cubiclecrush
Well-Known Member
Well, I'm ready to attribute more of my problems to the RCA speakers..... :scratch2:
I changed my set-up and put the Apple TV straight into the DAC with optical and sent the video via HDMI to the TV. I wanted to hear a sound difference more than there really was. I can still say that I "think" bypassing the TV made "some" difference - but it was no where near as drastic as I anticipated.
So I have all this low/mid-fi gear laying around...so I grabbed some Advent Legacy II speakers that were in my office system and I did some A/B speaker testing in the bedroom system using the Crown/Emotiva combo - with Apple TV going straight into the DAC with optical.
As expected, the RCA's lacked bass when compared to the Advents and the Advents (being lower efficiency) needed more volume but delivered a bass punch with a much more laid-back treble/high-range.
For fun, I put an Advent speaker on channel 1 and an RCA speaker on channel 2 then, using the amplifier gain controls, I balanced the level and the two speakers together could give you quite an awesome sound once they were volume-matched. As fun as that was, it would be impractical for my bedroom system.
The tone controls of the Sony system are able to (within reason) compensate for the strength/weakness of each speaker. However those strengths-and-weaknesses were laid bare under the raw sound of the DAC/ProAMP combo.
So the old Sony is going to stay in the bedroom until I replace it with "something else". That "something else" just isn't this Emo/Crown combo - and will probably come AFTER a speaker upgrade anyway! If I learned anything about the bedroom system in this exercise, is that my $5 RCA's just don't make good main L/R speakers.
I'm content to agree that, as previously mentioned, the Emotiva XDA-2 is probably doing exactly what it's supposed to be doing. And for that matter, so is the Crown XLS-1500. I just don't seem to have the speakers that can accept this naked sound, and fit into my bedroom - all at the same time.
So, back to the basement the Emo/Crown will go.
Not sure if I'll try to put that mixing board in the daisy-chain or not.
I think I know what to expect from the basement system as I had the Crown driving my big KLH speakers all summer down there. Adding the Emo will give me remote controlled volume and easy source switching. I'll just need to decide if $220 is the right price for those conveniences. I've got until Nov 9th to decide on keeping the Emo or not.
Maybe I'll return the Emo, sell the Crown AND the mixing board to see if I've got enough for new speakers for the bedroom! I can deal with the basement next summer (next lawn-sale season) - I won't be down there much this coming winter anyway!
