Vintage HiFi Audio Forum
Audio Discussion => List your system => Topic started by: OldiesButGoodies on October 17, 2010, 09:18:26 PM
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Tom:
Just spent most of the afternoon setting up the Yamaha DSP-3090 in my listening room. I am using the Mirage 890is as mains, the JBL Controls as front effect and center, and two NHT Super zeros as rears. No fancy cables - just hardware store zip cord for speakers. The sub is the very capable adaptable AES -308. As source I have the Phillips 877 table and the Grado Black (very happy with that table - for the price a lot of features - built-in stylus pressure gauge! - and dead quiet - mates well with Grado - love this table) - {right now listening to Tito Puente - Bailables}, the Pioneer RT-707 (still have not gotten around to changing the counter belt on that, waiting for you to finish the CTF-1250 to replace the reel-to-reel with that), and the PS Audio Lambda with Ultralink DAC (have not tried to use the Yammy's DACs - that could help the digital-analog-digital-analog jump distortion, by removing the Ultralink, but it sounds good as is so why mess with success). The Yammy tuner tuner TX-480 is decent but not remotely comparable to the older analog tuners i have been using recently.
Altogether an interesting setup. The Yamaha DSP craziness is kind of fun, though I seem to stay in the jazz "Cellar Club" most of the time. Very nice setup, digital warts and all. Good for a few months of listening before the change bug strikes again. I am now tempted to get a Yamaha for the theater - I have a Denon 5803 there - in case anyone wants to trade. The Denon is ridiculously high powered at 170 watts per channel x 7 channels of clean power, and THX-Ultra2 certified, in case someone wants to trade.
The Sansui awaits hook up to the Polk Monitor 5s once I have a place for it in the house. I am having a tough time finding a manual for the QS-800 quad synthesizer on the web (for free anyway).
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Pretty cool. I just realized the sub and mains came from me. That sub always impressed me!
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The remote controlled level and x-over is very cool in that sub. Very well built too - solid.
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Nice setup OldiesButGoodies.
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Thanks Mikey!
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Post some pics!
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Ok - here are some pics....
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More pics
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Very nice OBG ;D
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Very cool setup.
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Congrats!
You have some really nice equipment in your rig. It must sound fabulous!
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Thanks all. I will of course tear the whole thing up in a month and conjure a new combination, but only after listening to all the LPs an half the CDs once. I am bi-amping the Mirages this weekend using a Rockford Fosgate 120w x 4 amp - will report on that once done. Just for fun. And using zip cord, cuz I still have to hear the difference. :P
Also on tap is testing the PS Audio Lambda going straight to the Yammy DAC via coax, bypassing the Ultralink. Will report on that too.
Pepe
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Very nice system Pepe.
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Recent results and observations on biamping:
- The Fogate Audionics amp is impressive. very conservatively rated at 75/channel.
- I cannot confirm a definitive advantage of passively biamping the Mirage 890is. There is a slight change is an improvement in sound dynamics when biamped. Subjectively, it feels as if the bass response improves when the speakers are not biamped. Bass feels 'dirtier' biamped.
So that is my take based on a very limited experiment, using a Yamaha DSP-3090 as pre, a Fosgate mullti-channel amp, and a pair of Mirages that may or may not take well to biamping.
:)
Pepe
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According to this, what I just did is not really biamplification (not sure what it would be called):
http://sound.westhost.com/bi-amp.htm#common-question (http://sound.westhost.com/bi-amp.htm#common-question)
To recap - I removed the straps separating the woofer and tweeter sections from my Mirage 890is, ran separate cables back to four power amps, two handling the left, two the right channel. This article indicates that an active x-over is a prerequisite for real biamping. Is this what another geek with the ALIIIs and the Rane x-overs in a separate post? What are supposed then to be the benefits, if any, of what I tried?
Pepe
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OBG, I think it depends on what your crossovers look like inside the speaker. I'm assuming you have 4 binding posts on the back of your speaker.... 2 for high pass and 2 for low pass, and they're normally strapped together.
If I were to design such a speaker, I'd have two separate crossover networks then, one per pair of binding posts. Each would be a passive crossover... I don't know that removing them would be a good idea in your bi-amp senario though, because that may throw the impedance seen by the amplifier all out of whack? (i.e. the crossover adds some amount to the speaker impedance)
Am I reading the article and your post correctly?
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Well yes, I think you are. Wiring the tweeter directly on to a high-passed and signal seems to shift things in the impedance load seen by the amp. The time-phase coherence would also be an issue as thenx-0ver would add some delay. So I may in over my head on this. Best to differ to simpler approaches for now!
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Another geek? Thanks a lot~ :P
What you are doing is known as passive biamping & it has some benefits. Active biamping is what I did & it has even further benefits, namely freeing up additional power by removing the passive crossovers.
There are @$$hole purists who insist passive biamping isn't "real" biamping. It may not be perfect, but it has advantages depending on the total system synergy.
Reference the "other geek" thread: http://vintagehifipgh.com/forum/index.php?topic=945.0 (http://vintagehifipgh.com/forum/index.php?topic=945.0)
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Rabbit:
Thanks - my bad for tagging you a geek.... wait a minute!, that is the whole premise that binds us - we are all audio geeks! The Saturday meeting is a geek meeting!
Thanks for clarifying the biamping question.
Have a great week all...
Pepe
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control and effeciency
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Pepe,
Are all your speakers behind your listening position?
Scott
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Scott:
I was testing biamping with the stereo speakers in front, thought I have seven speakers arrayed around me in that room in alignment with Yamaha's DSP theory (two main front, two presence front speakers to the right and left of the mains, a center, and two rear - plus the sub). I seat right in the middle of that. Only biamping the front mains.
Pepe
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Thanks Pepe. Just saw a lots of speakers behind your listening position. ;D