Hi all,
One of my COVID projects was to build the Linkwitz LX521.4 to replace my first LXmini. I finished them last week and hooked them up to Nord-built Hypex 4-channel amps and a MiniDSP 4x10HD. And Yes, I know these things are ugly. I had put off building them for some time for several reasons: (1) cost; (2) uncertainty about whether they would be too visually obtrusive; and (3) ugly. But COVID made me say, What the heck, just do something already. So I did. I don't think building them out of pretty wood makes them appreciably nicer looking, so I just ordered the Madisound Baltic-birch kit.
I've had the weekend to listen, and I just want to report that these are, hands-down, my favorite speakers ever, including the Dutch & Dutch 8C, which I sell as a dealer and think are awesome. Of course, by the time you've built the LX521.4 and obtained the 8- or 10-channel amp(s), 4x10HD, and decent cabling (copper speaker wire, a bunch of XLR's, 6 or 8 male and female Neutriks, etc.), you'll have spent about $6,000, give or take, so it's not like you're getting off cheap, but what a payoff.
If anyone knows why, I found I couldn't use unbalanced RCA connections from MiniDSP 4x10HD to the Nord amps without ungodly ground loop noise. But once I switched over to balanced connectors using the Phoenix pigtails supplied with the MiniDSP, the noise went away entirely. I've got two separate Nord amps, one a year old, one new, and the older one had no problems running unbalanced to my prior LXmini. I can't figure how this new build created a ground loop.
One of my COVID projects was to build the Linkwitz LX521.4 to replace my first LXmini. I finished them last week and hooked them up to Nord-built Hypex 4-channel amps and a MiniDSP 4x10HD. And Yes, I know these things are ugly. I had put off building them for some time for several reasons: (1) cost; (2) uncertainty about whether they would be too visually obtrusive; and (3) ugly. But COVID made me say, What the heck, just do something already. So I did. I don't think building them out of pretty wood makes them appreciably nicer looking, so I just ordered the Madisound Baltic-birch kit.
I've had the weekend to listen, and I just want to report that these are, hands-down, my favorite speakers ever, including the Dutch & Dutch 8C, which I sell as a dealer and think are awesome. Of course, by the time you've built the LX521.4 and obtained the 8- or 10-channel amp(s), 4x10HD, and decent cabling (copper speaker wire, a bunch of XLR's, 6 or 8 male and female Neutriks, etc.), you'll have spent about $6,000, give or take, so it's not like you're getting off cheap, but what a payoff.
If anyone knows why, I found I couldn't use unbalanced RCA connections from MiniDSP 4x10HD to the Nord amps without ungodly ground loop noise. But once I switched over to balanced connectors using the Phoenix pigtails supplied with the MiniDSP, the noise went away entirely. I've got two separate Nord amps, one a year old, one new, and the older one had no problems running unbalanced to my prior LXmini. I can't figure how this new build created a ground loop.