ASR's Hifi best practice/must do's?

[BlueTunes]

Having recently recovered my Hifi system from storage and dipping my toes again into the world of non-headphone hi-fi, I'm wondering what are ASR's current, best practices or must-do's for hi-fi systems?

 

[ThatM1key]

In terms of AVRs:

• Most AVRs in the world can barely reach 16bit output
• Any DSP, results all audio going through a 44.1khz-48khz (rarely 96khz) "Digital workspace". Depending on your outside devices, it could sound better or worse through it technically.
• Depending on your AVR, the digital inputs could perform better than the HDMI inputs.
• More speakers you use, the less power each speaker will get. Think of like splitting up a cake. This applies to bi-wiring too.
• Speaking of bi-wiring, there is very little to no improvement to sound quality when using it.

Let's say the amp does 100 watts/each for 2 speakers hooked up. If you bi-wire your 2 speakers, your essentially having 4 speakers, which divides the power. So when you do that, your actual speaker gets realistically 50 watts per speaker.

 

[BlueTunes]

In terms of AVRs:

• Most AVRs in the world can barely reach 16bit output
• Any DSP, results all audio going through a 44.1khz-48khz (rarely 96khz) "Digital workspace". Depending on your outside devices, it could sound better or worse through it technically.
• Depending on your AVR, the digital inputs could perform better than the HDMI inputs.
• More speakers you use, the less power each speaker will get. Think of like splitting up a cake. This applies to bi-wiring too.
• Speaking of bi-wiring, there is very little to no improvement to sound quality when using it.

Let's say the amp does 100 watts/each for 2 speakers hooked up. If you bi-wire your 2 speakers, your essentially having 4 speakers, which divides the power. So when you do that, your actual speaker gets realistically 50 watts per speaker.

Ha.

Great reply and i didn't know that about AVR's.
However, AVR was a typo. I actually meant the forum (ASR) lol.

So to further my point.

Have a good source:
I use streaming for a source.
I use YouTube music so i suppose i could look to using lossless format or CDs? (Although YT music sounds great i think).


Use external Dacs
I have my PC hooked up to an external DAC. It's a Oppo HA2SE.

Use well-made interconnects
The Oppo sounds great but perhaps i could get a DAC with proper RCA out rather than the 3.5 HP it has. (Im using a 3.5-RCA cable).


Use a dedicated amp:
My amp is basic (40pc MOSFET) but works well. I only use it for the DAC-speakers.

Have your equipment sat firmly:
The Amp is sat on a firm table.

Use well-made speaker cable:
Speakers are connected with budget speaker wire. I had used 2.5mm2 T&E previously but found it too stiff for my new set up.

Site/sit the speakers well:
Perhaps the most subjective thing here but I've done my research and they are sat on stands and positioned in a eq' triangle as best i can do to accommodate my room.

Make sure connections etc are clean and secure:
I have used contact cleaner on all connections and they are tight and firm.

Do some room treatment:
Something i have to dig deeper into but I've softened the room somewhat with curtains behind the speakers. The floor is carpet and other walls are set with pictures, bookshelves etc.


So what other basics can i do to get the system off to a good start?
I've ticked off the easy stuff i think.

My amp and speakers are ~15 years old but are of decent quality (have good reviews anyway). They are reasonably sensitive (89db) and the amp isn't a weakling and i have a small room and good hearing so loudness isn't an issue i think.

I've looked over the internals and nothing stands out as needing obvious replacement. All caps are leak and distortion free. I see no signs of any scortching etc.

So is that it? Have i done a reasonable job or is there obvious gains to be made

What other good practices can i do?

 

[BDWoody]

So what other basics can i do to get the system off to a good start?
I've ticked off the easy stuff i think.

Get the REW software and a Umik-1 Mic.

REW room acoustics and audio device measurement and analysis software

REW is free software for room acoustic measurement, loudspeaker measurement and audio device measurement and analysis

www.roomeqwizard.com

UMIK-1

The UMIK-1 is an omni-directional USB measurement calibrated microphone providing Plug & Play acoustic measurement. From speaker & room acoustic measurement to recording, this microphone provides low noise and accurate results you can rely on.

www.minidsp.com

Learn what your room is doing and make dsp corrections to deal with the nasties.

 

[BlueTunes]

Get the REW software and a Umik-1 Mic.

REW room acoustics and audio device measurement and analysis software

REW is free software for room acoustic measurement, loudspeaker measurement and audio device measurement and analysis

www.roomeqwizard.com

UMIK-1

The UMIK-1 is an omni-directional USB measurement calibrated microphone providing Plug & Play acoustic measurement. From speaker & room acoustic measurement to recording, this microphone provides low noise and accurate results you can rely on.

www.minidsp.com

Learn what your room is doing and make dsp corrections to deal with the nasties.

Nice links, thanks.

I read on here that the general opinion seems to be that speakers are the priority by a significant margin and room effects not much farther behind.

The room mic and software is an interesting concept. I'll read up it and see if i can get gains using it. Thanks.

 

[Apesbrain]

Let's say the amp does 100 watts/each for 2 speakers hooked up. If you bi-wire your 2 speakers, your essentially having 4 speakers, which divides the power. So when you do that, your actual speaker gets realistically 50 watts per speaker.

Not that it matters to this conversation, but I'm pretty sure this is not true.

More speakers you use, the less power each speaker will get. Think of like splitting up a cake.

It depends on the AVR; most have individual amp sections for each channel. Whatever "watts/channel" it's rated is what you get at each speaker regardless of how many are connected.

 

[BDWoody]

Nice links, thanks.

I read on here that the general opinion seems to be that speakers are the priority by a significant margin and room effects not much farther behind.

The room mic and software is an interesting concept. I'll read up it and see if i can get gains using it. Thanks.

My rule of thumb...

If it doesn't have moving parts, it's purely about technical competence and being appropriate for the job.

A speaker, headphone, TT- cartridge...those are tranducers (motors basically), and need more attention. The room/speaker system is where the low hanging fruit is these days.

There are quite a few videos and threads about using REW. It's pretty cool to see what's going on...how different things can be in different parts of the room, etc.

Have fun with it!

 

[tifune]

Not that it matters to this conversation, but I'm pretty sure this is not true.

It depends on the AVR; most have individual amp sections for each channel. Whatever "watts/channel" it's rated is what you get at each speaker regardless of how many are connected.

Agree with you on point 1. I guess the exception would be some signal that that maxes out the speakers high end while simultaneously requiring equal power on the mid/woofer? Absolutely no idea what that would be, but it sounds horrendous

On point 2, maybe you (or anyone) can help me understand AVR amps. When amir reviews AVR's, he usually checks multichannel power delivery. On the Denons, the loss-per-channel tends to be around 10% as more channels light up. Not exacty 10%, but keeping it simple.

My Q: if an AVR can output 5x 100W or 10x80W why can't they output 2x 250W or 2x400W? I never understood why theres a per-channel limit when the PSU can obviously deliver so much more? You can probably already tell I know nothing about amp internals, so layman terms appreciated . But I'm not afraid to dive in if you have some recommended reading material

 

[PierreV]

Not that it matters to this conversation, but I'm pretty sure this is not true.

It depends on the AVR; most have individual amp sections for each channel. Whatever "watts/channel" it's rated is what you get at each speaker regardless of how many are connected.

Yeah - when I discovered that "truth", I bagged a lot AVR X8500h, rated at 150 W per channel, used the 13 channels to produce 1950W while at the same time consuming 900W for a net gain of 1050W.

I chained a bunch of them and have been flying tic-tac shaped ships under the nose of the US Navy ever since!

To think that audiophiles are still hunting for quantum cables when they have over-unity devices under their noses forever...

 

[01svtL]

Not that it matters to this conversation, but I'm pretty sure this is not true.

It depends on the AVR; most have individual amp sections for each channel. Whatever "watts/channel" it's rated is what you get at each speaker regardless of how many are connected.

I know when mine was tested, it put out more power in 2 channel than the 60/ch simultaneous it is rated. They got over 100w/channel in stereo I believe.