DCX upgrade or sell off?

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KevinTams

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Joined 2004
My speakers are Goodmans 201's on an OB used wide range with a sub and tweeter, to top and tail the audio spectrum.
I've been using the 201's for several months on their own driven with my valve amp and although the sound is very transparent it doesn't extend as far as I want.

I bought a Behringer DCX2496 a few weeks ago and spent many happy days tweeking and playing with sound level balance and varying degrees of eq and xover points, to the level that I felt it was a really good sounding system with, for an OB, fantastic bass and excellent imaging. But....,always a but :xeye: , I noticed I was winding the volume knob past where I would normally listen, for me always a bad sign. I then took out the DCX and played the 201's direct and realised the DCX was removing a significant level of transparency with asociated loss of information in the music. In fact I can't now listen to the system with the DCX in circuit :cannotbe:

I believe I have 3 options
1 Mod the DCX in the hope that I can get back the transparency I desire.

2 Use the DCX, only to xover and eq the bass and tweeter, use the 201 direct from the valve amp and build the speaker baffle with a 30cm recessed baffle to time align the 201 with the bass and tweeter.

3 Do without the DCX competely and build active crossovers /eq using opamps.

:confused: I am really unsure which way to move on this and would love to hear advice from members here.

thanks
Kev
 
K

KevinTams

Member
Joined 2004
pinkmouse said:
First thought - Are you feeding the DCX with enough signal for it work properly? Bear in mind it is meant to be used with pro equipment that provides a much higher output, and as such, is not just a drop in item.
Click to expand...


Pretty close on full signal, it doesn't go into clipping but I've got 4 leds on most of the time. I spent a long time balancing the outputs with attenuators in the interconnects to get a good signal input.

It is quiet with no noise from the DCX that I can hear at the speakers.
Kev
 
aaronboumans

aaronboumans

Member
Joined 2003
I do have a similar problem;
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=69925&highlight=sacd

My main question is to go all digital with all tweaking possibilities which are all very nice but can it archive the transparency level of an all analog(sacd being digital ofcource) system?
I saw some very simple tweaks op the yahoo dcx-group and a guy called thierry-martin (or something like that, sorry thierry?) published a new very simple (reversable) outputstage (2 C's and one R) for the dcx. I will give it a try, hearing a lot of positive results.
 
K

KevinTams

Member
Joined 2004
aaronboumans said:
I do have a similar problem;
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=69925&highlight=sacd

My main question is to go all digital with all tweaking possibilities which are all very nice but can it archive the transparency level of an all analog(sacd being digital ofcource) system?
I saw some very simple tweaks op the yahoo dcx-group and a guy called thierry-martin (or something like that, sorry thierry?) published a new very simple (reversable) outputstage (2 C's and one R) for the dcx. I will give it a try, hearing a lot of positive results.
Click to expand...

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks the DCX could be more transparent :D
I use cd and analogue front ends so the analogue inputs to the DCX are important to me.

I have seen the mods by Thierry and others, and although they look interesting I think :scratch: I'll need to modify the input circuits as well. I'm not happy modding the boards in the DCX as I may decide to sell it so I'd need to remove the output board.

I'd be very interested in your opinions of any mods you do

Kev
 
aaronboumans

aaronboumans

Member
Joined 2003
When I just got the dcx I used the analog inputs with cd-player;horrible!!!! Using the digital input things got all lot better (not a little bit). I do think that the input stage is so bad it is not worth modding, you need to replace it with something completely different
 
K

kepa1

Member
Joined 2004
Maybe you should try the digital input instead (can be from SPDIF source) - this is what I've done here from the begining. I get maximum signal mevel (the red light turn of very regularely but strangely clipping can not be heard) and well I can't notice any difference between DCX and analog out from my TEAC cd player (my girlfriend can't either). Maybe a little more "metal" sound, but I'm not sure.

Anyway, there is still room for improvement, one easy and inexpesive way would be to follow this guy's mods:

An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.


This is barely taking the signal out of the DACs, add a resistor and two capacaitors and completely bypass the stock output stage. According to him, you get total transparency doing this. I might do that during the coming holydays...

More info here

Cheers!
 
L

loudandclear

Member
Joined 2004
@ KevinTams

>I bought a Behringer DCX2496 a few weeks ago and spent many happy days tweeking and playing with sound level balance and varying degrees of eq and xover points<

Did you EQ the mid, or just the bass?
What crossover points did you come up with?
How much gain did the bass need?

>Use the DCX, only to xover and eq the bass and tweeter, use the 201 direct from the valve amp and build the speaker baffle with a 30cm recessed baffle to time align the 201 with the bass and tweeter.<

I this because of processing delay/latency in the DCX?
If so, how much is it?


I am looking at using the DCX just for bass, but your experience may be scaring me off . . .
 
K

KevinTams

Member
Joined 2004
Re: Re: DCX upgrade or sell off?

loudandclear said:
@ KevinTams

Did you EQ the mid, or just the bass?
What crossover points did you come up with?
How much gain did the bass need?

I this because of processing delay/latency in the DCX?
If so, how much is it?


I am looking at using the DCX just for bass, but your experience may be scaring me off . . .
Click to expand...


I eq'd sveral different ways but ended up running the 201's full range and eq'ing only the bass and tweeter. Xover was 140Hz and 6KHz. Bass ended up with a humungous amount of eq because I'm using OB single driver per channel bass speaker. Bass is fantastic, mid is not.

Latency in the DCX D-A A-D is about 30cm so stepping the 201's back by 30cm should give me the correct time alignment.

Don't let my experience put you off, many people seem to be very happy with the DCX, just not me. The problem I find is that the transparency in the mid range using analogue input, (I've not used the digital input) is a good deal below what I have using the 201 direct from my amp. Using the DCX to eq the Bass produces a fantastic speed and depth of sound, but then there is a challenge to compensate for the latency in the DCX.

Kev
 
T

Thmartin

Member
Joined 2004
Hi all,
I'm the guy who did the mod on the DCX and I put a mini website online about it DCX2496 tweaking for dumb ***

This week with a friend of mine we did some listening tests against a BSS 366 and a Goldmund DAC.

My modified DCX kicked the Omnidrive's bottom big time and was pretty close the Goldmund !

I also have fitted a Tent Labs XO2/5 in it, worth the effort.

Keep your DCXs, this tiny thing becomes a killer when tweaked properly.

Cheers

Thierry
 
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