Need Amplifier and Receiver advised for lsi15

ray2per · October 2006

Hello everybody. I'm new in this forum and a newbie about speaker. I owned a bose am 15 and sony DA 333ES as a receiver for 8 years now. I heard the sound of lsi15 at our frys electronics store here in Seattle and I was totally blown away. I'm planning to buy or upgrade to lsi15 for now and then later on the whole lsi series for my HT and an SVS subwoofer. I thought buying speaker and a receiver is good enough for a HT set up but when I was reading the forum I noticed that you need a pre/pro amplifier and an amplifier for 5,6, or 7 channel especially for lsi15. Can you guys help me to decide what to buy in terms of amplifier or do I need to buy an AV receiver? My budget for lsi15, amplifier and receiver if I need one is about $3000. The system will be used for listening to music and home movies. I noticed that most of the forum user have an amplifier such as outlaw, rotel, sunfire, nad and bunch more. You guys are the best here. I will greatly appreciate all your help and suggestions.
Another question, is it better to go with lsi15 or lsi25?:cool:

cfrizz · October 2006

Hi Ray, welcome to Club Polk!

You have done your reading & have answered your own questions! All of the brands that you have mentioned will give you an outstanding system!

Best bang for the buck within your budget will be an Outlaw 990/7500/7700 system!

Most around here seem to prefer the 15's.

Oh & one more thing that you should work into your budget & system is a Subwoofer! Most around here prefer SVS.

Let us know what you get & post pictures!

McLoki · October 2006

Are you paying retail for your LSi15's? If so, that does not leave alot of money for an pre/pro and amp.

Does your current reciever have pre-out connections for all channels on the back of it. (It will be in the same area that the subwoofer connection is in) If it does, that will save you some cash for now and your job will be much easier. If it does not, it may be a little tougher.

Are you willing to purchased used or do you really want to stay with new. It is much easier to get a good deal used, but some really like the safety of purchasing new (and sometimes local) in case there are any issues.

As far as the 15's/25's question goes, I really like the 15's. The 25's will sound a little better if your amp is not quite up to snuff as the woofer on it is self powered. The 15's are the hardest of the LSi series to drive. (the 25's would be similar to the 9's in difficutly to drive)

I have heard the 25's in a in-home demo and just never was able to get the woofer dialed in correctly where you could hear it well, but it didn't call alot of attention to itself. I am sure it will be nice speaker, if you get through those challenges.

Michael

ray2per · October 2006

Thanks for your reply cfrizz.
Mcloki, I'm planning to get the lsi15 off ebay.
I think my receiver has some preout connections for all channels. I will check it out.
Thanks again for your help I will be keep in touch with you for any questions and suggestions.

Victor

cfrizz · October 2006

MIchael, I would say that since a lot has changed in the 8 yrs since his receiver came out, it is time to upgrade that as well & he might as well go with separates!

McLoki · October 2006

cfrizz wrote:

MIchael, I would say that since a lot has changed in the 8 yrs since his receiver came out, it is time to upgrade that as well & he might as well go with separates!

I would agree - it all comes down to budget.

With $3000 max to spend now -

$1200 for the speakers (as a guess, including shipping) That leaves about $1800 for the pre/pro.

If he went outlaw - he could get the 990 bstock for $1000. that would leave $800 for the amp. He could get a nice 5 channel amp like this one and then get a killer 2 channel amp later to run his 15's off of when he is ready to move to 7.1

When I asked my question though, I thought he was going to purchase new. The 15's would have run him $1800 (or so with tax) only leaving about $1200 for the amp and preamp. Now that I know he is willing to go used, I agree that his best option is to plan on ditching the AVR all together...

Michael

ray2per · October 2006

Thank you all for your response.
I can probably stretch my budget up to $4,000 but I need to convinced my wife about that. She'll probably say yes. Just need to encouraged her about how great the speaker sound.

Victor

ray2per · October 2006

I saw outlaw 750 on craigslist for $600. Is that a good amplifier for sli15? or should I consider the 7500 or the 7200?

Victor

cfrizz · October 2006

Hi Victor. You should hold out for the 7500 or the 7200 since those are 200wpc & the 750 is only 165wpc!

The LSI's need all the power you can throw at them & ask for more!

reeltrouble1 · October 2006

i would keep the rubber side down and the metal side up after that anything goes.

Welcome to Club Polk, enjoy the fun, its a truly great place to hang.

RT1

ray2per · October 2006

Is Klipsch RF7 comparable to lsi15?
Are they really closed on the way they sound?
Just getting some feedback. I love polk by the way.

Victor

MikeC78 · October 2006

ray2per wrote:

Is Klipsch RF7 comparable to lsi15?
Are they really closed on the way they sound?
Just getting some feedback. I love polk by the way.

Victor

Two totally different worlds here. If you love the Polk LSi's, you'll hate the brightnes/harshness of the Klipsch's, INMO.

Mike

x_pressionist · March 2009

Hi!

I am also looking for a pair of LSi15 speakers. Where can you get the cheapest deal? Can anybody help?

Thanks.

Scooter1 · March 2009

Keep an eye on craigslist guys, if you aren't in a hurry.
Here in Minneapolis there is a pair of Lsi15's and a LsiC listed for 1200. I've usually found that these prices can be negotiated in my experience.
I picked up a nice parasound 1205a for 300 about 4 months ago.

bdtae5656 · March 2009

Scooter1 wrote: »

Keep an eye on craigslist guys, if you aren't in a hurry.
Here in Minneapolis there is a pair of Lsi15's and a LsiC listed for 1200. I've usually found that these prices can be negotiated in my experience.
I picked up a nice parasound 1205a for 300 about 4 months ago.

WHat do you guys think about a Sherwood Newcastle AM-9080 5-channel Power Amp 120 watts/ channel at 8 ohms 175 watts/chan. at 4 ohms....will that be a good amp to power the 15's

chamont · April 2009

bdtae5656,
Absolutely not.

You can pick up an Outlaw 990 these days for nothing (the 997s are coming out soon, and people are unloading their 990s). Then pour your money into an Outlaw 7500. I don't post here much, but I've owned a pair of Lsi15s for several years. I think the Outlaw 7500 amp, with 200wpc is about ideal. The Lsi15s are incredibly inefficient. I'm not criticizing them--they're amazing speakers for the price--but if you are going to buy Lsi15s you need to allocate solid money for an amplifier. If I could do it over again, I would not have wasted my money on the POS 120 wpc reciever I bought at the time. As a matter of fact, I think my Lsi15s would do even better with 350 wpc of power. Seriously. The more power you throw at them, the better their dynamics get. They are fantastic speakers.
Monty

candjhuntley · April 2009

Yeah - the LSI series are amazing speakers - but you really need to find an amp that is rated minimum 200wpc into 8 ohms that also does 4 ohms. I know they're 4 ohm speakers, but most amps at a glance list 8 ohm power. If it's rated for 4 ohm play, and does at least 200wpc into 8 ohms, then it should have enough power to run plenty into 4 ohms. Does that make sense?

Also - are you looking into picking up an LSIc now? Or are you going to go with the phantom center? If you're planning on picking up a center now, then you need at least a 3 channel amp. If not, then getting a 2 channel now would work and picking up a 5 channel when you add other speakers should suffice. But i think i'd personally recommend using the same amp for your front 3 to have as close to the same sound as possible.

So going with something like...
Outlaw Monoblocks - I've heard they work great with the LSI line
Acurus 200x3 - Good 3 Channel amp - what my buddy is using for his LSI 9s and LSIc - and this is a good price at Audiogon
Adcom GFA-5503 - Another good 3 channel

Or you could, as stated earlier, go 5 channel now and take the bulk of the expense away only needing a two channel later (and not incredibly powerful at that) to take care of surrounds (though the earlier poster suggested more power to teh fronts later). For that, you could go something like...

Sunfire TGA-5200 - Would be perfect for a 5.1 LSI setup, though it looks like the sale is pending already
Rotel RMB-1095 - would also be perfect for your LSI speakers

And really - there are plenty of great options out there.

As far as your receiver - there are also a ton of great relatively inexpensive options with current HT settings and connections that will do. Just make sure they have pre-outs. I picked up a brand new Onkyo TX-SR806 for under $600. There are also offerings from many other companies in the same price range. I guess if you wanted to, there are more expensive routes to go with it - but i'm all about bang for buck and this would get you in under your 3k budget.

Good luck!

bdtae5656 · April 2009

candjhuntley wrote: »

Yeah - the LSI series are amazing speakers - but you really need to find an amp that is rated minimum 200wpc into 8 ohms that also does 4 ohms. I know they're 4 ohm speakers, but most amps at a glance list 8 ohm power. If it's rated for 4 ohm play, and does at least 200wpc into 8 ohms, then it should have enough power to run plenty into 4 ohms. Does that make sense?

Also - are you looking into picking up an LSIc now? Or are you going to go with the phantom center? If you're planning on picking up a center now, then you need at least a 3 channel amp. If not, then getting a 2 channel now would work and picking up a 5 channel when you add other speakers should suffice. But i think i'd personally recommend using the same amp for your front 3 to have as close to the same sound as possible.

So going with something like...
Outlaw Monoblocks - I've heard they work great with the LSI line
Acurus 200x3 - Good 3 Channel amp - what my buddy is using for his LSI 9s and LSIc - and this is a good price at Audiogon
Adcom GFA-5503 - Another good 3 channel

Or you could, as stated earlier, go 5 channel now and take the bulk of the expense away only needing a two channel later (and not incredibly powerful at that) to take care of surrounds (though the earlier poster suggested more power to teh fronts later). For that, you could go something like...

Sunfire TGA-5200 - Would be perfect for a 5.1 LSI setup, though it looks like the sale is pending already
Rotel RMB-1095 - would also be perfect for your LSI speakers

And really - there are plenty of great options out there.

As far as your receiver - there are also a ton of great relatively inexpensive options with current HT settings and connections that will do. Just make sure they have pre-outs. I picked up a brand new Onkyo TX-SR806 for under $600. There are also offerings from many other companies in the same price range. I guess if you wanted to, there are more expensive routes to go with it - but i'm all about bang for buck and this would get you in under your 3k budget.

Good luck!

I ended up going with LSI C/LSI 25's with a Emo XPA-3

candjhuntley · April 2009

Very nice! You won't be disappointed. Be sure to let us all know what you think of them

Have you thought through your options on a receiver yet?

bdtae5656 · April 2009

candjhuntley wrote: »

Very nice! You won't be disappointed. Be sure to let us all know what you think of them

Have you thought through your options on a receiver yet?

I went ahead and opened the box to my HK 3550....What im going to do diff is run Rca/optical to the Cable box and see if that helps out! When the 25's get here I'll diff let you know. Whats a good rear speaker to run off my HK until I get a rear amp

cembros · April 2009

i got my lsi15's for 1500 shipped from amazon, im using a rotel 1095 5 ch amp at 330wpc at 4ohms to drive them and my lsic and fx which i got for 1700. I have the amp connected to a pioneer sc05 which i got for 1000 from best buy a couple of weeks ago. Thats a total of 4200 not including the my sub center and rear speakers. The sound is AMAZING to say the least, absoutly spectacular.

bdtae5656 · April 2009

candjhuntley wrote: »

Very nice! You won't be disappointed. Be sure to let us all know what you think of them

Have you thought through your options on a receiver yet?

Ok I just got my 25's in the mail today from polk audio's refurb center! They look brand spanking new...for half the cost of what they would of been brand new. I cant tell you what they sound like yet.....that'll be tonight! I highly recommend if your looking or thinking refurb....diff do it! I cant tell the difference

JuanR · April 2009

Buy Polk Refurbs, they sound just as good as new. Buy from Polk of course!

Need Amplifier and Receiver advised for lsi15

Comments