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Post by garbulky on Apr 3, 2020 20:37:01 GMT -5
I think it's a user configuration issue which is causing only HDMI output. Something has gotten accidentally flipped in a menu restricting output to HDMI only.
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Post by Boomzilla on Apr 3, 2020 22:04:48 GMT -5
Perhaps a Viking style funeral...send it on down the river in a funeral pyre. The people downstream will wonder what the heck is happening up in Baton Rouge!?!?!? Mark New Orleans is used to seeing flames coming down the river from Baton Rouge. But at least there's a swamp buffer between the two cities - read "A Confederacy of Dunces" for details...
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Post by tchaik on Apr 3, 2020 22:26:13 GMT -5
Perhaps a Viking style funeral...send it on down the river in a funeral pyre. The people downstream will wonder what the heck is happening up in Baton Rouge!?!?!? Mark New Orleans is used to seeing flames coming down the river from Baton Rouge. But at least there's a swamp buffer between the two cities - read "A Confederacy of Dunces" for details...[/quot
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Post by Boomzilla on Apr 4, 2020 1:30:44 GMT -5
I think it's a user configuration issue which is causing only HDMI output. Something has gotten accidentally flipped in a menu restricting output to HDMI only. My first thought too, garbulky, but a full factory reset made no difference and I verified the settings by checking the user manual. Since the TV still gets HDMI audio, I can use the TV’s TOSLINK output to feed the DAC. And it worked! The Oppo's TOSLINK output is still live, and I've got sound to the stereo.
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Post by Boomzilla on Apr 8, 2020 11:09:34 GMT -5
Another check-in on the Ashly FTX-2001 "pro" amplifier -
I hooked up the amp (having removed the top for cooling and with the fan disconnected to stop the noise) to some Magnepan LRS speakers. And (unusually for me) I cranked it all up! The Ashly's meters were jumping in the middle and even the upper portions of their ranges! Normally, they never even flicker...
Keeping in mind that the Ashly puts out 500 watts into the Magnepan's 4-ohm load, this is impressive. The Magnepan speakers were loud but not "party loud" at about 60% of the preamp's output. And the sound was very good! It didn't have the last iota of resolution that the Emotiva PA-1 amps have into the Magnepan speakers, but it was sweeter-sounding and had an equivalently good sound stage. I think that the MOSFET output stage of the amp accounts for these factors, but I'm speculating.
The Ashly is not a Class-D design like the Emotiva PA-1s. In the bass, I found little difference between the Ashly and the PA-1s - both put out FAR more bass than I'd expected from the LRS speakers. In the midrange, the "softness" of the Ashly became slightly apparent. If you like a "laid-back" presentation, you might actually prefer the Ashley. But in the treble, the PA-1s stepped out decisively over the Ashly. I hadn't expected the Class-D PA-1s to do so much better, but they do.
In fact, the PA-1s sound SO good with the Magnepan speakers, that I'm wondering if other Class-D amplifiers with more watts would work well with the Magnepan speakers too. One can buy Class-D "pro" stereo amps (with NO DSP, thank you very much Andrew Robinson) for a song that put out 500, 750, or even 1,000 watts into 4 ohms. In fact, get a pair and bridge them for up to 3,000 watts! Would one be sacrificing sound quality for economy?
Boomzilla
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Post by dsonyay on Apr 8, 2020 17:58:24 GMT -5
Crown amps. I keep reading stellar stuff on this thing.. puts out a boat load of power..
Look for Andrew Robinson on YouTube. He reviewed one a short while back
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Post by dsonyay on Apr 8, 2020 17:59:30 GMT -5
Oops.. read right over your remark abiut Andrew R. Lol
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Post by Boomzilla on Apr 8, 2020 18:10:17 GMT -5
Crown makes a lot of different amps. The most popular ones (the ones that Andrew Robinson trumpets) have a digital processor built in. The problem with that is that the amps are using an analog input signal, not a digital one. Therefore, to manipulate the signal, the Crown amp converts the analog input back to digital, does its changes, and then converts the digital signal back to analog prior to amplification.
The rule of thumb for good-sounding digital audio is to avoid as many A-D and D-A conversions as possible. So not only is the Crown throwing in two unnecessary conversions, but they're also doing it with converter chips cheaper than the ones in your cell phone. And it sounds it.
Now Crown does make some amps that lack that digital signal processing (DSP) sound-killer module. A plain vanilla, non-DSP amplifier from Crown probably sounds far better than the XLS series, but since I haven't heard one, this is speculation on my part.
I have owned the Crown XLS-1000, 2000, and 2500 (all on Andrew's rave recommendations) and I couldn't abide any of them. Since I've always liked Crowns, I may give them one more chance with a non-DSP amp. But if it isn't head and shoulders better than the XLS series, I'm done with them forever.
YMMV
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Post by audiobill on Apr 8, 2020 18:25:25 GMT -5
Boom, check out QSC amps over at Sweetwater.....
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Post by Boomzilla on Apr 8, 2020 21:42:16 GMT -5
Boom, check out QSC amps over at Sweetwater..... Thanks, Bill; I’ll do it.
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Post by dsonyay on Apr 8, 2020 22:13:00 GMT -5
Yeah Boom.. I think the XLi series is what doesn't have DSP. Would be interesting to know how those compare
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Post by Boomzilla on Apr 9, 2020 5:21:03 GMT -5
And reading in the DIY and Audiokarma forums, I found that if I use the "summed mono" bass output of my Dahlquist DQ-LP1 crossover, it should work again. Apparently the switch combines the right and left channels prior to the active circuitry and therefore, if either channel is working, you still get summed mono bass output. Of course, the crossover doesn't use fully differential circuitry, so that goes away, but at least I'll have a functioning crossover again. It'll suffice until I can troubleshoot.
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Post by Boomzilla on Apr 9, 2020 14:29:13 GMT -5
Yeah Boom.. I think the XLi series is what doesn't have DSP. Would be interesting to know how those compare In fact, the Crown customer service rep specifically recommended the Crown Lxi3500 model to me. I may check it out.
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Post by dsonyay on Apr 9, 2020 17:47:00 GMT -5
Yeah Boom.. I think the XLi series is what doesn't have DSP. Would be interesting to know how those compare In fact, the Crown customer service rep specifically recommended the Crown Lxi3500 model to me. I may check it out. Yeah, those models are not expensive at all either.
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Post by Boomzilla on Apr 9, 2020 21:08:57 GMT -5
$550 for a new, but open box one.
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Post by Boomzilla on Apr 10, 2020 12:47:40 GMT -5
Bad news. I lifted the skirt on one of my Magnepan II models, hoping to find a blown tweeter fuse that I could replace to get the tweeters tweeting again. No such luck. This model has no tweeter fuse, meaning that the blown tweeters are blown until such time as they get replaced. Since the replacement process involves toxic solvents and adhesives, I'm calling these speakers DOA and giving them a proper burial. De mortuis nil nisi bonum...
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Post by Boomzilla on Apr 11, 2020 10:51:40 GMT -5
Directions...
Remembering the two best systems I've ever owned, I'm contemplating how to get back to that level of performance. The problem is that the two systems were radically different. But in retrospect, I'd be happy to have the sound of either.
The first was a system built for relative accuracy. It used:
Russell Coco modified AR turntable with a Magnepan unipivot tonearm (later replaced with a Technics SL-1200 Mk. II) Denon DL-103s phono cartridge (low-output moving coil with Shibata stylus) Mark Levinson moving coil pre-preamp (later replaced with Sony HA-T10 step-up transformers) A Frank van Alstine modified Dynaco PAS tube preamplifier Adcom GFA-1 "cube" solid-state high-output power amplifier Dahlquist DQ-10a speakers (mirror imaged with polyethylene caps)
This setup sounded awesome, and I could listen to it for hours, enjoying every minute.
The second system I bought off CraigsList because it was cheap. It consisted of:
Vacuum Tube Logic (VTL) "Compact 100" mono-block tube power amplifiers Klipsch La Scala speakers
The rest of the system was whatever CD player and solid-state preamp I had at the time
Although you could hear the tube sweetness through this rig, the entirety of the thing made CDs sound like analog records. It was the very first system I'd had since the introduction of CD that I could say that about. But one of the transformers on one of the VTLs had an occasional short that made an apocalyptic thump through the La Scalas on a random basis. I had both transformers replaced with generic equivalents (since VTL parts were not to be found anywhere), but the amps never sounded the same afterwards.
The disparities between those two "benchmark" systems contribute mightily to my "audio-schizophrenia." Do I want an accurate system or a dynamic one? Ultimately, I think I probably want both. Getting there, though, has been elusive, to say the least.
Systems I've heard lately that have approached or equaled the performance of the two mentioned above include:
Stacked Dahlquist DQ-10a speakers driven by a Crown PS-2 power amplifier (Jolida tube DAC & passive preamp)
Thiel 5i speakers driven by a Krell monster amp (Jolida tube DAC & passive preamp)
Axiom M80 speakers driven by an Emotiva XPA-1 pair (Stealth DC-1 used as DAC and preamp)
The first two of the above systems used subwoofers below 100 Hz. The subs were powered by an Electron Kinetics Eagle 2a amplifier. The third system would not have sufficient bass in my room without subs.
To be continued...
Boomzilla
PS: The surprising success of the stacked DQ-10 speakers is what is making me wonder what a pair of stacked Emotiva T2 speakers could do...
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Post by garbulky on Apr 11, 2020 12:22:51 GMT -5
Only those Thiels would do well without subs. I would be quite interested in seeing what stacked T2 speakers could do. They may be quite surprising.
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Post by Boomzilla on Apr 11, 2020 13:03:10 GMT -5
Since Thiel 5i speakers are rarer than hen's teeth, probably not shippable without damage, and unlikely to have drivers and crossovers intact, I think I should probably eliminate them from consideration. Although they would have been nice...
Dahlquist DQ-10a speakers are readily available and not too expensive, but there would still be the cost of custom stands.
A Dahlquist DQ-20i speaker might work in my room (with or without subwoofers) and would likely suffice for the volumes I listen at.
A Thiel 3.0 speaker with subwoofers would be equivalent to the DQ-20i.
But every one of the above speakers are discontinued models with questionable drivers and crossovers. And the availability of replacement parts is on the steady decline.
So what contemporary speakers would provide equivalent performance?
Off the top of my head...
Possibly vertically stacked Emotiva T2s? Golden Ear's top of the line Definitive Technology's Bi-Polar models Magnepan 3.7i speakers Klipsch La Scalas (or Klipschorns) with a tube amp
The Emotivas, Klipsches, and Magnepan's would definitely need subwoofers - the Golden Ear and DefTech speakers probably wouldn't.
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Post by foggy1956 on Apr 11, 2020 13:15:16 GMT -5
Since Thiel 5i speakers are rarer than hen's teeth, probably not shippable without damage, and unlikely to have drivers and crossovers intact, I think I should probably eliminate them from consideration. Although they would have been nice... Dahlquist DQ-10a speakers are readily available and not too expensive, but there would still be the cost of custom stands. A Dahlquist DQ-20i speaker might work in my room (with or without subwoofers) and would likely suffice for the volumes I listen at. A Thiel 3.0 speaker with subwoofers would be equivalent to the DQ-20i. But every one of the above speakers are discontinued models with questionable drivers and crossovers. And the availability of replacement parts is on the steady decline. So what contemporary speakers would provide equivalent performance? Off the top of my head... Possibly vertically stacked Emotiva T2s? Golden Ear's top of the line Definitive Technology's Bi-Polar models Magnepan 3.7i speakers Klipsch La Scalas (or Klipschorns) with a tube amp The Emotivas, Klipsches, and Magnepan's would definitely need subwoofers - the Golden Ear and DefTech speakers probably wouldn't. May want to consider the Tekton Double Impacts, love mine
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