1. This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. Learn More.

Music The Hi-Fi thread!

Discussion in 'General' started by Edge102030, 30 Dec 2009.

  1. TheCherub

    TheCherub Minimodder

    Joined:
    16 Sep 2007
    Posts:
    699
    Likes Received:
    9
    Generally speaking bi-amping is not worth it; you're much better buying one amp for the cost of the two amps you'd be buying with. Obviously this is a rough guide rather than a hard and fast rule, but that seems to be the general pattern. There's also very little point in doing it without an active crossover prior to the power amps as well.

    What are the speakers you are using?
     
  2. saspro

    saspro IT monkey

    Joined:
    23 Apr 2009
    Posts:
    9,606
    Likes Received:
    400
    Biamping will make a difference as you have twice as much copper going to the front speakers.

    You can improve all the speakers in your setup by removing the metal bars connecting the bass & tops (Providing they're biampable speakers)and replacing them with speaker cable. It's always worth doing that first as it's a lot easier.
     
  3. PabloFunky

    PabloFunky What's a Dremel?

    Joined:
    19 Sep 2010
    Posts:
    1,162
    Likes Received:
    97
    The amp i have allows for many configs, its a 9.2 amp.

    I have it set up as 7.1 with zone 2 set.

    The amp can directly biamp speakers using its front wide terminals and setting its preset to 7.1 + front biamp config.

    I only have Wharfedale diamond 10.1s at front but they are bi wirable, and it looks like biamp also.
     
  4. Boscoe

    Boscoe Electronics extraordinaire.

    Joined:
    5 Jan 2010
    Posts:
    1,127
    Likes Received:
    69
    Not when you have an awful passive crossover in your speaker, the cable (as long as it's not too small) won't make much difference what so ever. Think why would audio manufacturers invent bi amping? Twice as many amps sold twice as many expensive cables sold. Don't get me wrong more power is good however only really when you have one more powerful amplifier.
     
    Last edited: 22 Jun 2013
  5. Mister_Tad

    Mister_Tad Will work for nuts Super Moderator

    Joined:
    27 Dec 2002
    Posts:
    14,069
    Likes Received:
    2,425
    [​IMG]

    Spent the morning giving the back of the AV cabinet a much needed tidy up. I'm pretty pleased with the effort.

    If this looks messy, you should have seen it before, and you can only make ~100 connections so tidy. There's lots of power and Ethernet routed under the cabinet that was just a nightmarish rat's next amongst the AV cables before.
     
  6. KidMod-Southpaw

    KidMod-Southpaw Super Spamming Saiyan

    Joined:
    28 Sep 2010
    Posts:
    12,592
    Likes Received:
    558
    Nice job! As much as I'd love a setup like that, I'd hate to deal with it. :D

    Now, does anyone know of a DAC with a mic input?
     
  7. asura

    asura jack of all trades

    Joined:
    22 Apr 2009
    Posts:
    1,748
    Likes Received:
    78
    ? Browse through for more at different budgets...

    Build your own?
     
  8. KidMod-Southpaw

    KidMod-Southpaw Super Spamming Saiyan

    Joined:
    28 Sep 2010
    Posts:
    12,592
    Likes Received:
    558
    Ah, thank you. Only just saw your previous post too. :D
     
  9. Mister_Tad

    Mister_Tad Will work for nuts Super Moderator

    Joined:
    27 Dec 2002
    Posts:
    14,069
    Likes Received:
    2,425
    This thread has been way too quiet the last few years, and since apparently my interest in kit has been re-stoked at the moment, I'm making the executive decision to bump.

    Finishing most of a cinema refurb project (and some new fronts to cap it off) has redirected my attention to the hi-fi setup.

    A new side table *cough*... I've been hesitant about adding the .1 for a good long while, but I wanted a bit more extension below 38hz (where my fronts literally disappear, no -3dB, just nothing, so suspect it's filtered in the electronics), and I didn't want to lose the magic of the amp/speaker combo I have on the-hifi at the moment, so chanced it. Turns out it was fantastically easy to integrate by ear and sounds fantastic and entirely transparent.

    [​IMG]

    I subsequently used Smaart (a trial) to generate pink noise to scientifically look at things, before discovering my mic was useless. I ended up using the sine wave generator to step it through 20-100hz and dial the contour and volume in by ear, which ended up where I dialled it in by ear with music anyway.

    Today I succumbed to a new DAC, which is long overdue as I've been using the analogue outs on the Sonos Connect for a couple years. The Sonos doesn't sound terrible by any means, but my views on DACs were called into question when I picked up a cheap and cheerful Arcam RPAC for the PC. I played around a did a little comparison to the Audiolab M-DAC (i.e. 5x the cost) on the hifi, found it perilously comparable. I moved shortly after and sold both DACs due to a rejig of kit and have been DACless since.

    I bought home a Chord 2Qute for a demo, as the shop demo setup didn't do anything for me in either it's bare Sonos form or with the 2Qute. They used the Naim UnitiQute2 as the pre for a demo (into a NAP100 and PMC twenty.22) and I suspect that was the offending component - just unpleasant to me. I've listened to Naim before and been entirely unimpressed each time, so it's guess it's just not my style.

    Fortunately once I got home, I plumbed the DAC in and couldn't be happier. My control sample (the wife) agreed, so it's a keeper.

    So ye other hifi addicts, sound off once again!

    EDIT:

    And since it's notably different from years ago in this thread, kit these days...

    Cinema:
    Denon AVR-3313
    Front: B&W CDM 7NT
    Centre: B&W CDM CNT
    Rear: B&W 601 S2
    LFE: BK Monolith DF
    Music: Sonos Connect
    Movies: HTPC, Plex MP. My BDs ripped at CR18 with lossless DTS-HD or TrueHD soundtracks.
    BD, Gaming, Amazon, Netflix: PS4
    Sky: In the bin a few months back when they decided they were no longer giving me 1/2 price off my package.
    Logitech Harmony Ultimate taking care of running the kit, and Hue lighting in the room

    Hi-Fi:
    Pathos ClassicOne mk2
    Proac Response 1SC, Target MR60 stands
    BK XXLS400
    Chord 2Qute
    Marantz CD63KI, buckets of mods, and sadly never gets used these days

    Office:
    Sonos Connect straight through to Tannoy Reveal Active monitors

    Other:
    Stereo Sonos Play:5 in the kitchen and various Play:1s and Play:3s elsewhere in the house, and a boost that has resolved some intermittent dropouts very well.
     
    Last edited: 15 Mar 2016
  10. Porkins' Wingman

    Porkins' Wingman Can't touch this

    Joined:
    23 Feb 2008
    Posts:
    2,897
    Likes Received:
    129
    Did anyone else think 'Oh, it's nice to see Kidmod posting again', and then remember :(
     
  11. asura

    asura jack of all trades

    Joined:
    22 Apr 2009
    Posts:
    1,748
    Likes Received:
    78
    Nah, there are a few threads which stalled/stopped when Kidmod did. Pens and watches jump to mind, but Tad's right we should neither stop and forget, nor hide and start anew.

    The only changes I have to report are that; my sennheiser in-ear headphones died so I picked up a cheep pair of Grado's from fleebay to replace, and my "new" car has no head or amp, but does come with some upgraded pioneer speakers crossovers and tweets.

    The tweets were stuck to the top of the door in the usual ugly place, so off came the door cards, and out came the OEM tweets the pioneer ones replacing them with a bit of disassembly and cable-tie-foo. Whilst I was there I discovered someone had tried (and failed) to wire up some LED splash lights 3M'd to the bottom of the doors - they and all the associated wiring are now removed.

    I won't be sticking an obnoxious subwoofer in there - this is a car after all - and I don't think I want a traditional head, maybe make something myself (yea, 'cause that always works out well -ed) raspberry, old tablet, something...
     
  12. Mister_Tad

    Mister_Tad Will work for nuts Super Moderator

    Joined:
    27 Dec 2002
    Posts:
    14,069
    Likes Received:
    2,425
    Pretty sure he would have been about the last one to want to see the thread disappear. In fact this is two threads merged, the second one created in this post - http://forums.bit-tech.net/showpost.php?p=3287933&postcount=155

    Let's re-inject some levity with some delicious, delicious snake-oil.

    http://www.pwbelectronics.co.uk/free-sound-improving-techniques

    I really can't figure out whether that's legit or the guy's one of the audio world's finest trolls.

    I've actually aligned all of my screws in light switches to be vertical. I probably could have saved some money on a DAC if I had only sorted that sooner.
     
  13. Vault-Tec

    Vault-Tec Green Plastic Watering Can

    Joined:
    30 Aug 2015
    Posts:
    14,851
    Likes Received:
    3,654
    I 'did' our cinema rig about 16 months back now. We initially started out with a 42" Toshiba 3D TV and the Mission speakers on stands that I gave to Bud. My lady sold her old house and sent me some money just to blow (nothing stupid, around £500 IIRC). I decided that I would like to replace the speakers and amp we were using with something more modern. The Missions were on a venerable Sherwood amp from the 90s complete with cracked display. Any way, as it goes I got a little bit carried away and it grew from there.

    I first bought these for £230 from Ebay brand harry spankers.

    [​IMG]

    I decided I wanted a valve amp (love the things always have) so I found this for £100 in Greece.

    [​IMG]

    Then my lady told me what she had bought. a 65" Hisense 4k TV. When we first moved into this flat we had only just bought the Toshiba 42". Thing is when we offered it up to where we wanted to put it (above the fireplace in an enormous room with 17ft ceilings) it looked really stupid. Hence the 65" as it doesn't look so 'lost'. We paid £1400 and then sold the "free" Freesat box that came with it (Humax) as the TV is a monitor and has no tuner or what not.

    Any way I then decided I would like to make a full cinema out of it so went looking for rears etc. I wanted Scandyna Micropods to sort of match the Smallpods (the front ones) but they were £299. A lot of money for something so small. In the end I found a clearance on Amazon for the Bluetooth versions and with a little bit of taking them apart and bypassing the Bluetooth I soon had a set of Micropods.

    [​IMG]

    I then needed an amp for them so sticking with the valve theme I went with this, the Fatman Blu.

    [​IMG]

    And then this.

    [​IMG]

    Now obviously controlling it could be a bit of a PITA. There's obviously more than one volume knob. However, we live in a "flat sandwich" and have to be respectful. So I simply set it up to "As far as I would take the piss" on the volume and we just leave it there 24/7.

    So now it was time to find a sub. As a stand in I ordered the Vibe 6" thing that I recently gave to Bud. It cost £25 and I figured it would give me some time to save for a sub (like a really good one). Any way as luck would have it (and I still can't believe this happened !!) a week later I was poking around on Ebay and saw this.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    And actually had to rub my eyes for a moment. This is a Scandyna Bass Station (AKA "minsub"). It has a long throw 12" woofer in and was exactly what I wanted for my system. They come with a retail of a rather eye watering £799 or so but this one was broken and cost £120 delivered.

    I bought it, figuring that if it could not be fixed I would just transfer it into a box.

    It arrived, and within an hour I had this.

    [​IMG]

    Basically there are two parts. The sub is held together by long metal rods. These rods then have a hefty lump of steel at each end that slides into plastic carriers in the sub body. One of them had slipped out, hence the lop sided look. The only thing missing was the black rubber trim, cue Ebay.

    [​IMG]

    And a couple of hours later (and with the spare feet from the Small pods) I had this.

    [​IMG]

    I was just a little bit happy :D The only thing left to do was buy a roll of Rockford Fosgate cabling.

    [​IMG]

    And some plugs.

    [​IMG]

    And set it all up.

    [​IMG]

    I've done some more cable work since then. I decided to just buy a job lot of trunking for £20 and trunk it. It's not our flat so if we have to move out I can just peel it off the walls and slosh over with some white emulsion. I still need to replace the center in the fireplace there (£20 Jamo stand in on a small chinese amp) but haven't been lucky like I was with the sub :D

    I will probably get a B&W.
     
  14. B1GBUD

    B1GBUD ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Accidentally Funny

    Joined:
    29 May 2008
    Posts:
    3,557
    Likes Received:
    558
    Thanks again for the speakers and sub, my daughter has the Missons hooked up to my old Rotel RA-930 integrated amp, and I donated the sub to a mate who's soundbar had packed up.

    Rockford Fosgate.... now there's a name I haven't heard for a while. My mate had a couple of these amps hooked up to 3 12" JL subs in his car.... my ears have never fully recovered!
     
  15. Vault-Tec

    Vault-Tec Green Plastic Watering Can

    Joined:
    30 Aug 2015
    Posts:
    14,851
    Likes Received:
    3,654
    No problems mate, glad they are producing sound again :) would have been an awful shame to watch them go into a skip at the landfill !

    Yeah the RF cabling was a bit of a blast from the past tbh. I wanted some reasonable quality cabling without paying stupid money (like £200 for a 1m pair like I used to do lol) so I just stuck in the name and got a good 25m on the roll for about £15 IIRC. It's decent stuff I used to use it back in the 90s when I was into the car stuff.

    I used to love my car audio. 18" Cerwin Vega Stroker on a Punch 500m.

    In a Mini Metro.
     
  16. B1GBUD

    B1GBUD ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Accidentally Funny

    Joined:
    29 May 2008
    Posts:
    3,557
    Likes Received:
    558
    No fuel required eh? I guess it would just bounce you where you needed to go!
     
  17. Vault-Tec

    Vault-Tec Green Plastic Watering Can

    Joined:
    30 Aug 2015
    Posts:
    14,851
    Likes Received:
    3,654
    The sub was rear facing so propulsion was entirely feasible. I used to have to open the windows to stop the rear screen being pushed out.

    It's no wonder I'm half deaf tbh.
     
  18. perplekks45

    perplekks45 LIKE AN ANIMAL!

    Joined:
    9 May 2004
    Posts:
    7,545
    Likes Received:
    1,769
    Damn, things have changed in my house...

    Seeing this thread being alive again, here is my current list:

    Headphones:

    • Audeze LCD-X (with Norne Audio Vanquish cable)
    • Grado GS-1000i
    • Sennheiser IE-80 (for portable use)
    • Audio Technica ATH-AD700
    • Grado iGrado
    • beyerdynamic Custom One Pro
    • Grado SR125i
    • HiFiMAN HE-400 (with velour pads & HE-500 silver cable)

    When watching movies or playing games on the PS4:
    • McIntosh MHA-100
    • KEF LS-50 x2

    Portable amp and player still remain the same, though.
     
  19. Mister_Tad

    Mister_Tad Will work for nuts Super Moderator

    Joined:
    27 Dec 2002
    Posts:
    14,069
    Likes Received:
    2,425
    Anyone been using Tidal or Qobuz Hi-Fi?

    If so, any feedback in general about usage, the apps, catalogue etc, other than quality?

    I've used Spotify Premium for years, but the problem is it's £5/month on account of wifey's student discount, so stepping up to quadruple the price seems preposterous, especially considering the step up in quality would only approach perceptible on perhaps a couple of... 12 (ish?) devices through which music would be played.

    ... You're powering the LS50s with a headphone amp? :eyebrow:

    Oh, wait. It looks like it's a "normal" integrated, that they call a headphone amp on account of an added focus on headphones (?)
     
    Last edited: 17 Mar 2016
  20. perplekks45

    perplekks45 LIKE AN ANIMAL!

    Joined:
    9 May 2004
    Posts:
    7,545
    Likes Received:
    1,769
    It is mainly a headphone amp but it does have more than enough power to use as an integrated amp for speakers. I even heard that little amp with Martin Logan Montis and boy did that sound great!

    The MHA-100 probably is quite a bit too expensive but I have everything in the living room hooked up to it (TV, PS4, MacBook, vinyl, CD player) and it just excels in the combination with the KEF. Plus it's a Mc and built like a rock.
     

Share This Page