My MiniDSP setup

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Last night I powered up the entire stack, using the MiniAMP in 4 channel configuration = 4 x 10 watt 4 ohm.

On my aprox. 86 dB efficient speakers, it's suprisingly loud. It's enough for normal listening levels, but I will miss some power on good classical recordings as well as recordings with large dynamic headroom. Most music today have heavy dynamic compression, and therefore sound louder.

Another MiniAMP giving 4x20 watt in 8 ohm would be enough i think.

The new application notes are super! Thanks a lot to the MiniDSP team to listening to their customers. It took me 1 minute to reconfigure the stack to 4channel set-up.

My source is optical spdif from a PC with windows XP and winamp. I have no start up bumb, or shut down bump, and the noise floor is extremely low. In my system it's not even noticable with my ears just next to the speaker cone. For you DIY'ers with high efficiency hornsystems it migh be noticable. But, its the most silent system I have ever had.
 
Here is a picture. As you can see there is a lot of space left. Very soon (I hope) it will also house an Asus EeeBox 1501 to complete a "no" cable all digital signal path.

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And my speakers

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Tangband W4-1320SB and two monacor SPH170TC in closed box isobaric configuration.
 
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Hello

I join the club:

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This is my first miniDSP setup. I fiddled around 12 hours today, to get the wished configuration in working condition (12 hours? Yes, because it took me a long time to learn, that I have to reload the plugin after changing some jumper settings or adding another board).

The detailled feedback later.

What I do:

- MiniDSP with Crossover PEQ 2.1 plugin
- SPDIF in via MiniDIGI
- MiniAMP: Channels 3 and 4 Single Ended (2x10W) to drive Fostex FE83E fullrange drivers, Channels 1 and 2 in bridged configuration (1x20W) to drive a 15" Goodmans Sub.

The first results are very good. Before, I have driven the same speakers by Rod Elliott Crossovers and T-Amps.

Now, I can easily change filters, slopes, crossover frequencies AND delay. And also equalize the drivers as needed.

Already a big improvement only from the first tries.

Thanks for this nice device, but my suggestion to the MiniDSP team: Please consolidate the documentation, check for inconsistencies and add standard configurations (e.g. jumper settings) to the plugins documentation! You will get my detailled inputs tomorrow.

Franz
 
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Great, very neat device!

My speakers are sounding much better than before!

I have reported the detailled feedback to miniDSP team and got detailled answer. All my corrections/comments to the documentation are already in the documentation!

Great reaction!

I have now an explanation, why I needed so much time to get the thing running:

I preconfigured it according to documentation and loaded the 2.1 plugin with my settings.

Then I went to my workshop, to test the device, before connecting to speakers (I dont like smoke).

But, in my device, there seems to be a problem to permanently flash the plugin in to the memory.

When I restart the device, I always have to connect the computer first to load my plugin.

And I did not have the computer in the workshop nor did I realize, that the pluging does not work as expected :-(

The problem is already submitted to miniDSP support.

Kind regards
Franz
 
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Even though I love to see others MiniDSP rigs, I would prefer that this thread, as the headline indicates, is about "My MiniDSP setup". I would also recommend others to start their own thread. I think it's much easier this way, to follow every síngle project.

I'm quite new on this forum, so I hope this is not against normal practise.

Questions, suggestions, discussions, links to other project are more than welcome. It's only posting a complete project, that I would like to have elsewhere.
 
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My set-up is now 2.1 instead of 2.2. I have configured the MiniAMP to be 20watt (8ohm) + 2x10 watt (4 ohm).

Picture og input - I use optical from PC.

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MiniAMP jumpers for receiving 4 channels I2S from MinidSP/2.1 x-over.
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Gain jumper on MiniAMP - I prefer to high gain, and then reduce gain in the software to get most out of the little power.
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MiniAMP in 4 channel, all jumpers are open.
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two pictures of 3 channel mode. Channel 1+2 (mono sub) are in BTL mode for more power, and 3+4 in SE mode for stereooperation. Jumpers for channel 1+2 are now in place, and channel 3+4 still open.
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close-up of channel 1+2
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MiniDIGI jumpers. Both 4 channel and 3 channel mode are the same, so changing from 4 ch to 3 ch is very easy.
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My Eebox1501 in the cabinet. The cabinet is an old pre-amplifier cabinet. Incredible that I now have a PC, DSP module, 4 channel amplifer and a powersupply (the pre-amp had external Power supply)
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Some screen shots
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The tiny amps actually delivers enough power to normal listening levels. But modern production with little dynamic (= high avg. level) is best suited for such small amps. Good recordings with large dynamic headroom requires a bit more. But, all in all im satisfied with quality of sound and the SPL from the total system. High efficiency systems will not need more than this amplifier can deliver - unless it's a very large room.
 
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