SSP-800 stereo listening with sub

[londoner]

I listened today at my dealer to SSP-800, CA-5300, 804Di, DB1 + HTM4Di centre and 805Di surrounds. Sources were CDP-202 over analogue and Arcam blu-ray over digital.

Really couldn't pick between the CDP-202 and SSP-800 DACs. Listening to opening of Mahler 8 which is dense with voices and orchestra both were astonishingly lifelike and engaging. Confirms what people have said about quality of what SSP-800 does with digital signal. The dealer was surprised.

Also watched and listened to some Mozart and Puccini opera selections on Opus Arte sampler blu-ray and combination of sound and visuals was again outstanding. The DB1 added depth and richness to the sound without drawing attention to itself.

Playing with the menu interface we weren't able to configure stereo listening to use the DB1 as well, other than with processing modes which degrade the signal. What I'm hoping for is a configuration where there's no processing of the main L+R signals but the low frequency response is extended with the sub. I believe this is one of the things Classe are suggesting you can do with the new CP-800.

Do any of you configure the SSP-800 for stereo plus sub in this way? And if so how do you do it without losing quality for the main L+R channels?

Looking at the online manuals I believe it's a matter of setting L+R mains to full, enabling "e-bass" and then presumably using the digital correction in either the SSP-800 or the DB1 to integrate the sub bass with the 804Dis.

Has anyone tried that and with what success? Where do you configure equalisation to integrate everything?

[wxmanunr]

2 Channel w/sub Easy

You can easily use your SSP-800 for two channel listening with sub. You use "configurations". I have 3 set:

2.0 Stereo listening (no distance info) with the left/right
2.1 Stereo w/sub listening (use distance) with the left/right/sub
5.1 HT listening (use distance) with the left/right/sub/rear right/rear left

The SSP-800 does a very good job integrating the sub. I use the default crossover. I use the SSP-800 as my DAC, so there is no loss of quality with the sub in the loop.

wxmanunr

I listened today at my dealer to SSP-800, CA-5300, 804Di, DB1 + HTM4Di centre and 805Di surrounds. Sources were CDP-202 over analogue and Arcam blu-ray over digital.

Really couldn't pick between the CDP-202 and SSP-800 DACs. Listening to opening of Mahler 8 which is dense with voices and orchestra both were astonishingly lifelike and engaging. Confirms what people have said about quality of what SSP-800 does with digital signal. The dealer was surprised.

Also watched and listened to some Mozart and Puccini opera selections on Opus Arte sampler blu-ray and combination of sound and visuals was again outstanding. The DB1 added depth and richness to the sound without drawing attention to itself.

Playing with the menu interface we weren't able to configure stereo listening to use the DB1 as well, other than with processing modes which degrade the signal. What I'm hoping for is a configuration where there's no processing of the main L+R signals but the low frequency response is extended with the sub. I believe this is one of the things Classe are suggesting you can do with the new CP-800.

Do any of you configure the SSP-800 for stereo plus sub in this way? And if so how do you do it without losing quality for the main L+R channels?

Looking at the online manuals I believe it's a matter of setting L+R mains to full, enabling "e-bass" and then presumably using the digital correction in either the SSP-800 or the DB1 to integrate the sub bass with the 804Dis.

Has anyone tried that and with what success? Where do you configure equalisation to integrate everything?

[Ragman]

You can easily use your SSP-800 for two channel listening with sub. You use "configurations". I have 3 set:

2.0 Stereo listening (no distance info) with the left/right
2.1 Stereo w/sub listening (use distance) with the left/right/sub
5.1 HT listening (use distance) with the left/right/sub/rear right/rear left

Is there an easy way to copy a configuration?
I currently only use config 1 which I would like to copy to config 2 and then adjust it slightly for 2.0 listening.
It would be super if its possible to copy and then modify so I won't have to perform all the config steps again for config 2.

[mjb]

Is there an easy way to copy a configuration?

No, unfortunately there's no "copy" function. You have to build it from scratch.

[Ragman]

No, unfortunately there's no "copy" function. You have to build it from scratch.

:cry:
Thanks for the reply though, guess I'll have to go through the hassle of manually copying it.
I'll e-mail Classé about it also so they know that at least one user would like copy functionality, eg. just enter an empty config and select "Base on another configuration" and then select 1 for example and voila, all settings copied.
There should be a lot of users that would like such a feature to easily be able to set up multiple configurations.

[Kal Rubinson]

Do any of you configure the SSP-800 for stereo plus sub in this way? And if so how do you do it without losing quality for the main L+R channels?

Why do you presume that bass management implies a loss of quality? I have compared using the L/R full range (802D or 800Di) with having them bass-managed (settings from 80 to 40Hz) with a JLaudio F113 and the difference is undetectable except for the extreme low end.

Remember, everything digital goes through the same DSP; only the algorithms change.

[wettou]

Why do you presume that bass management implies a loss of quality? I have compared using the L/R full range (802D or 800Di) with having them bass-managed (settings from 80 to 40Hz) with a JLaudio F113 and the difference is undetectable except for the extreme low end.

Remember, everything digital goes through the same DSP; only the algorithms change.

Yes even better with two JLAudio F113 :B

[londoner]

Why do you presume that bass management implies a loss of quality? I have compared using the L/R full range (802D or 800Di) with having them bass-managed (settings from 80 to 40Hz) with a JLaudio F113 and the difference is undetectable except for the extreme low end.

Remember, everything digital goes through the same DSP; only the algorithms change.

Thanks for your answer Kal, and reassuring that you heard no difference.

My concern was that any form of processing prior to D/A conversion stands a chance of losing or muddying information from the original signal.

My guess is that there's less of a risk of degradation with a bass signal, perhaps because the relative sample rate is so much higher.

Ideal is probably to leave L+R signal unchanged and then bass manage the sub to match with the mains - but from what you say it's just as good to simply have crossover the mains to route all the bass to the sub.

Nigel

[Kal Rubinson]

Ideal is probably to leave L+R signal unchanged and then bass manage the sub to match with the mains - but from what you say it's just as good to simply have crossover the mains to route all the bass to the sub.

Don't just take my word for it. Try it yourself but without the bias of presuming that it will sound better without the bass management.

[Srrndhound]

My concern was that any form of processing prior to D/A conversion stands a chance of losing or muddying information from the original signal.

My guess is that there's less of a risk of degradation with a bass signal, perhaps because the relative sample rate is so much higher.

But you do listen to CDs, right? The high frequencies get very close to the Nyquist frequency, yet suffer no degradation.

[londoner]

Don't just take my word for it. Try it yourself but without the bias of presuming that it will sound better without the bass management.

I'm already planning one more trip to dealer to do just that, but I'm getting pretty sure it's going to end up being 2.1 system with SSP-800, 804Di and DB1 using my existing Meridian 557 power amp. Very exciting

But you do listen to CDs, right? The high frequencies get very close to the Nyquist frequency, yet suffer no degradation.

Yes CDs and certainly high frequencies at the demo sounded very lifelike to me - in fact all of it was great.

The one time I thought that I noticed a loss of quality from processing was when we disabled the centre and the centre channel was mixed into the L+R mains. I thought the music lost some depth and emotion.

I was actually hoping the phantom centre processing wouldn't have that effect because I don't really have the space for a centre and I personally find it very distracting having sound coming from below the picture.

[Srrndhound]

The one time I thought that I noticed a loss of quality from processing was when we disabled the centre and the centre channel was mixed into the L+R mains. I thought the music lost some depth and emotion.

I was actually hoping the phantom centre processing wouldn't have that effect because I don't really have the space for a centre and I personally find it very distracting having sound coming from below the picture.

Phantom center suffers from the cross comb filtering that results from dual arrivals (L/R speakers). It's a fact of life, but not a result of summing the center signal with the L/R signals.