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Hi all,
I have a bunch of drivers and amplifier modules lying about that I've been meaning to turn into a pair of speakers for the living room. I had originally planned to buy a digital signal processor + 6 or 8 channel DAC (e.g. MiniDSP MiniSharc + 8 channel DAC) of some kind, but I'm now thinking through the software options. However, I'm not entirely sure where to start.
What I basically want to do is to build a pair of 3-way active floorstanders for listening to music. This would require a more "conventional" solution, i.e. a software crossover feeding 6 channels (2 x 3 channels) of a USB DAC. This would simply require software that acts globally on the output from the PC/Mac to run the output through: volume control --> dynamic EQ --> crossover (FIR-based) --> DAC outputs --> amps --> speaker drivers.
However, I also have a number of small "full-range" drivers which (it occurred to me) I could use as surrounds for occasional movies or Netflix streamed from the laptop.
I understand that I can use something like Equaliser APO or BruteFIR to create a crossover for the mains, and possibly to implement other DSP functions like equal loudness correction using dynamic EQ, tone controls, etc. But I'm not sure exactly what the best way to implement this would be (the system has to function effortlessly once set up as it will be used by both me and my girlfriend, who is not up for learning how to operate the unwieldy beast that I know would result if I tackled this project with my current level of expertise).
So I have the following questions:
Andreas
EDIT: or if anyone has any left-field suggestions as to how I might manage this?
I have a bunch of drivers and amplifier modules lying about that I've been meaning to turn into a pair of speakers for the living room. I had originally planned to buy a digital signal processor + 6 or 8 channel DAC (e.g. MiniDSP MiniSharc + 8 channel DAC) of some kind, but I'm now thinking through the software options. However, I'm not entirely sure where to start.
What I basically want to do is to build a pair of 3-way active floorstanders for listening to music. This would require a more "conventional" solution, i.e. a software crossover feeding 6 channels (2 x 3 channels) of a USB DAC. This would simply require software that acts globally on the output from the PC/Mac to run the output through: volume control --> dynamic EQ --> crossover (FIR-based) --> DAC outputs --> amps --> speaker drivers.
However, I also have a number of small "full-range" drivers which (it occurred to me) I could use as surrounds for occasional movies or Netflix streamed from the laptop.
I understand that I can use something like Equaliser APO or BruteFIR to create a crossover for the mains, and possibly to implement other DSP functions like equal loudness correction using dynamic EQ, tone controls, etc. But I'm not sure exactly what the best way to implement this would be (the system has to function effortlessly once set up as it will be used by both me and my girlfriend, who is not up for learning how to operate the unwieldy beast that I know would result if I tackled this project with my current level of expertise).
So I have the following questions:
- Are there better alternatives than Equalizer APO or BruteFIR that do this kind of thing? (Mac, PC or Linux - all are possible in this case - and I'd be happy to pay for something that works really well and is simple for the end-user to operate)
- Would it be possible to configure the system so that a stereo input is sent (via crossover) to the mains using 6 channels of a USB DAC, but also so that surround/multich content is downmixed to 4 channels with the remaining 2 USB DAC channels feeding the "full-range" surrounds?
- Would it be feasible to add an IR remote into the chain so that volume (and possibly tone controls) can be implemented in software prior to dynamic EQ/downmix/crossover?
Andreas
EDIT: or if anyone has any left-field suggestions as to how I might manage this?
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