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Activated 3.6

83.226.139.3
Posted on May 7, 2016 at 08:56:51
Roger Gustavsson
Audiophile

Posts: 2054
Location: Huskvarna
Joined: February 12, 2010
 After a few years of use (almost five...), I have now "activated" my Magnepan 3.6. By that I mean running them with an active crossover, leaving out the external box containing the bass-to-mid passive filters. For the moment, I am using a miniDSP in place of the original box and run a stereo power amplifier each side. I have not started any test runs with differnt setups, just trying to use the original slopes, 24 dB/octave low pass at 280 Hz and 6 dB/otave high pass at 200 Hz. Not sure if the original low pass matches any standard filter slopes, like Linkwitz-Riley, Bessel, Butterworth etc. I use the LR-setting.

Did not expect much of a change, except for the increase of the bass level. In theory the effiency of the bass increases by about 1.6 dB as the series resistance of the original crossover is about 0.8 Ohm.

So, how does sound? I was a bit worried of the extra ADDA process the minDSP adds and the rather restriced drive capabilites of its output section (600 Ohm source impedance) as I am running rahter long cables from it to my Rotel power amplifiers, sitting right behind each speaker.

Firing it up was a bit a of joke. There is an odd thing about the channel designation of the miniDSP... When I fired it up it was sort of a mess initally but it was soon sorted out. Some minor hum and noise could be detected having an ear right up to the speakers. Not a problem while seated in the sweetspot.

Yes, it does sound really nice, better than expected. Maybe a slight corretction of the bass is needed but I will play with it just like it is for a while. There is a warmth to the sound that goes well with my room. There is still a lack of low bass. The precision of the soundstage is improved, did not expect that. For now, I am quite pleased!

 

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RE: Activated 3.6, posted on May 7, 2016 at 10:13:16
neolith
Audiophile

Posts: 4842
Location: Virginia
Joined: February 21, 2002
Contributor
  Since: December 2, 2004
 The low pass 4th order is pretty close to a L-R. For long runs, try the balanced connections. If you are interested in using a Marchand XM-44, send me an email.
Did you ever get around to using the ribbons?



"Our head is round in order to allow our thoughts to change direction." Francis Picabia

 

RE: Activated 3.6, posted on May 7, 2016 at 10:42:07
Roger Gustavsson
Audiophile

Posts: 2054
Location: Huskvarna
Joined: February 12, 2010
 Ribbons are resting, waiting for my Tympani IVa project.... I will use the miniDSP for further experiments incl. The T-IVa. Would like to go for an analog active crossover in the end.

 

RE: Activated 3.6, posted on May 7, 2016 at 12:11:13
pictureguy
Audiophile

Posts: 22597
Location: SoCal
Joined: October 19, 2008
 I think even the 2x4 MiniDSP has PEQ on each input AND output.
You could EASILY shelve the bass down 1db or more without harm.

The 2x8 has something like 5 PEQ available on EACH input and output. A staggering number of possibles.

And for the 2x8? Balanced is the obvious way to go.
Too much is never enough

 

RE: Activated 3.6, posted on May 8, 2016 at 01:13:57
Roger Gustavsson
Audiophile

Posts: 2054
Location: Huskvarna
Joined: February 12, 2010



Yes, I know there are a lot of options.

 

RE: Activated 3.6, posted on May 8, 2016 at 07:04:57
Davey
 Roger,
Just for info, the 2.1 crossover is not what you want. Or are you just using that screen shot as an example?

Dave.

 

RE: Activated 3.6, posted on May 8, 2016 at 07:55:29
Roger Gustavsson
Audiophile

Posts: 2054
Location: Huskvarna
Joined: February 12, 2010
 There do not seem to be much of a difference between the 2 way advanced and the 2.1 advanced. I am running the 2.1 now. What would chance if I go for the 2 way advanced? Any suggestions?

 

RE: Activated 3.6, posted on May 8, 2016 at 17:28:10
Davey
 They need to condense their lineup of those plugins. The newer 2x4 advanced crossover will actually replace the other three with minimal trade-offs.

Cheers,

Dave.

 

RE: Activated 3.6, posted on May 13, 2016 at 10:55:41
pictureguy
Audiophile

Posts: 22597
Location: SoCal
Joined: October 19, 2008
 Unless what you end up with using the MiniDSP is Too Cumbersome to actually DUPLICATE in the Analogue domain. Not as impossible or nutty as it first might sound.

I've even seen suggestions to go UPLINE and use FIR filters. Quite beyond me, at this point. I'd start EXACTLY where you started, by attempting to duplicate the Original Crossover.
Too much is never enough

 

RE: "Would like to go for an analog active crossover in the end." ..., posted on May 23, 2016 at 05:07:40
andyr
Manufacturer

Posts: 12548
Location: Melbourne
Joined: September 2, 2000
 I will soon be able to tell you whether that is a mistake ... or not :-)) - as I will shortly be moving from the 3-way analog active XO that I've been using for the past 15 years to a 4-way digital active XO using a miniDSP 10x10 unit.

This is part of the implementation of a pair of 15" subs and I am hoping the advantage of LF room correction plus driver-delay that the miniDSP delivers will more than compensate for the A2D + D2A conversions that are required. :-))


Regards,

Andy

 

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