Sorry for being total rookie and asking stupid questions...:/
I cannot understand, what's wrong with my SI...
I cannot get used to the problem, that T-amp does not provide bass sound. All CD's sound very weak, flat and rather annoying. I feel a little dissapointed, since I excpected so much from the T-amp. The bass sounds a bit superficial, not deep.
Since I have played bass guitar for a rather long time, I know how bass should sound...
I am not completely a bass freak, however, almost total non-availability of bass with T-amp really worries me. What I really hear are lots of highs and mids...and just a tiny bit of bass
I don't use pre-amp and my CDP is NAD C521BEE. Power supply is DC 1A.
My speakers are not the best (around 88dB), however if I connect SI to PC sound card, the bass appears to be fine, although not perfect. My listening level is at 9-10 o'clock on the SI.
I already enquired panomaniac about warm-up period. My SI has been used for about 40 hours, so I suppose warm-up is not an issue here...
What could be the problem? CDP or speakers? Would the bass problem be solved if I got better speakers (i.e LOTH-X BS1, 94dB) or should I start thinking of getting rid of NAD CDP?
IF speakers are an issue, how would speakers with bigger sensitivity solve the bass problem?
As regards modyfing T-amp...I'm really afraid to do that in order not to ruin it, because it is almost impossible to get another one in this part of the world
I greatly appreciate any advices.
I cannot understand, what's wrong with my SI...
I cannot get used to the problem, that T-amp does not provide bass sound. All CD's sound very weak, flat and rather annoying. I feel a little dissapointed, since I excpected so much from the T-amp. The bass sounds a bit superficial, not deep.
Since I have played bass guitar for a rather long time, I know how bass should sound...
I am not completely a bass freak, however, almost total non-availability of bass with T-amp really worries me. What I really hear are lots of highs and mids...and just a tiny bit of bass
I don't use pre-amp and my CDP is NAD C521BEE. Power supply is DC 1A.
My speakers are not the best (around 88dB), however if I connect SI to PC sound card, the bass appears to be fine, although not perfect. My listening level is at 9-10 o'clock on the SI.
I already enquired panomaniac about warm-up period. My SI has been used for about 40 hours, so I suppose warm-up is not an issue here...
What could be the problem? CDP or speakers? Would the bass problem be solved if I got better speakers (i.e LOTH-X BS1, 94dB) or should I start thinking of getting rid of NAD CDP?
IF speakers are an issue, how would speakers with bigger sensitivity solve the bass problem?
As regards modyfing T-amp...I'm really afraid to do that in order not to ruin it, because it is almost impossible to get another one in this part of the world
I greatly appreciate any advices.
Bass
If the speakers sound fine with another amp, then they are not the problem. If the CD player sounds fine with another amp, it is not the problem. Try each piece with other equipment before you condemn it.
Only once you have, by trying each part with other equipment, and narrowed it down to one piece do you replace anything. Most people can borrow equipment to test like this or are able to take their equipment to some one else's place.
If it is the amp, poor bass is caused in most cases by a high pass filter being accidentally in the ON position. AFter that, by either insufficient power supply capacity or by having too small a value of coupling capacitors.
If the speakers sound fine with another amp, then they are not the problem. If the CD player sounds fine with another amp, it is not the problem. Try each piece with other equipment before you condemn it.
Only once you have, by trying each part with other equipment, and narrowed it down to one piece do you replace anything. Most people can borrow equipment to test like this or are able to take their equipment to some one else's place.
If it is the amp, poor bass is caused in most cases by a high pass filter being accidentally in the ON position. AFter that, by either insufficient power supply capacity or by having too small a value of coupling capacitors.
I think he means this:phase_accurate said:Did you use the search function before posting ?
Regards
Charles
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
http://www.michael.mardis.com/sonic/Bass.htm
This amp has a known bass roll-off due to the design of the input stage. There are mods to fix this, just search...
i recently did some frequency response testing as well. i obtained results similar to panomaniac.
the data and plots are in here. download the freq response excel spreadsheet to check them out. my testing shows that the recasing and a much better power supply improve bass response and smooth out the higher frequencies. for reference, the stock t-amp was tested with a dc bench supply at 12V. also, disregard the 8 ohm results unless you want to know the frequency response at 0.125W... those were tested at the wrong output voltage and i only realized that after i had taken the data.
the data and plots are in here. download the freq response excel spreadsheet to check them out. my testing shows that the recasing and a much better power supply improve bass response and smooth out the higher frequencies. for reference, the stock t-amp was tested with a dc bench supply at 12V. also, disregard the 8 ohm results unless you want to know the frequency response at 0.125W... those were tested at the wrong output voltage and i only realized that after i had taken the data.
Great stuff! Your 8 ohm response chart shows the high end going way up. Is that what we should disregard?
As far as the high THD at the high end, Tripath claim that different measuring techniques are needed for switching amps. That must be the case, as the amp certainly does not sound as bad as the THD chart might indicate.
Thanks for the good work. Nice to know that just a better power supply helps.
As far as the high THD at the high end, Tripath claim that different measuring techniques are needed for switching amps. That must be the case, as the amp certainly does not sound as bad as the THD chart might indicate.
Thanks for the good work. Nice to know that just a better power supply helps.
panomaniac said:
it's just that i took the 8 ohm measurements referenced to 0dBV at 1kHz which is only 1/8 W output power. i should've taken measurements referenced to 9dBV at 1kHz into 8 ohms which is 1W output power. i'll update that when i get a chance. i'm still working on getting access to equipment to see the switching spectrum.
"Did you check your polarities? My SI had one output wired out of phase. That can cause no bass at all because of cancellation. The building quality of these items is a bit questionable."
I reversed the speaker cables. Strangely, the sound neither improves nor changes. It remains the same with all speakers' cables configuration - flat/weak bass, annoying highs and mids...
I reversed the speaker cables. Strangely, the sound neither improves nor changes. It remains the same with all speakers' cables configuration - flat/weak bass, annoying highs and mids...
Swap souces
Reading your initial post, the problem appears to be the CDP and the SI. If the SI has bass when connected to your PC sound card, it is not the SI itself. The 8 -10k input impedance could be it.
Is it possible your speakers are tieing the grouds together? The sound you describe is close to what you here it the grounds for both channels get connected.
Someone brought a sub for some very expensive speakers over yesterday. It tied the neg. leads to electrical ground. Since it is powered it would make the SI sound like crap.
George
irss said:"Did you check your polarities? My SI had one output wired out of phase. That can cause no bass at all because of cancellation. The building quality of these items is a bit questionable."
I reversed the speaker cables. Strangely, the sound neither improves nor changes. It remains the same with all speakers' cables configuration - flat/weak bass, annoying highs and mids...
Reading your initial post, the problem appears to be the CDP and the SI. If the SI has bass when connected to your PC sound card, it is not the SI itself. The 8 -10k input impedance could be it.
Is it possible your speakers are tieing the grouds together? The sound you describe is close to what you here it the grounds for both channels get connected.
Someone brought a sub for some very expensive speakers over yesterday. It tied the neg. leads to electrical ground. Since it is powered it would make the SI sound like crap.
George
George, I have connected another amp to my initial CDP. Everything was fine, bass was OK. I tried many combinations and the problem seems to be SI.
The volume on PC souncard can be adjusted, therefore, I suppose increasing the volume on PC souncard improves the bass performance on SI.
damn it...I'm totally lost
The volume on PC souncard can be adjusted, therefore, I suppose increasing the volume on PC souncard improves the bass performance on SI.
damn it...I'm totally lost
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