Minidsp with high efficiency speakers; noise?

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I have searched the internet for a while, following some of the discussions around minidsp and the product itself seems to be a nobrainer for the Diy community. After what I have been reading though, there are some people experience audible noise from their systems when minidsp is in the chain.

The question is: Are there anyone out there that has some experience with speakers of 100db+ efficiency, that does not produce any noise?

I see that the new 10x10 is now released. Gongrats Devteam :) What about noise and this unit. Would it be better of than the older 2x4?

Thanks!
 
Hi - I am at about 100dB and don't have noise problems with my miniDSP (except when I forget to turn on/off the miniDSP in the right order with my amps which can produce a nasty thump through the woofers normally blowing fuses in one of my amps).

Stephen
 
I have a balanced MiniDSP and I can tell you that it produces noise with low sensitivity speakers also. There is also a big turn on/off thump. I did manage to solve the turn on/off thump but I have no idea how to solve the noise. I guess there is something wrong in the MiniDSP design...
 
Sorry, just to be clear: I have no problems with noise. Turn on and off thump is me forgetting the right order in which to turn things on and off. I have the same issue if I turn my phono stage off first. There's no problem with my Minidsp - I'm delighted with it and will likely move up to the 4x10 board but only because that gives me more flexibility for my next speaker build.
 
I am running Radian 475pb (111dB) on Altec 511B atop Eminence Omega Pro-15A (97dB), crossed at 1200Hz. I hear the slightest hiss through the horns with no music playing; however, the Radians are being driven by 45 SET (DC filaments, but still...), so my guess is that the source of my (barely noticeable) noise is the amp and not the DSP.

As far as avoiding the power on/off thump, powering things up in the right order is the key - i.e. turn your amps off before the MiniDSP. That said, my MiniDSP is always powered on, so I don't have that issue.
 
Powering up in the right order is female-kid-user unfriendly :crazy:

My Balanced MiniDSP makes noise. I have read about others who have also noise. The noise is low but still there is noise. I would really hear from MiniDSP about this.

Just to be sure: I'm talking about the balanced version.
 
@ Leeuwarden,

One thing to remember is that the miniDSP balanced is twice the amount of output than the miniDSP unbalanced so you'd have to pay attention at your gain structure vs a miniDSP unbalanced. With this said, we're not aware of issues with the design..

Quick question: How is your amp/DSP setup when it comes to volume control for the outputs? (e.g. is attenuation done at the amplifier,i.e. using the volume control) or at the DSP using the digital attenuation).

DevTeam
 
hi all
i have the mini dsp balanced and it does have a hiss problem when used with sensitive speakers

there is also not enough gain for normal amplifiers if you like your music at a decent level (i use an aleph 2 and with the input gain set up just before clipping i can still listen with the volume pot turned to full)

aside from the above its very easy to use and works great , i use it for the bass/subs in my system with a linkwitz transform circuit and its very very good here

cheers sheafer

forgot to add i,m using the pot supplied by mini dsp for volume control
 
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@ Leeuwarden,

One thing to remember is that the miniDSP balanced is twice the amount of output than the miniDSP unbalanced so you'd have to pay attention at your gain structure vs a miniDSP unbalanced. With this said, we're not aware of issues with the design..

Quick question: How is your amp/DSP setup when it comes to volume control for the outputs? (e.g. is attenuation done at the amplifier,i.e. using the volume control) or at the DSP using the digital attenuation).

DevTeam

Hi DevTeam,

My audio setup is as follows:

MacMini with M2Tech Hiface USB/SPDIF converter.
Relaixed II balanced pre-amp (with relay-attenuator)
UCD400AD balanced power-amps
My speakers: floorstander with Dynaudio D260 and Alcone AC8HE.

I use the volume-control on the pre-amp.

At the moment I use my speakers with passive filters so al the tests I do at this moment are with a passive filter in the chain.

Let me start by saying the noise/hiss is very low but it's there.


So what did I do:

I already tested the sensitivity jumpers same time ago with no effect. I switched pre amp in the mean time so I tested again without result.

I tested with all equipment turned on: there is noise.
I disconnected the pre-amp and turned on the MiniDSP Balanced and the power-amp: there is noise.

When I use my set-up totally passive there is no noise at all which leads me to the conclusion that somewhere in my balanced MiniDSP (I actually have two MiniDSP's and both do the same) something goes wrong.

So how does my MiniDSP look like:

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

MiniDSP inside by jvdwal2008, on Flickr

The turn on/off protection with it's own powersupply is on top of the MiniDSP.
I tested the MiniDSP board also without the protection board: there was noise.

Power supply for the MiniDSP is in front of the MiniDSP.

Did I overlook something?

Jan
 
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When dealing with such DSP boards like miniDSP (and others like GroundSound,...) with AD/DSP/DA one should really take great care of a proper gain structure. Attenuation should be done after the DSP (analog or digital) and input signal should ideally be close to FS (no attenuation before DSP).
A friend of mine uses groundsound modules with high efficiency speakers (>100dB) and uses 20dB attenuation (resistive network) at the output of the DSP to optimize the gain structure. With miniDSP he also has some hiss without this attenuation (no big difference between those DSPs with respect to noise/hiss).
In my implementation with digital input and digital attenuation noise is not an issue.
 
Just randomly saw this thread from the front page. I've just got a 2x4 up and running in an active config with Visaton B200's at 96dB and the noise is pretty bad. I get a loud hiss that I can hear over the music. I was hoping that this was due to the fact that I hadn't boxed the board yet but perhaps it's more fundamental.

I'm running a passive pre into the 2V input and MiniSDP driving my amps directly. The B200's are driven by a Linn LK85 which I've had no issues with before.
 
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