Please critique my active system

[Studio Au]

I am trying to establish a reference system for building speakers, and trying to figure out where best to improve my active system.

MacBook - Optical out - DigiFP & MiniDSP 2x8 & Vol FP - Rotel RMB 1048

So currently all 8 channels are actively XO'd, which gives me great scope to do A-B switching, and testing out up to 4 way speakers.

I have a few distinct current approaches:

True full range (using Mark Audio)

F.A.S.T with full range assisted by a woofer

Front horns, up to 3 way.

Currently all speaker cables are Cat6, and phono's are a mix of low end QED and some real cheap freebies.



I figure the source is pretty good, (solid state, battery power, can use AdniNirvana to avoid OSX's meddling). But perhaps USB instead of mini-toslink?

All cables could be improved upon...

MiniDSP, I would love to compare to the Hypex DLCP

Amps, while 8 channels is nice, not entirely needed, curious if improving these (perhaps a single pair of nCores) would yield good results?

If you were me, where would you start?

 

[sgrossklass]

Let me get this straight: You're using network cable as speaker wire? Who came up with this nonsense? What about plain ol' reasonable-gauge twin lead? (0.75 mm² to 4 mm², depending on length - whatever does not degrade amplifier damping factor significantly.) The leads in network cable are pretty thin, not much cross-section there. I bet even lamp cord would have a lot less resistance.

Given the galvanic isolation afforded by Toslink, it does not matter whether the computer is mains- or battery-powered.

I hope you have optimized your gain structure for low noise.

 

[sippy]

Let me get this straight: You're using network cable as speaker wire? Who came up with this nonsense?

Lots of people do - my cables range from 4 strands out and back of Cat5e (some people use single strands out and back) up to 30amp cooker flex and everything in between.

 

[Studio Au]

Lots of people do, they are solid copper and have to be made to a high spec to carry information.

Mine are single cables, with 4 coloured wires for + and 4 whites for -

I haven't messed around with any gain settings, with my ear next to the compression driver, and everything turned up, there is almost no hum or hiss.

 

[DUG]

Cat5e cable is also designed to be used for 100 ohm impedance.

So if you use 12 pairs (without interaction between pairs) you will come close to 8 ohm correctly terminated loading.

(not my preference, though)

 

[abraxalito]

If you were me, where would you start?

Begin with the source (GIGO) - so much better (aka lower noise modulation) DACs than the ones on-board the miniDSP. +1 for the Cat5 cables, I'm a devoted user too.,

 

[Studio Au]

Source: Yes this has to be where to start, Unless I pick up an old very good CD player/transport, the MacBook offers the convenience of being able to play any file, spits out digital (perhaps using usb& spdif is preferable to the clocked toslink?) is small quite and has a screen.

I have some Hi-Res files, some ripped CD's in iTunes, and Spotify for listening to new music.

The DAC's on the miniDSP board, I believe are quite good, but the whole board is $300, so how good can they really be. Adding DACS afterwards would be great, but at 8 channels gets complicated and expensive quick!

 

[abraxalito]

If you have 4 streams of I2S then 4 * TDA1387 will hardly put a dent in your wallet at their current price (from $4 down to $0.10 each depending on where you buy). Admittedly the chip itself isn't a total solution you'd need to add I/V and perhaps filtering.

 

[Studio Au]

Still hearing great things about the Hypex DLCP as a source (pre-amp I guess), I think I will try it out when they finally release their own dedicated PSU for it.

 

[Studio Au]

DLCP on its way. Hoping it will sound great.

Just found out my new macbook can output 192Khz over optical, which gets around their low bitrate usb.

 

[Studio Au]

MiniDSP up for sale

 

[dady]

Hola, Me interesa el miniDSP.
Are you alive? Please What Happen with the horn for D330?