pzzr
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Post by pzzr on Nov 20, 2021 17:04:49 GMT -5
I’m sure it’s in here somewhere, but I can’t find it.
I have a single sub used to ‘supplement’ my mains in 2-channel, and provide the LFE for movies, which it does ably! I sometimes wonder if the drywall is going to get vibrated off the walls!!
I’m pre-planning for its arrival, which started out tracking for today, but now shows Tuesday. I’ve found lots of discussion on Dirac and DLBC, which I’ll deal with after my initial setup and trials, but I didn’t see a reference to which sub-out would be preferred in my setup. Maybe it’ll be in the manual when I get it:)
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Post by marcl on Nov 20, 2021 17:32:22 GMT -5
I’m sure it’s in here somewhere, but I can’t find it. I have a single sub used to ‘supplement’ my mains in 2-channel, and provide the LFE for movies, which it does ably! I sometimes wonder if the drywall is going to get vibrated off the walls!! I’m pre-planning for its arrival, which started out tracking for today, but now shows Tuesday. I’ve found lots of discussion on Dirac and DLBC, which I’ll deal with after my initial setup and trials, but I didn’t see a reference to which sub-out would be preferred in my setup. Maybe it’ll be in the manual when I get it:) Center Sub output and set it to Mono. |
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pzzr
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Posts: 56
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Post by pzzr on Nov 20, 2021 17:59:11 GMT -5
I’m sure it’s in here somewhere, but I can’t find it. I have a single sub used to ‘supplement’ my mains in 2-channel, and provide the LFE for movies, which it does ably! I sometimes wonder if the drywall is going to get vibrated off the walls!! I’m pre-planning for its arrival, which started out tracking for today, but now shows Tuesday. I’ve found lots of discussion on Dirac and DLBC, which I’ll deal with after my initial setup and trials, but I didn’t see a reference to which sub-out would be preferred in my setup. Maybe it’ll be in the manual when I get it:) Center Sub output and set it to Mono. Perfect, thanks! And I’ll have the option in setup menus to dial in crossovers. And when I get to that part, Dirac will blend everything. Thanks. Eagerly awaiting the improved sound quality, can’t wait to see how the Aerials respond:) |
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Post by marcl on Nov 20, 2021 20:58:36 GMT -5
Center Sub output and set it to Mono. Perfect, thanks! And I’ll have the option in setup menus to dial in crossovers. And when I get to that part, Dirac will blend everything. Thanks. Eagerly awaiting the improved sound quality, can’t wait to see how the Aerials respond:) You'll set your front L/R to "small" and set your crossover from the fronts to the sub. The sub will play the bass from the fronts below the crossover, and it will play LFE for movies. Dirac will correct the fronts full range, and the sub separately. Dirac does not know about the crossover from the fronts to the sub. |
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pzzr
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Post by pzzr on Nov 21, 2021 13:08:19 GMT -5
Perfect, thanks! And I’ll have the option in setup menus to dial in crossovers. And when I get to that part, Dirac will blend everything. Thanks. Eagerly awaiting the improved sound quality, can’t wait to see how the Aerials respond:) You'll set your front L/R to "small" and set your crossover from the fronts to the sub. The sub will play the bass from the fronts below the crossover, and it will play LFE for movies. Dirac will correct the fronts full range, and the sub separately. Dirac does not know about the crossover from the fronts to the sub. Ah, ok, so Dirac will treat the fronts as full range? One of my hopes is that in Reference mode (or whatever it’s called when no processing is used), my mains, which are good true full range, will be treated as full range. I’m not completely opposed to integrating the sub if needed, but I’d prefer not to. I’m sure time, experimentation and RTFF and RTFM will help:) |
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Post by marcl on Nov 21, 2021 13:13:44 GMT -5
You'll set your front L/R to "small" and set your crossover from the fronts to the sub. The sub will play the bass from the fronts below the crossover, and it will play LFE for movies. Dirac will correct the fronts full range, and the sub separately. Dirac does not know about the crossover from the fronts to the sub. Ah, ok, so Dirac will treat the fronts as full range? One of my hopes is that in Reference mode (or whatever it’s called when no processing is used), my mains, which are good true full range, will be treated as full range. I’m not completely opposed to integrating the sub if needed, but I’d prefer not to. I’m sure time, experimentation and RTFF and RTFM will help:) Reference mode will be two channel with no processing of any kind, and without bass management, so no crossover to the subwoofer. Direct mode has no processing, but it does provide bass management and will crossover to the subwoofer if fronts are configured as small. Dirac measures all speakers full range. You determine the range that Dirac applies filter correction by pulling the side curtains in to define the limits. Dirac does not measure small speakers together with the subwoofer and crossover. It treats them separately. It's a good idea to measure with Room EQ Wizard with Dirac running to verify that crossover points have a smooth transition. Then you can tweak the crossover up or down as needed without having to rerun Dirac. |
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pzzr
Minor Hero
Posts: 56
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Post by pzzr on Nov 21, 2021 17:43:49 GMT -5
Ah, ok, so Dirac will treat the fronts as full range? One of my hopes is that in Reference mode (or whatever it’s called when no processing is used), my mains, which are good true full range, will be treated as full range. I’m not completely opposed to integrating the sub if needed, but I’d prefer not to. I’m sure time, experimentation and RTFF and RTFM will help:) Reference mode will be two channel with no processing of any kind, and without bass management, so no crossover to the subwoofer. Direct mode has no processing, but it does provide bass management and will crossover to the subwoofer if fronts are configured as small. Dirac measures all speakers full range. You determine the range that Dirac applies filter correction by pulling the side curtains in to define the limits. Dirac does not measure small speakers together with the subwoofer and crossover. It treats them separately. It's a good idea to measure with Room EQ Wizard with Dirac running to verify that crossover points have a smooth transition. Then you can tweak the crossover up or down as needed without having to rerun Dirac. I must admit, that’s where my eyes start to glaze over a bit, figuring out graphs/curves, and making eq adjustments. I know Dirac requires some of that, and I’m willing to give it a shot (or I wouldn’t have ordered this processor:) ) but tweaking crossover points and the like might be a bridge too far:) |
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pzzr
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Post by pzzr on Nov 24, 2021 8:25:48 GMT -5
Got it last night, and while pre-Thanksgiving stuff was in the oven I had an hour or two to kill, so hooked it up.
Initial impressions are that it does sound better. I’m only using the mains for 2-channel, and they disappeared in the music. It’s too early for final opinions, but I am encouraged that I’ve truly upgraded, not merely ‘changed’. This weekend I’ll have more time to play. First priority was to get it working and get the remote stuff set up so my wife can use it:)
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Post by creimes on Nov 24, 2021 10:16:42 GMT -5
Nice to hear your first impressions, and from all I have read of people finding a big upgrade in 2ch SQ going from a Marantz processor to the Emotiva ones it actually fathoms me how a company that has such a big name and has been around the game for so long achieves such poor 2ch SQ in the expensive pre/pro's, I have owned a 7702 in the past and found even the older Sherbourn 7020C4 sounded noticeably better in 2ch use compared to the the Marantz unit. As a whole I lose a lot of faith that anything in the Marantz line up actually has great 2ch performance if a $5000 processor can't even do it, my XMC-1 and Sherbourn 7020 and 7030 are much better for music from my experience in my room.
As far as Dirac goes the new setup seems even a bit more difficult on the XMC-2 over the XMC-1 but if you take the time(which is lengthy) you can get the most out of the surround formats, anything I listen to on my XMC-1 is Reference Stereo mode as I can't run Dirac as the network card on my XMC-1 took a hit from lightning but even when I did use Dirac for 2ch use it sounded really good as does RS for me now.
My recently acquired ERC-4 has me in awe at how good a CD can sound haha, I have it connected to the XMC-1 XLR input and it is a total wow factor.
Cheers,
Chad
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pzzr
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Posts: 56
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Post by pzzr on Nov 24, 2021 10:36:27 GMT -5
Nice to hear your first impressions, and from all I have read of people finding a big upgrade in 2ch SQ going from a Marantz processor to the Emotiva ones it actually fathoms me how a company that has such a big name and has been around the game for so long achieves such poor 2ch SQ in the expensive pre/pro's, I have owned a 7702 in the past and found even the older Sherbourn 7020C4 sounded noticeably better in 2ch use compared to the the Marantz unit. As a whole I lose a lot of faith that anything in the Marantz line up actually has great 2ch performance if a $5000 processor can't even do it, my XMC-1 and Sherbourn 7020 and 7030 are much better for music from my experience in my room. As far as Dirac goes the new setup seems even a bit more difficult on the XMC-2 over the XMC-1 but if you take the time(which is lengthy) you can get the most out of the surround formats, anything I listen to on my XMC-1 is Reference Stereo mode as I can't run Dirac as the network card on my XMC-1 took a hit from lightning but even when I did use Dirac for 2ch use it sounded really good as does RS for me now. My recently acquired ERC-4 has me in awe at how good a CD can sound haha, I have it connected to the XMC-1 XLR input and it is a total wow factor. Cheers, Chad I use an Oppo 205 for Roon and spinning discs. It has the ESS Sabre Pro 9038 DACs in it, and then balanced output to the processor. I get a noticeable volume bump when switching to reference stereo (I figured out the setup to make that setting last night), which I’m sure is the increased voltage through XLR’s. There is definitely a lot more space around the music than there was, if that makes sense. Like I’ve heard people describe the music coming out of ‘blackness’? |
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KeithL
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Post by KeithL on Nov 24, 2021 11:06:52 GMT -5
When you use Reference Stereo mode, and use the ESS Sabre DACs in the Oppo, you are of course bypassing the DACs in the processor completely, and so hearing what the ESS DACs sound like. ESS Sabre DACs do in fact add a sort of coloration to the sound - which some people find pleasing and some do not. (Note that they have excellent specifications... and the difference is somewhere in how their reconstruction filters are configured.)
People who like that sound say that it makes music "sound more detailed and airy" while those who don't like it often describe it as "sounding etched or grainy".
The DACs we use in our processors are more neutral in sound.
Also note that, in order to make a direct comparison, you need to get the levels VERY precisely matched. (Even a fraction of a dB of level mismatch will tend to make the louder signal sound "clearer".)
Nice to hear your first impressions, and from all I have read of people finding a big upgrade in 2ch SQ going from a Marantz processor to the Emotiva ones it actually fathoms me how a company that has such a big name and has been around the game for so long achieves such poor 2ch SQ in the expensive pre/pro's, I have owned a 7702 in the past and found even the older Sherbourn 7020C4 sounded noticeably better in 2ch use compared to the the Marantz unit. As a whole I lose a lot of faith that anything in the Marantz line up actually has great 2ch performance if a $5000 processor can't even do it, my XMC-1 and Sherbourn 7020 and 7030 are much better for music from my experience in my room. As far as Dirac goes the new setup seems even a bit more difficult on the XMC-2 over the XMC-1 but if you take the time(which is lengthy) you can get the most out of the surround formats, anything I listen to on my XMC-1 is Reference Stereo mode as I can't run Dirac as the network card on my XMC-1 took a hit from lightning but even when I did use Dirac for 2ch use it sounded really good as does RS for me now. My recently acquired ERC-4 has me in awe at how good a CD can sound haha, I have it connected to the XMC-1 XLR input and it is a total wow factor. Cheers, Chad I use an Oppo 205 for Roon and spinning discs. It has the ESS Sabre Pro 9038 DACs in it, and then balanced output to the processor. I get a noticeable volume bump when switching to reference stereo (I figured out the setup to make that setting last night), which I’m sure is the increased voltage through XLR’s. There is definitely a lot more space around the music than there was, if that makes sense. Like I’ve heard people describe the music coming out of ‘blackness’? |
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Post by creimes on Nov 24, 2021 11:11:16 GMT -5
I use an Oppo 205 for Roon and spinning discs. It has the ESS Sabre Pro 9038 DACs in it, and then balanced output to the processor. I get a noticeable volume bump when switching to reference stereo (I figured out the setup to make that setting last night), which I’m sure is the increased voltage through XLR’s. There is definitely a lot more space around the music than there was, if that makes sense. Like I’ve heard people describe the music coming out of ‘blackness’? A good test would be to connect a digital connection from the 205 to the XMC-2, say the coaxial spdif and see how you like the sound of the XMC-2 DAC in play compared to the 205 DAC, you can still set the coax input to use Reference Stereo as well. Chad |
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pzzr
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Post by pzzr on Nov 24, 2021 16:44:10 GMT -5
I have the hdmi hooked up Oppo-XMC2 as well for Blu-ray. I can switch back and forth that way, albeit with my SPL meter handy to adjust the levels as Keith said.
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pzzr
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Post by pzzr on Nov 25, 2021 10:21:09 GMT -5
I have the hdmi hooked up Oppo-XMC2 as well for Blu-ray. I can switch back and forth that way, albeit with my SPL meter handy to adjust the levels as Keith said. Well, so much for that idea, it wouldn't cooperate, the HDMI connection wouldn't play this morning. Although that was pre-coffee, so I probably missed something. I'm going through some of my 'regular' tracks to listen while the 'big bird' is in the smoker. Definitely liking what I'm hearing!! My HDMI issue with the old Plazma Tv is still there though. The picture keeps dropping out. Doesn't do it on the projector, just the TV. I was hoping that was due to the Marantz, since when I directly connected any source to the TV everything was good. There is an in-wall HDMI cable that would be a bear to change, but when I plug that cable directly into the DirecTV Genie, or the Oppo, the TV is quite happy. Being fed by the processor, though, the pic comes and goes every few seconds. |
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pzzr
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Post by pzzr on Nov 28, 2021 22:11:51 GMT -5
Just to follow up on this in case anyone reads it. Emotiva support said the projector is still showing up in the processor even when off, and that because it has more advanced HDMI than my 9 year old Plazma the tv is getting a signal it can’t deal with. Unhooking the projectors HDMI cable ‘fixes’ the tv. For me that’s not practical long term, so Black Friday sales were just in time to upgrade the tv.
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