Introducing Ambio4YOU: A pocket size Ambiophonics processor

[minidsp]

Dear All,

Another innovative product from our Engineering Team! :-)

For those of you thinking about Ambiophonics but either don't want a PC lying around their living room nor could afford existing products, our team pulled together a low cost AmbioPhonics processor called miniAMBIO. Please read more info under the Ambio4YOU.com website.

Datasheet of miniAMBIO is available here for more info.

Don't know what Ambiophonics is all about? Please read more on the following links:
Ambio4YOU - Ambiophonic DSP | Ambio4YOU systems
Ambio4YOU - Ambiophonic DSP | Ambiophonics Theory
And of course the Ambiophonics institute @ ambiophonics.org

Hope you like it and as usual, don't hesitate to post your questions here or on the ambio4you.com forum if any.

DevTeam

[minidsp]

In answer to the questions from Gooki,

- Is it possible to purchase the Ambio4YOU without the case?

Yes, we'll soon add it to the online shopping cart. Allowing those of you who want to DIY or integrate in their custom products an easier task.

Can the Ambio4YOU send the output digitally to the MiniDSP? or the other way round - MiniDSP ouput over digital to Ambio4YOU?

Although very similar on the hardware, miniDSP and miniAMBIO are actually different boards and not compatible..
miniDSP runs on a 48kHz core while miniAMBIO runs on a 96kHz core.
The only way you could do it would be using miniAMBIO bare board stacked with a miniDIGI. We will soon enable a miniDIGI board in the shopping cart to allow:
SPDIF in - > RACE ambiophonics -> SPDIF out. A complete Digital end to end Ambiophonics solution running at 96kHz.

Hope this info helps

[gooki]

Thanks for the answers. Much appreciated. Can't wait to order one without the case

[poldus]

I have configured my ambios and they are already working.
I finally have ambiophonic sound without a physical barrier or a noisy and annoying computer!!! Good job, Ambio4you!
By the way, the equalizer is a very important feature to good ambio sound.

One suggestion: is it possible for you to include features such as the so called center or space parameters available in electro music website´s AmbiophonicDSP´s software implementation? Could that be done as a software update and used with the current boards or would it be necessary to modify the chips themselves? Those are features that Robin Miller and Howard Moscovitz developed and I have found to really improve the ambiophonic experience, sort of the icing on the cake so to speak.

Thanks for catering to the growing number of ambiophonic fans out there who don´t have $2,000 to spare or like computer fans buzzing along with our music.

[minidsp]

Glad to hear that you're happy with your Ambio Setup! :-)

A big listening room, that's neat..we would never get this kind of space in HK.. :-( . Do you mind telling us what type of speakers you're using and how this miniAMBIO setup differs from your previous install? Picture is a bit small..

As for your question, we don't know much about what Electromusic is doing (don't think it's open source...) so can't answer that one. We could investigate a bit more later to see if it's maybe possible to partner with the electro-sonic guys for this one... We'll try to have a look at it one of these days.

Have fun!

[poldus]

The speakers are diy. An ongoing project under constant revision. They used to be placed side by side when I was using a physical barrier and were moved to a 20º as seen from the listening chair for electronic crosstalk cancellation. This seems the best position for Ambio4you as it was with the other software I´ve tried.
I find that a given system´s frequency curve does need to be slightly tweaked once it undergoes cancellation and I have been doing that by modifying my active crossovers. Your equalizer comes in really handy particularly for users with non active speakers.

I will keep my fingers crossed that you can pull off a colaboration with electro-music´s implementation. Then you would be offering the undisputable best both in sound and convenience, (as long as price doesn´t sky-rocket).
Regards.

[poldus]

Where I said sound and convenience I meant flexibility and convenience. The sound of your unit is indeed top-notch, as transparent as it gets.

I was thinking of having the posibility to fine-tune the final sound to each user´s taste or a particular recording. Certain records may sound best adding a little depth to the sound or enlargening the soundstage.

In my experience with electronic crosstalk there is one recursion level that sounds best. Go beyond it and you get the impression of a wider soundstage but it will not be satisfying overall. So the correct value for your system and room, once set , should not be modified.

However, by adding one or two user-configurable parameters such as a slight reduction of central sounds ( I am just guessing and don´t know what I´m talking about) you can improve the experience a bit.

I am really enjoying your device (even as I type these words). It sounds fabulous. And the software is a breeze to use.

[neutron7]

Originally Posted by minidsp

In answer to the questions from Gooki,


Yes, we'll soon add it to the online shopping cart. Allowing those of you who want to DIY or integrate in their custom products an easier task.


Although very similar on the hardware, miniDSP and miniAMBIO are actually different boards and not compatible..
miniDSP runs on a 48kHz core while miniAMBIO runs on a 96kHz core.
The only way you could do it would be using miniAMBIO bare board stacked with a miniDIGI. We will soon enable a miniDIGI board in the shopping cart to allow:
SPDIF in - > RACE ambiophonics -> SPDIF out. A complete Digital end to end Ambiophonics solution running at 96kHz.

Hope this info helps

Does this mean the miniDSP is on a daughterboard of the ambio, and everything is working at 96khz?

Could I have Ambio, and Stereo 2 way crossovers with that combination?

[poldus]

I am really excited about the sound I´m getting after toeing out the speakers quite a bit and adding absorption to where they´re aiming at. It is the same as what I got from my physical barrier set-up, which I had not been able to replicate since I moved to electronic crosstalk cancellation.
For those who are ready to try, don´t give up, it may take a lot of experimentation and tweaking but what you get in the end is something much better than what the standard stereo triangle has been offering you.

[minidsp]

Originally Posted by neutron7

Does this mean the miniDSP is on a daughterboard of the ambio, and everything is working at 96khz?
Could I have Ambio, and Stereo 2 way crossovers with that combination?

Sorry but no, that's not what we meant. miniDSP runs at 48kHz and this will most likely not change as we realized that going to 96kHz was bringing little value in terms of results AND halving the DSP power.

What gooki was referring to is having a setup with miniDIGI as the input and output. Processing being done by a miniAMBIO board. A miniDSP board wouldn't be able to talk to this stack running I2S at 96kHz because it's running its core at 48k.

Hope this makes sense