New to the hobby...question

[jperls]

Hi everyone,

So I am very much new to the hobby on the speaker/amp side. My headphone setup is lovely and I am not changing anything about it...sennheiser 660S and hi-fi man sundatas paired with Schiit Magnius Amp and Modius DAC...balanced setup all the way. However I do have a question about my speaker setup.

I just bought a pair of Elac Debut Reference speakers and are pairing them with an SMSL SA 300 amp and Schitt modi DAC (sending the SMSL SA 300 amp back to amazon on Tuesday because I bought a Yamaha A-A501SL for more "headroom" and hopefully a little warmer sound). The main question here is, has anyone EQ'ed these speakers and if so, what do you recommend for settings (on a mac so all I have access to is the iTunes EQ or the Boom2 Eq). Also...what DAC would people recommend (budget is under $500).

Many thanks

 

[JSmith]

Welcome to ASR.

The main question here is, has anyone EQ'ed these speakers

Amir tested these and felt limited EQ was required;

Elac Debut Reference DBR-62 Speaker Review

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Elac Debut Reference DBR-62 bookshelf speaker. It was kindly purchased new and drop shipped to me for testing. The DBR-62 costs US $600 a pair from multiple sources/dealers. The DBR-62 comes in black and walnut finish or the distressed Oak and...

www.audiosciencereview.com

Note that the only EQ I used was for the 200 bass mode in my room. There is enough bass out of this speaker to energize that mode so be sure to have some means of EQ for your bass frequencies. Above that, none is needed but you are welcome to try some to taste (broad, low-Q EQ).

Schitt modi DAC

Also...what DAC would people recommend (budget is under $500).

Anything wrong with the Modi? Or do you need further connectivity/functionality?


JSmith

 

[Chrispy]

Changing amps for a "warmer" sound sounds pretty silly. Any eq would very much depend on your room, not just the hardware. There's a ton of reviews of dacs on this site, many costing far less than $500 but depends what you want it to be able to do other than be a simple dac, too.

 

[JRS]

Hi everyone,

So I am very much new to the hobby on the speaker/amp side. My headphone setup is lovely and I am not changing anything about it...sennheiser 660S and hi-fi man sundatas paired with Schiit Magnius Amp and Modius DAC...balanced setup all the way. However I do have a question about my speaker setup.

I just bought a pair of Elac Debut Reference speakers and are pairing them with an SMSL SA 300 amp and Schitt modi DAC (sending the SMSL SA 300 amp back to amazon on Tuesday because I bought a Yamaha A-A501SL for more "headroom" and hopefully a little warmer sound). The main question here is, has anyone EQ'ed these speakers and if so, what do you recommend for settings (on a mac so all I have access to is the iTunes EQ or the Boom2 Eq). Also...what DAC would people recommend (budget is under $500).

Many thanks

There is a thread here that is 112 pages and counting (tells you something about the popularity of this speaker--had to buy a pair of my own just to see what all the fuss is about. There is buried here and there some recs re EQ (as @JSmith notes, a little dab will do you). What you likely should do when you have them dialed in w/o EQ but by careful positioning--i.e. a lot of trial and error to find the right distance from the side walls, how far apart, how far from the listener, and lastly the angle of toe in. Most folks found that a bit of toe-in is helpful under most circumstances (10 degrees vs the 30 if they were aimed right at the listening position.

Now having done that, your next best step is to measure the FR in your own room. Once you have that, you should have a good idea where and how much EQ to add. I plan on streaming on a WIN laptop where the EQ can be done by the very functional Apo EQ app. It's a bit different process than EQing HP's which are immune to room effects and so a pretty much universal EQ can be recommended. Plus tastes vary and your target curve may be different than mine.

Anyhow best of luck. I'm chomping at the bit to move into my new place and get mine set up.

 

[jperls]

Welcome to ASR.

Amir tested these and felt limited EQ was required;

Elac Debut Reference DBR-62 Speaker Review

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Elac Debut Reference DBR-62 bookshelf speaker. It was kindly purchased new and drop shipped to me for testing. The DBR-62 costs US $600 a pair from multiple sources/dealers. The DBR-62 comes in black and walnut finish or the distressed Oak and...

www.audiosciencereview.com

Anything wrong with the Modi? Or do you need further connectivity/functionality?


JSmith

Nothing wrong with the modi at all...just wanted to get another opinion

 

[jperls]

Changing amps for a "warmer" sound sounds pretty silly. Any eq would very much depend on your room, not just the hardware. There's a ton of reviews of dacs on this site, many costing far less than $500 but depends what you want it to be able to do other than be a simple dac, too.

Mainly doing it for more "headroom" (have to get this SMSL up to 35 before I can really hear what is being played...which is over halfway of total volume on this little amp).

 

[jperls]

There is a thread here that is 112 pages and counting (tells you something about the popularity of this speaker--had to buy a pair of my own just to see what all the fuss is about. There is buried here and there some recs re EQ (as @JSmith notes, a little dab will do you). What you likely should do when you have them dialed in w/o EQ but by careful positioning--i.e. a lot of trial and error to find the right distance from the side walls, how far apart, how far from the listener, and lastly the angle of toe in. Most folks found that a bit of toe-in is helpful under most circumstances (10 degrees vs the 30 if they were aimed right at the listening position.

Now having done that, your next best step is to measure the FR in your own room. Once you have that, you should have a good idea where and how much EQ to add. I plan on streaming on a WIN laptop where the EQ can be done by the very functional Apo EQ app. It's a bit different process than EQing HP's which are immune to room effects and so a pretty much universal EQ can be recommended. Plus tastes vary and your target curve may be different than mine.

Anyhow best of luck. I'm chomping at the bit to move into my new place and get mine set up.

Yeah...I might have a hard time positioning the speakers at the moment...live in a 1 bedroom apartment...so limited to a long narrow corridor that is my living room/office / kitchen / dining room. Probably not got to get the best sound out of these until I move to a different place where I can set up a dedicated room.

 

[Chrispy]

Mainly doing it for more "headroom" (have to get this SMSL up to 35 before I can really hear what is being played...which is over halfway of total volume on this little amp).

What does that have to do with headroom?

 

[jperls]

What does that have to do with headroom?

I am not sure...just want to try a different amp...that's all.

 

[Chrispy]

I am not sure...just want to try a different amp...that's all.

Better if you stick to what you know Most important in an amp, in looking at specs, is can it handle the impedance load of your speakers to the spl levels you require.....overhead can vary with amps and ratings, tho.

 

[jperls]

Better if you stick to what you know Most important in an amp, in looking at specs, is can it handle the impedance load of your speakers to the spl levels you require.....overhead can vary with amps and ratings, tho.

The SMSL can barley handle the 6 ohms the elacs run...the Yamaha should be able to handle them a little better. Besides. I know Yamaha as a brand much better than SMSL

 

[JSmith]

just want to try a different amp

What's your budget then? Upgrade wise from an Infineon based amp would be NCore and Purifi based amps. You may want to take a look at the review index;

Master Audio Review Index

www.audiosciencereview.com

JSmith

 

[jperls]

What's your budget then? Upgrade wise from an Infineon based amp would be NCore and Purifi based amps. You may want to take a look at the review index;

Master Audio Review Index

www.audiosciencereview.com

JSmith

Oh man....what have I gotten myself into...???

 

[Chrispy]

The SMSL can barley handle the 6 ohms the elacs run...the Yamaha should be able to handle them a little better. Besides. I know Yamaha as a brand much better than SMSL

I would trust the Yamaha more for lower impedance loads than the SMSL perhaps, but I'd need to see some tests in that regard. In any case I prefer more substantial amps, not just for your speakers particularly, but just in general a wide variety of load possibilites rather than perhaps just a current situation. Not really a problem to have lower impedance handling or more power, but harder not to have such....

 

[LTig]

I would trust the Yamaha more for lower impedance loads than the SMSL perhaps, but I'd need to see some tests in that regard. In any case I prefer more substantial amps, not just for your speakers particularly, but just in general a wide variety of load possibilites rather than perhaps just a current situation. Not really a problem to have lower impedance handling or more power, but harder not to have such....

The best way IME to circumvent the dilemma of finding an amp suited to a passive speaker is to get active powered speakers.

 

[JRS]

Yeah...I might have a hard time positioning the speakers at the moment...live in a 1 bedroom apartment...so limited to a long narrow corridor that is my living room/office / kitchen / dining room. Probably not got to get the best sound out of these until I move to a different place where I can set up a dedicated room.

Those "tubular" rooms can be tough as you will be dealing with some standing wave issues. If you can post a sketch I'm sure folks can offer some tips as to best practice. In the meantime you can chew through the thread I posted. If you post a sketch and let us know which spaces are which, i would suggest starting a new thread asking about speaker placement in a challenging space. This may be your top priority given the inherent problems with a living area sized cavity resonance.

 

[Alice of Old Vincennes]

Yeah...I might have a hard time positioning the speakers at the moment...live in a 1 bedroom apartment...so limited to a long narrow corridor that is my living room/office / kitchen / dining room. Probably not got to get the best sound out of these until I move to a different place where I can set up a dedicated room.

Good speakers with superb in room response will sound good in most rooms.

 

[jperls]

And just pulled the trigger on the SMSL DO300 (amazon had a deal going with a 15% off cupon so I took advantage of it)...the Modi 3 that I have is a little out of date and I would prefer a full USB-B input rather than a micro usb (it sometimes disconnects itself from power...but that could be the cord). Worse comes to worse i can always return the SMSL DO300 (that is what I am doing with the SMSL amp that I have in favor of the Yamaha).

 

[Chrispy]

The best way IME to circumvent the dilemma of finding an amp suited to a passive speaker is to get active powered speakers.

As long as you like that pair of speakers, and an alternate thought is when you want to upgrade you don't get to keep the same amps on the job particularly, so somewhat a duplication of expense if you're constantly "upgrading"....

 

[JRS]

Oh man....what have I gotten myself into...???

Good speakers with superb in room response will sound good in most rooms.

That has not been my experience at all. But I guess it depends on what we call "most" I suppose. This room sounds like an outlier.

What I would agree on is "that with sufficient care, good speakers with...."

I may be nitpicking here, but as I have been apartment shopping for 1 bdrms, a good 25% were rejected on the basis of hostile acoustics. I keep hoping to find one with vaulted ceilings and a main living area deep enough to get the mains a meter away from side walls and at least 1/2 that from front wall--with a seating position about 2/3rds deep into the on axis dimension, and the speakers around 3 meters apart. With those dimensions, I suspect most any decent speaker can be made to sound pretty good with judicious EQ. (Getting off the walls and no ceiling reflections allows for more aggressive EQ with directivity impaired speakers).

And excellent speakers can strut their stuff.