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Considering Multichannel Audio System Options


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On ‎8‎/‎23‎/‎2018 at 2:08 PM, Fitzcaraldo215 said:

HTPC/JRiver/Dirac/Exasound setupFor Mch music, the issue is your genre preference.  If it is heavy for classical, like mine, then there is an abundance of discretely recorded Mch albums that demonstrate any day of the week that hirez Mch is about as good as reproduction can possibly get today.  

 

Hello Fitz,

 

I share your appreciation for well recorded MCH classical music, and I'm trying to rebuild my system to do it justice. The HTPC/JRiver/Dirac/Exasound setup you mention above is remarkably similar to what I'm exploring.   May I ask what your philosophy is regarding speakers for the center and rear channels?  Do you use speakers intended for home theater or do you choose differently?   How about the subwoofer?

 

Thanks in advance for your insights!

 

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Thank you, Kal.  Is there an "official" guideline on the location of the speakers relative to the listening position for a MCH music setup (the way Dolby has for home theater)?   And/or, what's your experience?   Specifically wondering whether the surrounds should go to the sides of the listening position or behind.

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Thank you both Kal and Fitz for your insightful comments!  Lots to digest/consider.  

 

Fitz, you say that you listen to stereo only occasionally - where do you source your MCH music?  I do have a decent SACD collection but redbook dwarves it by several orders of magnitude!  Which is why I still want to ensure to build a great stereo system...

 

 

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Thank you Fitzcarraldo for your thorough (and very inspiring!) post.  You've pushed me to go back to the whiteboard and rethink my strategy.  HRAudio looks great, thank you!  And yes, I also buy a lot of SACDs from the UK.   MDT is probably my favorite site - selection, availability of hi res editions, fast shipping and prices are VERY often cheaper even with shipping than getting the same discs in the US from Amazon. 

 

Looking forward to continuing the discussions after I gain clarity on my strategy.

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On 9/11/2018 at 1:55 PM, Fitzcaraldo215 said:

 

My Mch collection is mostly ripped from SACDs, though increasingly labels are turning to downloads for Mch with corresponding disc releases only on CD. There are other downloads in PCM and DSD and the rest are ripped from BD-A or BD-V.  Most all are imported and tagged in my JRiver library on my NAS, though the BDs are more troublesome.

 

 

Fitz, I have another question for you.   In your experience, do these sources provide a dedicated subwoofer channel?  I have a handful of multichannel SACDs that are 5.0, so it seems to me that these assume either that you'll listen with full-range speakers/no SW, or that your system will do its own bass management.   I have to rip more of my multichannel SACDs and see what's really in there, as I've noticed that the back of the case usually doesn't say - it could be 4.0, 5.0, 5.1....

 

Do you prefer to listen to sources exactly as originally designed, or do you do bass management to have SW output in all cases?

 

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3 hours ago, Fitzcaraldo215 said:

I listen to all sources, including stereo, using bass management with my sub via JRiver.  That automatically handles the 5.0/5.1 issue, and it provides better sound even in stereo.

 

You said before that JRiver goes into your Exasound.  How is that connection done?  I'm assuming that JRiver performs the bass management and outputs a 5.1 signal into the DAC?  I'm not too familiar with this area of functionality in JRiver.

 

Do you have a pre-amp after the DAC, or do you go straight into your power amp?

 

Thanks for all your input.   You're really helping me a lot in my planning.

 

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10 minutes ago, ARQuint said:

 

SrMead —

 

You won't find two better guides to establishing a multichannel system then Kal and Fitz.

 

Are you considering attending RMAF next month? I'm moderating a seminar entitled "Multichannel Music: The Promise and the Problems" on Sunday morning, October 7th at 10 AM. Kal will be on the panel, as will Brian Moura (of NativeDSD). Would be great to see you there.

 

Andrew Quint

Senior Writer, TAS

Sounds interesting!  Where?   I'm in Seattle.

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4 minutes ago, Kal Rubinson said:

RMAF is in Denver.

 

There  is a good alternative to the narrow selection of dedicated multichannel DACs.  See  https://www.stereophile.com/content/music-round-93-minidsp-ripping-sacds

 

Kal, I found your article through some other thread last night.  Very interesting!  Budget considerations aside, do you think that this solution could result in better quality than going with the exasound e38?

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Fitz and Kal - bouncing off of you another idea.  I'm thinking about amplification.  Would you drive all channels with the same multichannel power amp, or would you separate out the channels?  Maybe prioritize the fronts with their own stereo power amp and the rest with a multi-channel amp? 

 

How important is the center channel?  OK to group it with the surrounds?

 

What amp brands do you suggest?  My current amp is a Rotel and I like it, but I'm curious to see what else is out there :)

 

Looking fwd to your thoughts, thanks!

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Ok guys, here's an update.   

 

I'm spending the weekend being blown away by my new toy, the exasound e38.   What an incredible piece of equipment.  Fedex showed up yesterday with it.

 

It's like I have an entire new system, and I haven't changed anything else - instead of using the DAC in my Rotel receiver the e38 took over the job and breathed new life into my system.   Detail, precision, separation, depth, imaging... I'm not sure what words to use but honestly I didn't realize my trusty old 13 year old system could sound so good.

 

Not to mention that from a practical perspective, going from stereo to MCH is now a non-issue - Roon sends over the stream and the DAC takes care of it.   I plugged it into the MULTI INPUTs of the Rotel and just keep the receiver set to that in bypass mode.  No more switching from optical to HDMI-in to analog 2 ch.  By the way, Roon configuration was a 15 second task.  The drivers ensure that Roon can send DSD streams natively so no more DoP packing or heavy loads on the PC processor even with quad-DSD.

 

The speakers and system setup is still following the conventional home theater layout with the surround channels in the back.  So the journey will continue with updated speakers and a new geometry bringing the surrounds to the sides per your advice.  Probably a new pre and separate amps.  So this is not over by any means but I have to say, this first step of the journey is already a blast.

 

Thanks for all your help and inspiration, you guys have been instrumental in setting me on the right track.

 

I hope your weekends are being even half the fun as mine :) 

 

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  • 1 month later...
On 9/15/2018 at 2:22 PM, ARQuint said:

Are you considering attending RMAF next month? I'm moderating a seminar entitled "Multichannel Music: The Promise and the Problems" on Sunday morning, October 7th at 10 AM. Kal will be on the panel, as will Brian Moura (of NativeDSD). Would be great to see you there.

 

 

I didn't make it to Denver but was happy to see that the session was posted to YouTube.  About an hour of very interesting discussions.

https://youtu.be/Bu4cNkytab4

 

 

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