. Also can anyone tell me where the best price for these speakers are, I've seen them on the internet for a little over 600$, does that sound right??

Lsi9

I've seen the pics of your set-up...your placement seems ok?...when you say hi-current are you refering to watts...I have a AVR 3600 Denon receiver I hope it can carry these speaks...but anything will be better than my RT20's

Lsi9

I have a 200 watt stereo Yamaha amp i could add to them but I'm affraid the rest of the speakers in my home theater won't match with my left & right channels if I do that, whatya think?

Lsi9

Well...I just ordered them

Lsi9

I Thank You for your time & opinions ATC, If anyone else would like to comment please feel compelled to do so

phuz

I love the LSi line.

Your Denon would do pretty well with the LSi9s, adding that seperate amp will do even better. Experiment a bit and see what you think sounds best.

Don't worry about using the amp/receiver combo. You can 'match' the levels of all the channels with your receiver. In the long run think about a decent 5ch amp and pre/pro combo.

Congrats on the purchase. I don't think you will be disappointed, and welcome to the forum!

Shannon W.

I have nothing but good things to say about my 9's! I use mine for dubble dutie. For music they sound full and tight. when there used for HT they are one Hell of a performer!

Shannon

Shannon's Home Theater Web Page

Lsi9

I was thinking maybe I could BI-AMP my Lsi9's, I have a Denon AVR 3600 Receiver. Does it sound ok to use a (Older)100 watt SAE stereo amplifier to power the tweets only and the denon to power the rest? (thanx for your responses by the way)

Shannon W.

I bi-wired mine. dont know nothing about the Bi-amp?

RuSsMaN

You could do it, sure, I'd suggest using the SAE on the woof/midbass vs the tweet. Chances are it's got a lot more 'real' power than your Denon.

Which Denon and which SAE do you have? SAE is great 2ch material, if it were me, I'd bi-wire off the Denon, and save the SAE for a 2ch rig in your office/bedroom/whatever.

Cheers,
Rooster

organ

9,
I'm sure you'll enjoy them. I got mine yesterday and I'm just amazed by their ability to produce smooth accurate sound along with awesome dynamics. Your Yammie amp should power them just fine. I'm using on Onkyo receiver and I was able to crank them up pretty loud without distortion or compression. You'll love the big soundstage they can produce.

ATCVenom, you recommended ENYA to me on my other post. I don't want to sound like an idiot but I don't think I've heard of them. What kind of music is it? So far I think Therion's "Secrets of the Runes" is the best album to show off the 9's.

Maurice

Lsi9

MY SAE is the A201, My denon is the AVR 3600....I think Ill try it both ways...Bi-wire from the denon & Bi-amp w/ the SAE pushing the woofs(to see which sounds better)...I noticed in the past the SAE doesnt have the output my receiver has, is this because the SAE is older ? Oh I have a system in the bedroom so if I don't use the SAE I'll give to my bud who gave it to me originally. I like Enya her music has a "airy" quality to it (great reference listening)...but to test speakers I like music w/ a little more imaging to it....like african music, you would be surprised at the quality of sound on a particular CD "Talking Timbuktu" by Ali Farka Toure & Ry Cooder...get this CD if you are interested in the best recording I have ever heard in my life...a must buy for any audiophile.

Lsi9

Originally posted by organ
9,
Your Yammie amp should power them just fine.

Yammie???huh?? should I feel insulted??

organ

It's all good 9. No insult intended. You will see many people use that term in HT forums. I think it sounds cute. A lot of people refer to Onkyo as Oink(or something like that) and I love my Oink receiver. he he

ATCVenom, I may check out ENYA when I go to the record store. Thanx for the info.

Maurice

Lsi9

Are the Lsi9's "monitors" or conventional speakers?


(ATC : what kind of stands are those I see Nexus maybe?)

mantis

just speakers my man...........not monitors as far as I know.

Lsi9

I ordered Nexus speaker stands to go with my lsi9's...they are mint & can only be bought through a couple websites...they are made in europe (England maybe)

gtbiker

I luv my LSI9's and LSI center. I also own the PSW1200 sub. I demo'd my HT set up for a friend that has a Sony HT " in a box" package. You know those deals at Best Buy and CC they sell between $400 & $800. I put in Star Wars attack of the clones, chapter 40 " the arena". He was totally blown away by detail and power my system had. He said he's throwing his HT in the trash and starting over. I'm looking to upgrade my surrounds this month but the LSI surrounds are way too much. I want a bipole/dipole set up that has 2 mid/bass drivers & tweeters. Infinity has one, Definitive tech has one. The Lsi bi/di is $900 but my budget is $400. Any ideas anyone?

danger boy

how about some LSI 7's? or fx500i? i have the fx300i's for surrounds.. love the open airy sound in bi pole mode. something i couldn't get from direct firing speakers. but the 300s probably would not be able to keep up with your LSI's. so maybe the 500i's would be better.

gtbiker

Danger,

Thanks, I want to stay away from the direct firing spkrs for surrounds. Do you use your fx300i's mostly for music or HT. I need them mostly for HT. I forget, do the 500i's have dual midbass driver's on each spkr?

Soccerplyr

I have the fx300's and I've been pretty happy with them. I went against there (polk) recommendation and put the right one on the left, left on right. This way they fire into the middle of the room instead of away. They are placed 3 feet above my head on the wall my couch is against. Works really well, however I am a little worried they won't match the LSi's (ordering them a week from tomorrow).

polkatese

gtbiker,
you can get LSiFx for around $550 on ebay (new), If I were you, I would cough up the extra $150 for it, and get the bi/dipole and matching timbre...imo

danger boy

i use my fx/300is for home theater only.. well, DVD-audio too. but not for two channel audio. for my small room, they work just fine.. sure stepping up to the fx500 would help me out. but can't at the moment. i'm a big fan of bi -pole. i tried di-pole.. the sound wasn't as open to me.

gtbiker

thanks danger,

polkatese, alot of people are steering me towards the LSiFx for surrounds. In HT mode they are really just for slight sound affects not big screen action, can the human ear really tell if they are not timbre matched? I really understand the center and front needing to be matched but I really wonder what the difference is between say the LsiFx and the fx/300 in surround mode.

phuz

ATC: be patient and experiment some more, I had simmilar opinions at first.

gtbiker: You might be suprised at how much comes out of the rear channel(s) in a 5.1 setup. I recently used an spl meter to setup my system and it sounds a lot better, and the rear chanel(s) were way too low at first.

Just about everything is different with the two sets of speakers that you are considering. As far as timbre matching I'm not sure how noticable it is but I'm sure some others can elaborate a bit.

mantis

ATC you need to be calm,if you throw them out I will gladly take them from yeah.

fireshoes

I think most people believe there's not that much stuff coming from the rears just because they haven't heard GOOD speakers back there. The LSiFX's rock! There's a ton of music coming from the rear channels. With the LSiFX's you get trumpets blazing, and with other speakers you get kazoos.

Do you want kazoos or trumpets?

jmierzur

Originally posted by ATCVenom
I have a revision on my views of the LSi-9's.

Amazing for everything but hard rock and rap. Good God do they absolutely blow wind with these formats. Way too flat for this type of music... about ready to toss these damn things out the window and curse their name..

When you say 'flat', what do you mean?? Are you used to 'overwhelming' bass when listening to these formats? Is there some specific characteristic missing? Do you have a sub if you think the bass is missing?

I have the 9's with two Def Tech subs and have sampled all musical formats through a digital cable box that has 40 different channels of digital audio. I can say that all these channels 'sound' great even though I do not prefer the 'musical' content. This is with and with out the subs!

One thing to note is that these speakers are very revealing. This means that you will hear all the content of the recording. I personally have been disappointed listening to past favourites, as I now hear how bad the track was recorded and what is missing compared to newer recordings. I have not let this issue restrict my enjoyment of the music as I know that I am hearing all that is to be heard from recordings.

As I have mentioned before in other threads, the location of the speakers in conjunction with room acoustics determine the results you hear. Look at the resources recording studios allocate to tuning their sound rooms. I have spent many hours positioning my speakers using a two-channel set-up disc and SPL meter. I have also built three of 10 tube traps that will be used in the room to control the acoustics.

I do not know any details of your system. Some of mine:

-placed on 28" stands filled with sand and weighing 40 lbs. each
-placed 1/5 of room length from rear wall
-placed 1/5 of room width from side walls
-speakers toed-in toward you

Place the front of the speaker on odd multiples of your room eg. 1/3, 1/5, 1/7, 1/9 etc. This is a good starting point for your final placement. You can have 1/5 from rear and 1/7 from side etc. etc... Experiment and have fun.

I hope this helps. Maybe others will be able to help if we get details.

EDIT spelling

fireshoes

Courtesy of Matt:

http://www.polkaudio.com/home/faqad/advice.php?article=placement

polkatese

gtbiker,
I am using the lsifx also for audio using the stereo 5.1 mode (I think it is pretty much common feature on most receivers, denon, yamaha, rotel, etc.) and I am loving it. For HT, timbre matching matters on those movies with heavy contents of 5.1 (LOTR:FOTR for example). Also on DVD-A/dts materials, timbre matching for the surround speakers is definitely matters. Can't comment on fx300 since I don't have them. hope it helps.....

jmierzur

ATCVenom,

Keep trying different placements when your new toy arrives. Check the link that 'fireshoes' provided and look at all the material.

When you say they are not very revealing, this hints that they are not in a favorable location. I am hearing musical content I have not heard before using the same CD player, pre/power amp.

As a test, I should ask my brother if he would lend me his SDAs for a day. It would be interesting to compare the two.