Amp for LSI15's under $800

[wp7456]

I just got a pair of polk LSI 15's. I need an amp capable of doing 200 wpc at 4 ohms. Preferably $800 or less. One possibility right now is the Adcom GFA5400 off of jr.com. My other possibility is the Niles SI 2125... however I cannot find a single review on Niles amps... are they any good? I can get it for $650 on jr.com I believe. So any input on either of these or suggestions for others?

 

[adk highlander]

Welcome to the forum.

How about 500w at 4 ohms for $699 - XPA-2

Here is an overview from Gene here at Audioholics

I have not heard anything bad about Adcom amps so I'm sure that would make a fine addition as well but the XPA-2 will have more power and that cannot be a bad thing.

I have used a bit of Niles gear and it has always been bombproof. In general they produce products for whole house systems which is why you will not see many reviews in many home theater publications.

Good luck and congrats on your new speakers.

 

[Haoleb]

You can get a used Parasound 2250 for about the top end of your price range. I would take this over an emotive or Niles amp anyday. costs $1300 new so as you can imagine you get to take advantage of quite a bit of savings buying used. Goes for any amp really, They dont really wear out with use so you can pick up something better than expected if you go this route. I think most audiophiles take good care of their equipment too.

http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?ampstran&1230082382&/Parasound-New-Classic-2250-250


http://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=PAC2250

 

[zumbo]

Adcom. Period.

http://www.jr.com/adcom/pe/ADC_GFA5400/

EDIT. J&R is the best deal. $599. Free shipping.

 

[cfrizz]

Either one of the 2 amps listed above will do the LSI's justice. The more power you feed the LSI's the better they will sound, so get an amp that will give them 200wpc or more @ 8ohms.

Other amps to look at are Outlaw Audio, Rotel, Sunfire, Adcom, B & K, etc.

You can get more bang for your buck buying used from Audiogon.

Do you plan to get more LSI's for your system or is it just 2 channels?

 

[mazersteven]

Outlaw Audio
Model 2200
http://www.outlawaudio.com/products/2200.html

 

[MidnightSensi]

Either one of the 2 amps listed above will do the LSI's justice. The more power you feed the LSI's the better they will sound, so get an amp that will give them 200wpc or more @ 8ohms.

Other amps to look at are Outlaw Audio, Rotel, Sunfire, Adcom, B & K, etc.

You can get more bang for your buck buying used from Audiogon.

Do you plan to get more LSI's for your system or is it just 2 channels?

I vote Sunfire. Nice stuff, lasts a long time too.

 

[zumbo]

A little more balls than the Adcom.
http://www.soundcity.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=109

http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?ampstran&1232357818&/Ati--Amp-Tech-Inc-1802-ati-2-c

 

[wp7456]

Thanks for all the fast responses! All of these amps look like great options. Also yes I plan on only using this pair for stereo, my HT will be separate.

If I got that 500w x 2 amp, would it be fine if I set my gains conservatively? How would I even set them? I know in a car I would just use a dmm, would I do that here?

 

[Haoleb]

Thanks for all the fast responses! All of these amps look like great options. Also yes I plan on only using this pair for stereo, my HT will be separate.

If I got that 500w x 2 amp, would it be fine if I set my gains conservatively? How would I even set them? I know in a car I would just use a dmm, would I do that here?

With a power amp you dont set gains, car amps and these type of amps are very different. At the most, a poweramp will have seperate volume controls per channel and in most cases you turn all the way up. Most of the ones that have been reccomended simply have a power switch, You hook you preamp to it and your speakers and you turn it on. I am a bit concerned now that you might not fully understand what equipment you need because with these amps you will need to also have a preamplifier to do your volume control and input switching.

Also, even in a car a better way to do it is with an SPL meter vs a dmm to measure voltage at the speaker because the rear passenger side speaker will have to be louder than the front driver side to get equal volume, which is why an SPL meter will allow you to measure actual sound output in the listening position.

 

[wp7456]

yeah... still learning on what do to with home audio. So what preamp would you recommend? I never gave them much thought... just didn't realize how important they are I guess. All the ones I see are very expensive... much more so than the actual amps. I was hoping to spend maybe 400 on the preamp and 800 on the amp tops, if it's possible. Thanks again.

 

[WmAx]

Man, those amps sure seem over priced for the power they put out.

Do you want/need fancy cosmetics?

If not, a high quality pro amp will get you high power with low cost, relatively speaking.

Yamaha P5000S: $600 average street price. 500 x 2 into 8 ohms, 20Hz-20,000Hz, both channels driven.

Yamaha P2500S: $400 average street price: 250x 2 into 8 Ohms, 20Hz-20,000Hz, both channels driven.

These are very high quality pro audio amps. They have no fan noise in home use. They do have fans, but they only activate when running the amps full blast for long periods of time such as is the case with sustained high SPL auditorium performances. I have a few of these amps and I have never been able to get the fans to come on, regardless of SPL level I played them in home.

If you don't mind some very minor modding, the Behringer Ep2500 is a superb deal. Average street price of $350 and it puts out 450 watts x 2 into 8 ohms, both channels driven. The catch is it has a noisy fan that always runs. There is a Matsushita replacement fan for $8 that is virtually silent that you can swap it with. The job is the same as changing the fan in a PC case. Same style fan. Same style mount.

-Chris

 

[ParadigmDawg]

If I were you, I would get a BAT VK-600SE.

If I were me, I would get a Behringer Ep2500 and do the fan mod like Chris was saying.

 

[MNSACD]

Emotiva?



I have the LPA-1 (now the UPA-7) driving LSI-15,C, and FX.

Very good amp, great price, make the LSI's sing.

MNSACD

 

[wp7456]

that emotiva is looking like another great option.

Instead of using a preamp, could I use a regular receiver as my source unit? Like the Onkyo 8555, and then connecting whatever amp I get to that. The thing is, I will be running 2 other pairs of speakers in 2 other separate rooms, and wanted to use a speaker selector to use the 2 channels of the 8555 to drive the other pairs. Or is a preamp absolutely necessary when running expensive amps/speakers such as the ones we have listed? It seems to me that a receiver would be the best choice in my case, but if I was not running the other speakers, I would use a preamp in it's place. Can anyone verify this for me? Please correct me if im wrong, which I probably am.

 

[adk highlander]

Using a receiver as a prepro will work great. You would just need to be sure it has preouts to connect the amp. If it does have preouts you could use it like you are thinking to use the main's to go to your speaker selector for the other speakers and use that to control when the other speakers are being used.

 

[darien87]

You can get a used Parasound 2250 for about the top end of your price range. I would take this over an emotive or Niles amp anyday. costs $1300 new so as you can imagine you get to take advantage of quite a bit of savings buying used. Goes for any amp really, They dont really wear out with use so you can pick up something better than expected if you go this route. I think most audiophiles take good care of their equipment too.

Funny that you say you'll take a used Parasound amp over a new Emotiva, when both amps are made at the same factory in China.

 

[MNSACD]

that emotiva is looking like another great option.

Instead of using a preamp, could I use a regular receiver as my source unit? Like the Onkyo 8555, and then connecting whatever amp I get to that. The thing is, I will be running 2 other pairs of speakers in 2 other separate rooms, and wanted to use a speaker selector to use the 2 channels of the 8555 to drive the other pairs. Or is a preamp absolutely necessary when running expensive amps/speakers such as the ones we have listed? It seems to me that a receiver would be the best choice in my case, but if I was not running the other speakers, I would use a preamp in it's place. Can anyone verify this for me? Please correct me if im wrong, which I probably am.

Yes, I should have mentioned that. I am using a Sony STRDA4300ES as a pre-pro with the LPA1 hooked to the preouts. I do a lot of movies and multi-channel audio, SACD and DVD-A.


MNSACD

 

[zumbo]

Funny that you say you'll take a used Parasound amp over a new Emotiva, when both amps are made at the same factory in China.

Ouch!

Is that a verifiable fact?

 

[Haoleb]

Funny that you say you'll take a used Parasound amp over a new Emotiva, when both amps are made at the same factory in China.

Funny, i wasnt aware that because something is made under the same roof as another product its quality is also the same.