Will Denon AVR-889 good for LSI25 and LSIC

woweu2006

Hi, I am a noob, and just upgraded my speaker from Polk Audio R50 to LSI25, and center speaker from CSI25 to LSIC, I will use the R50 for surround.

I also got a new Denon AVR889.

I saw a lot post say that I need a extra Amps for the LSI25. But I did called Polk audio technical support and Denon tech support, both confirmed that Denon AVR-889 will be fine for LSI25, unless I play it very loud.

I am using this set up for home theatre and music. Not for a real theatre or dance pool. lol

My LSI25 is on the way, will arrive on Monday. So, do you guys think I need to buy additional amps or not?

thanks

Ken

wutadumsn23

It probably wouldn't hurt, but as stated by Denon and Polk the 889 will run them, just not to their full potential. Also take very seriously the warning about the volume level, or you will have some very expensive paperweights before too long, lol. External amplification will def. help the 25's come to life and live up to their full potential, but if you can't afford it right now, it can wait. Just my $.02 Oh and welcome to Club Polk.

syntheticzero

I have an Onkyo TX-SR806 which is rated with slightly higher power output than that Denon, and LSi9's which are a tad less power hungry I have heard than the LSi15s. My setup sounds great, though someday I may get an external amp. The SR806 is available for cheap from B&H, though they're closed right now for the Jewish holiday...

mantis

woweu2006 wrote: »

Hi, I am a noob, and just upgraded my speaker from Polk Audio R50 to LSI25, and center speaker from CSI25 to LSIC, I will use the R50 for surround.

I also got a new Denon AVR889.

I saw a lot post say that I need a extra Amps for the LSI25. But I did called Polk audio technical support and Denon tech support, both confirmed that Denon AVR-889 will be fine for LSI25, unless I play it very loud.

I am using this set up for home theatre and music. Not for a real theatre or dance pool. lol

My LSI25 is on the way, will arrive on Monday. So, do you guys think I need to buy additional amps or not?

thanks

Ken

Here is the problem. I have been dealing with this very same problem for years. let me explain.
The Denon has the ability to hold the 4 ohm load so what Denon and Polk has told you is very true. Most receivers even cheap ones will hold a 4 ohm load up to a certain point. This is a penalty for doing this. A thing called Dynamic range is scarified due to the capacitors having to use energy to support the load under normal non loud conditions. So now when a muisc clip or movie is played and something want the volume to go louder like someone yelling or a bridge in a song, you lose the low to high sounds that are recorded. Your system now sounds flat. Denon sounds this way without using up it's little bit of reserve power.
I strongly suggest not buying the Denon receiver to power your speakers. I feel it's a mismatch. but you could use it as a preamp if the 889 has preouts. I have not Installed a 889 so I don't know it very well but I have Installed every single Denon receiver made in the last 10 years and some even older ones that customers had existing on jobs.
So what I'm telling you is you will not be able to hear what the Denon is fully capable of doing as well as those awesome Lsi25's. Your not quite beat if you can't afford a better receiver or a external power amp. Set up your Lsi25's in small and cross them over at 80hz, then run LFE out split to both subs and tune them in. Set all speaker levels to 75db running test tone including the subs. This will yield good musical balance. The trick to setting up 2 subs is the following....

turn both sub volume levels all the way down. Run manual calibration and stop at sub. leave level at 0 in the receiver. Then turn up one sub until the SPL meter reads 75db at your seating location. Now unplug that sub and do the same thing to the other one. Once this is reading 75db for the 2nd sub, plug the other sub back in. Now read your level and adjust with the Denon's level. This should balance the duty between both subs so you have even coverage in the room. This is a really good thing.

2 subs in a room is not a design to give you more louder bass, it's designed to give you more even coverage in a room. So blending them together is golden. There are several more setup procedures I use to balance 2 or more subs in the room, but this works extremely well and will give you a very nice 2 channel experience.

There is no reason not to add or remove some after this for personal taste. But you will now not be correctly calabrated for correct playback.

Good luck with your new system.

Dan

woweu2006

thanks everyone for the response.

My denon AVR-889 is still not opened, I can returned it if this not work.

As I stated, I am a noob, I want an ez set up, and can also enjoy my LSI25.

I also found a deal, ONKYO TX-SR806, which is more powerful than Denon AVR-889. Do you think ONKYO TX-SR806 will be better to power LSI25.

Or anyone can give me a better receiver that can power LSI25 without using a amps.

BTW, many ppl recommend outlaw 990, but I did not find outlaw have a HDMI port, or True HD.

Thanks

Ken

mantis

woweu2006 wrote: »

thanks everyone for the response.

My denon AVR-889 is still not opened, I can returned it if this not work.

As I stated, I am a noob, I want an ez set up, and can also enjoy my LSI25.

I also found a deal, ONKYO TX-SR806, which is more powerful than Denon AVR-889. Do you think ONKYO TX-SR806 will be better to power LSI25.

Or anyone can give me a better receiver that can power LSI25 without using a amps.

BTW, many ppl recommend outlaw 990, but I did not find outlaw have a HDMI port, or True HD.

Thanks

Ken

If you want a receiver to power the Lsi's correctly and have HDMI support, your choices are limited. I don't recommend the Onkyo's. Your best choices in my opinion are NAD T875 hd which now offers internal processing, this is a very nice choice if you can get over how ugly it is. B&K avr707 which does not have internal decoding and is buggy but it's amp section will power the Lsi's extremly well and better in my opinion then the NAD. I like the sound quality of B&K over NAD but NAD's preamp is a bit ahead of the B&K's. Sucks but B&K has been slipping or I would own one myself. Rotel's 15 series is a really good choice but it's another risk, they have had there share of problems and you give up a lot of features including any kind of room correction system. NAD has one, B&K and Rotel do not. Shame I would also consider the Rotel for myself but again , it comes up short.
You could power your system with a Pioneer Elite SC-07 but it is not designed to do so. It would make for a killer preamp but you should buy power amps to go with it. I would suggest the Rotel 15 series ICE amps.

Other then that there is nothing I know of that I have had my hands on. So good luck ,

Dan

cnh

Mantis is absolutely right.

As a note, the last Denon AVR 800 series to have pre-outs was the AVR 887. They were discontinued with the 888 and 889. So you're kind of screwed there. You have to go 988/9 or 2808/9 or higher to get pre-outs these days...


cnh

woweu2006

yes, i found Denon AVR-2809CI has pre-out.

I do not plan to play sound at high lvl.

Do you think if I uograde from R50 to LSI25, there will be a big difference? even i use Denon AVR-889 receiver without additional amplifier?

I like low volume with clear sound. Especially classic violin music.

thanks

Ken