Sherbourn PT-7030 AV Preamp - The OFFICIAL Thread

[eagleman]

Dec 7, 2013 0:35:01 GMT -5 scpanel said:

Well all, I've found my new processor and am listening to music as I type this. I have not heard reproduction this good since my Proceed AVP or HTS 7.1. I see why this Krell piece was this so touted, its incredible, the bass, and involving sound.. Anyway good luck!

Are you saying this is the same as the Krell processor?

[swampfire]

No, he sold his PT-7030 and went off topic talking about his (presumably much more expensive) Krell. Apples and oranges.

Dec 22, 2013 23:15:26 GMT -5 eagleman said:

Dec 7, 2013 0:35:01 GMT -5 scpanel said:

Well all, I've found my new processor and am listening to music as I type this. I have not heard reproduction this good since my Proceed AVP or HTS 7.1. I see why this Krell piece was this so touted, its incredible, the bass, and involving sound.. Anyway good luck!

Are you saying this is the same as the Krell processor?

[Erwin.BE]

"The Foundation will be available at Krell authorized dealers in February 2013 for $6,500 MSRP"

It seems a nice peace though...

[swampfire]

Just to further characterize this audio dropout issue...I'm experiencing it now whenever I un-pause internet content (Netflix, Hulu, etc.). It happens with multichannel and stereo audio. It also happens when returning from ads on Hulu. I'm getting used to it, but I got annoyed when my wife asked me to pause something to explain it, and when I resumed I missed some key dialog and had to rewind, overshot and had to watch 3 minutes over again. First world problems, for sure.

[swampfire]

Quiet group here.

I have a question about disabling bass management for stereo playback. Tonight I wanted to use just my L/R speakers to listen to an SACD. In the SPEAKER SETUP menu, I set FRONT to "LARGE" and SUBWOOFER to "NO". Then I went into the CROSSOVERS menu, and the lowest it would let me to set FRONT to was 40Hz. Does that mean that the 7030 is still doing highpass filtering even with the sub disabled?

EDIT (answering my own question): No, the 7030 doesn't do any filtering in this mode. The FRONT speaker crossover setting appears to have no effect if I set FRONT to LARGE, regardless of whether SUBWOOFER is YES or NO.  This is pretty easy to verify by setting the crossover to 200Hz, and then swapping between LARGE and SMALL. 

[dkloosh]

Ive had mine for 2 weeks now and am very happy ,one question i have is that my Subwoofer volume output seams awfully low ,like its starving. I have to turn the Gain almost 3/4, is there a way to manage/configure this ?

[joelsolid]

Hey! I have seen you before...

This is a known issue from many 7030 users including myself. But with the EQ it isn't too hard to fix. I increased the lowest 3 bands as well as moved the frequency range of those three bands and had great results.

I do agree though it shouldn't be that hard to get the LFE how it should be.

Hopefully the LFE level is something Emotiva is looking at for the upcoming firmware update that they promised...............................

[swampfire]

I'm using iTunes to EQ my stereo listening for now (too busy to run REW to get PEQ settings for the PT-7030, even though I have everything I need). After a lot of tweaking, this sounds great to me:



I've been listening to this for 6 hours straight while painting my home theater. I'm sure this isn't "correct" but it sounds good to me.

[dkloosh]

Thanks for your feedback gents, This EQ is nice cause you can actually change the Freqs to what is desired, I also changed my Sub to cross at 120hz,,Huge difference, Im ALOT happier each day with this preamp

[swampfire]

I usually pick things apart, but after 3 weeks of living with the PT-7030 the ONLY flaw I can find is the initial audio drop-out. Paired with the XPA-5, I feel like I got a $4000 system for $1600. It's a big step up sound-wise from my Pioneer SC-05 AVR, and simpler to use.

When all the dust settles (in about a month), my system will be:

• Sony VPL-HW55 projector
• Carada 120" 2.35 AR screen (flanked by 16" of black velvet for zooming)
• Sherbourn PT-7030 Pre/Pro
• Emotiva XPA-5 Amp
• Vienna Acoustics "Bachs" for front L/R
• Hsu VTF-3 Mark 2 Subwoofer
• Ascend Center and RR/LR Surrounds

Fed by these sources:

• AppleTV (for AirPlay)
• Sony BDP-S590 BluRay/SACD player
• PS3
• Music Hall mmf-5 w/ $700 in phono gear (holy crap, I really got carried away with the vinyl)
  
• Yamaha T-7 tuner

[swampfire]

I needed a break from painting, so I tried to transfer my iTunes EQ settings to the PT-7030. This reminded me of the one other issue with the PT-7030: there's a big gap between 200Hz and 1100Hz. I'm not sure that it's that big of a deal, though. If the PT-7030 extrapolates between these frequencies, it works for me. Here are the filters I set on the PT-7030 for L/R, which greatly improved the sound of my SACDs:

32Hz	+2
64	0
100	-1
140	-1
200	-2
1.11k	-6
2.00k	-5
4.0k	-3
8.1k	0
16k	-1

BTW what I mean by "extrapolating" is that in my case, 5k would be roughly 4dB down.

I probably won't bother changing this until I install room treatments, hopefully in January.

[dkloosh]

I had the Integra dhc 80.2 before i purchased the 7030 , I will tell you after setting the 7030 up with the EQ it does a superb job,,Pro to the People!

My setup:

ATI  1505 amp
PT 7030
Pioneer BDP-320
PS3
MIT Z Center Power Conditioner
Directv box
MIT Z cords, Silnote Poseidon Power Cables
MIT AVT 1 Speaker and Interconnect Cables
JL Audio Fathom F112 Sub
Salk Songtower Speakers
Aurlex Foam Treatment, (still need more)

[swampfire]

Has anyone successfully used the HDMI CEC feature to power on/off their TVs? It's not working with my Samsung UN32EH5000. Based on a quick scan of the web, I think the TV is at fault. I have CEC CONTROL and CEC POWER both set to ON, and I've tried both HDMI outputs.

[dkloosh]

What is the best compatible Universal remote to replace the current pt-7030 one ?

[rolling01au]

Jan 1, 2014 22:25:29 GMT -5 dkloosh said:

What is the best compatible Universal remote to replace the current pt-7030 one ?

I use a harmony,works perfect.

[swampfire]

Jan 1, 2014 22:25:29 GMT -5 dkloosh said:

What is the best compatible Universal remote to replace the current pt-7030 one ?

I bought a cheap Sony learning remote, works great.

[tomrc]

I see on the back of the PT-7030 there's a RJ-45 "computer" port, is there networking capabilities? Is there a network remote app for the i-phone or android? I really like using my Nexus 7 as a "universal remote" and an app for my processor is the only thing I'm missing. One of my "must haves" for my next processor. The PT-7030 looks like it will do everything I need and at $699 it's a bargain.

[repeetavx]

From page 8 of the PT-7030 Owners Manual

1. Computer Input (RJ-45 connector)
Connect a computer or other RS-232 serial device to this input to perform firmware updates to
control the PT-7030 remotely via RS-232.
Note: This is an RS-232 type serial connection using an RJ-45 connector. This input MUST
be connected to an RS-232 serial port on a computer or remote control device using an
appropriate (provided) RS-232 to RJ-45 adapter cable. Refer to page 43 for serial cable
pinouts and control codes.
WARNING: DO NOT CONNECT A COMPUTER NETWORK CABLE TO THIS CONNECTOR!
Doing so will result in hardware damage to your computer equipment or the PT-7030.

[thepar]

You will need a an RS-232 to usb adapter to connect to computer.

I have some issues with EMI/RFI interference from the 7030 and the XPA-5. I have unplugged everything from the outlets except for 7030 and the XPA-5. At first I thought it was my computer but I turned computer off and issue still exists. I also unpluged all cables (XLR) going from unit to unit. I unplugged the 7030 and interference went away. Anyone else have this issue?

[swampfire]

Jan 3, 2014 8:49:58 GMT -5 thepar said:

I have some issues with EMI/RFI interference from the 7030 and the XPA-5. I have unplugged everything from the outlets except for 7030 and the XPA-5. At first I thought it was my computer but I turned computer off and issue still exists. I also unpluged all cables (XLR) going from unit to unit. I unplugged the 7030 and interference went away. Anyone else have this issue?

Do you mean hum? I connected my 7030 to my XPA-5 using cheap balanced cables, and put 12" of space between them. They're plugged into the same 15A outlet. FWIW I don't hear anything even with the volume at 100 and my ear at the speaker.