My first venture into Pre-Pro – Pointers welcome

[drkrack]

Do you no longer have the Magnepan set-up? Wanted to check if you by any chance added a subwoofer to it.

I don't have the Magnepen Setup now ; I couldn't listen to them without subwoofers, I used Xtz 12.17 Subwoofer with them and it was sounding pretty good. I have used pioneer s51w also, but lack of crossover setting on pioneer was a great hindrance. Xtz 12.17 matched with Magnepen very well ; though Rel T9i at friends place was a better match.

Yes, I understand the current situation with China is making the overseas purchase very problematic. Other option is Murthys Cables, which were performing pretty well with Crown Xls & Magnepen.

 

[SwaroopKS]

I don't have the Magnepen Setup now ; I couldn't listen to them without subwoofers, I used Xtz 12.17 Subwoofer with them and it was sounding pretty good. I have used pioneer s51w also, but lack of crossover setting on pioneer was a great hindrance. Xtz 12.17 matched with Magnepen very well ; though Rel T9i at friends place was a better match.

Yes, I understand the current situation with China is making the overseas purchase very problematic. Other option is Murthys Cables, which were performing pretty well with Crown Xls & Magnepen.

Thanks for the suggestion on Murthy's cables, will give it a try. On the subwoofer integration will PM you as it would be completely off topic on this thread.

 

[ssf]

I really should not be starting any threads on my opinion on this tube pre and that pro amp.

I renewed my subscription to Tidal to see how it sounds on my new tube pre and my very powerful power amp. Driving back from work, I had a good half hour to think about all the music I would be listening to tonight on Tidal over a few usual spirits. Once I reached home, I turned on the tube and then the power, put on some jazz on Tidal and did my half hour exercise to it. After my bath, I got back to Tidal and some Clapton. My wife was sitting behind me so once again the volume was low. Listening to music, an hour went by. By then I started getting quite a few regrets for renewing my subscription to Tidal as the music that I was listing to was lacking depth and was not very enjoyable.

On to my second round of the good spirits, I thought I will try some classical. Carmina Burana sounded lifeless and flat. Switched over to Spotify. Listened to the same music.It was slightly better. Jazz was next on Tidal. Take five is on most lists and it came on and the snare hits was again lifeless and dull. I panicked. Turned the sub on. Increased the volume of the tube pre. Still no go. I told myself, maybe this is how it was supposed to sound on a good HiFi CD quality streaming service supposedly not influenced by the loudness wars..

Switched over to blues. No joy. What next, I was wondering. Getting up to a refill, I swayed my way accidentally near to the speakers only to realize that there was no sound coming from it.

Eureka !!!! For the last 4 hours I was listening to music coming from my TV speakers !!! My Tube was on, my amp was on, I even turned on my sub !!! I was listening to Tidal on my TV for 4 hours !! And then I pass comments on the forum

Placebo anyone ?

Changed the sound on my computer from Sony TV to Realtek card an now oh ya, my Quads are singing

 

[kapvin]

I really should not be starting any threads on my opinion on this tube pre and that pro amp.

I renewed my subscription to Tidal to see how it sounds on my new tube pre and my very powerful power amp. Driving back from work, I had a good half hour to think about all the music I would be listening to tonight on Tidal over a few usual spirits. Once I reached home, I turned on the tube and then the power, put on some jazz on Tidal and did my half hour exercise to it. After my bath, I got back to Tidal and some Clapton. My wife was sitting behind me so once again the volume was low. Listening to music, an hour went by. By then I started getting quite a few regrets for renewing my subscription to Tidal as the music that I was listing to was lacking depth and was not very enjoyable.

On to my second round of the good spirits, I thought I will try some classical. Carmina Burana sounded lifeless and flat. Switched over to Spotify. Listened to the same music.It was slightly better. Jazz was next on Tidal. Take five is on most lists and it came on and the snare hits was again lifeless and dull. I panicked. Turned the sub on. Increased the volume of the tube pre. Still no go. I told myself, maybe this is how it was supposed to sound on a good HiFi CD quality streaming service supposedly not influenced by the loudness wars..

Switched over to blues. No joy. What next, I was wondering. Getting up to a refill, I swayed my way accidentally near to the speakers only to realize that there was no sound coming from it.

Eureka !!!! For the last 4 hours I was listening to music coming from my TV speakers !!! My Tube was on, my amp was on, I even turned on my sub !!! I was listening to Tidal on my TV for 4 hours !! And then I pass comments on the forum

Placebo anyone ?

Changed the sound on my computer from Sony TV to Realtek card an now oh ya, my Quads are singing

i did the same thing a few days ago. but my saving grace was that it was for a movie, not music. so worse. as where did the bass go?

This has happened to the best of us.. I remember visiting a Forum member whom I highly regard to audition a new subwoofer. so the a/b with and without subwoofer. the strange thing was that the soundstage would shift left everytime the sub was switched on. at first, i thought it was my own poor perception, as a lot of others had heard and admired the system. finally i did point that our. investigation showed, the sub was running full range instead of filtering out the non bass frequencies. since it was to the left of the mains, switching it on was moving the entire soundstage left. switching in the hi cut filter on the sub plate amp gave back the easy to listen characteristics of that system.

 

[ssf]

Wife and son away, so I thought I will do a video.

Criticisms most welcome but with pointers to improve.

I would have loved to see how much of a soundstage the setup is throwing, it at all, but with my current placement and my connections to the sub, I am not able to pull the speakers into the room.

Thanks to @tuff for bringing Crown to our attention.

@DB1989 since he has a similar setup but with the bigger Quads.