How can I make this system better? Hegel h390 and focal Diablo utopia

[delta76]

Their price is hard to swallow View attachment 256847

There is a market for it, people who want to look at their speakers as much as listen to them.

Objectively they might not measure as well as some active speakers, but subjectively they look better by quite a bit.

They are expensive yes, but they aim at certain market segment.

 

[Diseasex]

There is a market for it, people who want to look at their speakers as much as listen to them.

Objectively they might not measure as well as some active speakers, but subjectively they look better by quite a bit.

They are expensive yes, but they aim at certain market segment.

And the resellability is much higher. Not knowing much about high end in general made me buy something I can exit at little to no cost if I’m unhappy

 

[Chrispy]

Wouldn’t setting the woofer to work below 44hz only solve that partially or do I need to use that woofers higher frequencies ? Because as far as I know I can set svs to work with 44 and lower and my speakers are working 44hz and up?

You're description of how a crossover works seems a bit off. Both your speakers and sub will continue to play above/below a crossover point, it's where two filter slopes cross (the high pass filter and the low pass filter). Just having a sub play below the f3 of the speakers isn't necessarily the best solution.

 

[Diseasex]

You're description of how a crossover works seems a bit off. Both your speakers and sub will continue to play above/below a crossover point, it's where two filter slopes cross (the high pass filter and the low pass filter). Just having a sub play below the f3 of the speakers isn't necessarily the best solution.

Is high pass something I can buy or use software for or is it native to the amp ?
Thank you

 

[Chrispy]

Is high pass something I can buy or use software for or is it native to the amp ?
Thank you

I think someone else mentioned your integrated amp lacks bass management. You can use an external unit to do it, like something from miniDSP. com

Were you just planning on "blending" a sub with its low pass filter alone? Even so there won't be a brick wall at starting/stopping at 44hz.

 

[Diseasex]

I think someone else mentioned your integrated amp lacks bass management. You can use an external unit to do it, like something from miniDSP. com

Were you just planning on "blending" a sub with its low pass filter alone? Even so there won't be a brick wall at starting/stopping at 44hz.

The plan was (before I came here) to set subwoofer to only work below 44hz (high pass I assume?)

 

[Sheddweller]

Wow those speakers are epic!
Where in the world are you located? Peter Tyson is the hifi shop in my town.

Hi guys I’m new to this forum and shall we say fresh audiophile.
I was researching a lot and ended up completing a system with Hegel h390 and focal Diablo utopia but now I want more unfortunately!

My room is 4.5m x 3.5 and listening space 3.5 x 2.6m and I stream music from my pc (foobar2000 and tidal)

What can I top this up with to make it sound better ? I’m looking at svs 2000 pro (1-2 units) but petertyson is saying it’s rather low end for this kind of system.
and really have no clue how to approach room treatment and if I even should ?

Was also thinking of using chord quest to replace Hegel dac but few people advised against

Any other ideas aside from upgrading the speakers higher ?

I know there’s lots of information out there but I’m looking to learn more here(and upgrade as an outcome of this thread) thank you

 

[Chrispy]

The plan was (before I came here) to set subwoofer to only work below 44hz (high pass?)

The subwoofer itself likely only has a low pass filter, and you can "blend" it with the natural roll-off of your speaker to act as a sort of crossover, but the speaker will still play below 44hz naturally without a high pass filter to limit it, and the sub will still play something above 44hz (or you'd set the low pass filter too low). Maybe a visual of this 60 hz crossover would help?

 

[Diseasex]

The subwoofer itself likely only has a low pass filter, and you can "blend" it with the natural roll-off of your speaker to act as a sort of crossover, but the speaker will still play below 44hz naturally without a high pass filter to limit it, and the sub will still play something above 44hz (or you'd set the low pass filter too low). Maybe a visual of this 60 hz crossover would help?



View attachment 257128. Maybe looking at a graphic for an 80 hz crossover

Yes I understand crossover, I studied physics actually. Long lost knowledge though.

Just discovering all those devices on minidsp and starting to regret I ever got into audio haha

 

[Purité Audio]

Is high pass something I can buy or use software for or is it native to the amp ?
Thank you

You can use the DSP in Roon, if you use Roon.
Keith

 

[Diseasex]

You can use the DSP in Roon, if you use Roon.
Keith

Looks like it exists for foobar2000 too,
And free

foo_dsp_effect

foo_dsp_effect

hydrogenaud.io

 

[Purité Audio]

JRiver too, a few dacs and a handful of speakers.
Keith

 

[Diseasex]

JRiver too, a few dacs and a handful of speakers.
Keith

JRiver looks amazing, thanks for bringing my attention to it

 

[Honken]

Just discovering all those devices on minidsp and starting to regret I ever got into audio haha

Well, if the DIY approach is too much then perhaps opting for the Kii with the BXT would be a good idea - it's a complete and integrated solution.

They would be massively overkill for your room though, in the sense that they would not perform at their fullest in that space.

 

[Sal1950]

What can I top this up with to make it sound better ? I’m looking at svs 2000 pro (1-2 units) but petertyson is saying it’s rather low end for this kind of system.

I'm sure who ever said that was simply trying to sell you something more expensive.
I have 2 SVS SB2000 in my system and for a room your size they will give you all the high
quality low bass you'll ever need.

This system shouldn't need a sub unless you want the windows to rattle.

Don't know why you'd say that? His speakers fall off a cliff below 60hz and with a single 6 1/2 woofer
the distortion in the bass probably rises pretty rapidly as the spl increases.
A good sub and crossover would bring much improvement to the whole bottom end.

 

[Diseasex]

I'm sure who ever said that was simply trying to sell you something more expensive.
I have 2 SVS SB2000 in my system and for a room your size they will give you all the high
quality low bass you'll ever need.


Don't know why you'd say that? His speakers fall off a cliff below 60hz and with a single 6 1/2 woofer
the distortion in the bass probably rises pretty rapidly as the spl increases.
A good sub and crossover would bring much improvement to the whole bottom end.

To be fair the conversation with Petertyson was about 1000 pro, so I wrote that wrongly, applogies

Their advice was rel t7/x and I don’t particularly agree to that and I know there’s lots of hate towards them as they are too expensive to what they offer.

How will I know if I need a second sub ?

edit:
found it in jriver,
Got it now, I thought I'd be plugging woofer cables to speaker cables and was quite confused how can I separate sound. It looks like I'd plug svs wirelessly, or perhaps USB, and stream sound separately?

 

[polmuaddib]

How will I know if I need a second sub ?

Well, actually, you probably need four of them. But, for starters, don't buy any.
In my opinion, you are not there yet.
First, measurements and Dr. Toole's book, as many here pointed out.
While you are reading, experiment with speaker positioning. Simply moving speakers and listening position will be comparable to buying couple of new systems.
Then, try to be honest with yourself and find out what you expect from audio system. If it's only sound, then active studio monitors are your best option.
If, OTOH, you enjoy in furniture grade esthetics, like exotic wood veneers and generally find satisfaction in well built stuff, stay with passive high end speakers.
In my opinion, there are no extremes here. Everybody stands somewherer in between. You just need to find where you stand.
Finally, it's your hobby, your life and your money. It's all about the joy it gives you and the level of immersion you get, so do what you like and believe is right.
Cheers!

 

[Sal1950]

I wouldn't spend a penny on new speakers till you've followed the recommendations
presented by some folks here.

#1 Room treatment, furniture, maybe some sound panels, etc.
As it stands now you room probably sounds like a shower stall. Good for singing
but bad for Hi Fi

#2 Subwoofers + crossover, dsp, etc

#3 A minidsp mic for $100 and a free download of REW measurement software

#4 A lot of time spent reading, learning, and experimenting.

If this doesn't sound like any fun to you and you can afford it, hire a pro to do it for you
nothing wrong with that either.
You might like to talk to my friend and member here, Mitch about his services if the locations work for both.

Digital Room Calibration Services, Convolvers, Headphone Filtersets

We help deliver digital room calibration for studio quality sound for any room in your house worldwide. Headphone filtersets and the Hang Loose Convolver.

accuratesound.ca

How will I know if I need a second sub ?

A complicated answer. If you have the room, it's a "the more the merrier" situation.
To state the most simplest, the object is to get the in-room bass response as flat as possible.
It's possible to use sub's placed in different locations to fill in for the weak spots other locations
leave. It's almost always better to fill in weak stops at the MLP with that approach than to do it
all with DRC. But it can get expensive.

rel t7/x

The thing with the 8" woofer he recommends is "its' an 8" woofer".
Bigger isn't always better, unless they are of relatively equal quality, then it is. LOL
SVS, HSU, Rythmik all offer great subs at honest prices. I've owned/own 2 of the 3
and highly recommend them. Get a sub with a 12 or 15" driver, no smaller and they
should supply outstanding low bass augmentation that will make your rig shine.

 

[Chrispy]

Mostly I wonder why that integrated amp was chosen with the goals in mind....

 

[Diseasex]

If this doesn't sound like any fun to you and you can afford it, hire a pro to do it for you
nothing wrong with that either.

It is fun and I’m here to become pro myself. I love mastering topics like that.

So if you can get sound-perfect active speakers for 10k what’s the point of having 300k speakers ? Why do they even exist if you can get total flat response for so little (relatively)?
Why do these woofer size amps even exist and cost so much?