Seeking Polk Audio LSi owners (1 Viewer)

[paulBAW]

These speakers are 4ohm's. How hard are they on amps? I've heard a couple horror stories of Denon AV receivers choking on these speakers. (3802 even!) I don't think I can afford the other brand of speakers I orginally wanted but now I'm questioning wheater my weeeee NAD intergrated Amp could handle even the LSi9 bookshelves. The NAD says they can handle 4ohm loads but its only a 50watt 2 channel amp. I will be upgrading the NAD to a bryston before the year is up on the used market. But I wanna make sure I dont cook my lil NAD in the short term.

Also, who the heck has heard a good demo of the LSi series? The place I've checked out was in Toronto Ontario and they had it hookedup with fishing line using red/white rca's to an entry level ES AV Sony receiver. The source was a $199.99 Sony DVD player...I almost cried. How can a retailer so low end carry these speakers? Has anybody heard these speakers on decent equipment? Maybe I'm biased, or I'm a snob, but I keep thinking Polk Audio isn't capable of producing a higher end product like the Veritas or Studio's from Paradigm. What I heard I liked but I wish a retailer in ALL OF CANADA had a good setup. I even phoned a Polk Audio rep for some information. He bascially told me that retailer shouldn't even have been carrying the LSi lineup. Sigh...so confused.

 

[Eric Hargrove]

I don't think the NAD will have a problem. My Marantz SR7000 drives my Lsi 15's no problem. The only downside I see is if you have a large room you may not have enough volume to fill it to satisfying levels. The Lsi speakers are relatively inefficient. An upgrade to Parasound, Rotel or perhaps even Bryston should fix this problem for my home theater.

 

[Frank Zimkas]

I agree that the Lsi's need more than 50Watts to truly shine. I am using an Outlaw 7100 that puts out 165wx7 and it drives my Lsi's beautifully! Here's a link about my experience with this amp if your interested.
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...ht=outlaw+7100

 

[Chris Paulson]

Just curious, since I thought about adding a set of the Polks to my existing setup (http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...hreadid=142576), doesn't the 3802 have enough power (105x5) to drive the Lsi speakers?

 

[Brian Kleinke]

I'm running all my LSi's off a Sony ES-N9000ES amp, and they really shine It's only 110w per channel but then again I've got no clue how that really compares to the 3802.

 

[Frank Zimkas]

doesn't the 3802 have enough power (105x5) to drive the Lsi speakers?

The main issue is the fact that the lsi series are rated at 4ohms nominal. Unless a receiver is rated to handle a 4ohm load, it might tend to go into the Protection (overload) mode.

 

[Eric Hargrove]

Hi, Chris. Frank is right, the Denon will have a problem with the 4 ohm load at high volume. When I auditioned the Lsi', my salesman used a 3802 to drive them and it shut down at high volume.

 

[Chris Paulson]

I understand now. After rereading the original post, I missed Paul's opening line of "These speakers are 4 ohms" and I didn't realize that the speakers were rated at 4 ohms. I just assumed most speakers are rated at 8 ohms!

BTW Eric,
I am from Ogden......IA originally

 

[Steve-sas]

My experience is that the NAD will do just fine. I'd rather have the 50 watts of high current that the NAD puts out than 100 of the Denon with the LSis. Don't get me wrong. I have owned both and currently own a Denon AVR and like it a lot so what I am saying is that the NAD is very good and will hold its own until you get the Bryston.

And IMHO the LSi9s are a fantastic speaker and are equal to the task compared to the Paradigm Studio series.

 

[Jeffrey_B]

I have the LSiC, LSi9, and LSiFX hooked up to my SonyES30 receiver (about 4 years old) which is 80watts x 5. The receiver has a 4/8 ohm switch in the back (set to 4 ohms for the Polks). I don't listen at reference levels but have watched some movies at a fairly high volume and have not had any problems with these speakers. JEFF

 

[JauCheeze]

I have the LSi9's w/ the onkyo sr600. Also hooked it up to my avr520. Both had no problems driving these speakers at reference level. I watched movies at or near reference levels a few times, and had no problems what so ever. I do agree that these speakers need a little more power to really sound nice. But even with my current setup, these speakers sound awesome. If you're looking for more efficient bookshelfs, try the b&w 602's (really nice speakers too).