First hifi setup sounds "flat" and disappointing

Kua said:
I'm getting to enjoy the sound more and more. I think this post had it bang on. Though I'm still on the look out for stands. Its difficult because most seem to be designed for low comfy chairs at 60cm.
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I know what you mean. I spent ages trying to find some stands for my rear speakers that were high enough to fit behind my sofa and so they were also ear height.

In the end I found some Apollo stands, can't remember if they were 0.9 or 1.0m tall. they cost me £80 from ForumHifi here in Notts but I'm fairly sure you can buy them else where.
 
gt_junkie said:
Certainly will do. :)

gt

P.S: You should have access to the Members Market now since you have over 250 posts and have been a forum member for over 3 months. Make sure to activate your trust so you can see it.
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Yikes, didn't know this existed! Thanks for drawing my attention to it. I got your email and will reply after giving it some thought :) . (EDIT: Hehe I see you're pretty active there. Trust activated, can't wait til I get access. Since when did I have no patience whatsoever? :D )

cokecan72 said:
In the end I found some Apollo stands, can't remember if they were 0.9 or 1.0m tall. they cost me £80 from ForumHifi here in Notts but I'm fairly sure you can buy them else where.
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Was hoping to spend far less, but I'll keep a look out. A mate wondered whether a local 'blacksmith' (or whatever the modern equivalent is) might fix some up...
 
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We have stands! Atacam Nexus 10s to be precise (cheapest decent metre high stands around as far as I can tell - actually 90cm would have been absolutely spot on but I'm very happy with these) The improvement is really noticeable. It feels like I'm surrounded by sound. But also - and this might sound odd - like the music is coming from right in front of me, hitting me flat in the face. Which is a good thing. I guess its something to do with the way the sound waves interact.

Oh and look how well they go with my PC case :D .

You'll have to excuse the mess. Actually its normally like that but I'm undergoing a complete overhaul, which will be centred around a very nice, big desk! Hadn't really realised how huge the monitor was and have had to find a short term solution to stop it from burning my retinas ^^ .

You'll also notice a Beresford 7510 sat there. I bought it second hand and it didn't come with any instructions or wires (though I honestly don't know what should have come with it). Haven't given it much thinking yet, but I'm not entirely sure how to hook it to my PC and amp. I have an interconnect, but I don't know how (or even whether) it fits in here... And I don't know whether I need to buy something.

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This is how it looks. Can't quite figure this one. My only guess is that some kind of lead goes from the coaxial/optical on my motherboard to Coaxial 1 or 2 on the DAC and then a "dual" lead goes from the right and left amp ports on the DAC to the auxiliary ports on my amp. I'll have to have a hunt in my "techy box" and see if I have something that fits the bill.
 
kingy666 said:
That set-up is starting to look better Kua
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Cheers Kingy.

I presume you mean something like this for PC to DAC, but definitely cheaper (its the first one I could find with two male outputs - i.e. two schlongs :D ): *removed*.

And then something like this for DAC to amp: *removed*

Sucks, I have to buy yet more kit :p .

Edit: Sorry I'm gonna have to re-read the rules :p
 
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The first cable you linked to is wrong, you need a digital coaxial cable and that is a stereo interconnect ( the one you linked to has 2 inputs and 2 outputs ) you just have one phono plug on a digital coaxial cable which one end will connect to your pc and the other end to just one of the inputs on your dac.

The second cable you linked to looks really cheap and nasty get a better quality one

Also be careful as you linked to a competitor of overclockers so you should remove them links.
 
Hi Kua, dont bother buying any Cables I've just replaced all mine so they are all the same colour. (glass stand you see). I'll send you a Digital Coax and a set of Phono leads, it should save you a few £'s.
i'll send you a mail. ;)
 
Hi mate,

Excellent choices, you'll really be impressed once that DAC is hooked up. Looking much better :)

RE: Cables, for that setup I'd spend around £20-30 on the analogue stereo pair (from the DAC to the amp) and very little on the digital cable (£10 would do). I can't rate these cables highly enough: http://www.chunkycables.co.uk/products.htm# and if you can put the DAC next to the amp and buy a longer, cheaper digital connection from the PC you'll be well impressed.
 
For info, you connect the motherboard coax digital out to either of the orange plugs (digital input, coaxial, 1 or 2) and connect a stereo pair of phono leads from the Line (Fixed) output '2' to an input on your amplifier.
 
Ste said:
Hi mate,

Excellent choices, you'll really be impressed once that DAC is hooked up. Looking much better :)

RE: Cables, for that setup I'd spend around £20-30 on the analogue stereo pair (from the DAC to the amp) and very little on the digital cable (£10 would do). I can't rate these cables highly enough: http://www.chunkycables.co.uk/products.htm# and if you can put the DAC next to the amp and buy a longer, cheaper digital connection from the PC you'll be well impressed.
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Cheers Ste. Noted, but I'm gonna take Sgt_Pepper up on his extremely kind offer for the time being (not sure what kind of cable he has - but I like the price!) I'll be sure to report on the DAC once its hooked up :) .

For anyone just getting into separates, I can't recommend stands highly enough. And the Atacama Nexus range is a cracking "budget" solution.
 
Yeah definately :D

Just be aware that if they are generic 'freebie' cables (think what you get with your playstation etc.) they'll be awful compared to a decent solution - but if they look remotely good they will do the job :)
 
So should this DAC give a noticeable jump in sound quality from just using an optical cable?

Is this mainly for stereo use or is it possible to have it as 5.1?
 
Kua said:
Cheers Ste. Noted, but I'm gonna take Sgt_Pepper up on his extremely kind offer for the time being (not sure what kind of cable he has - but I like the price!) I'll be sure to report on the DAC once its hooked up :) .
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Ste said:
Yeah definately :D

Just be aware that if they are generic 'freebie' cables (think what you get with your playstation etc.) they'll be awful compared to a decent solution - but if they look remotely good they will do the job :)
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Its a Cambridge Audio Arctic Interconnect and an Ixos XHD 408 digital coaxial. Should do the Job nicely
 
SBD said:
So should this DAC give a noticeable jump in sound quality from just using an optical cable?

Is this mainly for stereo use or is it possible to have it as 5.1?
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Are you using your PC or a CD player?

As far as I can make out a DAC is simply a glorified sound card. So depending on what you have already, for the PC, yes it should make a difference (though I havn't tried mine yet, of course) And afaik putting it inbetween CD player and amp can be good too, but hopefully someone more experienced can give a better answer.

And I can't see any reason why it shouldn't be suitable for 5.1, but anyone who knows better should feel free to correct me.
 
The DACs we've talked about on this thread are stereo only. Some (DACmagic) have pass throughs, such that if a 2.0 signal is sent down the line the DAC will output it, whilst a 5.1 signal will be passed on to a home cinema amp.

Those cables will be an excellent start and will complete your set up nicely - generous guy!
 
Kua said:
I've heard its best to leave it on 24/7.
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This is a common hifi shop myth designed to wear out the capacitors can cause early amp aging (and replacement). My audiolab amps take about 10-15 minutes to reach stability (as measured by the bias current on a test bench). Even big amps designed for running hot like Nakamichi's get to temperature pretty quickly.

Not to mention my amp rack uses 200 watts of power, thats quite some cash to leave running 24/7.

You should turn your amps on around 15-20 minutes before you really want to listen to them, and that should be more than sufficient for them to warm up.

I used to leave my amps on 24/7, and infact they have been on for over 10 years! Recently had to have them all repaired, and there was considerable heat damage to them, and the repair guy (a hifi enthusiast himself) suggested that leaving amps on all the time was both a waste of power, and slowly damages the amps. Since then they go off every night, and get turned on a few minutes before I start listening.. And they still sound great.

Yes, during the first 5-10 minutes they sound pretty lifeless, but they warm up even faster while working rather than just idling, so it really takes no time to be back in business.
 
Well i have this setup:

speakers
fronts: Monitor Audio B4
centre: Monitor Audio BRC
Rears: Monitor Audio BFX
SUB: Mordaunt Short Avant 309i

AV receiver:

Denon 1906

ATM i am using an optical cable from my PC to my AVR and I use my PC to play DVDs and i will be using it for BLU RAYs this is all then fed into my Panasonic 42-PX80 via a HDMI cable.

I'm using the motherboards optical out so would i get better performance from a DAC or buying a better sound card?
 
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