Can Onkyo A-5VL drive LSi9 ?

djyd

thinking of build a 2-channel for my office. had my eye on the new Onkyo A-5VL(http://www.onkyousa.com/model.cfm?m=A-5VL&class=Amplifier&p=s). it has 40wpc at 8 ohms and 100wpc at 2 ohms. I am not sure if this one has enough power to drive the LSi9.

Cpyder

I believe it could do the job but it definitely wouldn't hurt to have more power!

concealer404

How big is your office? And what's your budget? Are you set on an integrated?

djyd

concealer404 wrote: »

How big is your office? And what's your budget? Are you set on an integrated?

Thanks for your reply. The room is about 10x15'. I am novice so not ready for separate pieces yet. just try to get a simple system with relative good sound. I had Polk as my HT and happy with it, so I am thinking go with Polk again.

I am using a Cambridge Soundwork CD 740 in office. For a boombox it sounds very good, but Hey, people are growing:D. I don't have a budget but I am thinking of $2000 total.

My local audio shop carry NAD and Totem speakers, maybe I should give it a try?

concealer404

djyd wrote: »

Thanks for your reply. The room is about 10x15'. I am novice so not ready for separate pieces yet. just try to get a simple system with relative good sound. I had Polk as my HT and happy with it, so I am thinking go with Polk again.

I am using a Cambridge Soundwork CS 740 in office. For a boombox it sounds very good, but Hey, people are growing:D. I don't have a budge but I am thinking of $2000 total.

My local audio shop carry NAD and Totem speakers, maybe I should give it a try?

Separates really aren't any more complicated....

I'd say grab the B&K preamp in the classifieds (B&K Ref 5) and a used B&K amp or other decent amp of your choice, and stick with the LSi9s.

I'm sure in an office setting you aren't going to be headbanging to your LSi9s, so the Onkyo should be ok, but i'd bet that a decent set of separates would sound way better.

How much is that Onkyo anyways?

djyd

Cpyder wrote: »

I believe it could do the job but it definitely wouldn't hurt to have more power!

Yes, I have the same feeling so I asked. all post on this forum about LSi9 says it need a lot of power.

djyd

concealer404 wrote: »

How much is that Onkyo anyways?

Amazon has it for $450 and the matching SACD player is $372

concealer404

djyd wrote: »

Amazon has it for $450 and the matching SACD player is $372

So basically, you've got $2000 and need to buy a full 2-channel setup.

Let me look around for you tonite and see what i can recommend. The Oinker setup won't be bad by any means, but i think we can do better.

djyd

concealer404 wrote: »

So basically, you've got $2000 and need to buy a full 2-channel setup.

Let me look around for you tonite and see what i can recommend. The Oinker setup won't be bad by any means, but i think we can do better.

Thanks you in advance. most of time I listen to violin and piano, a little pop music but no heavy Rock. The boomBox is good for Violin/Piano solo, but you just can't have the whole symphony orchestra there.

concealer404

CDP: http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=91568 $100

Preamp: http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=91037 $325

Amp: http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?ampstran&1261697905&/B-K-Components-Reference-2220- $450

Add cables of your choice.

agreece09

it is looks like an e36 m3 kit..... just the front lip is from something else....not sure what.....

concealer404

^Please die in a fire.

djyd

concealer404 wrote: »

CDP: http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=91568 $100

Preamp: http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=91037 $325

Amp: http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?ampstran&1261697905&/B-K-Components-Reference-2220- $450

Add cables of your choice.

Thanks for the recommendation. I really appreciate.

Gaara

djyd wrote: »

thinking of build a 2-channel for my office. had my eye on the new Onkyo A-5VL(http://www.onkyousa.com/model.cfm?m=A-5VL&class=Amplifier&p=s). it has 40wpc at 8 ohms and 100wpc at 2 ohms. I am not sure if this one has enough power to drive the LSi9.

If it matches you may want to look into the Onkyo A-9555. I have used it and it partnered well with the LSi9s, 200wpc into a 4ohm load as opposed to 90. You should be able to get it for the low 500s new, Onecall has it right now for $527 shipped.

mightymouse

The Lsi9's need some serious power. A used Adcom or a NAD amp would be a great choice.

concealer404

mightymouse wrote: »

The Lsi9's need some serious power. A used Adcom or a NAD amp would be a great choice.

True, but that A-9555 is no slouch, either. I got to hear one locally, and was VERY impressed. If i had the spare cash to throw into a nicer bedroom rig, it'd be on my short list.

Hilbert

For an office rig we're talking background music, no? Why not LSi7s, much easier to drive, plenty of sound for 10'X15'.

mightymouse

Onkyo does make some nice stuff. I have an Onkyo CD player (matching CD player to that Onkyo integrated amp) in my main rig, I am impressed with the build quality. If the A-9755 were available stateside, I would probably have gone with that integrated as well.

concealer404 wrote: »

True, but that A-9555 is no slouch, either. I got to hear one locally, and was VERY impressed. If i had the spare cash to throw into a nicer bedroom rig, it'd be on my short list.

phono2

Good ol' Onkyo, up to their usual confusing model number designations. The original A-5 was a late seventies silver faced model which got about 45 wpc at 8 ohms. That this A-5 is rated for 2 ohm loads is fairly impressive, if they're being conservative about it. Also, it has a phono preamp, though I wish they had some frequency response data (RIAA +- ? dB)

As for a more powerful amp, the brute fact is that the recommended maximum of 200 wpc buys you +3.5 dB, even though I base that on the Onkyo's dynamic power of 90 watts into 4 ohms. There's no data for continuous power into 4 ohms, per FTC specs - but if this amp can honestly drive 2 ohm loads, it's likely to be a high current amp, so continous power will be nearly doubled from the 8 ohm 40 wpc. Three and a half decibels isn't a lot.

You'll mostly be operating at a couple watts anyway, especially since your room dimensions aren't huge. The speaker's efficiency is "88 db", which I presume really means 88 dB/watt/meter, not ultra efficient. But bear in mind, a stereo pair at 1 w, 1 m, will give you 91 dB, though at typical listening distances, say 6 feet (2m), it'd go down by a few dB...a SWAG (scientifically wild assed guess) would be -3 dB, leaving you again at 88 dB. But that's pretty loud - in fact, many people advise against long-term listening at levels about 80 dB.

Do some more math, assuming speaker response proportional to power input. 76 dB is 12 dB down from 88 dB, requiring 0.063 watts, and that's a fairly decent volume. Yes, there are dynamic range considerations, depending on whether you listen to CD's that pay special attention to wide dynamic range.

I do have a "thing" about worrying about amplifier power for speakers, as my first set of speakers were chosen out of fears of driving inefficient speakers, and those speakers turned out to be Godawful crap. Polk LSi series speakers, at least from the LSi 15 I listened to when I informed the friendly audio salesman that I was looking for Monitor 10 replacements, most definitely aren't crap. And they aren't cheap, either, though by audiophile standards, they barely register.

keith allen

Dis will power them nicely
http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=91925

Gaara

phono2 wrote: »

But bear in mind, a stereo pair at 1 w, 1 m, will give you 91 dB, though at typical listening distances, say 6 feet (2m), it'd go down by a few dB...a SWAG (scientifically wild assed guess) would be -3 dB, leaving you again at 88 dB. But that's pretty loud - in fact, many people advise against long-term listening at levels about 80 dB.

Why guess? Its a 6db drop for every doubling of distance in a free field, according to the Master Handbook of Acoustics. 5db per doubling in a normal room.

sk1939

Gaara wrote: »

Why guess? Its a 6db drop for every doubling of distance in a free field, according to the Master Handbook of Acoustics. 5db per doubling in a normal room.

The next question is, does 1 W actually truly produce 90+ decibels of sound...if so why do we need amps in the hundreds of watts....

Gaara

sk1939 wrote: »

The next question is, does 1 W actually truly produce 90+ decibels of sound...if so why do we need amps in the hundreds of watts....

Phono's post above on power is spot on. It does get more complex though, it depends on how far down the rabbit hole you want to go. I estimated a while back that my amps put out no more then 8w when listening to music, yet they can output 525w per channel into a 8ohm load.

Things get more complex when you factor in impedance dips, the 4x power increase required to play a tone every time you drop on octave, and how the speakers interact with the room, headroom requirements for dynamic discs, etc.

Many people don't need hundreds of watts per power, it all depends on your situation. I listened to LSi9s for a while with a amp that outputted a max of 15w w/ a continuous rating of 10w and never had a problem, buy YMMV.

phono2

Gaara wrote: »

Why guess? Its a 6db drop for every doubling of distance in a free field, according to the Master Handbook of Acoustics. 5db per doubling in a normal room.

Oops! You caught my mistake. Doubling of distance, by an inverse square law, is 1/4 the intensity, and that's -6 dB. It was a guess, because, as you point out, it's influenced by the room, and IIRC even speaker design.