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Post by mrloren on Oct 8, 2018 23:28:31 GMT -5
Hello,
I was planning on getting an XPA3 for years. I thought May would be the time. Nope no bonus again this year. Stars did line up in the last few weeks. I received my new XPA 3 Gen # on Saturday.
After installing it and a quick Audyssey run. As I started to play some tunes I noticed it being a little hollow and thin. It didn't start to come alive till I changed the speakers to small and crossover to 80hz. Setting it there I am in business. I started putting it through the paces. Peter Gabriel, Rush, Scorpions, Pink Floyd Wish you were here plus a few others. The sound and clarity is just amazing. Much better than my BasX-A300. The ATMOS of Saving Private Ryan is insane and the new Sicario sounded great.
I posted two threads back in March. One asking if my 15A circuit can take the extra of the amp, so far so good. Other post was about the monster R/B/G HDTV RCA cables I'm using. Maybe that is the reason for the thin hollow sound.
I'm happy with my investment. Just need new RCA cables.
Samsung UN60H,
Denon AVR-X4400H, Emotiva XPA3 GEN3
Oppo BDP-93,Sony UBP-X800BM, Sony DVP-NS3100ES, WD Live HUB.
Main: Polk Signature S60
Center: Polk CSi-A6
Front High/Rear High In-Ceiling Polk 80F/X RT
Surrounds: Polk T15
Sub: HSU VTF3-MK5
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Post by creimes on Oct 9, 2018 3:34:37 GMT -5
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Post by AudioHTIT on Oct 9, 2018 5:34:38 GMT -5
If you’re using decent quality RGB component video cables they should work very well, they’re generally suitable for any type of signal and better than most (they’re also perfectly color coded for an XPA-3 😎). If they’re not the right length, or you don’t like the connectors or something, then sure get something that you like, but I personally wouldn’t expect a difference in sound there, but of course some will disagree. This is a good article on the use of digital and video cable for analog audio (well, good if you like reading articles about cable 😁) www.bluejeanscable.com/articles/digitalanalog.htmEnjoy your new amp! |
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Post by mrloren on Oct 12, 2018 22:08:02 GMT -5
Hello, So after listening all week I'm glad I made the step up from the BasX-A300 to the XPA3. There were a couple times where I thought it did sound thin or mid-bass was not right. I did a little digging into finding some decent RCA cables. I narrowed it down to SVS BJC or Signal Cable. I looked at Amazon and the SVS Sound Path were about the same cost as BJC. Not one negative on the function of the cables. BJC I've had sub cable go bad before. I ordered the SVS which arrived today. After installing the SVS cables I ran Audyssey 6 point calibration. Once finished I put on some Dire Straits, no thin or hollow sound at all, bass was actually a little bloated. I changed to small and C/O @ 80hz. Oh man how sweet it is. I thought it sounded good with the generic monster looking R/B/G cables. This is almost night and day. Other thing I noticed is this time Audyssey level was about -3 more than the first calibration with the yuck cable. Front left was at -3db after calibration it's -6db Front right came in the same center went down -2.5db. Skyscraper time  |
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Post by novisnick on Oct 12, 2018 22:12:00 GMT -5
Hello, So after listening all week I'm glad I made the step up from the BasX-A300 to the XPA3. There were a couple times where I thought it did sound thin or mid-bass was not right. I did a little digging into finding some decent RCA cables. I narrowed it down to SVS BJC or Signal Cable. I looked at Amazon and the SVS Sound Path were about the same cost as BJC. Not one negative on the function of the cables. BJC I've had sub cable go bad before. I ordered the SVS which arrived today. After installing the SVS cables I ran Audyssey 6 point calibration. Once finished I put on some Dire Straits, no thin or hollow sound at all, bass was actually a little bloated. I changed to small and C/O @ 80hz. Oh man how sweet it is. I thought it sounded good with the generic monster looking R/B/G cables. This is almost night and day. Other thing I noticed is this time Audyssey level was about -3 more than the first calibration with the yuck cable. Front left was at -3db after calibration it's -6db Front right came in the same center went down -2.5db. Skyscraper time And yet many say that cables don’t matter,,,,,,,,,,hmmmm,,,,, 🤔 |
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Post by donh50 on Oct 13, 2018 13:28:49 GMT -5
I strongly suspect the problem and solution was the Audyssey cal, nothing to do with the cables, plus setting the mains to small to use bass management. Running subs and mains together can result in signal cancellation that causes "thin" bass. But it's also possible you simply had a bad cable.
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Post by AudioHTIT on Oct 13, 2018 23:03:39 GMT -5
I strongly suspect the problem and solution was the Audyssey cal, nothing to do with the cables, plus setting the mains to small to use bass management. Running subs and mains together can result in signal cancellation that causes "thin" bass. But it's also possible you simply had a bad cable. Exactly, there was something physically wrong with the ‘yuck cable’ if it had any measurable difference with Audyssey, more likely a difference with test conditions. |
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Post by mrloren on Oct 14, 2018 16:33:05 GMT -5
Well what ever the problem was it's gone now and sounding perfect.
I gave the system a real workout yesterday. Good house cleaning day. I had tunes cranked up in the -15db zone all day for about 6 hours. Then after dinner it was movie time. Started with Skyscraper followed by The Fifth Element and had to go for the 4k of Private Ryan in ATMOS. All sounded great, The beach seen in Ryan was just fantastic.
As for cables go I don't like spending a ton on them. I like Audioquest but don't like the price. A good well made cable is all I look for. The R/B/G that came with my cable box are chinese knock-offs of Monster over rated cables. THe SVS RCA cables are very well made cables at a reasonable price.
One of my kids is a classing music nut. I do blind cable test on her. When I got my type 4 ($60 for 3 on CL) I only replaced one of them. Two days later she said the right speaker sounds better that the left. Gee that had the type 4 on it. I replace the brass jumper plates one at a time with speaker wire. Same thing, she was saying the speaker on the left is sounding better than the right.
Do cables matter, yes and no. Yes to using quality cables. No at the sudo stuff costing $$$$.
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