I need some help finding the right speakers.

JanDonga

Hello,

I have bought a Yamaha rx-v1900 last week, and i am looking for a 7.1 speaker set for it.

I have looked at a couple of series, and i like the VM series. But they don't sell that in the Netherlands. But i also like the Rti A series that they do sell over here.

My budget is about $5000.

So my question is, what would you guys/girls recommend and why?



Thanks for the help,

Jan

JanDonga

I just found this review of the LSi series.
http://www.polkaudio.com/homeaudio/products/floorstanding/individual/lsi15/?reviews=1
Is it really possible to power the whole series with the Yamaha? Because Yamaha is 6 and 8 Ohm.

janmike

Welcome. LSi series is 4 Ohm.

JanDonga

I know, thats why i am asking. I know i can use 4 Ohm speakers for the front, according to the manual. And that review confirms that.

But how about the rest? Would it get damaged?
Or could i use the LSi front and center, and combine them with a other series?

Fongolio

Welcome to Club Polk. That's a great receiver with lots of power for a 7.1 setup. The biggest question is how large is the room you want to have the set up in? Next, would be are you planning on using it primarily for Home Theater or music listening? My tendancy is toward a fairly equal split and for that reason I have two set ups. For home theater I'm using RTi speakers and am very pleased. I have a small to medium room. I'm using the front RTiA7 speakers also for two channel music listening. The speakers are on a switch that allows me to change them from the surround system to the two channel system. The RTiA line is great for home theater and I'm very happy with the RTiA7's for music as well. The LSi speakers in the link you posted are a step up for music reproduction in my opinion but, yes, they are 4ohm and a little harder to power. Your Yamaha receiver would probably power them but not to their full potential. The same is true of the RTiA speakers but they are happy at 8 ohms. My RTiA7's sound great on my Yamaha 6160 at only 95 watts per channel but they sound fantastic on the two channel set up witht the Carver amp powering them at 225 watts per channel. I hope I've helped.

JanDonga

The room i am placing them in is small/medium. I will use it primarily for HT, but i want it to sound as clear as possible. And i don't want to piss of the wife with speakers she wont like (she hates big speakers), but the LSi are about the max size they may be for her taste.

So i am open for suggestions.

janmike

Here is what I did. LSi9's (front), LSiFX (rear) LSiC (centre). They look good, sound great and are not huge. Totally fills my room of approx 18 X 15. If you want to experiment, you can always look for an external amp (providing the Yamaha has preouts) and connect it to the receiver.
PS - I used to own a Yamaha receiver RX-v1500.
Good luck.

Igo

Your receiver is pretty much akin to my ES line Sony. I expect, considering the power requirements of the LSi line that you would be starting to get into separates for amplification with these. I have been running RT series speakers for 8 years now. A link to my system can be found in my signature below. I run a sudo bi-amped 5.1 system with the precursors of the RTA5i and the CSi A6 and with the new addition of the FXi A6 and an Infinity 12 inch/200W sub. This system is hugely musical and presents a very wide sound stage. I enjoy it for both music and home theatre. I have $2400, with wire, invested in my speakers.

JanDonga

It has pre-outs, so what external amp would you recommend?

And thnx for the help.

mantis

Your budget is very low for a 500.00 7.1 package. You can get it done with RM series but they are not that musical. Ok for theater use. I say save your money or break into the card and spring for some Rtia series. Very nice, very musical and will not break the bank. In a small room look into the bookshelf models for fronts, get the matching center and rears. In ceiling or in wall is also a good way to go which also don't cost a lot and properly setup sound fantastic for both music and movies.

MikeC78

His budget is $5000.00. He has plenty of money to get it done as others recommended.

JanDonga

mantis wrote: »

Your budget is very low for a 500.00 7.1 package.

MikeC78 wrote: »

His budget is $5000.00. He has plenty of money to get it done as others recommended.

Indeed it is $5000.00

Igo

I can't do anything right today. See next entery please.

Igo

I believe your Yamaha has separate power supplies for each channel. Though not as nice as separate amps, it would be a shame to waste them. If you are going strictly for home theatre in a "small to mid size room" I wouldn't bother with more amplifiers. Again, the RT series keeps coming up here. I really think you'll be extremely surprised. That receiver, RTi series speakers and a good sub will shake the foundation of your house and do it as clearly as a winter night in the Netherlands.
I can't spend 10's of thousands of dollars for audio but I'm extremely serious about what I do spend my money on and I've done it for 30 years. If you truly just really want an LSi series based system them I'd trade out that Yamaha for something a little better suited to these fine speakers. Maybe a pre-amp and separate amp. Lastly, and I may be shot for this, but I cannot imagine the compact VM series sounding better than the wonderful sounding Rti series but I don't have firsthand experience with this.

JanDonga

You got a point there Igo.
If i would take the RTi A5's with the rest of that series with a good sub. Then i should be ok, right? And it would save me some cash to.

Igo

Your Yamaha DOES have separate power suplies for each channel. If you are going to use 7.1 speakers then that is that but if you are going to use a 5.1 set up you can take the jumper out of the back of you towers and bi-amp the fronts and get full benifit of both duplicated channels in the fron for those days when music is all you need.
I'm not kidding. You won't be able to tolerate the potential of 130 watts per channel of full bandwidth power supply per speak WITH a dedicated sub in a small to medium sized room and stay married. hhAHhaHAhaA

JanDonga

Its going to be a 7.1 setup.
Can you recommend a good sub for it?

Igo

7.1. Then its a good idea to keep speaker requirements someplace in the range of the amps output; again, a plug for the Rts.
Subs are not hard to figure out a good match for if a receiver/integral amp setup is being used for a home theatre. We are talking the same small to mid sized room and we are making considerations for your 130W per channel head unit and an RT set up. I haven't heard any of the subs I'll recommend, I base such recommendations on my experience with the math of sub-woofers. If you want to shake all the windows in their frames and you're seriously into boogy thump rap or hip hop, you'll be looking at 200 to 300 watts in a 12 inch driver. If you want just serious punch for your set up, a 100 to 150 w 10 or 12 will do very nicely. LFE (low frequency effects channels/home theatre) tend to demand a little more power for spikes than does most civilized music and that music, like an orchestra string bass is better re-produced with your speakers low frequency drivers than a sub. Make sure your sub has its own amplifier on board. You Yamaha has LFE pre-outs for this. Polk should easily supliment your syatem bottom end. The PSW110 would be as simple as I would go and that would be best suited for a moderate amount of bottom end fortification. The PSW 125 will have some serious rumble to it when set up to do so and could overpower your system at the systems moderate listening levels. Set up properly it should pair up beautifully for the system we've been talking about.

Igo

With a humbly suggested 130W per channel solo receiver output, I'd go with the RTi A5, maybe even the RTi A7 for a front pair. RTi A3 for mid surrounds if on stands and FXi A6 for rear surrounds in a 7.1 OR two setf of FXi A6 for surrounds if they are all to be wall mounted and can be done so being properly mapped and placed. Then I'd cap this thing off with the PSW125 sub. Other speakers will do very nicely too but this is a Polk thread and I'm here because I'm a huge working class fan of Polk and have been forever. This system will wake the dead and do it in pristine quality.
If you decide room/space is a factor, then go for the RTi A7 up front and bi-amp them. This will be a more musical way to go.

Sherardp

for a good sub, I would import a SVS sub. They ship pretty much everywhere and may even have a dealer near you. If not import it. They ship via Bax Global and the rates are pretty fare.

andrew_mac

Igo wrote: »

I believe your Yamaha has separate power supplies for each channel. Though not as nice as separate amps, it would be a shame to waste them. If you are going strictly for home theatre in a "small to mid size room" I wouldn't bother with more amplifiers. Again, the RT series keeps coming up here. I really think you'll be extremely surprised. That receiver, RTi series speakers and a good sub will shake the foundation of your house and do it as clearly as a winter night in the Netherlands.
I can't spend 10's of thousands of dollars for audio but I'm extremely serious about what I do spend my money on and I've done it for 30 years. If you truly just really want an LSi series based system them I'd trade out that Yamaha for something a little better suited to these fine speakers. Maybe a pre-amp and separate amp. Lastly, and I may be shot for this, but I cannot imagine the compact VM series sounding better than the wonderful sounding Rti series but I don't have firsthand experience with this.

+ 1 on this comment here. However, I know this is a Polk forum and I love my RTiA's I just have to say if you have a $5000 budget on speakers and plan on keeping that Yamaha, then I have to suggest you look into the Monitor audio silver Rs series speakers. I was down to my local hifi shop the other day and heard a 5.1 set up with that exact receiver you have there (the 1900) and I have to say these speaker sound unbelievably better than my rtiA's. The following is a list of reasons why would recommend:

1. They are closer to your budget but not near over
2. 8ohm and are known for not requiring a lot of power
3. Slightly slimmer and definitely cosmically pleasing (come in a variety of colors/woods)
4. They are made in the UK so they should be easy to get I'm assuming
5. The Matching sub for this package is nice. It's sealed, very musical, but can also pound for HT and it's much smaller than an SVS.

Heres a link:http://www.monitoraudio.co.uk/products/silver-rs

I wouldn't normally recommend other speakers then Polks but after hearing these on the yammie and reading this thread I felt inclined to suggest this as an option.

Fronts - rs8's or rs6's
center - rslcr
surrounds - rsfx
Sub - rsw - 12

These would blow the RTIA's out of the water. Rightfully so they cost a bit more but they are well in your budget. Best of luck with whatever you decide. Saving money and buying Polk speakers is never a bad decision.

JanDonga

Thanks for the suggestion, but i will stick to Polk. A friend of mine also has Polk, and i like how it sounds.

I can get the RTi series for $3000 at amazon. A friend of mine lives in the US, so i will ask him if he can order it for me, and then send it to the Netherlands.
Will save me $1000 compared to here.

cfrizz

Welcome Jan!

If you are prepared to get at least a 200wpc amp to go with the LSI series and that should be for all channels, then you would be very happy with the LSI series.

All speaker even the RTI's sound better with separate amplification. If you can buy used you will get more bang for your buck.

Brands to look at are Parasound, Rotel, Outlaw Audio, Emotiva, B & K, Adcom, Sunfire

Keep us posted on what you get!

reeltrouble1

For Home Theater your receiver can drive the LSI as I suspect you will have a powered sub, so I would get those, later if you get into hi fidelity music you can get an outboard amp, the LSi are more musical. If you just want to do HT and not interested in Hi-Fi music then the RT line up will be aces for you.

RT1

JanDonga

Its mainly for HT, for me at least. Maybe the wife will listen to music on it.
I think the RTi is the best choice for me.

Igo

What RTi set are you going for?

eloplayspolo

im no expert.. but a few weeks ago i was going to start buying speakers a pair at a time to do a 7.1 setup, and ive learned a few things from these forums and a lot of others...

First - 7.1 in a small room is pointless because u wont be able to feel the depth.
2nd - I've looked at a prob 50 blueray's now and ive yet to see a 7.1 blueray.
3rd - Okay maybe 7.1 will get more popular, but u may also have more money by that time. So for now i would use that 5,000 on the best 5.1 set up u can get, and when 7.1 begins to break thru and is more common, get 2 more speakers. also, by that time u may be able to afford an amp too.

JanDonga

I was looking at the RTi A5's.
But i still like the LSi series. I know that i can use the LSi 15 for the front speakers. So maybe i will base it on that, and work/buy my way around that.

btw,

Is this a good amp? http://emotiva.com/mps2.shtm
Or do you know a good alternative that also works on 230V?

comfortablycurt

JanDonga wrote: »

I was looking at the RTi A5's.
But i still like the LSi series. I know that i can use the LSi 15 for the front speakers. So maybe i will base it on that, and work/buy my way around that.

btw,

Is this a good amp? http://emotiva.com/mps2.shtm
Or do you know a good alternative that also works on 230V?

I've never actually heard or used that amp before, but it has really good reviews for the most part. I'm thinking about picking one of those ones up when I'm ready to bi-amp my HT setup.

Also, the RTiA5's are some nice speakers. I've been looking at the RTi's for a while now, and I'd already heard the A7's, but I went and checked out a pair of the A5's at my local Polk dealer earlier today actually, and I was blown away. I recommend them. They have great midrange imaging, and the highs can sing like crazy. They are a little bit lacking in the bass department, but a sub will take care of that.

If you have the money though, the LSi15's would probably be the way to go. I've never actually heard them personally, but they are very highly praised speakers...I need to listen to a pair sometime when I get a chance.

JanDonga

I have already heard the LSi15's and they just sound fantastic.
But the RTiA5's will be much cheaper, but i think i will go for a external amp and the LSi series.

Something like this: http://www.emotiva.com/upa7.shtm
Or do you guys know a better one? That works on 230V?

cfrizz

Emo has a good reputation and that amp would make your LSI's SING!!!! Hopefully, Emo ships to the Netherlands.