Looking for new Fronts Lsi15 or RTiA9

Humanoid

Hey all,

I've got the big 50 coming up and one thing I wanted is new front speakers for my HT.

My current setup is a Marantz AVR 7002 driving RTi8, CSI5 and FXi3 with an SVS sub. I'm about 60% mus and 40% mov. I listen to rock, pop and jazz just no rap sorry G. Room size is about 20'x14'.

How well would the lsi15's perform without an amp with my SR7002? I will be bi-amping them to the 7002 which is designed to do so. Would it sound decent? I don't plan on rattling the walls.:) How would the Lsi's meld with my CSi5 and FXi3 for movies? I could eventually get the lsiC and rears, but it would be down the road.

Should I scrap the idea of the Lsi's and get the RTiA9 for a better match with my existing speakers or will I be losing out on enough detail in the music/movies to warrant the purchase of the lsi's?

Price is about the same for both what are your thoughts.

Cheers,

Ray

Early B.

If you listen to music more than you watch movies, get the 15's and don't worry about the rest of the stuff for now. Buy a separate 2-channel amp later, then consider upgrading the center channel and rears.

Humanoid

Early B. wrote: »

If you listen to music more than you watch movies, get the 15's and don't worry about the rest of the stuff for now. Buy a separate 2-channel amp later, then consider upgrading the center channel and rears.

I went to Frys last night in hopes of auditioning the 15's and A9's, but they only had the 25's and A9's. I must say the 25's sounded amazing while the A9's were similar to my current RTi8's. There was no contest between the two speakers, as the 25's were in a league of there own over the A9's.

I listened to the 25's with both movie and music and they sounded great to my ears. The 25's was running on an Onkyo that had 140 wpc. This brings up another question.

Is it easier to drive the 25's then the 15's? The 25's have a built in sub and amp taking more load off the AVR. If this is the case it may be better suited for those who do not have a seperate amp.

Since I will eventually get the lsiC and Lsi surrounds should I purchase a 5 channel amp and not a two channel and what would be a good choice that wouldn't break the bank.

Kex

Humanoid wrote: »

... Since I will eventually get the lsiC and Lsi surrounds should I purchase a 5 channel amp and not a two channel and what would be a good choice that wouldn't break the bank.

It's always better to have five channels, IMO. Did you check if the Marantz can handle 4 ohm speakers yet, BTW? If so, it may not matter so much. The next question would be "is it better to have 200w/ch for both main channels, and use the AVR for the other three, or is it better to have 100w/ch or so, but for all five channels?". If you stay around long enough, you'll come accross posts by cfrizz, who strongly recommends 200w/ch minimum of external amplification. Not everyone agrees with her though, so it's not engraved in stone necessarily.

Some excellent amplifiers come up in the Flea Market from time to time (Rotel, Carver, Adcom ...) but they might only have 100w/ch or so. There is always Emotiva as a budget choice, but I had a very unconvincing experience personally with the entry level Emotiva gear, so I would not recommend it over a 80 to 100w/ch Rotel, for instance, for the same price.

cfrizz

Welcome Humanoid & Happy Birthday in advance!

All speakers benefit with more power, even the speakers you have now will benefit.

Another option you might consider is to get a 5 channel amp NOW & try it out on your current speakers & see how you like it.

As Kex pointed out, I always recommend 200wpc since this is enough to drive just about any speaker with ease but it is especially important to power all LSI's with lots of power since they are hard to drive.

My brother started out with a 50wpc Rotel amp for his LSI 7's. After a couple hours of watching a movie at regular volumes, you could fry an egg on top of the amp! It sounds better & runs much cooler with a 205wpc Parasound amp now.

Now some will say that the 7's don't need it, but I have the experience with them to know better. Will the LSI's run with less power? Of course. Will you be hearing all that they are capable of? No you won't. And in my opinion, THAT is what you should be aiming for.

So my personal recommendation is to get an Emotiva, Outlaw Audio 200wpc 5channel amp now & check it out with the system you already have in place. This might tide you over until you can restock the bank account to get the LSI's.

Other amp choices to keep an eye on over on Audiogon are: Rotel, Parasound, Adcom, Sunfire, B & K.

Good luck & keep us informed!:)

Humanoid

Kex wrote: »

It's always better to have five channels, IMO. Did you check if the Marantz can handle 4 ohm speakers yet, BTW? If so, it may not matter so much. The next question would be "is it better to have 200w/ch for both main channels, and use the AVR for the other three, or is it better to have 100w/ch or so, but for all five channels?". If you stay around long enough, you'll come accross posts by cfrizz, who strongly recommends 200w/ch minimum of external amplification. Not everyone agrees with her though, so it's not engraved in stone necessarily.

Some excellent amplifiers come up in the Flea Market from time to time (Rotel, Carver, Adcom ...) but they might only have 100w/ch or so. There is always Emotiva as a budget choice, but I had a very unconvincing experience personally with the entry level Emotiva gear, so I would not recommend it over a 80 to 100w/ch Rotel, for instance, for the same price.

Thanks Ken!

I appreciate your input and will start looking around for a decent deal on a 5 channel 200wpc amp. Now I need to put my center speaker on top of the XBR2 to make room in the Sony Stand for more equipment:(

Humanoid

cfrizz wrote: »

Welcome Humanoid & Happy Birthday in advance!

All speakers benefit with more power, even the speakers you have now will benefit.

Another option you might consider is to get a 5 channel amp NOW & try it out on your current speakers & see how you like it.

As Kex pointed out, I always recommend 200wpc since this is enough to drive just about any speaker with ease but it is especially important to power all LSI's with lots of power since they are hard to drive.

My brother started out with a 50wpc Rotel amp for his LSI 7's. After a couple hours of watching a movie at regular volumes, you could fry an egg on top of the amp! It sounds better & runs much cooler with a 205wpc Parasound amp now.

Now some will say that the 7's don't need it, but I have the experience with them to know better. Will the LSI's run with less power? Of course. Will you be hearing all that they are capable of? No you won't. And in my opinion, THAT is what you should be aiming for.

So my personal recommendation is to get an Emotiva, Outlaw Audio 200wpc 5channel amp now & check it out with the system you already have in place. This might tide you over until you can restock the bank account to get the LSI's.

Other amp choices to keep an eye on over on Audiogon are: Rotel, Parasound, Adcom, Sunfire, B & K.

Good luck & keep us informed!:)

Thanks for the great info cfrizz and I could use a bit of luck:) I'm in the process of looking for a decent amp now, as I'm sure I will need it and your help is greatly appreciated. I still plan on purchasing the Lsi15's but holding off on the lsiC more than likely.

My AVR will run the 4 ohm speakers, but how well who knows.

After listening to the Lsi25's at Frys last night without an external amp and comparing them to my current speakers, as well as the RtiA9's the Lsi25's were in another league. My guess is even without an ext amp the sound of the lsi's would be a much improved listening experience over my Rti's.

I was impressed with the 25's. Has anyone done a direct comparison between the 15's and 25's?

Cheers,

Ray

Monster Jam

Humanoid wrote: »

Has anyone done a direct comparison between the 15's and 25's?

I would suspect that most members here that have either the 15s and the 25s have done direct comparisons. In fact, I would suspect that most members here have done direct comparisons of these two speakers REGARDLESS of the speakers they own.

I have the 15s, and before purchasing, auditioned them, the 25s, the RTi12s, and Klipsch's comparable offerings. However, sound was just a variable in the decision making; there were other considerations in the purchase such as:

Asthetics and style (Klipsch and RTi12 a loser here)
Size (25s and Klipsch a loser here)
Placement capabilities (25s a BIG loser here, each needing a power cord)
X-factor (25s a HUGE loser here - what if one or both of the amps goes bad?!)

Where sound was concerned, you might be surprised to find that I considered the 15s the worst among the bunch. Thats not to say they sound bad - quite the contrary - just that the other speakers sounded better. The reason could be explained by others as the LSi not being driven by a dedicated amp, but to me, it was a tonal preference (I like bright speakers). I chose the LSi15 anyway, for all the other reasons above.

Humanoid

Thanks for the reply Monster Jam. All good points. I found quite a few threads over the past two days regarding the 25's and 15's and my mind is made up to purchase the 15's. I will also get the lsiC as I'm sure the csi5 is not going to match up very well. Now for an amp it never ends:)

Cheers,

Ray

Monster Jam

Humanoid wrote: »

...it never ends:)

Cheers,

Ray

Aint that the truth.

Humanoid

Just an update!

Today I ordered the Lsi15's and LsiC woohooo! Can't wait to get them setup I'm pretty excited about it. I can't believe my wife opted for the the Center speakers too:D

I haven't purchased the LsiFX's yet so...I'm going to be using my current FXi3's for a while.

I also ordered the Emotiva Amp XPA-5 to drive the Lsi's per recomendations from others.

Since this is my first amp is there anything I should know that will help with setup? It will be connected to a Marantz SR7002. What is the difference between balanced and un-balanced connections? What cables should I use and are prefered?

Sorry for the nub questions.

Cheers,

Ray

Face

Congrats!

Your Mrantz is only single ended(regular RCA connections), so balanced wouldn't work in your application.

Check out Signal Cable and Blue Jeans Cables for a set of interconnects.
http://signalcable.com/analoght.html
http://www.bluejeanscable.com/store/6channel/index.htm

Just a heads up, Signal Cable gives a discount to Club Polk members.

Humanoid

Face wrote: »

Congrats!

Your Mrantz is only single ended(regular RCA connections), so balanced wouldn't work in your application.

Check out Signal Cable and Blue Jeans Cables for a set of interconnects.
http://signalcable.com/analoght.html
http://www.bluejeanscable.com/store/6channel/index.htm

Just a heads up, Signal Cable gives a discount to Club Polk members.

Great info thanks a lot, but I'm still suffering from nub confusion on which cable to actually get. Which Signal Cable set would be better for the Lsi speakers and to connect from the Mrantz sr7002 to the Emotiva Xpa-5?

Sami

Humanoid wrote: »

Great info thanks a lot, but I'm still suffering from nub confusion on which cable to actually get. Which Signal Cable set would be better for the Lsi speakers and to connect from the Mrantz sr7002 to the Emotiva Xpa-5?

Three pairs of these and you're good to go: http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10218&cs_id=1021803&p_id=2869&seq=1&format=2

Good choice on the LSi15's! Make sure you play with placement, they are quite picky but even when not optimally placed they will sound great.

Humanoid

Thanks Sami!

Do the Lsi15's dislike being against the wall and if so how far from the wall would be a good enough distance.

Sami

Distance all depends on the room itself but you need to have space both behind and on the side. I could say minimum of 1m but I don't think there is any universal ideal distance. Take the time to move them around and listen how their tone change. What sounds the best to you might not pass the inspection if it is a living room setup.

Face

Humanoid wrote: »

Great info thanks a lot, but I'm still suffering from nub confusion on which cable to actually get. Which Signal Cable set would be better for the Lsi speakers and to connect from the Mrantz sr7002 to the Emotiva Xpa-5?

The Analog I would be fine for your application. When you call, just tell Frank the length you need.

Humanoid

Face wrote: »

The Analog I would be fine for your application. When you call, just tell Frank the length you need.

Thanks Face!

I've been doing some quick research and I think I'm going to op for the Annalog Two's, but pass on the bullet plugs. The Two's aren't that much more than the one's, but the silvers are a significant increase.

Thanks for all your help!

Ray

devani

so any updates on how they sound?

Humanoid

devani wrote: »

so any updates on how they sound?

Hi devani,

Just waiting to take delivery. The amp will be here Thursday and the interconnects Analog Two's from SignalCable will be here no later then the following Tuesday. The LSiC and Right channel Lsi15 will be here Friday and the Left Channel Lsic15 will be here I believe the 10th.

I did have to come up with a home for the amp and moved my current CSi5 center to the wall above the TV. I built a shelf and routered the front and sides and painted blk and hung it today. Ran the cable in the wall with a wallplate connector and it looks pretty clean. It works great, but is a bit small for the CSi5:).

The sound was much better from the new possition of the center instead of low middle on the stand.

Can't wait to enjoy the new setup once it all arrives.

Ray

nikolas812

You've made some stellar choices!!!

Can't wait to hear what you think of the new setup.

Snap some pics if you get a chance...


Have Fun.





Nick

Humanoid

nikolas812 wrote: »

You've made some stellar choices!!!

Can't wait to hear what you think of the new setup.

Snap some pics if you get a chance...


Have Fun.





Nick

Thanks Nick can't wait to listen to it. The amp showed up today and the Emotiva XPA-5 weighs a ton. I don't have the connectors to even listen to it with my existing speakers so its just sitting in the stand looking pretty lol.

I'll take some pics when its all setup and post them here sometime next week.

danlarson

For the interconnect cables, I got mine from guitar center for $20/each. You can split the RCA and bi-amp the fronts and single amp the center if your speakers support it.

cfrizz

He's getting an XPA-5. There is no need to biamp or split anything!