Building a new system w/LSi25's

jgibson

Relative newbie in the audio/HT world so I need some advice...

I am building a new stereo/HT system which will be used in a smallish room but moved into a larger space in the future. My thoughts are to spend the money on top notch speakers and TV. Keeping mind future upgrades in the reciever & blu-ray space, I was going middling there. With that in mind, here is my shopping list.

Receiver: Pioneer VSX-1120-K or Pioneer Elite TH 25
Front L/R: Polk LSi-25
Rear L/R: Polk LSi-7
Center: Polk LSiC
Subwoofer:Polk DSW MicroPro2000
Blu-Ray: Pioneer BDP-320
TV: Panasonic Viera TC65v10 65"

Two big questions... is the sub necessary with LSi-25 or would I be better served with LSi-15. Secondly, this will be small space to start with so do I need an amplifier? If so, 2-channel or 5-channel.

Zeros

Can either of those receivers run 4 Ohm speakers? I think you would want an external amp with those speakers.

cstmar01

not sure of a Pio TH 25 but I don't think either one can run 4 ohm loads. I would be looking for a 5 channel amp to run those babys and just use the AVR as a pre/pro. Amps look at rotel, adcom, sunfire, emotiva, krell, mcintosh, ect ect.

in your case its not about the room size but about the Ohm's of the speakers. If you can't drive 4 ohm loads with the AVR you run the risk of damaging the AVR as well as the speakers.

jgibson

Okay... that's what I was concerned about. Any opinions on the RTi series A9 fronts A3 rears? Is there going to be a huge difference? Looking for something for the long haul that I won't have to upgrade for a while...

NewHTguy

The Lsi 25s are better for music. If you have the green for a Lsi system you should be able to go with an sep amp.

comfortablycurt

I'd go for the LSi's. As others have said, you'd really need an external amp to drive them.

Personally, I'd go for the LSi15's and a decent sub. I've never heard the 25's, but they cost a LOT more...and I've read a lot about them being a bit of a pain to really integrate into your room well.


Do you do a lot of music/2 channel listening? If so, the LSi's are leaps and bounds ahead of the RTi's as far as musicality goes. The RTi's are great sounding speakers too, especially for HT, but for music, the LSi's are where it's at.

Like I said, I'd probably go for the 15's and a sub. Going with the 15's instead of the 25's would also free up a little coin to put towards a nice amp. There are plenty of options out there that won't break the bank. You could get a 2 channel amp for the front L/R, plus a 3 channel amp for the surrounds/center. That would be my recommendation if you do a lot of 2 channel listening. You could also simply get a 5 channel amp to run all of the channels. Some brands to look at are Adcom, Parasound and Rotel...just to name a few.

bluecomet

If you go with the Lsi 25's you don't need a sub and will not clutter a small room with a sub. I would look for a deal on the Lsi 25's. I would also use Lsi 9's or Lsi F/X speakers for the rears. The F/X are built to be surround speakers and are worth the price. I agree with everyone you will need a good external amp that handle 4 ohm speakers. Lsi speakers are awesome but expect to spend some coin to do a complete HT Lsi system the right way.

Jer.War

A separate amp would be ideal, but may not be immediately necessary. I am running my LSI15's off my Yamaha receiver with no problems. I rarely crank it up, and you can tell the amp isn't letting the speakers sing and really low volumes, and at high volumes there is the danger of clipping. However, I have never had a temp fault (the amp does have a 4 ohm mode, but I dont use it) and the speakers sound better than my friends RTI setup powered by an AVR. I am biamping the speakers which did make a huge difference in the bass and mid bass control and impact. The LSI's are a tough load to run, but the LSI25 would be an easier load, given the fact they have a powered sub. If you do use a receiver you may want to consider how long the wire runs will have to be (The shorter the better) and proper/increased ventilation for the receiver (I mounted a small computer fan at the back of the cabinet and wired it into the outlet on the back of my receiver, since I have unplugged it as the amp doesn't get very hot at all). Don't get me wrong, a separate amp will allow you to get all there is to offere out of those speakers (I bought a B&K st1400 II), but if you wont be cranking it up to insane volumes (renting??) and money is an object (like most of us) then you can always buy a separate after the fact and use the pioneer as a pre. Figured I would weigh in since I am currently running this taboo setup.

NewHTguy

I should add that I would not have bought my sub if I had started with the Lsi 25s. At the least, you should start with the 25s and see if you need more bass. If you are mostly into music, I doubt you'll need a sub. I keep me sub crossed over at 40 hz.

Some people seem to prefer the Lsi 15s over the 25s. My feeling is that you have more flexibility with the 25s, since you can adjust the crossover and the volume on the woofers. Also, the 25s are easier to drive since the woofers are powered.

be83663

Definitely, LSiFX for the surround rather than LSi7s.
If you can use your receiver as a pre-amplifer, then I would go for either an Emotiva or an Outlaw amplifier for the LSi series. They are both internet-only based companies, so they offer quality amplifiers, in their own classes, at subsetentially cheaper prices.
Or better yet, if you have to buy a receiver at this point, then buy the combination of an Outlaw amplifier and an Onkyo pre-amplifier for $2,600. Check this link out: https://www.outlawaudio.com/mofcart/combos.html
Outlaw Model 7500 amplifier, http://www.outlawaudio.com/products/7500.html, is $1600 if bought alone, and is rated at 300 watts/channel all channels driven with <0.03% THD at all frequency ranges, 20-20,000 Hz.
Onkyo Professional PR-SC886, http://www.outlawaudio.com/products/886.html, is $1450 if bought by itself, and it does a whole range of tricks as a pre-amplifier, basically everything!
So, if bought together from Outlaw website, you save $450.
With LSi25s, you would not need a separate subwoofer, but would definitely need a separate amplifier to bring out everything a complete LSi Home Theatre system could offer, supplying at least 200-300 watts/channel at 4-ohms, like the Outlaw Model 7500 does.

Sherardp

I would go 15s over the 25s with a nice sub from SVS or Epik. For receiver go with the SC-25 as a pre. With the LSi series your going to need a multichannel amp so budget for that as well. You could bump down to the Pio 21 which should have preouts, then power your speakers with external amp. I would suggest you check out Audiogon for used gear. Sunfire, Rotel, Parasound, W4S, D-Sonic, Adcom and Outlaw audio are all pretty good names we throw around here. Nice shopping list by the way.