Schiit Magni/Modi 2 uber edition stack, how can I maximise its use

RareEntitee

RareEntitee

RareEntitee

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Hi guys, I'm not very technical with audio gear but have recently bought the amp and dac to use with my setup, which involves pc gaming, movies and music.

I bought a set of bookshelf speakers from Svs which are passive so won't go into the amps audio out rcas, so what would I need. I also plan to get a sealed sub in future so would need to factor its connection into the setup as well.

I'm assuming using the magni rca audio outs as a preamp? Which would plug into rca in of a receiver? I still want to be able to control the volume from the magni so when I plug headphones in, speakers are off, and once removed, sound being diverted back out from them.

Thank you
 
So yes, you need some form of power amplifier to accept an line input from the 2x RCAs on the back of the Magni.

The Magni2 Uber version comes Preamp Output, controlled by volume pot and switched via headphone jack, so you're fine there.

The only power amp that Schiit appear to make is the RAGNAROK which is $1700. Is this in your price range? If not, what is the budget?
 
Was considering getting a sonos connect amp as I have a couple of play ones I can use as rears, don't have the space for towers, but they only output 55w, would that be enough? And would I be able to control volume from the magni amp and to do that would I just need to pair rca from magni pre out to connect amp audio in. Also there seems to be only one input for sub out on the connect amp whereas the sb13 has both rca and I believe xlr connections.

The audio in rca in the magni I have connected to the Modi. That doesn't need to be compromised right?
 
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gEd said:
So yes, you need some form of power amplifier to accept an line input from the 2x RCAs on the back of the Magni.

The Magni2 Uber version comes Preamp Output, controlled by volume pot and switched via headphone jack, so you're fine there.

The only power amp that Schiit appear to make is the RAGNAROK which is $1700. Is this in your price range? If not, what is the budget?
Click to expand...

Ragnarok is waay out
 
Are you aiming to setup a stereo system with 2 speakers and then a sub or a 5.1 surround system (as you mentioned "rears")

and again, what is your budget?
 
Agreed, I think the topic of a sub woofer to be put to one side for the moment until the OP is clear on what he actually wants to achieve here.

These look like nice little speakers (I know nothing about them), then are simliar dimensions to my Proac Tablette Reference Eight Signature (I had to look that up...) speakers which produce pretty nice bass.

RareEntitee (in addition to my above questions), are these speakers going to be mounted on speaker stands, on wall brackets, on your desk? I'm asking these questions to build up a picture of what your goal is here.
 
Thanks for your replies,

I am looking to have a 2.1 system centered around the schiit magni and Modi which I have centered on my desk so would ideally like to control speakers from there. The bookshelves will be positioned on the desk with the sub underneath to hit ultra low frequency of 16-18hz.

I have a couch positioned in front of my desk where I already have two sonos play ones positioned but this has purely been used for music so far, so I thought if I could hook up the speakers to the sonos amp, I could group the lot together via the app to get a better surround listening experience.

Hope that explains my situation better
 
It sounds like you don't want pure 2.1 but you want your new SVS speakers, a sub AND you want to use your Sonos Ones for a "Surround" experience by duplicating what comes out of the SVS speakers, out of the Sonos speakers as well? If so, that's not the way to go. There is nothing to be gained from duplicating what comes out of the front speakers, out of some completely different sounding speakers behind your head. That's a waste of time.

If you want true multi-channel 5.1 (or above) surround sound for 5.1 encoded movies and games , then great, but none of your current gear will help you to achieve this. You'd be better off buying a 5.1 speaker package, a 5.1 amp and feeding the amp a 5.1 digital signal from your PC via SPDIF or HDMI.

If you just want really nice stereo, sell the Sonos speakers and buy a nice second hand power amp off eBay to power the SVS speakers on their own. Your headphone amp has stereo outputs which you can connect to the power amp.

Your Magni has no sub output so if you are dead set on getting a sub, then you would need to buy something like a Rel sub (there may be others) that you can piggy back onto the speaker cable from the amp via a high-impedence cable. This is how I do it with my baby Rel T1 sub.

You've got a nice headphone setup, some decent sonos speakers and then you bought what look like a nice pair of SVS speakers without considering how you were going to connect or power them. What was your reasoning here? What is wrong with the Sonos speakers that made you buy the SVS speakers in the first place? You could have added a Sonos Sub to compliment the play speakers and then just leave the Schiit for headphone duties.
 
gEd said:
It sounds like you don't want pure 2.1 but you want your new SVS speakers, a sub AND you want to use your Sonos Ones for a "Surround" experience by duplicating what comes out of the SVS speakers, out of the Sonos speakers as well? If so, that's not the way to go. There is nothing to be gained from duplicating what comes out of the front speakers, out of some completely different sounding speakers behind your head. That's a waste of time.

If you want true multi-channel 5.1 (or above) surround sound for 5.1 encoded movies and games , then great, but none of your current gear will help you to achieve this. You'd be better off buying a 5.1 speaker package, a 5.1 amp and feeding the amp a 5.1 digital signal from your PC via SPDIF or HDMI.

If you just want really nice stereo, sell the Sonos speakers and buy a nice second hand power amp off eBay to power the SVS speakers on their own. Your headphone amp has stereo outputs which you can connect to the power amp.

Your Magni has no sub output so if you are dead set on getting a sub, then you would need to buy something like a Rel sub (there may be others) that you can piggy back onto the speaker cable from the amp via a high-impedence cable. This is how I do it with my baby Rel T1 sub.

You've got a nice headphone setup, some decent sonos speakers and then you bought what look like a nice pair of SVS speakers without considering how you were going to connect or power them. What was your reasoning here? What is wrong with the Sonos speakers that made you buy the SVS speakers in the first place? You could have added a Sonos Sub to compliment the play speakers and then just leave the Schiit for headphone duties.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your detailed feedback. The sonos speakers I've had for a while and was just trying to incorporate it into the setup if possible but I agree there's no point replicating front speaker sound to get a 5.1 experience.

What I had bought were the schiit and svs without foreseeing what active and passive speakers were, as I assumed I could power them from the magni 2 uber but I know I'd need to get a separate power amp like you've said.

I just wanted to get some advice on what watts rating it should be. Is 50w OK or should I buy one rated for more, as I don't want to face any hissing or distortion when cranking up the system. Second is that would I still be able to control the volume from the magni and will the output device automatically switch to the speakers when I unplug my headphones.

As far as the sub goes, the amps I've seen in sub 200 price range have one input for a sub, while I believe the sub has an rca output, so I would assume assume can connect up with a rca y splitter.

I'm just very new to av equipment, this is coming from a logitech z5500 setup which I've used for years and now selling, where everything was just plugged into the sub.

I am for all intents and purposes looking for a 2.1 desk setup
 
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50W should be fine if its a good quality amp. It's not just about the maximum power of the amp but it's ability to deliver current during peaks without struggling. It also depends on how loud you intend to play it. It sounds like you will be sat reasonable close to the speakers so you won't need a huge amount of power to deliver volume.

My Naim integrated amp is rated at 60W but can deliver more power that my speakers can handle.

http://www.audioholics.com/audio-amplifier/amplifier-power-ratings

One potential problem is that power amps are less common that integrated amps. The other issue is that power amps dont' (as far as I know) have sub outputs to send the audio signal to a sub (as that is not their job).

You could get an integrated amp and connect the output from the DAC into the amp, then connect a line output from the amp to the headphone amp. It shouldn't be hard to get an integrated amp with a sub output but again, that's not mandatory if you were to get a sub that has a high-level input that connects to the amp speaker outputs.

https://www.cnet.com/uk/how-to/how-to-hook-up-a-subwoofer-to-a-stereo-system/

Do you have space for this amp?

and of course, most integrated amps come with a headphone socket as well although they are unlikely to sound as good as the Schiit.

In fact you could buy this amp which has a build in dac which you can connect to your PC and sell the Schiit gear as well!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PS-Audio-...518380?hash=item1ebc9e6e2c:g:hMcAAOSwcUBYNw3w

Don't forget you will need some speaker cables as well.
 
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