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'Traditional' Hi-Fi setup with active speakers?

splitting_ears

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Aug 15, 2023
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Hi there! I'm currently thinking about streamlining/redesigning my living room audio setup and would appreciate some input from other members here.

I have a large collection of cassettes, vinyl records, CDs and media files on an external hard drive, and I'm currently using an old Yamaha amp to drive my tape deck, turntable, CD player and a mini-jack to connect other devices (laptop, phone, games console, ...).

I recently had the opportunity to move a pair of Focal Solo6 Be from my studio to my living room and connect them to the pre-amp output of the amp. It does work fine, but I can't help feeling wrong to use such a bulky amp as a simple routing device/preamp now that I have these speakers here.

So, my aim would be to have a setup that is primarily easy to use (fidelity is not critical here): perhaps some sort of source switcher (supporting both analogue + digital inputs) with a volume control? I've done a bit of research on AVRs, but they seem to be designed for use with passive speakers only. And getting something like a Topping D90, Pre90 and Ext90 would be far too expensive for my budget (and a little overkill too).

Any other ideas? I may be overlooking some alternatives.

(I should probably also mention that I'm planning to set up a local NAS at some point, so that I can access and stream my music collection from my laptop via Bluetooth - so a system that supports it natively would be a plus)

Thanks for any help :)
 
Sounds like a perfect use case for the WiiM Ultra.

You can connect:

Hard drive via USB
NAS via Ethernet
Turntable via RCA Phono
CD Player via SPDIF
Tape deck via RCA Line in
...and more

The WiiM will automatically switch between inputs, and you can use its room correction and subwoofer integration features with all audio sources.
 
A Wiim Ultra will be as cheap as it gets in good quality. The only thing it lacks is balanced out to go to the monitor (that has balanced in). But you can work arround that with the right cabling, and if you want it perfect, put a di like the Klark Teknik DI22P between it to go from unbalanced to balanced. But very often this won't make the sound better, only when you have problems to drive the monitor with an unbalanced signal.
 
If the RCA output is giving you issues with ground loops and mains hum, then instead of a transformer DI, you can also try a simple, analog RCA->XLR cable. See here:

With the right cable construction, you can utilize the Focal's CMRR even with the Ultra's RCA output.
 
If the RCA output is giving you issues with ground loops and mains hum, then instead of a transformer DI, you can also try a simple, analog RCA->XLR cable. See here:

With the right cable construction, you can utilize the Focal's CMRR even with the Ultra's RCA output.
That works for ground loops, that is true, but not for impendance mismatches that can cause trouble. The Focal has a relative low input impendance (10K) while an unbalanced signal expect a lot more (+20K) in a lot of cases. I don't know the Wiim that detailed to know if it can handle a 10Kohm input without distortion, and if it can drive an amp that expect balanced level signal. I had problems driving a pair that i repaired with my Luxman C-02 preamp (from 1983) that drives any unbalanced amp with ease... Straight from my dac (Steinberg UR-22MKII) was no issue at all and with the ancestor of that di in between neighter. The reparation was replacing a broken plug (the speaker was out of waranty) .
 
That works for ground loops, that is true, but not for impendance mismatches that can cause trouble. The Focal has a relative low input impendance (10K) while an unbalanced signal expect a lot more (+20K) in a lot of cases. I don't know the Wiim that detailed to know if it can handle a 10Kohm input without distortion, and if it can drive an amp that expect balanced level signal. I had problems driving a pair that i repaired with my Luxman C-02 preamp (from 1983) that drives any unbalanced amp with ease... Straight from my dac (Steinberg UR-22MKII) was no issue at all and with the ancestor of that di in between neighter. The reparation was replacing a broken plug (the speaker was out of waranty) .
That's not an impendance mismatch really. Balanced (or unbalanced) outputs don't "expect" a certain input impedance, but are designed to handle a range instead - the standard range is 10 to 47kOhm. Every properly designed output can handle that just fine. Worst case scenario is the level will drop by a few millivolt, a small fraction of a dB. Nothing else will happen.

Distortion only happens when the output driver is overloaded, as in running out of current - and a 10kOm load simply can't do that.
 
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