xmc-1 and minidsp and bass management

[pknaz]

Sept 30, 2017 23:44:13 GMT -5 leonski said:

I'm definately NOT current, but the MacBook Pro has HDMI port?

The new ones don't, but adapters are easy enough to come by

[deepstage]

Hopefully my minidsp HD arrives today and I get a chance to do some quick measurements and simple adjustments tonight.

One thing I've noticed, when the speaker pops during loud bursts, I see the amp lights show near or at clipping. Running the UM15-22 rated at 800 watts off one channel rated at 1800@4 ohms should I be seeing the lights on the amp get that far? Is the amp clipping somehow? Really sounds like the speaker, though I just didn't expect the amp to show that it's working that hard.

[enricoclaudio]

My MacBook Pro from mid-21015 does HDMI out. The new one with touch bar has only USB C connector so you will need to buy an USB C to HDMI adapter.

[dust770]

Oct 2, 2017 22:24:56 GMT -5 enricoclaudio said:

My MacBook Pro from mid-21015 does HDMI out. The new one with touch bar has only USB C connector so you will need to buy an USB C to HDMI adapter.

Can we not just go from usb out on MacBook to USB front in on the XMC-1 ?

[leonski]

Oct 2, 2017 15:04:33 GMT -5 deepstage said:

Hopefully my minidsp HD arrives today and I get a chance to do some quick measurements and simple adjustments tonight.

One thing I've noticed, when the speaker pops during loud bursts, I see the amp lights show near or at clipping. Running the UM15-22 rated at 800 watts off one channel rated at 1800@4 ohms should I be seeing the lights on the amp get that far? Is the amp clipping somehow? Really sounds like the speaker, though I just didn't expect the amp to show that it's working that hard.

You have the 'plugin' ready to go?    Calibrated mic with its correction file?   Some familiarity with the Mini plugin software?     The on-site manual looks helpful and should assist in getting the 'right' package for
your needs, though their IS a bunch of overlap.

[deepstage]

I already have the mic, REW, cal file and everything ready. Don't have the plugin yet but he told me on the minidsp forum that it should have a coupon in the box to download the plugin.
As per the usual the USPS has horrible tracking info and who knows when it will show up. Supposed to yesterday and now I have a feeling I'll be lucky to have it by Wed

[leonski]

Did you hear the rumor? FED_X is going to Merge with UPS?
They are going to call the new company
FED-UP

[deepstage]

Well the MiniDSP HD showed up, as well as my new rca's and rca's to XLR to feed the CV-5000 amp. I only got a chance to get it all setup and try some simple crossover settings to see how they affected the output. For its basic functions, the HD is really easy to use and make adjustments. Unfortunately, anything below 30Hz and especially down near 20Hz resulted in noise from the subwoofer. I watched the Matrix reloaded before bed and it still peforms at moderate volume levels, but I had to be careful with the gain on the sub.

I took the sub out of the box when I got home tonight and can hear a slight scratching sound while pressing down a little. If I pull the cone up to near where I imagine Xmax is, I can hear and feel a more pronounced click and snap when I release it. Pretty sure the voice coil is damaged. Pretty odd being that I never overpowered the sub with the Dayton amp.

So I'll be doing some measurements with it just for fun this weekend while I decide what to do. May get the dual XXLS peerless 12" drivers and build boxes for them, then replace the Dayton or even go bigger to really tackle the extreme low end for movies. There are some serious nodes in my room so I'll definitely be using multiple subs to try and smooth out the response in the future.

[fattykidd]

Oct 5, 2017 22:02:56 GMT -5 deepstage said:

Well the MiniDSP HD showed up, as well as my new rca's and rca's to XLR to feed the CV-5000 amp. I only got a chance to get it all setup and try some simple crossover settings to see how they affected the output. For its basic functions, the HD is really easy to use and make adjustments. Unfortunately, anything below 30Hz and especially down near 20Hz resulted in noise from the subwoofer. I watched the Matrix reloaded before bed and it still peforms at moderate volume levels, but I had to be careful with the gain on the sub.

I took the sub out of the box when I got home tonight and can hear a slight scratching sound while pressing down a little. If I pull the cone up to near where I imagine Xmax is, I can hear and feel a more pronounced click and snap when I release it. Pretty sure the voice coil is damaged. Pretty odd being that I never overpowered the sub with the Dayton amp.

So I'll be doing some measurements with it just for fun this weekend while I decide what to do. May get the dual XXLS peerless 12" drivers and build boxes for them, then replace the Dayton or even go bigger to really tackle the extreme low end for movies. There are some serious nodes in my room so I'll definitely be using multiple subs to try and smooth out the response in the future.

Is it possible the coil is out of alignment? Dayton’s qc was pretty hit or miss from what I remember on some of the ultimax shipments.
Might explain the “intermittent“ issues.

[deepstage]

I don't think so. It's always possible that is was a dud from the get go and just couldn't handle much. I know it was smooth when pushing the cone in and out when I first got it.

I have an old JL Audio 12W1 from 20 years ago I never used. It's their basic sub. I made an adapter plate to mount it in the same 3 foot sealed enclosure that the Dayton sub was in. Did a simple crossover with the Mini and it sounds pretty darn good. It does model well in that size enclosure by coincidence too. It actually has usable output a little below 20Hz where the Dayton just hit a brick wall. The cone of the Dayton would do a very odd and asymmetrical motion below 20 which I'm sure is an artifact of whatever damage it has. Another one is on order to replace it. I'm interested to see how it measures in direct comparison to the JL in the same enclosure. It shouldn't even be close.

[deepstage]

A quick observation I would like to make, as testament to Dirac. I have only run Dirac once, before I started having subwoofer issues. I liked what it did with the mains, though sub frequencies seemed a little weak. No big deal as, like I said, I only ran it once and didn't put much effort into it. I noticed a broader, deeper sound all around.

Running my Dirac setting with the JL audio sub hooked up sounds, for the lack of a better term, underwhelming. So even though the JL audio sub sounds pretty good right out of the box just playing some music in stereo, with a few adjustments, I would have to re-run Dirac again to really get it incorporated again. I may do this tonight to see how it sounds. It's just become a confusing mess now with the Mini DSP in the picture. It's going to take a lot more reading to figure out how to best incorporate it all. I'll be going back and re-reading some previous suggestions that were given by Keith and a few others. It's all just pretty temporary until I figure out what to do for a final subwoofer arrangement and setup.

I'm thinking as of now, my preferred setup, may be the dual XXLS 12's up front in a stereo setup, augmented by another sub behind my main listening position, tuned for very low output in movies. After hearing how decent this single JL Audio sub sounds in the sealed enclosure, I'm really believing the dual XXLS peerless subs will sound great up front, once equalized.

I just read a post keithmisegades started about his Clearwave audio 4cc center kit. I've always wanted to build one of these and may do it soon, along with the XXLS's. All of this pretty much means my system will be in a constant stated of upheaval for quite awhile, but that's ok. That's the fun part of this I guess. Always improving. I guess I should order my Oppo 203 soon too, while I'm at it

[marcl]

I'm a year and a half late to this thread but it's worth mentioning in case someone finds themselves here .... To get REW to play separately to each channel you need to use an HDMI output from your computer and use ASIO4ALL. Check out Austin Jerry's guide here www.minidsp.com/support/community-powered-tutorials/295-minidsp-tutorials-by-austinjerry

Getting ASIO4ALL to work consistently is quirky and requires attention to having the correct inputs and outputs active in the ASIO control panel.

Thank you Keith for the excellent explanation. It reminds me that when I use the noise from the XMC-1 to set levels and my sub crossovers that filters and bass management are not applied.