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Post by mvinsen on Jul 25, 2024 18:22:29 GMT -5
Hi - New MR1 owner here. Generally very happy with my new "Battleship", but have some setup "reservations"...
My Config:
MR1, in 5.1 configuration
Fronts: Magnepan MG IIIa (4 Ohm)
Center: Boston Acoustics VR12 (8 Ohm)
Surround: Polk RTi28 (8 Ohm)
Sub: NEC SW300
Room: Roughly 12' x 12' (untreated so far)
Inputs: Samsung TV via ARC; Pioneer Elite CD (SPDIF); FireTV 4K Stick (HDMI); Apple TV 4k (HDMI); BluRay (HDMI); 3 Streamers (iFi Zen DAC 2, Schiit Modi 3E, Wiim ProPlus - all using Analog)
My issues:
1. I have had to use the TRIM function to balance the Maggies, +2 Left and -3 Right, in order to get a balanced soundstage in Pure / Direct / Stereo .... less apparent in the Multi / Dolby / DTX modes. Makes no sense to me as I encountered no such imbalance with the same placement / cables with my previous receiver. It works now, but is this indicative of a core issue not being addressed?
2. I carefully used the EMO-Q during initial setup. The resulting EQ was awful (midrange just about missing, too much HF) - not sure if this has anything to do with the Magneto Planar technology of the Maggies, or something else. I have had to set the system into EQ Bypass mode to be able to do any critical listening. Any tips for how to get a satisfactory EQ from EMO-Q with this particular configuration?
Certainly appreciate feedback.
Cheers...
MV
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KeithL
Administrator 
Posts: 10,256
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Post by KeithL on Jul 26, 2024 13:05:18 GMT -5
There is nothing in the MR1 itself that would account for a channel imbalance. However, room correction, including both EmoQ and Dirac Live, sometimes has dipole speakers like Maggies. Dipole speakers sound the way they do because they radiate both in-phase signal from the front and out-of-phase signal from the rear. This makes it VERY difficult for any sort of room correction software to figure out what's going on. For example to detect the leading edge of the first arrival of the in-phase sound from each speaker to calculate distance. Because of this, depending on the exact acoustics of your room, you can get results with room correction that are great, or not-so-great. (This can also result in channel imbalances because the room correction gets confused - in the modes where room correction sets the levels.) Hi - New MR1 owner here. Generally very happy with my new "Battleship", but have some setup "reservations"... My Config: MR1, in 5.1 configuration Fronts: Magnepan MG IIIa (4 Ohm)
Center: Boston Acoustics VR12 (8 Ohm)
Surround: Polk RTi28 (8 Ohm)
Sub: NEC SW300
Room: Roughly 12' x 12' (untreated so far)
Inputs: Samsung TV via ARC; Pioneer Elite CD (SPDIF); FireTV 4K Stick (HDMI); Apple TV 4k (HDMI); BluRay (HDMI); 3 Streamers (iFi Zen DAC 2, Schiit Modi 3E, Wiim ProPlus - all using Analog)
My issues:
1. I have had to use the TRIM function to balance the Maggies, +2 Left and -3 Right, in order to get a balanced soundstage in Pure / Direct / Stereo .... less apparent in the Multi / Dolby / DTX modes. Makes no sense to me as I encountered no such imbalance with the same placement / cables with my previous receiver. It works now, but is this indicative of a core issue not being addressed?
2. I carefully used the EMO-Q during initial setup. The resulting EQ was awful (midrange just about missing, too much HF) - not sure if this has anything to do with the Magneto Planar technology of the Maggies, or something else. I have had to set the system into EQ Bypass mode to be able to do any critical listening. Any tips for how to get a satisfactory EQ from EMO-Q with this particular configuration?
Certainly appreciate feedback.
Cheers...
MV
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Post by mvinsen on Jul 26, 2024 13:24:28 GMT -5
Thanks, Keith - I had kind of arrived at the conclusion that the Maggies were not playing well with EMO-Q, but appreciate the confirmation.
So - question: As stated, I have set EQ Bypass state .... is there any chance that there are any residual EQ effects hanging around, and would it be better to do a system reset, ignoring using EMO-Q in the subsequent Setup?? (Hoping not, as it took me forever to setup all the labels and levels, but hey-ho...).
Cheers...
MV
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Post by marcl on Jul 26, 2024 15:19:51 GMT -5
Thanks, Keith - I had kind of arrived at the conclusion that the Maggies were not playing well with EMO-Q, but appreciate the confirmation. So - question: As stated, I have set EQ Bypass state .... is there any chance that there are any residual EQ effects hanging around, and would it be better to do a system reset, ignoring using EMO-Q in the subsequent Setup?? (Hoping not, as it took me forever to setup all the labels and levels, but hey-ho...). Cheers... MV + KeithL As some might expect ... I'll chime in, since my system currently has 9 Magnepan panels and I've been using various methods of PEQ and more recently Dirac for over 12 years. I never had an issue with PEQ filters created by measuring with REW and implementing the filters in JRiver, REW or in the XMC-2. I've been using Dirac since 2018, also with no issues. With conventional speaker placement where the speakers are facing the listening position and at least somewhat away from the wall behind them, Dirac has no problem getting the impulse response, time alignment and levels matched. The only thing that confuses Dirac is if a reflection of the front wave (which would be delayed) arrives within a couple milliseconds of the direct sound and at similar level. Or, if somehow the rear wave did the same. If it sees two front waves near the same level it gets confused. If it sees the rear wave near the same level as the front wave, it can confuse the timing ... AND it may invert the polarity. I have found this only happens with the very radical "Rooze" setup that I use for my L/R fronts ... they are turned 45 degrees to bounce off the side walls. But ... I figured out how to use baffles to block the rear waves and Dirac locks right onto the direct wave. So ... after literally hundreds of calibrations in my system and calibration of a friend's system recently I can say EQ with Magnepans should work fine. If you hear something sounding wrong, the best way to diagnose is to measure with Room EQ Wizard and see what is actually happening post-EQ. |
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Post by mvinsen on Jul 27, 2024 11:17:22 GMT -5
Thanks, marcl - appreciate the input. Just cannot imagine a system with 9 Maggie panels - wow!!
Lots of food for thought, for sure. I think I will reset to Factory Settings, and give EMO-Q one more try when I have some time. My setup is very conventional - about 3 feet out from rear and side walls, toed in so ribbons face listening position directly - I also recently got some soundstage gains by wedging up the front of the Maggie feet by a couple of degrees. The rest of the system is normal 5.1 box-speaker setup, with Sub behind right main due to lack of space.
Fingers crossed....
Cheers...
MV
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