Dear GoodSound!,
I am thinking of purchasing a pair of Polk LSiM705 loudspeakers; however, I wonder if I have the right associated equipment in order to drive these marvelous loudspeakers.
My equipment consists of a Musical Fidelity XT-100 integrated amplifier, with 50Wpc into 8 ohms and 80Wpc into 4 ohms, and a Rotel RCD-1072 CD player. My interconnects are AudioQuest's Columbia and my speaker cables are Transparent Audio's MusicWave Plus. Could you tell me if I am going to have problems driving these loudspeakers with my equipment? If so, which amplifier would be more suitable for the LSiM705?? Lastly, is the Rotel RCD-1072 still a good CD player to use?
Thanks in advance for your useful reply!
Sincerely,
RafaeI
I've seen the smaller LSiM703 in person, and I was deeply impressed with its build quality and overall appearance, so I can see why you're leaning towards Polk's larger LSiM705, which looks to be a very good speaker in light of our recent review of it. Polk lists the speaker as a nominal 8-ohm design, and they recommend 20-250W of power be used. However, the LSiM705 is also listed as being 88dB efficient, which is pretty average. All things considered, I think you could use the Musical Fidelity XT-100 to solid effect provided you neither have a large listening room, nor like to play your music terrifically loud. But if one or both of these is a reality, you might be better served with a power amplifier or integrated amplifier that delivers at least 100Wpc in 8 ohms.
As for your Rotel player and cabling -- you have pretty nice equipment, Rafael. See how the LSiM705s work out with your Musical Fidelity. If the tandem seems to do well, you may not feel the need to upgrade anything else. If you do, think seriously about transitioning to a computer-based system, and look to the many DAC reviews that we have written in the past two years to find something that fits your budget and musical tastes. Let us know if we can be of further help. . . . Hans Wetzel
