DEQX Premate 8 digital active crossover / DSP

[Jorma69]

What streaming options are working at the moment? Is ROON Ready ready (via ethernet or wifi?).

 

[DanUK]

Volumio is used for streaming (and ApplePlay and bluetooth should be options). I don't use any of these, nor do I use Roon (not sure about Roon status)

 

[Rikpost]

Any new user developments with de DEQX ?
Still waiting for mine !
So I am more curious by the day ;-)
Any positive and naturally negatieve experiences as well are highly appreciated .
Greatings Richard
The Netherlands

 

[Jorma69]

Finally my Pre-8 is on his way...

I have red some problems when doing speaker calibration to dipole speakers. How about "normal" speakers? I´ll create 4-way crossover with speaker calibrations.

Did check the getting started quide and the videos. All should be quite easy.

 

[Keith_W]

I don't think the dipole calibration problem would be unique to the DEQX. It would be pretty difficult to get meaningful in-room measurements of dipole speakers. I have heard people put dipoles in doors - measure outside, back wave goes inside the house and hopefully does not reflect back. But I think if you are going to go through that trouble you may as well take the speakers outside and measure them. If you can't get decent measurements of a dipole, it may be better to simply forgo correcting the upper frequencies and just correct the lower frequencies alone.

 

[NavnFugl]

We’ve just received the Pre-8. Went through the guide and videos with overall success and have created our first profile.

But, when music is being played, streaming locally via Audirvana, we can crank the volume all the way to 0db without it being as loud as we’d like.
Power isn’t the problem, as our previous setup with a McIntosh C50 and MEN220 could easily blow our ears using the same amplifiers.

Anyone else with the same sort of issue?

I've asked DEQX support as well and pending a response.

 

[Keith_W]

Hi NavnFugl, welcome to ASR.

With DSP, volume is sacrificed for linearity, e.g. you can get rid of dips by chopping off all the other frequencies until they are at the same level as the dip. The price to pay is massively reduced volume. So if you don't have enough volume, look at your DSP settings and check how much volume loss you are getting.

The second thing to check is whether the output voltage from your DEQX is sufficient to drive the amplifiers. You may or may not get more output voltage if you choose an XLR connection instead of RCA.

 

[NavnFugl]

Thank you, and thanks for the response.

That makes sense, I'm just wondering why I wasn't experiencing this with my McIntosh DSP setup?

I'm running both solid state and tube amplifiers in my setup. Since my tube amplifier is single ended input only, I'm using single ended input on the solid state as well.
Could I get more volume, if I got a tube amplifier with a balanced input and used balanced input to both my solid state and tube amplifier from my DACs?

 

[DanUK]

I presume you've set the level of each driver up. I've found the output of my Pre8 to be quite similar to the HDP5.

 

[NavnFugl]

I presume you've set the level of each driver up. I've found the output of my Pre8 to be quite similar to the HDP5.

I have gone into the levels tab and boosted them all with 5db. I'm not sure if this is a good solution though? Am I also boosting distortion etc.?

 

[Jorma69]

I have gone into the levels tab and boosted them all with 5db. I'm not sure if this is a good solution though? Am I also boosting distortion etc.?

Have you tested to bypass the calibration? Does it change the volume level?

 

[NavnFugl]

Have you tested to bypass the calibration? Does it change the volume level?

Will try and report back.

 

[Keith_W]

Thank you, and thanks for the response.

That makes sense, I'm just wondering why I wasn't experiencing this with my McIntosh DSP setup?

I don't know how you adjust cuts in a DEQX. But in general, the more you cut, the more linearity you get, but also the more volume loss you will suffer.

If you are using a multi-amped speaker setup, volume matching prior to DSP is critical to ensure you don't have to cut too much. For e.g. if your tweeter is 5dB below the mids, then the entire frequency range will be dropped by 5dB to match the tweeter.

I don't know anything about the McIntosh DSP setup, sorry. It could be a difference in what the software decided to cut.

 

[NavnFugl]

I don't know how you adjust cuts in a DEQX. But in general, the more you cut, the more linearity you get, but also the more volume loss you will suffer.

If you are using a multi-amped speaker setup, volume matching prior to DSP is critical to ensure you don't have to cut too much. For e.g. if your tweeter is 5dB below the mids, then the entire frequency range will be dropped by 5dB to match the tweeter.

I don't know anything about the McIntosh DSP setup, sorry. It could be a difference in what the software decided to cut.

In the DEQX setup, I'm instructed to identify each driver of the speaker to ensure they're equally loud.
If they aren't, there's an option to attenuate the level with either -6db or -12db internally with jumpers.
In my case, the horn driver and the bass driver were equally loud, so no attenuating.

Does more output volt from my DAC (i.e XLR instead of RCA) give me more volume/punch overall?

 

[DanUK]

When I used the internal ESS dacs I'm pretty sure the output was very loud (I use digital out normally and only tried the internal dacs briefly, with balanced outs).

 

[NavnFugl]

Have you tested to bypass the calibration? Does it change the volume level?

It lowers the overall volume when bypassing.

 

[NavnFugl]

When I used the internal ESS dacs I'm pretty sure the output was very loud (I use digital out normally and only tried the internal dacs briefly, with balanced outs).

I've no interest in the internal DACs. The Pre-8 having the dig out was a major selling point for me. I want to be able to use my own R2R DACs.

 

[AudioJester]

If I remember correctly, Mcintosh preamps can go quite high output voltage, balanced and single ended. ie > than "standard" 4V xlr.

What are the input voltage ratings on your power amps?

 

[NavnFugl]

If I remember correctly, Mcintosh preamps can go quite high output voltage, balanced and single ended. ie > than "standard" 4V xlr.

What are the input voltage ratings on your power amps?

I'm assuming you mean input sensitivity?
1.74V for my solid-state power amp. For rated output.
.89V for my tube power amp. For rated output.

 

[NavnFugl]

If I remember correctly, Mcintosh preamps can go quite high output voltage, balanced and single ended. ie > than "standard" 4V xlr.

What are the input voltage ratings on your power amps?

Last link, in my previous setup, was the McIntosh MEN220 before the power amps.