I have A10H so it is all RCA. The 3-channel 1ET6525SA,is only $50 lower and similar input sensitivity. Is there a reason why you suggested it. BTW, I am not an audiophile, my HT is 100% movie watching.
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Denon AVR-A1H High-end AVR Review
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masterhw
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1ET6525SA is slightly cleaner and recently updated. If you don't need the additional power, which I don't think you do since it would break your speakers, the Purifi is the slightly better option. Not that the Hypex is a bad choice at all though.
If all RCA then I can think of no reason to move off your A10H. Great AVR and more than capable of powering the rest of your bed and height channels, enjoy. FYI you will 3 of these cables https://www.buckeyeamp.com/shop/amplifiers/options/cables
Thanks
Didn't know Dylan had gotten into his own labeled brand of specialty cables like these converters; guessing they are done right (at least for his amps) and with a quite reasonable cost. Very cool! Thanks for posting.
I recently purchased a Buckeye Hypex amplifier and connected it to the A1H via XLR. Compared to RCA, I noticed the hiss noise was slightly lower.
While the lower SINAD performance of the XLR input may be due to distortion (which makes sense), I'm still glad the XLR option is available.
The A1H's built-in power amplifier is powerful, but it seemed to slightly fall short of the output I needed.
Since switching to the Hypex amp, I’ve stopped hearing distortion from the speakers.
While the lower SINAD performance of the XLR input may be due to distortion (which makes sense), I'm still glad the XLR option is available.
The A1H's built-in power amplifier is powerful, but it seemed to slightly fall short of the output I needed.
Since switching to the Hypex amp, I’ve stopped hearing distortion from the speakers.
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I take it you made the wood cabinet for the amps and minidsp, very cool.
I'm a sucker for ole school wood.
Yes, I’d recommend it.
However, when I used the 3-channel NCx500 with the SMPS2K power supply, there was a noticeable humming noise. After switching to the SMPS1200 supply, the output power was a bit lower, but the noise completely disappeared.
The NC502MP amp performs almost the same and is also a solid choice — no noise issues at all. It can even be run in BTL mode, so it can easily drive just about any speaker to high volumes.
That said, if your A10H has never caused your speakers to distort from lack of power, I honestly wouldn’t recommend adding an external power amp. You probably won’t hear a difference.
Thanks, Sal!
Yeah, I went for a bit of a retro look with that wood finish. The only concern is heat dissipation — if it ever fries, I guess we’ll have to count on Dylan to sort it out…
By the way, this NC502MP setup can push up to around 1200 W. It’s running the S9900 and 4367 right now — I haven’t taken it anywhere near full power yet, but maybe I’ll give it a go at around 500 W next time.
Do you notice the front panel getting hot from the trapped heat?
Well there's your problem right there, those JBL's are so inefficient and power hungry, they're causing the heat problems. Maybe Dylan can finger out a way to bridge a couple modules and get you the juice you need. LOLOL
Hiss is not so much distortion as noise - and usually the best remedy is good gain matching... (poor gain matching you end up amplifying the noise... and then hearing hiss)
The noise level was different even at the same output power.
For the NCx500, when using the unbalanced RCA pre-out from the A1H, the gain should be set to Fixed or High — anything lower will result in too low volume.
Since the Hypex modules have fully differential inputs, using XLR connections is generally better.
Some RCA-to-XLR cables can introduce hum-like noise, but in my case it wasn’t an issue.
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The benefits of having variable gain.... but typically a variable gain option is only available on pro amps (eg: Crown XLS series)
When I connect the Hypex amp using an RCA-to-XLR cable, there isn’t much noise with my KEF speakers, but when I route the signal through the miniDSP, I can hear a slight noise at around a 2 m distance. With a full XLR connection, there’s no audible noise at that distance.
I’m currently running XLR → miniDSP → Buckeye with the medium gain setting, but when I turn up the volume too much, I hear some crackling, so it might be clipping somewhere before the amp.
Using high gain might actually work better. Maybe it’s because the miniDSP is in the chain.
Love the wooden box @kawauso. It is really original and stylish.
Why do you use Mini in the chain? Your ART should take care of all. At least does for me.
My bigger setup with AV 10 is dead silent despite 7 stereo amps and 5 of them being RCA only connection. I guess just lucky as did not do much to get there.
My smaller setup with Denon 6700H is a bit hissy - Denon AVR to Parasound amps via RCA to Klipsch speakers. Tried much but hiss is persistent. Will likely stop using this one soon so have not been putting much time into the issue.
Why do you use Mini in the chain? Your ART should take care of all. At least does for me.
My bigger setup with AV 10 is dead silent despite 7 stereo amps and 5 of them being RCA only connection. I guess just lucky as did not do much to get there.
My smaller setup with Denon 6700H is a bit hissy - Denon AVR to Parasound amps via RCA to Klipsch speakers. Tried much but hiss is persistent. Will likely stop using this one soon so have not been putting much time into the issue.
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Good evening. The Buckeye amps are quiet enough that the noise doesn’t really bother me, but when using RCA connections the noise increases slightly.
I’m using the miniDSP mainly for light EQ — more for speaker correction than room correction. I adjust it by ear rather than chasing graphs.
It’s actually quite handy since I can make small changes, like slightly reducing the highs, with just one button on the remote.
I switch between bass profiles using Dirac presets, and adjust the highs through the miniDSP presets.
As I mentioned before, whenever I try to let Dirac correct higher frequencies, it tends to overcompensate no matter what house curve I use.
S9900 EQ
4367 EQ
4425 EQ
Even when you use the existing measured F/R as your target curve?
Yes, that’s how it sounds to me.
I went through a phase of experimenting with different house curves, but none of them really felt right to me.
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Good morning to you. Good that it's just a slight noise. My smaller setup is a heaven for the hiss lovers. Suspect mostly courtesy of Klipsch speakers.
Understand now that Mini has a good use for you. Looks like you are doing the biggest correction in the sibilant range that is indeed very sensitive. I have a similar curve with Klipsch RC-64iii which is a questionable center speaker but overall not (that) bad for $1.2K. I don't find I need that adjustment for the most with a much better Revel 426 center, but it's also a different room.
And I know you love presets on a click of a button. I use that now on AV10 based on your tip and it is really handy - does not disrupt viewing/listening experience at all. But no mini for me though. My racks are full
.The EQ is mainly for fine-tuning the balance. The S9900 has just a slightly strong top end (about –1 dB), while the 4367 is pretty flat but its forwardness can sometimes stand out — maybe due to the tighter directivity.Good morning to you. Good that it's just a slight noise. My smaller setup is a heaven for the hiss lovers. Suspect mostly courtesy of Klipsch speakers.
Understand now that Mini has a good use for you. Looks like you are doing the biggest correction in the sibilant range that is indeed very sensitive. I have a similar curve with Klipsch RC-64iii which is a questionable center speaker but overall not (that) bad for $1.2K. I don't find I need that adjustment for the most with a much better Revel 426 center, but it's also a different room.
And I know you love presets on a click of a button. I use that now on AV10 based on your tip and it is really handy - does not disrupt viewing/listening experience at all. But no mini for me though. My racks are full
The 4425 is older, so its frequency response isn’t as smooth, but once EQ’d it actually sounds great thanks to its good directivity.
I still wonder why you get hiss with the X6700H and Klipsch combo though. Glad to hear your AV10 is dead silent! Are you particularly sensitive to noise?
That Quick Select feature is awesome, right? It’s one of the reasons I think D&M has the best usability among all AVRs. Probably, anyway.
High sensitivity speakers (and that is of course Klipsches claim to fame!) - have always been very sensitive to Hiss....Good morning to you. Good that it's just a slight noise. My smaller setup is a heaven for the hiss lovers. Suspect mostly courtesy of Klipsch speakers.
Understand now that Mini has a good use for you. Looks like you are doing the biggest correction in the sibilant range that is indeed very sensitive. I have a similar curve with Klipsch RC-64iii which is a questionable center speaker but overall not (that) bad for $1.2K. I don't find I need that adjustment for the most with a much better Revel 426 center, but it's also a different room.
And I know you love presets on a click of a button. I use that now on AV10 based on your tip and it is really handy - does not disrupt viewing/listening experience at all. But no mini for me though. My racks are full
I used to be very sensitive to hiss, and I am not sure whether over the years, the decreasing frequency range of my hearing has eased this "impediment" - or whether I currently have a sorted system without any audible hiss... (and does the difference matter...)
In the 80's when I worked in AV, I used to hate the constant 19kHz whine of the CRT's.... no one else seemed to hear it.
The move to flat screens and projectors was a great aural relief for me! - But I have a feeling I would not be able to hear it anymore.
My gut (ie: the sum of my experiences in the Audio hobby since the 1970's ) still says the hiss may be resolvable with gain adjustment... you lose a bit in maximum potential power output, but typically, especially with high sensitivity speakers, you have more than enough headroom to be able to sacrifice 10db...
However that adjustment may not be easy to achieve depending on the gear you are running.... ideally I would be gently turning down the gain on my power amp - but many power amps don't have adjustable gain, or only adjust using a high/low switch... still in the latter case, if you are in high gain mode, I would switch to low gain... (and make the necessary adjustments)
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