maximum power for lsi speakers

slammerag03

i am looking for a 4 ohm stable multi channel amp to run 1 lsi c, 2 lsi 15, and 2 lsi 7. i like to be able to listen at a high volume level and am not sure what is the max power i should be able to run and not damage speakers. most of the amps ive looked at have a very high output rating at 4 ohms.

slammerag03

why are they rated at 200 watts? im sure there is a safety factor built into that number.

skipf

A Sunfire Ultimate or Theatre Grand reciever would handle your needs very well.

bikerboy

There is no way you can have too much power. Distortion kills speakers! If you could find an amp that supplies clean power and play music at sane levels the speakers will be ok. Hear me now and believe me later.

danger boy

be prepared to lay down some serious cash for a 4ohm amp like that... what's your budget?

polkatese

Think reservoir "oomph" and "The More the Merrier" when it comes to power.

+1 on what has been said.

thuffman03

skipf wrote: »

A Sunfire Ultimate or Theatre Grand reciever would handle your needs very well.

+1 on a Sunfire.

zingo

You need 5 channel, 4 ohm power, here you go; all 141lbs of it:

Earthquake Sound Cinenova Grande

Face

http://www.wyred4sound.com/webapps/site/74030/117839/shopping/shopping-view.html?pid=332920&b_id=&find_groupid=18048

More to choose from: http://www.wyred4sound.com/webapps/site/74030/117839/shopping/shopping-plusB.html?find_groupid=18048

madmax

You can damage your speaker with a 100 watt amp turned to max. You can also run them at 500 watts with no damage. The more clean power available the better off you are.
madmax

slammerag03

when you say clean power to you mean %thd? what would be a good spec for that.

slammerag03

anybody have opinions on parasound?

polkatese

Two thumbs up on the Halo line.

rcrook317

dont know your budget but emotiva xpa-5 sounds like a good fit.

check it out

jimmydep

The Sunfire is a good match with the LSI's.

Erik Tracy

Clean power is your friend!

I have fried my share of tweeters with underpowered amps driven into distortion and clipping. I have never damaged a speaker with TOO much power.....I think my ears would pop before that would happen:D

madmax

slammerag03 wrote: »

when you say clean power to you mean %thd? what would be a good spec for that.

By "clean power" I meant having a powerful enough amplifier that you can achieve your desired sound level without hitting distortion.

As you get to the maximum power of an amp the waveforms start to clip and become square waves which push a huge amount of distorted power to your speakers.

For example, if you want a certain sound level you may push a 100w amp to its limits which presents distortion and can destroy your speakers having never reached the loudness you wanted. Now, with a 500 watt amp you could have hit your intended loudness but never pushed the amp to its distortion point and your speakers will be happy.

Sherardp

All good recommendations, also to add Outlaw Audio, Rotel, D-Sonic, Parasound, Adcom.

cfrizz

You will damage your LSI's by feeding them too little power rather than too much. When looking for an amp for them look at getting 200wpc @ 8ohms minimum! which will give you anywhere from 250-300wpc at 4ohms depending on the amp.

The more power you give to the LSI's the better they will sound. It won't be a cheap purchase, but if you do it right the first time around, it might be the only purchase for power that you have to make.

Welcome to Club Polk!

Jetmaker737

cfrizz wrote: »

The more power you give to the LSI's the better they will sound. It won't be a cheap purchase, but if you do it right the first time around, it might be the only purchase for power that you have to make.

That's the long and short of it.

nooshinjohn

jimmydep wrote: »

The Sunfire is a good match with the LSI's.

+1 to this... I have run more than 1000wpc at my LSi-15's from a Sunfire Stereo Signature 600~2. I did not believe the LSi's could sound THAT good.:) A regular 300~2 will be plenty of power for them.

McLoki

I have pushed LSi7's to the edge of their tolerance (soundstage started to collapse) with my amp, but have never had an issue with my LSiC or LSi15's.

Amp is 500wpc @ 4ohms with 1100 watt peaks.

Michael

bluecomet

I use a three speaker Carver amp that handles Lsi 25's and Center. I use an emotiva 7 channel amp to handle rear surrounds and rear centers. It works out well for me if I just want to listen to two channel stereo with my Lsi 25's. The carver puts out 450 watts per channel at 4 ohms. You can't have enough clean power for these speakers.

Zitro

Whenever I turn up the volume on my NAD, I always get paranoid that I am going to damage my LSi7's since I'm only sending them 50 wpc. I would really hate to damage these things and get paranoid when I see the drivers excurse (sp?) a lot.

cfrizz

Zitro wrote: »

Whenever I turn up the volume on my NAD, I always get paranoid that I am going to damage my LSi7's since I'm only sending them 50 wpc. I would really hate to damage these things and get paranoid when I see the drivers excurse (sp?) a lot.

How hot does it get when you are pushing it? That will also give you a clue as to hard it is working.

My brother originally ran his LSI 7s with a 50wpc Rotel amp. It sounded good, but you could fry an egg on the amp when it was worked hard. The speakers sound better & the Parasound 1500A 205wpc amp he has now stays nice & cool when he is pushing them hard.

They also sound clearer since he added a sub to take that load off of them.

Zitro

cfrizz wrote: »

How hot does it get when you are pushing it? That will also give you a clue as to hard it is working.

My brother originally ran his LSI 7s with a 50wpc Rotel amp. It sounded good, but you could fry an egg on the amp when it was worked hard. The speakers sound better & the Parasound 1500A 205wpc amp he has now stays nice & cool when he is pushing them hard.

They also sound clearer since he added a sub to take that load off of them.

Surprisingly, the amp stays quite cool even when pushing the speakers. It might be because the dynamic headroom on this amp is 160wpc into 4 ohms. But it stays pretty cool, never been able to make this amp product a lot of heat.

Bernal

Hi,
I prefer Sunfire.... with the series "LSI PolkAudio"

---

01) DENON AVR-4308CI: Advanced 7.1 CH/5.1+2 CH/ 3.1+2+2 CH A/V Home Theater /MultiMedia Multi-Source/Zone Receiver with Networking and WiFi/170 watts x 7 channels
02) SUNFIRE Grand Signature - Bob Carver's
03) OPPO DV-980H 1080p Up-Converting Universal DVD Player with HDMI and 7.1CH Audio
04) OPPO BDP-83 Blu-ray Disc Player w/SACD & DVD-Audio / DENON DVD-2500BTCI: Blu-ray Disc™ DVD/CD Digital Player/Transport
05) HITACHI P55T501. 55" HD1080 Plasma HDTV
06) POLKAUDIO LSiC (Center speaker)
07) POLKAUDIO LSi15 LEFT (Front speaker)
08) POLKAUDIO LSi15 RIGHT (Front speaker)
09) POLKAUDIO LSif/x LEFT (Surround speaker)
10) POLKAUDIO LSif/x RIGHT (Surround speaker)
11) VELODYNE OPTIMUN 12" (High Output Digital EQ SubWoofer 2400W/1200WRMS)

comfortablycurt

Zitro wrote: »

Whenever I turn up the volume on my NAD, I always get paranoid that I am going to damage my LSi7's since I'm only sending them 50 wpc. I would really hate to damage these things and get paranoid when I see the drivers excurse (sp?) a lot.

I wouldn't really worry about it too much.

There is waaaaay too much emphasis put on the wattage ratings of an amp, when that's really the last consideration you should be making.

I'm running my SDA 2A's with a "measly" little 100 watt amp, and it will drive them to levels louder than I ever care to listen at. I've only ever even lit the clipping lights up once, and they were just flickering ever so slightly, and the amp wasn't even really clipping yet at that point. That was with some Sublime at very high volume levels.


There is something to be said for having dynamic headroom...but the "200 watt minimum" that you hear thrown out here all the time isn't really necessary IMO. There are 30 watt amps out there that will blow away 500 watt amps. It's not about the quantity of the wattage, but rather the quality.