Help Needed with SNAXO 3-6

David,

I have a 2-4. If I remember correctly, clockwise is a decrease in volume, and counterclockwise an increase. Factory settings does not necessarily mean the 12 o'clock position.

Thomas

Dear Thomas,

Thanks. I think this is consistent with my own experience. It is most apparent for the Lo, but not too sure for mid and hi. Will try again later.

David,

I've never taken the lid off my SNAXO, but my old NAXO was clockwise for an increase (for all six pots).

It's surprising how adjusting the treble especially will change the perceived bass balance.

I'd tend to suggest leaving the mid as-is and just adjusting the bass or the treble. This rather depends on whether the bass or treble are already at maximum, though.

cheers, Martin

Dear Martin,

I am currently fixing the bass and adjusting the mid and hi. I have been using passive DBLs with the pxo3 and am very used to the sound, especially the bass. Sad to say, so far I have not been able to make my active 6 pack sounds better than the pxo3.

Will it be too much trouble for you to take a peek into your snaxo and tell me the position of the arrows with respect to the alpabets on the pots? This could serve as a reference for me.

Thanks.

david

Dear Roy,

I am using a Hi-cap for my snaxo. The problem with my snaxo is that there are two markings on each pots. I think the previous owner may have made the extra markings. This is why I needed some reference to determine which is the correct factory default. I believe the setting for the pots should not defer too much between different snaxos since naim carefully selects its components.

I'm interested in improving the performance of my mains. I will get in touch once my email is up.

Thanks.

david

quote:

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Originally posted by David Ng:
Dear Martin,

Will it be too much trouble for you to take a peek into your snaxo and tell me the position of the arrows with respect to the alpabets on the pots? This could serve as a reference for me.

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David,

sorry, but it won't help you. Each individual pot is set by measurement, and they are not guaranteed to give the same volume level for a certain position.

Can you explain what differences you are getting between the passive & active setups?

What amps are you using?

cheers, Martin

Dear Martin,

I don't know how to describe it, the best word I could come out with is that the pxo3 sounds more balanced. With the snaxo, I'm either getting too much highs which restricts playing level or not enough which seemed to make the sound less detail. Also I cannot get the right amount of clean, tight bass which sounds like something is punching you. The bass is either too much which muffle details or too little and not enough 'body massage'.

My system is LP12/aro/prefix/armgd/52/scap/snaxo/hicap/6x135/DBL.

Just finished a new position which I think sounds best so far: the relative positions of the hi-mid-lo are about 1 alphabet difference in the clockwise direction, starting from alphabet 'O' for the highs.

Does anybody have an opened-factory-setting-snaxo 3-6 to verify the relative positions of the pots?

Thanks.

david

David,

quote:

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Does anybody have an opened-factory-setting-snaxo 3-6 to verify the relative positions of the pots?

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David, I think what Martin wanted to say earlier is that the factory settings vary from unit to unit, so anyone else's factory settings will be of no use to you. Also check this older thread.

I'm very sorry it isn't working out - must be very tricky with a three-way. Can you get your dealer to come in?

Thomas

quote:

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Originally posted by David Ng:

Just finished a new position which I think sounds best so far: the relative positions of the hi-mid-lo are about 1 alphabet difference in the clockwise direction, starting from alphabet 'O' for the highs.

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David,

no wonder you're getting too much or too little - you're moving the pots *far* too much.

You need to be moving the pots by the smallest increment that you can manage with a steady hand. David Dever has discussed setting to within as little as a couple of hundredths of a db for the final "snap into focus" tuning. You are messing around with several dbs - about 100 times this much!

I would also be a little careful not to turn any of the pots up too far. Don't know if this might start to overload something further down the chain (which might give that strained sound you might be getting).

I would still re-iterate that it's probably worth returning the mid-range pot as it was, and adjusting the other two around it (bass down & treble up from what you've described).

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Does anybody have an opened-factory-setting-snaxo 3-6 to verify the relative positions of the pots?

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As I said before, and as Roy confirmed EVERY POT IS DIFFERENT. Just because mine is at 11:15 yours might be at 10:45 or 11:45 for the same volume setting. Apparently, the two channels (e.g. for mid-range) might be set differently to achieve the same relative level.

Each SNAXO is adjusted at the factory and then marked to show the default positions.

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My system is LP12/ aro/ prefix/ armgd/ 52/ scap/ snaxo/ hicap/ 6x135/ DBL.

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Yup, that should be doing it for you!

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I don't know how to describe it, the best word I could come out with is that the pxo3 sounds more balanced. With the snaxo, I'm either getting too much highs which restricts playing level or not enough which seemed to make the sound less detail. Also I cannot get the right amount of clean, tight bass which sounds like something is punching you. The bass is either too much which muffle details or too little and not enough 'body massage'.

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Yes, I know this problem - but since I don't have a passive crossover for my system I don't have any reference to work from at all.

This makes it very difficult in terms of finding the "right" position for the speakers - I just have to trust that the crossover is right, and go from there.

cheers, Martin

P.S. If you intend to sell your pxos (at a good price) please let me know!

quote:

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Originally posted by David Ng:
The bass is either too much which muffle details or too little and not enough 'body massage'.

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David,

one more thing to be aware of.

When I first went active on my Isobariks (from 4x135s) I got far more bass extension - it went a lot deeper. What was really exciting, though was that it was also MUCH tighter.

It is conceivable that you are exciting room modes that weren't a problem before, but honestly I think this is somewhat unlikely. A passive DBL should go low enough to be below any room modes unless you live in the sort of room where you have to shout to be heard from the other end.

cheers, Martin

Thanks guys for all your suggestions. Yes, there are two markings roughly 180 degrees apart, and one marking is in the 9 to 3 o'clock range. Unfortunately, mine is not perfectly 180 degrees aligned, but I guess I will have to fine-tune it ear. But I recall I had already tried that position. Maybe I did not wait for things the settle down before re-adjusting. Will give it another go tonite. If things still don't improve, I will bring the snaxo back to my dealer.

Strangely enough, I made a phone enquiry to my dealer and the technician informed me that he does not have the exact spec from naim. What he did was he measured the readings from a brand new set. Unfortunately, when he last adjusted for me, the highs was way too much, which is why I reverted to adjusting by ear. I am really puzzled???

Thanks

david

Dear Roy,

Thanks for the tip, will try that. Currently I am usng the alphabets on the pots as a guide to align the left and right channels.

david.

Mark,

Thought about doing that, in fact already made enquiries with naim uk, but seems like a lot of trouble.

Anyway, I had Idris over to my place yesterday and he discovered for my small room, the IKEA chair is too low, which is why when I had the snaxo pots aligned to the black marker lines, ity didn't sound balanced to me. Once i get my ears to about the level of the tweeters, the sound seems alright now. It seems like I have been listening too low for too long that I had mistaken that as the balanced sound.

Will do some serious listening tonite to finalise the setting of the pots so that I can start enjoying music again.

david

Roy,

Thanks for the tip. In fact I did that to adjust L/R balance. But my problem was with the level between the lo-mid-hi pots. Now my lo and mid pots are at the factory setting and the hi just slightly less than factory setting. I find A/B comparison very important. I went over to Idris place to listen to his DBL powered by FM($$$). That gave me a reference on the overall balance of the sound. My present settings allow me to really rock.

I'll be getting a new chair later. Will think of safe way to implement some of those power line ideas you sent me. Thanks.

david

Does this mean the Snaxo Pots are to/can be adjusted to suit personal taste/room requirements- or should they be left alone and is this purely used to match speaker cross-overs ???

naheed...