I am in the process of remolding our living-room and one wall will be a fireplace/widescreen Sony 46" and entertainment center. The wall will be all bookshelves and I have to replace my B&W 2004s with speakers that fit into the shelfs. I am down to either the Polk LSi7s or LSi9s. What receiver would best drive these speakers, I understand my present Yamaha receiver would not be the best choice since these are 4ohm speakers and I do plan on Bi-Wiring them... Nad comes to mind first for me but hoped others here have bought Polk LSi series speakers and could give me some advise... Thanks all in advance!!!
Hawk
Posted on
There is only one brand of receiver rated to handle the 4 ohm load of the Polks (a very popular speaker) and that is NAD (unless you can afford the $4K McIntosh). The NAD receivers are rated down to 2 ohms through all channels, so the 4 ohm load of the Polks is a piece of cake.
It also helps that they are among the best sounding receivers out there.
Paul T.
Posted on
Well I wrote Polk an e-mail asking them what they thought and believe it or not they responded in less then a day.. I am impressed!! Their representative said and I quote, "You are also correct in considering NAD to power them, a few other brands we recommend for the LSi series are; Rotell, Adcom and B&K.". I guess that settles that now, just have to start saving up some more money for better receiver then originally thought (org. was thinking of Yamaha again or Denon).
Hawk
Posted on
Paul:
Rotel, B&K and Adcom will set you back about $1250, minimum (that is for the Rotel receiver--the others start at about $2K).
I don't know what you had in mind for a budget, but you can get a marvelous NAD for a lot less than you might think. If you go to Saturday Audio (www.saturdayaudio.com), you can get an NAD 742 for $449 (MSRP is $649). The 742 doesn't have any gimmicks (Concert Hall, Jazz Club, etc., just to name a few) that you find on mass market receivers, but I can assure you that you won't use them anyways. What you do get is that marvelous NAD sound which is always delightful to listen to, whether playing music of for HT. With the LSis, you will not believe how good a home stereo can sound. The 742 will do everything that you need.
As their name implies, Saturday Audio is only open on weekends and you have to call them, but they are nice people and do a very good job servicing their clients. Incidentally, when you go for a high end speakers like the LSi, you have to understand that you have to get high end electronics to power them. But, as limiting as that might sound, in reality you end up with so much more in terms of great sound that just isn't available from the mass market manufacturers (such as Yamaha or Denon, to name just a couple).
I have a Denon, which is much better than Yamaha, but I have to say that the sound is dry and un-involving. If I had to do it over again, I would get the NAD in a heartbeat. So don't fret over not getting a Yamaha or Denon. They just aren't that good.
(org. was thinking of Yamaha again or Denon).