ckn58
Seeker Of Truth
Posts: 6 
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Post by ckn58 on Sept 14, 2016 13:53:21 GMT -5
Hi
Just got my new Emotivas today and got them up and running! XPA-2 and XSP-1. Also bought an Audiovector Avantgarde tower. Primare CDP. Kimber cable for speaker cables. Nordost balanced for CDP-Pre. Getting the second balanced cable to connect the Pre-Power tomorrow so today running it on Unabalanced.
Another connection to make tomorrow would be the Preout from my Onkyo AVR to the HT bypass to hook the towers to my HT as well. I am excited to see how that is going to work out!
Expected everything to be extra-bright considering that all elements were new- Pre, Power, Speakers and Cables. But after about 7 hours of running, things seem to be already settling down! (Btw, what would be the "normal" time for this?)
I was apprehensive about the set up considering that I could not get a proper demo of the units despite trying with dealers in three different cities. Unfortunatley couldnt meet anyone who had Emo gear in India! (So happy to hoist one flag for the gear in Mumbai, India!
)
Still, went by the surfeit of good reviews that abound on the net and took the chance. Happy to say right up that the chance looks like it is paying off! Already love the sound even though everything is to break-in yet!
Any suggestions for someone starting off is always welcome. Thanks in advance.
Cheers. Narayan.
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Post by geebo on Sept 14, 2016 14:01:04 GMT -5
Welcome to the Lounge and congrats on the cool gear.  |
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Post by Wideawake on Sept 14, 2016 14:20:03 GMT -5
Very cool! You shall be the envy of the town. I travel to Mumbai sometimes. Would love to pop in for a listen.
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Post by Soup on Sept 14, 2016 14:23:47 GMT -5
You rule!
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Post by garbulky on Sept 14, 2016 14:24:50 GMT -5
Suggestions 1. Play around with your speaker positioning and toe in a loooooot.
2. Get acoustic panels. This one
ats acoustic panel 24x48x2
Put it behind your couch at head level.
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hemster
Global Moderator 
Particle Manufacturer
...still listening... still watching
Posts: 51,950
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Post by hemster on Sept 14, 2016 14:26:26 GMT -5
Hardik welcome to the lounge Narayan. You have a nice system. You'll love your system even more after a few hours. Let us know how much! I believe do we have several others in India enjoying their Emotiva gear too. I travel to Mumbai about 4-5x/year. Keep in touch and maybe I can buy you some chatpata in Chowpatty.  |
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Post by garbulky on Sept 14, 2016 18:11:01 GMT -5
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Post by mshump on Sept 14, 2016 20:14:33 GMT -5
Welcome to the lounge ! Congratulations ! Now enjoy the music !!
Mark
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Post by drtrey3 on Sept 14, 2016 21:21:48 GMT -5
Great set up! Pull up a chair and join us. It is great to have you as part of the family.
Trey
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Post by yun66 on Sept 14, 2016 23:09:14 GMT -5
I just got a new XSP-1 on Monday. It replaces USP-1. I can share with you some of my initial impressions on XSP-1. Right after hooked it up, I didn't have time to play it. I left it on for about 24 h. I played a few hours yesterday and today. Wow! I could tell an obvious improvement over USP-1 although I'm by no means an audiophile. I mainly listen classicals. The stereo imaging is obviously better. The sound resolution is notably better. The clarity is so good that I could see spaces between instruments. The treble is better controlled compared to USP-1. When volume was high with USP-1, the overall sound became muddy. XSP-1 is still good at similar sound levels. The female vocals are very smooth and sweet even at high pitch, very enjoyable compared to USP-1. I once tried to tame the highs of my old system when listening some sopranos, which sometime could be migraine inducing, with a tube buffer without much success. A DAC from PS Audio improved a bit. I had to play them at lower volumes. I've been thinking about putting up some acoustic panels. Now XSP-1 already makes my system sound better. I imagine that room treatment could improve even more. In addition to the sound improvement, the XSP-1 volume control is a night and day better than USP-1. Now I can adjust the volume to my like with confidence. I truly enjoy it!
I think you'll like your XSP-1!
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Post by deltadube on Sept 14, 2016 23:28:44 GMT -5
Congrats on the new stereo set up .. love the xsp 1 .. as for the speakers breaking in time could be up to 1 yr.. its a very gradual process..
according to a top level paradigm manager who came to my home.. I really don't think solid state equipment break in they just go...
just listen and enjoy..
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ckn58
Seeker Of Truth
Posts: 6
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Post by ckn58 on Sept 15, 2016 7:48:22 GMT -5
Suggestions 1. Play around with your speaker positioning and toe in a loooooot. 2. Get acoustic panels. This one ats acoustic panel 24x48x2 Put it behind your couch at head level. Ok! Right now playing them with hardly any toe-in. Let me get used to that and then shall try what you have suggested. Never had heard of acoustic panels until now! Tx. Will learn more on this and see whether and how to implement. Tx! |
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ckn58
Seeker Of Truth
Posts: 6
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Post by ckn58 on Sept 15, 2016 7:59:08 GMT -5
Hardik welcome to the lounge Narayan. You have a nice system. You'll love your system even more after a few hours. Let us know how much! I believe do we have several others in India enjoying their Emotiva gear too. I travel to Mumbai about 4-5x/year. Keep in touch and maybe I can buy you some chatpata in Chowpatty. You are on! Give me a shout next time you are going to be around! |
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ckn58
Seeker Of Truth
Posts: 6
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Post by ckn58 on Sept 15, 2016 8:07:04 GMT -5
The stereo imaging is obviously better. The sound resolution is notably better. The clarity is so good that I could see spaces between instruments. The treble is better controlled compared to USP-1. I think you'll like your XSP-1! You can say that again! I already am! The first thing that I noticed is the space between instruments as you have put it. I have not experienced that in my previous systems- not noticeably anyway. But here that aspect was quite distinct. And that elevates the enjoyments a good deal! Also, what I am also loving is the separation that i am now able to spot between instruments. That is proving to be a delight too! Like the guy in the Mcdonald's ad says, I am loving it! |
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ckn58
Seeker Of Truth
Posts: 6
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Post by ckn58 on Sept 15, 2016 9:30:35 GMT -5
Here is some update on my new gear:
Connected up the HT bypass to the pre out of my AVR. I am currently using a Bolzano Vellitri omnipolar speaker for fronts in my HT. They are super speakers. But today when I played the music with HT bypass on with both the towers playing, it was mind blowing! Of course, the delicacy of the Xsp procssing was quite different from that being done by the Onkyo AVR. But the two towers playing together took the whole thing to a new level!
Enthused, I switched to playing movies, now using both the towers for fronts. What an experience! Fast and Furious, Transporter were two that I tried out- awesome! I had been thinking of adding a second sub but with today's experience that is totally out! The Audio Vector has kickass bass already and combined, the two towers was super.
Switched to playing a music DVD (Eagles reunion concert n 5.1) and was that another mind blower! This time around, I switched off the sub as there was already sufficient bass with my two towers playing. With the front towers taking over the main duty, the surrounds were performing wonderefully too and the overall exprience was fantastic.
I also discovered that the set up (in stereo mode) was VERY unforgiving of poor recordings. I pulled out an old album of Yes that I used to love in my younger days. I hadnt realized how horrible that CD quality was until I played it yesterday. I immediately junked it!
Continuing the burn-in process. Will be back with more expriences. Am no expert so I wont use expressions that dot many a review. I rely on my ear and the good feeling that the sound creates within me as a measure of what is good and what is not!
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Post by garbulky on Sept 15, 2016 9:54:24 GMT -5
Cool. Yeah when I said toe in I didn't mean you MUST toe in the speakers. It means you should experiment with toe in in. Tiny changes to speaker positioning can yield significant differences. There is usually at least one optimum position but you don't arrive at it instantly. How far the speakers are apart and how far from the back wall they are also makes a different. Also they should be ideally on the same plane - not one slightly in front of the other.
Also if there is anything between you and the speakers, it can reduce the clarity of the soundstage (like cofee tables, a side couch blocking one speaker).
There is something called a live end dead end room acoustic setup where one side - say the front is live with not much acoustic treatment while the other side - say the back - is covered in acoustic treatment.
I'll tell you that acoustic treatments made a large positive difference for me. I didn't even realize how much the room was muddying up the sound. However, you should know that sometimes depending on the way you use it, you can experience negative issues too - especially if you are using a lot.
For instance in my room the 4 inch thick panels were too much robbing the mid range while the 2 inch panels worked a bit better.
Others have had more positive experience with 4 inch panels. So I guess it depends.
There is also something called acoustic foam - which doesn't have a solid back to it. It doesn't do near as much as acoustic treatments but it's much cheaper (and a bit uglier) and you can use a lot of it to supplement the acoustic treatment. I use it for increase overall coverage. There is no real negatives to using it. But it doesn't drastically absorb the sound (not as effective) but it did clear up the treble and upper mid range a bit for me.
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ckn58
Seeker Of Truth
Posts: 6
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Post by ckn58 on Nov 15, 2016 12:28:18 GMT -5
PROBLEM REGARDING STATIC SOUNDS AFTER ADDING THE DAC
I added the Stealth DAC to my system as I am now listening to music from the Net. I have to rely on Youtube as other stations are not available from India. I have connected the PC to the Stealth using USB cable. Now here is the problem:
While playing music from Youtube, I am hearing some static type sound. It has been there off and on (not continuous, is what I mean). Like what I used to get while playing vinyl records long ago. Or maybe what you used to get from the old radios. I hope I am conveying the sound that I keep hearing.
Any views, solutions for this?
Thanks in advance.
Narayan.
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