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Post by jcisbig on Sept 8, 2016 13:18:25 GMT -5
Greetings,
Recently I've been posting about which pair of subwoofers I should buy to replace my single HSU 15H. I think I've kinda narrowed things down to the JTR Cap S1 or the PSA S3000i. According to Tom over at PSA, those two subs should perform very similarly.
One of the options on the PSA site is to add an Anti-Mode 8033SSII to the subwoofer order at a bit of a discount. I wasn't familiar with Anti-Mode stuff, but it seems like it's kind of an Automatic version of something like a MiniDSP 2x4, which some members here on this forum were suggesting I look at for integrating dual subs into my system. So, my questions are as follows:
1) Does anyone here have any experience with the Anti-Mode, or know of anyone who does?
2) How does the Anti-Mode compare to something like the MiniDSP 2x4?
3) I'm considering an upgrade to an XMC-1 at some point, how well would the Anti-Mode play with the Dirac Room Correction?
4) Is there another option I should be considering for EQing and integrading dual subs into my system?
5) Does Dirac do what the Anti-Mode is promising to do?
On top of all this, I do have concerns with automatic correction. Several years ago I was running Audyssey MultEQ (on my old Marantz receiver) for my 15H and I couldn't tell what it was doing EQ wise. It ended up boosting a lot of frequencies in the 10-20hz region and I ended up breaking my driver and having to get it replaced through HSU! I don't want a repeat of that situation, although the S1 or 3000i could probably handle whatever the room correction was trying to do!
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Post by sheetmetalworker on Sept 8, 2016 15:39:33 GMT -5
I have the PSA s3000i and anti-mode you speak of. I don't own the processor your speaking of though. I don't know how Dirac would integrate. I'm sure someone here on the forum will be able to assist though. If there's anything I can help with I'm happy to assist.
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Post by jcisbig on Sept 8, 2016 15:47:43 GMT -5
I have the PSA s3000i and anti-mode you speak of. I don't own the processor your speaking of though. I don't know how Dirac would integrate. I'm sure someone here on the forum will be able to assist though. If there's anything I can help with I'm happy to assist. I would love to hear your impressions of the 3000i, as well as your experience with the anti-mode! |
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Post by sheetmetalworker on Sept 8, 2016 15:59:13 GMT -5
Well the anti-mode works perfectly for its intended purpose. It is though generally a correction in the sweet spot. I don't have a home theater set up. The PSA s3000i is an awsome product and wonderful instrument for reproducing bass. Not the most asthetic thing to look at but never the less very good at what it brings to the mix.
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Post by sheetmetalworker on Sept 8, 2016 16:05:42 GMT -5
I will say before the PSA s3000i & anti mode I used 4 subwoofers.
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Post by jcisbig on Sept 8, 2016 16:49:23 GMT -5
So you replaced four subs with a single 3000i then? Cool! What differences in sound did you notice when using the Anti-mode?
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Post by millst on Sept 9, 2016 11:29:51 GMT -5
Short answer, I'd recommend saving your money and not buying anything in addition to the subs. Put the money towards the XMC-1 (or a Dirac MiniDSP product).
The anti-mode is dedicated room correction system for your subwoofer. From what everyone says, it's great at what it does, but I bet their popularity has died off as room correction has become integrated into receivers. Even the most basic Audyssey MultEQ provides more filters (128 vs 36), but that's not likely an issue anyway unless your sub's response is terrible (in which case you probably have other issues you should be resolving through placement/treatment).
If you already have some form of well-regarded room correction, then I would advise against chaining them. Just keep things simple and let Audyssey, Dirac, etc. handle it. All these systems are trying to do the same thing through parametric EQ. No point in risking running into strange interaction issues. One exception would be Pioneer's MCACC. It hardly provides any subwoofer correction so I could see chaining off a Pioneer receiver to get the best of both.
The MiniDSP products are very flexible and powerful. The 2x4 has multiple channels for integrating your subs (as far as delay and level). The anti-mode is one channel and doesn't help with that. The subs you are looking at already have level/delay controls, so you can just use those.
-tm
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Post by jcisbig on Sept 9, 2016 13:29:18 GMT -5
Short answer, I'd recommend saving your money and not buying anything in addition to the subs. Put the money towards the XMC-1 (or a Dirac MiniDSP product). The anti-mode is dedicated room correction system for your subwoofer. From what everyone says, it's great at what it does, but I bet their popularity has died off as room correction has become integrated into receivers. Even the most basic Audyssey MultEQ provides more filters (128 vs 36), but that's not likely an issue anyway unless your sub's response is terrible (in which case you probably have other issues you should be resolving through placement/treatment). If you already have some form of well-regarded room correction, then I would advise against chaining them. Just keep things simple and let Audyssey, Dirac, etc. handle it. All these systems are trying to do the same thing through parametric EQ. No point in risking running into strange interaction issues. One exception would be Pioneer's MCACC. It hardly provides any subwoofer correction so I could see chaining off a Pioneer receiver to get the best of both. The MiniDSP products are very flexible and powerful. The 2x4 has multiple channels for integrating your subs (as far as delay and level). The anti-mode is one channel and doesn't help with that. The subs you are looking at already have level/delay controls, so you can just use those. -tm This makes quite a bit of sense. I'm hoping that Dirac will do a good job with my subs, but I'm not sure how well it does dual subs vs single subs. I also don't know when I'll be able to pick up an XMC-1 either, could be a while. |
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Post by millst on Sept 9, 2016 15:00:28 GMT -5
If you're willing to spend the time, the UMC-200 has manual parametric EQ. You should be able to achieve similar or better depending on your time and effort. If you want something automatic then the Anti-Mode is probably your best bet for a stopgap. The MiniDSP products with Dirac cost quite a bit more.
-tm
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Post by sheetmetalworker on Sept 9, 2016 15:24:23 GMT -5
So you replaced four subs with a single 3000i then? Cool! What differences in sound did you notice when using the Anti-mode? The difference I heard was less of the room affecting the low bass. Better articulation of bass notes. It tamed the the room modes and made listening and integration much better. I hope this was helpful. I also leave the anti- mode in its flat setting. |
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Post by jcisbig on Sept 9, 2016 16:19:21 GMT -5
If you're willing to spend the time, the UMC-200 has manual parametric EQ. You should be able to achieve similar or better depending on your time and effort. If you want something automatic then the Anti-Mode is probably your best bet for a stopgap. The MiniDSP products with Dirac cost quite a bit more. -tm Yes, I currently make use of the PEQ in my UMC-200. Having only 3 filters for the subwoofer can make it hard to get the whole subwoofer range flat. |
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Post by millst on Sept 9, 2016 18:17:21 GMT -5
Oh, guess I forgot that it had so few filters. Bummer.
-tm
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Post by jcisbig on Sept 10, 2016 7:59:53 GMT -5
Yeah, 3 isn't much to work with! I'm not sure how many the XMC-1 has, but it also has Dirac so I'm guessing most people use that instead of manual EQ's.
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Post by millst on Sept 10, 2016 11:10:41 GMT -5
11 per channel. At least a couple people here use it, but Dirac is a huge sell point for the XMC-1 so I'm sure that most are using that or nothing.
-tm
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Post by jcisbig on Sept 10, 2016 22:40:43 GMT -5
11 per channel. At least a couple people here use it, but Dirac is a huge sell point for the XMC-1 so I'm sure that most are using that or nothing. -tm That's what I'd assume. Do you know how many filters Dirac will apply to the subwoofer range? Is it limited to the 11 that the XMC-1's PEQs can do, or do they have way more? |
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Post by millst on Sept 10, 2016 22:51:19 GMT -5
I'm not sure. I suspect it's much higher, like Audyssey's filter count, but haven't seen specific numbers either way. Dirac is pretty secretive about the secret sauce.
-tm
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