LSI15s and which receiver

Robert1

Hello all! Hope you all are doing great!

Can you please assist me with a question(s)

I have an old Yamaha which has all the sound codecs except for the new blu ray ones.
I am not interest in the new codecs for ht such as the ones found in blu ray!
I am interested in finding out which receiver you guys recommend as I am looking to upgrade this part.

I was looking at the high end receivers for the following.
This will be used to improve the sound quality of music and ht.

Sunfire(TGR3) good deal on ebay and audiogon
Yamaha
Denon
Integra
Onkyo

If you can also explain why the reasoning for your choice.

Below is the equipment that I am running

Front left/right - Polk Audio LSI 15
Center - Def Tech C2002
4 Rears(SB and Suround) - JBL Studio line I think is the model

Please help and looking forward to your inputs on this

nooshinjohn

Of those you listed, the Sunfire will be the best for driving the LSI-15's, as it will deliver 400wpc into a 4 ohm load. The others will struggle against such a load. Sound quality will be better as well.

thuffman03

+1 on the Sunfire!

Robert1

Nooshinjohn,

Will there be a huge difference in sound quality that the Sunfire will provide compared to those other brands? Or will it be something that I will not notice?

nooshinjohn

I have been running Yamaha for close to 20 years now. I still have(until Thursday) a Yamaha RX-v861 that I use as processor. When I went to Sunfire power, it was a night and day improvement in performance. I am still hearing things in my music that I have never heard before, and movie soundtracks are much more focused. I have LSi-15's as well, and to my ear they were almost unuseable with the Yami. I run the LSi's in a surround position and SDA-SRS 2.3TL's as mains now, but the LSi's really came alive with the vast amounts of power the Sunfire puts out. Go for the Sunfire now... You can thank me later.:D

Robert1

Do you think that the TGR3 is a great receiver and a good buy for $1495.00? I know the TGR3 has a lot of power specialy in 4ohms! But other than power what makes this receiver better than the other brands: ie better decoding(DTS), etc?
Sorry for all the questions

nooshinjohn

Robert1 wrote: »

Do you think that the TGR3 is a great receiver and a good buy for $1495.00? I know the TGR3 has a lot of power specialy in 4ohms! But other than power what makes this receiver better than the other brands: ie better decoding(DTS), etc?
Sorry for all the questions

Ther TGR-3 is a combination of the TGP-5(will install on thursday) and the TGA7200. The Sunfire processors are very well regarded for their clean performance and their processing capabilities. I have not played with mine yet, but they are also said to be among the easiest to set up and use. The amp is a class leader, and regarded as perhaps the best you can get below 10k. Combining these two into one package results in processing abilities equal to or better than the others you mentioned and power that is unmatched by the others. There is one on Audiogon right now for 1200.00...

Bang for the buck Sunfire wins.

coolsax

i have a question being a noob.. now I know you should never underpower your speakers, however what happens when you overpower as seems to be the suggestion here? Polks recommended wattage is up to 250 with nomial impedance of 4ohm, yet the Sunfire gives 400w/channel at 4ohm.. would this not cause issues with the LSi15s? please excuse my ignorance on this situation.

Robert1

Thanks for all your input! Hopefully when I purchase the TGR3 I will be able to hear a difference in sound quality as that is my main concern...
Is the processor better than the TGR3? I read about the TGP5 and the TGA7200. Its the same thing you said the TGR3 combines the TGP5 and TGA7200 into one package. So I imagine its the same sound quality between the TGR3 and TGP5

nooshinjohn

I would think the only way you would hear much difference between your setup and mine would be because mine is 400wpc versus 200wpc. I would have to say that you will be about 98% the same sound quality.

nooshinjohn

coolsax wrote: »

i have a question being a noob.. now I know you should never underpower your speakers, however what happens when you overpower as seems to be the suggestion here? Polks recommended wattage is up to 250 with nomial impedance of 4ohm, yet the Sunfire gives 400w/channel at 4ohm.. would this not cause issues with the LSi15s? please excuse my ignorance on this situation.

I have had my 400wpc@8ohm/800wpc@4ohm Sunfire Cinema grand on the LSi's and found the only problem to be is that they LOVE power. The more you can hit them with, the better.

cfrizz

coolsax wrote: »

i have a question being a noob.. now I know you should never underpower your speakers, however what happens when you overpower as seems to be the suggestion here? Polks recommended wattage is up to 250 with nomial impedance of 4ohm, yet the Sunfire gives 400w/channel at 4ohm.. would this not cause issues with the LSi15s? please excuse my ignorance on this situation.

There is no such thing as too much power. The speakers will only take what they need to perform to their full potential. The only way you will hurt them is if you turn the volume up to stupid levels. In which case your ears will give out & you won't need an amp!:eek::D

Robert1 wrote: »

Thanks for all your input! Hopefully when I purchase the TGR3 I will be able to hear a difference in sound quality as that is my main concern...
Is the processor better than the TGR3? I read about the TGP5 and the TGA7200. Its the same thing you said the TGR3 combines the TGP5 and TGA7200 into one package. So I imagine its the same sound quality between the TGR3 and TGP5

Robert, separates are always better than receivers, since they only have to focus on doing what they are designed to do. Receivers try to do it all & come up lacking & it is usually in the power dept.

I had a receiver & when I switched over to my prepro I went up to the next level of clarity, refinement, enjoyment.

If you can swing for separates, you should do so. You can keep the amp through all other upgrades you make to your system & know that it has enough power to drive just about any speaker to its full potential.

Fernando1

I have a stupid question please don't laugh....
I have read that the TGR3 has the same components in one box as the TGP5 and the TGA7200.
Wouldn't the sound be the same as those two separates or almost identical(maybe 95% identical)?
What I am planing to do is in the future when I have some $$ I will buy an Sunfire amp and run all speakers through there, so the only work the TGR3 will be doing is decoding for ht and the reg 2 channel for music..

Thanks for all your patience

ben62670

Toss the whole sunfire receiver idea. Some like sunfire, some don't. I personally don't. The 400wpc at 4ohms is at clipping, and not all channels driven. I had a sunfire 5x400wpc at 4ohm amp, and it did not last 20 minutes in my rig before I packed it and put it back up for sale. I sold it on ebay because I couldn't bring myself to sell it hear. Another thing is a watt is not a watt is not a watt. It is all about current. Go old Adcom, Parrasound, or NAD to name a few. I don't hate Carver gear, but the sunfire series is wishy washy at best. I tried to like it, but it is the easiest amp that I have clipped. Even my little Adcom GFA-5400 out ran the big bad sunfire with only about 150wpc at 4 ohms. Tube 80wpc would make the sunfire cry for mercy. Now that I have expressed my feelings owning the gear, and auditioning the gear under the same environment. Get a decent pre or receiver if all the bells and whistles are what you want. Then later when you need to keep up with technology you can run the same amp, and just get a new pre or receiver.
Ben

Face

Sunfire is outdated, look elsewhere.

Pick up a newer Onkyo or HK that has pre-outs, and buy an external amp like Ben mentioned.

TNRabbit

Why don't you tell us how you REALLY feel, Ben~

nooshinjohn

TNRabbit wrote: »

Why don't you tell us how you REALLY feel, Ben~

He is just on a personal crusade to rid the world of something he listened to for twenty minutes. It takes at least a week for me to come to conclusions. He gets like this every time there is talk of Carver/Sunfire. Hell I test drive cars for a day or two before I form an opinion.

Bernal

Denon ✓
Sunfire Amp ✓
LSi 15✓
= :):):):):):):):):):)
_________________

digitalvideo

A great av reciever for sound is the Pioneer Elite SC-05 or 07 or 09 series. I have the SC05 and love it. Pioneer is better for sound and Denon is better for video processing.

ben62670

nooshinjohn wrote: »

He is just on a personal crusade to rid the world of something he listened to for twenty minutes. It takes at least a week for me to come to conclusions. He gets like this every time there is talk of Carver/Sunfire. Hell I test drive cars for a day or two before I form an opinion.

No you are an idiot. If it only took twenty minutes to figure out it sucked after spending over a grand on a piece of equipment that I certainly thought was going to be great then it wasn't even close at all. Again even if you like sunfire get a receiver or pre and an amp. When it is time to upgrade you don't have to throw the baby out with the bath water. And if you are dumb enough to think I have something against all Bob's gear you haven't read all my post. I don't like all of Adcom's gear either. The lower model pre's suck. The newer amps don't do it for me. My buddy has the 9T's and they smoked my Adcom 565's in that application. Again John STFU. You will insert your foot in moth a lot less.
Take care.
Ben

nooshinjohn

[QUOTE=ben62670;1161930Again John STFU. You will insert your foot in moth a lot less.
Take care.Ben[/QUOTE]

I am allowed my point of view and you can have yours. The OP deserves to hear all sides. If your goal is to insert your personal feelings about me into this discussion, I suggest that you take a step back and remember we are trying to help somebody here and not start a pissing contest.

Peace

ben62670

I'll would like to add that I had 3 others listened to both amps side by side. Guess what all three felt exactly how I felt. Please don't suggest that I take a step back. You open your mouth too many times to people you shouldn't. Most people that spend a decent amount of time here know who you are;) BTW what are you comparing your amp to? Was it side by side with the same gear at the same time? Please don't make comparisons based on whet you have read.
Thanks again.
Ben

nooshinjohn

Side by side with the same source and the same material being played is the only way. What a piece of paper says is meaningless to me for anything more than a basic understanding. After that, just like instruction manuals, they are used for toilet paper.

BlueFox

ben62670 wrote: »

I'll would like to add that I had 3 others listened to both amps side by side. Guess what all three felt exactly how I felt.

Was that Larry, Moe, and Curly, or Huey, Dewey, and Louie? :rolleyes:

ben62670

No that was my GF, a musician, and the owner of a HiFi shop.
Thanks.
Ben