Am I doing this wrong?

Posted by: Consciousmess on 18 December 2010

Hi all,

My system is the following:


Blu Ray
Sky HD
Xbox360

into

nVi
nDAC
282 + 2 Hicaps
250.2
nSATs + nSUB

(This is in a small listening room, which is about 5m x 5m)

Now I have found that to play CDs it is much more convenient to use the system the following way:

I output digitally from the Blu Ray into the nVi then output digitally from the nVi into the nDAC which feeds into the 282.2 then the 250.2

What is good about this, is that the nVi already powers the nSUB as it is the component receiving the audio signal and the 282 by logic receives a well converted signal from the nDAC (which received a digital signal from the nVi which came digitally from the Blu Ray)........

So in theory, I believe I am using the system to its best. But am I??!!

What makes me wonder, however, is that this isn't how it should be. The biggest bugbear I currently have is making every source sound optimal (anything from Sky HD to stereo CD to Blu Ray films to Xbox games) and in playing CDs the way I have illustrated above, I can use the nVi controller and on both volume controls, I can separately alter the loudness of the stereo speakes and the nSUB independently.

This might seem ideal, but doesn't seem right!!

Does anyone follow my predicament? Should I be doing this or should I change my front speakers into speakers that are naturally more bass heavy and leave the nSUB to do its job just for 5.1 encoded material???

Thanks for reading and thank you in advance for your suggestions!

Jon
Posted on: 18 December 2010 by Dungassin
It's not the way I do things. I use a system something like yours (but a little higher end), with AV2/Naim Power amps/nDAC/282/HiCap/nSystem, with a DVD5 using its coaxial output into the nDAC, which is connected to the 282 by HiLine.

I connect this to the nSUB by the nSUB's AUX input, which is low level line input - the input to the nSUB comes from the second Poweramp output on the HiCAP. Use a different nSUB preset (not the one you use for bluray/DVD etc) Set Xover frequency on the to 60Hz, and adjust the output of the nSUB to match your nSATs (using a sound level meter). Then I suggest you play various items of music and adjust the nSUB level until it sounds correct. I find this to be about 6dB lower than the sound level meter would suggest, which is not to say that you would find the same. This setting is bound to be room dependent. Don't be afraid to try different subXover frequency settings. Took me a couple of hours to get it right!

I suspect that the way you are doing it at present means that the nVi is processing the signal - i.e. double processing - a bad thing. Unless, of course, the digital output from your nVi is like that on the AV2, which is just a pass-through from the source. If that is so, then you are not actually using your nSUB at all for your music.
Posted on: 18 December 2010 by Dungassin
Just been to the Naim website and had a look at the nVi manual. The coaxial digital output on the nVi would appear to be just a pass-through as I said. i.e. the only thing doing the processing is the nDAC, and you are not using your nSUB at all for your music. You need to do something similar to what I described in the earlier post - unless you want to use the nSUB's high level inputs, which is a whole other ball game.
Posted on: 18 December 2010 by Consciousmess
Hi Dungassin,

Thank you very much for your advice. I will do aome alterations as you suggest!

Kind regards,

Jon
Posted on: 19 December 2010 by Dungassin
quote:
Originally posted by Consciousmess:
Hi Dungassin,

Thank you very much for your advice. I will do aome alterations as you suggest!

Kind regards,

Jon

I would suggest getting the lead to go from the HiCAP to the nSUB from your local Naim dealer - explain to him exactly what it is for. Otherwise I would suggest that you talk to someone such as Fastback cables, who seem to understand Naim cabling - or possibly Chord if you want to spend more! An incorrectly wired DIN to 2 RCA Phono lead won't work - even Chord managed to get that wrong when I asked them to make me a lead to connect my Stax earphone box to the 282. Smile
Posted on: 24 December 2010 by Mark Gilbert
fyi - when setting up an nSub in my system, for cd replay, we tried connecting at line level from an output on the supercap as well as connecting at high level by wiring from amps to the nSub. Using the high level wiring gave better sonic results.
This pair of options has been discussed several times. I know that many have preferred the high level connection but I'll leave it to you to find what most appeals to you.
fwiw: 1) my setup is active so the 250 running bass frequencies has the additional wiring that goes to the nSub; 2) the wiring to the nSub does not need to be NACA5 or other expensive wiring.
Good luck.
Mark
Posted on: 26 December 2010 by Don Atkinson
Mark,

Do the wires that go to your hi-level n-Sub input, run from your bass power-amp output terminals, or do they run from your bass speaker input terminals?

Cheers

Don