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MDAC first listen (part XI)

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JemHayward said:
Yes, my Summits have two sets of sockets, though I don't bi-wire or bi-amp them. I asked ML about this, and they said that it would make no difference as the power amp driving the bass end is just driving another power amp, so has very little work to do. The reason they offer the facility was "fashion".
However if I end up using two M-AMPs as monoblocks for convenience/aesthetics I can try both bridging and bi-amping. The Summits are pretty efficient and the room isn't that big, so I don't need much power - my EAR is about 70w and that is more than plenty.
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You will not get much (if any!!!) benefit from Bi-Amping (as the second set of terminal only drives the input of a second amplifier for your Summits Bass Drivers)...

Bridging might bring a decent improvement... I'm keen to try with my CLS's..

John
 
JohnW said:
You will not get much (if any!!!) benefit from Bi-Amping (as the second set of terminal only drives the input of a second amplifier for your Summits Bass Drivers)...

Bridging might bring a decent improvement... I'm keen to try with my CLS's..

John
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More than happy to be a beta tester if you need one!

There doesn't seem to be a definitive amp for Martin Logans, they caused my CB NAP250 to shut down if pushed too hard (current limiting) and I tried a class D "T-amp" and that just shut down completely. Audio Research seems popular, I've heard good reports about the Devaliet. The push pull valve EAR890 works superbly but being a "green" I'd like something a bit more environmentally friendly and cooler running if possible.
 
I have A06. I borrowed a Chord Codac digital coax from a friend to conect my Pioneer N50 to coax1 and all was well. When he needed the cable back I used an optical connection, which seemed fine except that since installing A06 I experienced an occaisional failure to lock, but nothing serious. On installing a brand new digital coax cable (Ixos 608) locking failed at an alarming rate, which has slowed down somewhat over time, but is still unuseable. Playing a CD on coax2 seems OK.

I don't know if this is related, but when watching SKY TV (sound via opt2) when I change channels I get very brief messages (blink and you'd miss them) which say "Frozen input", though there's no noticeable change in the sound (not that SKY sound is that good). Is this a flaky SKY box?

Any comments? Have I got a problem with my MDAC? Or is there a problem with the firmware? Or what?

- Richard.
 
Richard Kimber said:
I have A06. I borrowed a Chord Codac digital coax from a friend to conect my Pioneer N50 to coax1 and all was well. When he needed the cable back I used an optical connection, which seemed fine except that since installing A06 I experienced an occaisional failure to lock, but nothing serious. On installing a brand new digital coax cable (Ixos 608) locking failed at an alarming rate, which has slowed down somewhat over time, but is still unuseable. Playing a CD on coax2 seems OK.

I don't know if this is related, but when watching SKY TV (sound via opt2) when I change channels I get very brief messages (blink and you'd miss them) which say "Frozen input", though there's no noticeable change in the sound (not that SKY sound is that good). Is this a flaky SKY box?

Any comments? Have I got a problem with my MDAC? Or is there a problem with the firmware? Or what?

- Richard.
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Hi Richard,

The Sky TV box has horrid jitter levels - you need to set the "Jitter Rejection" in the Menu (the DPLL setting) for the input used with the Sky TV Box to Medium or High setting.

Hopefully this should resolve your issue.

The "Frozen Input" message indicates the SKY TV box is holding the last audio sample (value) which would result in a DC level on the MDAC output - from A04 we detect this condition and Mute the DAC output - so no harm can be done to your system.

John
 
JohnW said:
Hi Richard,

The Sky TV box has horrid jitter levels - you need to set the "Jitter Rejection" in the Menu (the DPLL setting) for the input used with the Sky TV Box to Medium or High setting.

Hopefully this should resolve your issue.

The "Frozen Input" message indicates the SKY TV box is holding the last audio sample (value) which would result in a DC level on the MDAC output - With A08 we detect this condition and Mute the DAC output - so no harm can be done to your system.

John
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Yes, it was set at Medium. I'll try High. I just wasn't sure if it was all part of the same problem.

However, the real problem is in the first part of the message. Any thoughts on that?

- Richard.
 
Richard Kimber said:
On installing a brand new digital coax cable (Ixos 608) locking failed at an alarming rate, which has slowed down somewhat over time, but is still unuseable
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This sounds very much like a mechanical problem between the plug and the socket. Either a previous plug has opened out the socket a little thus making it less stable now, or the current plug pin is a tad smaller than the ideal.

Try a selection of leads - any old (short) lead will do - some will probably be fine.

That's phono plugs for you, I'm afraid. Horrid little things.
 
Hi John

After waiting for a long time , I've finally updated from 0.90 to A08 and I've noticed that with A08 there is a bit more emotion to songs, with a slightly bigger soundstage, which is great

I'm listening to Yankee Hotel Foxtrot by Wilco and it sounds like I've got Jeff Tweedy sat on my sofa strumming away.

Keep up the good work!

Bernard
 
Plutox said:
This sounds very much like a mechanical problem between the plug and the socket. Either a previous plug has opened out the socket a little thus making it less stable now, or the current plug pin is a tad smaller than the ideal.

Try a selection of leads - any old (short) lead will do - some will probably be fine.

That's phono plugs for you, I'm afraid. Horrid little things.
Click to expand...

Heartily agree. I've had a good few issues with dropouts and crackles over the years on plenty of stuff and only once was it not something to do with phono cables. Buy solid but inexpensive ones and don't over wiggle (erm...as it were).

Horrid little things indeed.
 
bernardhepworth said:
Hi John

After waiting for a long time , I've finally updated from 0.90 to A08 and I've noticed that with A08 there is a bit more emotion to songs, with a slightly bigger soundstage, which is great

I'm listening to Yankee Hotel Foxtrot by Wilco and it sounds like I've got Jeff Tweedy sat on my sofa strumming away.

Keep up the good work!

Bernard
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I do hope the ponymiester Fox isn't reading...:eek:
 
JohnW said:
Yes, that's totally normal - its just indicates "Failed" once you stop the Datastream because the input "Data" no longer matches the expected bit pattern.

John
Click to expand...

Ahhhh - got it. Yes, its once the file completes at the very end. Thanks John!
 
JohnW said:
Sorry to hear about your problem with your MDAC, the first suspect would be a failed Crystal in the MDAC clock circuit - this is the most common single point of failure with the MDAC - but its well under 1%...

Audiolab have recently changed vendor of the Crystals - so hopefully this will help to improve the situation in future production...

The MDAC places a very high demand on the quality of the Crystal - its a balance between cost and reliability... If we still worked at Audiolab we would have look into improving this aspect of the design based upon mass production and service feedback - however the rest is history...

John
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Hello John

Many thanks for your help
M-Dac replaced with a new unit and working well.
Can't wish for better info than from the designer.

Stuart
 
just a thought. could a phono stage be built in to the mpax? or available as an optional module? maybe a choice of modules eg DAB, FM,
 
Plutox said:
This sounds very much like a mechanical problem between the plug and the socket. Either a previous plug has opened out the socket a little thus making it less stable now, or the current plug pin is a tad smaller than the ideal.

Try a selection of leads - any old (short) lead will do - some will probably be fine.

That's phono plugs for you, I'm afraid. Horrid little things.
Click to expand...

Yes, I think you're right. I seem to have solved it by swapping the CD and the N50 cables around. There does seem to be a bit of movement on the coax1 socket (I think it was like that from new), but the CD doesn't complain.

Thanks.
 
I am using two cd-transports (the second sounds better with older cd's), both connected via coax. To my ears they sound better when one coax is disconnected. Am I dreaming or is this possible?
 
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