Hi everyone,
(new member warning - mods please move this thread if it's in the wrong place)
Now that I'm nearly finished building my Statement II's, my current receiver (Marantz NR1501 @7x50W) is too underpowered to drive them. Building these speakers (incl. designing/stuffing my own crossover PCBs) has been fun and I want to keep going with the DIY to solve this problem. I'm hoping to get your input/help with a hifi system design I've been working on. I'll add my specific design questions up front in case of TL;DR, or you don't need the rest of the info to respond. I've tried to research as much as I can first, so hopefully this isn't too frustrating for the experts out there!
Please see the attached diagrams (existing current state vs. planned future state systems). Assume that any existing system components that I've left in the future state diagram (i.e. the greyed out parts) are kind of a done deal for now - unless you see any real clangers in there!
DESIGN QUESTIONS
DESIGN GOALS
The system I'm building must:
DESIGN COMMENTS
Well, thanks for reading - I look forward to hearing your thoughts on my ideas.
Mr Noisy
(new member warning - mods please move this thread if it's in the wrong place)
Now that I'm nearly finished building my Statement II's, my current receiver (Marantz NR1501 @7x50W) is too underpowered to drive them. Building these speakers (incl. designing/stuffing my own crossover PCBs) has been fun and I want to keep going with the DIY to solve this problem. I'm hoping to get your input/help with a hifi system design I've been working on. I'll add my specific design questions up front in case of TL;DR, or you don't need the rest of the info to respond. I've tried to research as much as I can first, so hopefully this isn't too frustrating for the experts out there!
Please see the attached diagrams (existing current state vs. planned future state systems). Assume that any existing system components that I've left in the future state diagram (i.e. the greyed out parts) are kind of a done deal for now - unless you see any real clangers in there!
DESIGN QUESTIONS
- Is it proper to have the headphone amp go through the buffer?
- What does this mean re. having two attenuators in the circuit? (one on buffer, one on headphone amp)
- WHAMMY or ACP+ for the headphone amp? This question is not about which is better, but which is easier to build - I'll probably end up building both anyway...
- You'll see that I've spec'd XLR balanced interconnects where available. Aside from the*argument against introducing unnecessary complications to the system, I figure that if they're already there then why not use them?* Or is there another argument against them?
- Noting the above, what interconnect would you recommend between the buffer and the headphone amp? Unbalanced RCA or balanced XLR?
- Is there any advantage to balancing the monoblock--> speaker connections? The research I've done says no, but I'd like your thoughts. Either way, I'll use SoundOns for this job.
- I understand that the WHAMMY and the ACP+ headphone amps can be configured as pre-amps. This is probably a dumb question, but could I use one of them to drive the monoblocks while I build the DCB1 buffer? Or is that asking too much of them? The answer to this question will drive the build order more than anything else.
DESIGN GOALS
The system I'm building must:
- Have good (high?) fidelity, in the true sense of the word
- Have good WAF :-)
- Maximise the DIY side of things - fearless!
- Utilise 'tried and true' rather than 'bleeding edge' solutions. I'm handy with a soldering*iron, but don't know enough*to design*my own hifi components (so, almost fearless...)
- Help me avoid 'upgrade-itis', although I understand that's hard with this hobby :-)
- Be built in the right order - the goal is to get the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) going in order to get hifi sound into my ears, before starting on the next logical component in the system
- Steer away from the 'snake oil' aspects of hifi system design
DESIGN COMMENTS
- I chose the Topping D90 over the RME ADI-2 for my DAC, as I understand that only the D90 can have its pre-amp function bypassed through the setup options. I could be swayed back toward the ADI-2 if someone else knows something that I don't...
- The DAC will likely be the last component I add to the system. This will allow me to see if I can build up the courage to build my own DAC before I get to it.
- Spotify + Chromecast = good WAF. It's not intended for hifi listening, but will get me started for digital sources anyhow.
- The research I've done suggests that the best listening improvements are typically made at the source and at the output, with everything in between being kind of secondary. That's why I built the Statement II's first, even if they'll be underdriven by my existing receiver, and why there's a raft of upgrades already planned for my TT. I'll probably talk about that in another thread. This thread is about pretty much everything else...
- ...except room treatment.I know that this is important too, but I need to do more research before asking dumb questions about it (again, likely in another thread)
Well, thanks for reading - I look forward to hearing your thoughts on my ideas.
Mr Noisy
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