Sneak peak into my latest project... pics ;)

[wigginjs]

Shin/noob:

If you guys are going to discuss the details of how Shin setup his system I would like to request you do it in public because I'd like to follow that conversation as well. Thanks.

[Audiophilenoob]

Originally posted by ShinOBIWAN


Another advantage of my system is native sampling from source through the XO and into the amps.

The RME and antelope even provides detailed information on clocking and sampling in software so you know exactly what going on.

Play CD's and its 44.1Khz play SACD or DVD-A and its 96khz or 192Khz.
There's no upsampling/downsampling etc.

You need one hell of a PC though to run this for a 3-way and the surrounds, since you're looking at a minimum of 10 channels to calculate, I've got 14 to allow for expansion though. The Antelope is good for 192Khz 24bit as are the DAC's.




Digital attenuation or loss of bits can be avoided by using decent software/hardware with a very high bit resolution. The RME offers 40bit precision on all digital volumes.

You'll find most use 16bit or 32bit.

To save on confusion I run all the rest of the system at 0dB or no attenuation and do the level matching via Totalmix on the RME for higher precision. You can then link these indivdual volumes in software to provide a single volume control for the entire system.



Sure the things you talk of are small differences. Stuff like the DRC that you avoid talking about isn't. Its night and day stuff that.

When you add a lot of tiny improvements together though and have a system that's finely tuned then its hard to go back to something inferior. The thing with my system is that it does so much more than just an XO. Its an entire entertainment center in a two box's. It plays DVD's, DVD-A, SACD, CD, MP3/APE/lossless, any digital video format in existance, games and radio. I can store 1000's of albums, 100's of DVD's, 10's of thousands of mp3's etc. Its hard to argue with such a thing compared to the more traditional methods.

To simplify things:

I've use a dedicated PC housing the RME HDSP 9632 soundcard, DAC expansion boards and wordclock module. The Antelope is also connected via wordclock to this and serves as master clock. The sole purpose of this is to the duties of DRC and XO. Also analogue outputs are balanced.

This is then connected to my main PC via a 1ft dgital ADAT pipe. The soundcard in the main PC is an RME HDSP 9652 which is a pure digital card with no analogue capability The antelope also connects to this PC and serves as masterclock to provide a stable clocking environment between the two PC's.

The two PC's are also connected via a 1Gbit network to allow me to use remote assistance to actually configure the dedicated PC running the XO. This saves on two monitors.

There's very nearly a 1Tb of storage space on the main PC and I always copy DVD's, CD's etc. to the hard drives for instant access. I've also got a windows install partition on 2 x 74Gb Western Digital Raptors in RAID 0 configuration which means everything runs very smoothly.

Finally everything can be controlled via the Pronto remote. I can launch players and then access the transport controls for each all from my arm chair. I've also got a wireless link between a Palm PC and the main PC that allows me to surf the web, view DVD's and Albums via Xlobby and control the whole thing with that from any room in the house. Wireless keyboard and mouse are they icing on this couch potato setup.

For the display I use a Sony HS51 projector and a 19" TFT.

Everything about it is cutting edge technology integration.

This stuff is just as dear to my heart as any speakers I may build and clearly much more than just a superior XO.

I have a HDTV projector

comp with AMD64 3500+, 1gb OCZ PC3200, 500 gb of HD, Geforce 6800GT, etc etc

I'm very interested in the DAC... come on man... don't leave the public waiting

[Variac]

Shinobiwon:
Lots of us lurkers interested in this......

[Audiophilenoob]

Originally posted by Variac
Lots of us lurkers interested in this......

holy ... 2900 views

[ShinOBIWAN]

Rather than turn noobs, construction thread into an XO discussion I've started a new thread with detailed instruction/information and a how to.

I'll try to thorough but it may take a day or two to get it all together and up but its a start at least:

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showt...772#post709772

[thylantyr]

Originally posted by ShinOBIWAN
Rather than turn noobs, construction thread into an XO discussion I've started a new thread with detailed instruction/information and a how to.

I'll try to thorough but it may take a day or two to get it all together and up but its a start at least:

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showt...772#post709772

Good thread you started. I'll be nice and not go there

I just need some clarification on why this $5000 system
is superior.

RyanC said "Oh- if you don't need real time playback you can use FIR filters, you will get a 60-100ms delay- they didn't sound noticably better to me so I stuck with some other ones (and i do need the turn around latency to stay as low as possible) Anyway thanks guys-

Kill your DCX!!! or sell it at least. . .

ShinOBIWAN said "Did you ever hear the setup with DRC? For me that's the biggest improvement, the FIR XO slopes are a
marginal upgrade to the DCX but with the DRC it completely transforms the sounds. More sorted well defined bass, more air, cleaner midrange etc.

/// and ///

My whole point for superior sound on my XO is DRC. You've never even heard a system with DRC.

Its only been possible to a full extent in the last year or so on the home PC. So you can't imagine the improvements it bring.

Turn DRC off and then turn it back on, watch the soundstage grow and become more realistic, ckeaner.

The bass suddenly becomes even more defined and quicker. Details move to the fore that required concentration before.

The whole sound is very effortless and very believable.

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Questions

1. Ryan and you think FIR filters are marginal upgrades but
both agree that DRC is the big improvement. If one needs
DRC, then this rig is the best way to get DRC for the money?

2. Hypothetical: What if I was setting up a sound system without
a room, lets say an outdoor venue, open field. A system like
this wouldn't benefit me as much because I wouldn't need DRC
because there is no reflections ? If I don't use DRC, what
other features makes a dramatic impact in sound that can't
be found elsewhere for less money?

3. Which piece of equipment are you using to output SACD or
DVD-A in digital form instead of analog? When you playback
SACD or DVA-A using the digital stream, your rig accepts the
digital in native form and then you do digital signal processing
before the amps? Right now these formats are coming out analog
when you buy the home audio players and HDMI 1.2 is suppose
to allow digital SACD, but I'd imagine those receivers will cost
a bundle of money also.

The part that bugs me is. If there is no music that I like in SACD
or DVD-A, what is the point? You can can't get better performance
out of 16/44khz CD, the source is crippled, but then again, some
people think SACD is only 5% to 10% better in SQ.. how come
that percentage is low ?

[ShinOBIWAN]

Originally posted by thylantyr


Good thread you started. I'll be nice and not go there

I just need some clarification on why this $5000 system
is superior.

RyanC said "Oh- if you don't need real time playback you can use FIR filters, you will get a 60-100ms delay- they didn't sound noticably better to me so I stuck with some other ones (and i do need the turn around latency to stay as low as possible) Anyway thanks guys-

Kill your DCX!!! or sell it at least. . .

ShinOBIWAN said "Did you ever hear the setup with DRC? For me that's the biggest improvement, the FIR XO slopes are a
marginal upgrade to the DCX but with the DRC it completely transforms the sounds. More sorted well defined bass, more air, cleaner midrange etc.

/// and ///

My whole point for superior sound on my XO is DRC. You've never even heard a system with DRC.

Its only been possible to a full extent in the last year or so on the home PC. So you can't imagine the improvements it bring.

Turn DRC off and then turn it back on, watch the soundstage grow and become more realistic, ckeaner.

The bass suddenly becomes even more defined and quicker. Details move to the fore that required concentration before.

The whole sound is very effortless and very believable.

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Questions

1. Ryan and you think FIR filters are marginal upgrades but
both agree that DRC is the big improvement. If one needs
DRC, then this rig is the best way to get DRC for the money?

2. Hypothetical: What if I was setting up a sound system without
a room, lets say an outdoor venue, open field. A system like
this wouldn't benefit me as much because I wouldn't need DRC
because there is no reflections ? If I don't use DRC, what
other features makes a dramatic impact in sound that can't
be found elsewhere for less money?

3. Which piece of equipment are you using to output SACD or
DVD-A in digital form instead of analog? When you playback
SACD or DVA-A using the digital stream, your rig accepts the
digital in native form and then you do digital signal processing
before the amps? Right now these formats are coming out analog
when you buy the home audio players and HDMI 1.2 is suppose
to allow digital SACD, but I'd imagine those receivers will cost
a bundle of money also.

The part that bugs me is. If there is no music that I like in SACD
or DVD-A, what is the point? You can can't get better performance
out of 16/44khz CD, the source is crippled, but then again, some
people think SACD is only 5% to 10% better in SQ.. how come
that percentage is low ?

Thy, I've answered your question in the 'how to' thread and reposted your original post their also.

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showt...123#post710123

I think noobs thread deserves some peace from our discussions.

[BAM]

Any new developments?

And yeah, the Lambda woofers are still available from http://www.aespeakers.com but the site is still in progress and someone hacked the forum, so there's a bunch of stuff going on.

[Audiophilenoob]

Originally posted by BAM
Any new developments?

And yeah, the Lambda woofers are still available from http://www.aespeakers.com but the site is still in progress and someone hacked the forum, so there's a bunch of stuff going on.

pics with veneer and lacquer should be up by the end of the day

veneering took over 36+ hrs straight to finish

longer than I expected

On wednes night I never even got to bed... until thursday night at 1 am...

over 40 hrs straight working on just the veneer

also I'm fairly sure the wait for lambda's is well over 2 months now

possibly more.... john is pretty sick