Any experience with Minidsp 2X4 HD ? Any idea from where this can be procured - new/ used ?

[MaSh]

Minidsp 2x4hd is a very very powerful you with endless possibilities. You can definitely use it for subs and speakers. I used mine as a dac + preamp for almost a year in a 2.1 setup.

The only reason it's preferred for subs is because it can really turn a sub around and dial it in perfectly.

The dac in it though is just good. A better dac for speakers would be a better option if there is an option. If not you can happily use it for your entire setup

MaSh

 

[liverpool_for_life]

Just for subwoofer tuning you don't strickly require minidsp.

It's the extremely rare room that won't. In practice, you'll end up needing delay adjustment and EQ filters in order to be able to reasonably integrate multiple subwoofers. The device for implementing the EQ filters and setting individual delays for subs is a minidsp (or equivalent).

 

[SrikanthYadav]

Thanks Srikanth can you also share your experience with KEF Q350 Spkrs

They are neutral sounding speakers. Good for music and hometheater as well. You can use in 2.0 setup as well without subwoofer if you apply boost in 40-80hz for music.

 

[Amarendra]

Picked up the minidsp 2x4 HD and Umik 1 today. Now begins the steep learning curve.

 

[mbhangui]

Let me also dirty my hands with this. Picked up a umik microphone which came in the classifieds . I have the focusrite too and two good quality microphones which I will calibrate with the umik 1. Let's see how that goes.

 

[Amarendra]

Did one crazy experiment yesterday. Used both- the Wharfedale Diamond 220 and Micca RB for stereo listening. The Wharfedales were powered by Rotel and the Micca by a power amp. The pre out from the Rotel fed the signal to the Minidsp. I configured the minidsp to send only 80hz and below to the power amp. End result was surprisingly good. Next I raised the crossover to 100- result was fantastic.
I somehow dont like the way subwoofers handle stereo/ music. I find a slight amount of heavy handedness and dont enjoy chest pounding bass in music. This solved the problem quite a bit. Probably using a pair of stereo speakers as 2 subs also gave the benefit of having dual subs (IMHO).
The Umik 1 is still not out of the box. I cant imagine the kind of flexibility that these things will provide.
Thanks to all forum members who recommended the 2X4 HD model.

 

[MaSh]

Did one crazy experiment yesterday. Used both- the Wharfedale Diamond 220 and Micca RB for stereo listening. The Wharfedales were powered by Rotel and the Micca by a power amp. The pre out from the Rotel fed the signal to the Minidsp. I configured the minidsp to send only 80hz and below to the power amp. End result was surprisingly good. Next I raised the crossover to 100- result was fantastic.
I somehow dont like the way subwoofers handle stereo/ music. I find a slight amount of heavy handedness and dont enjoy chest pounding bass in music. This solved the problem quite a bit. Probably using a pair of stereo speakers as 2 subs also gave the benefit of having dual subs (IMHO).
The Umik 1 is still not out of the box. I cant imagine the kind of flexibility that these things will provide.
Thanks to all forum members who recommended the 2X4 HD model.

He he told you it's a brilliant toy. Wait till you get down to measuring and setting the peq.

MaSh

 

[Amarendra]

He he told you it's a brilliant toy. Wait till you get down to measuring and setting the peq.

MaSh

After trying to ignore the UMIK1 for a few days, I took the step of connecting it to my laptop and the minidsp. A few hours / youtube videos later I sent the first test signals through my Wharfedale Speakers (L&R). A few complex graphs opened up showing dips and highs. Used the flat target curve in REW and then meticulously inputed 60 values (freq/ Q/ gain across 10 parameters across 2 channels) in the minidsp Equalizer/ filter (couldn't upload the REW file directly). After calibration, Played Pasoori and a couple of songs (usual suspects) through the speakers and couldnt stop smiling. My daughter came running into the room asking what was happening- why was everything sounding different ? Called my wife and parents just to check if I was imagining things. They asked if I had bought new speakers. Something has happened to the soundstage and the clarity of sound. My daughter asked if the singer is seated in the middle and could point a couple of more instruments. More experiments to follow......
Thanks again to all members !!

 

[sud98]

You should be able to upload the graphs. Adding so many values manually is a pain.

 

[liverpool_for_life]

Used the flat target curve in REW and then meticulously inputed 60 values (freq/ Q/ gain across 10 parameters across 2 channels) in the minidsp Equalizer/ filter (couldn't upload the REW file directly).

You can. Select the appropriate minidsp in the "Equalizer" section. Expand "Filter Tasks" after you've generated the filters and click on "Save filter coefficients to file". Import said file to the minidsp. Enjoy!

After calibration, Played Pasoori and a couple of songs (usual suspects) through the speakers and couldnt stop smiling. My daughter came running into the room asking what was happening- why was everything sounding different ? Called my wife and parents just to check if I was imagining things. They asked if I had bought new speakers. Something has happened to the soundstage and the clarity of sound. My daughter asked if the singer is seated in the middle and could point a couple of more instruments.

I was going to respond to your purchase post by saying that your audio is going to change in a way that you wouldn't have believed possible and then decided to wait for your post saying the same thing . Enjoy your improved sound quality. The rabbit hole is deep, though!

 

[Amarendra]

You can. Select the appropriate minidsp in the "Equalizer" section. Expand "Filter Tasks" after you've generated the filters and click on "Save filter coefficients to file". Import said file to the minidsp. Enjoy!



I was going to respond to your purchase post by saying that your audio is going to change in a way that you wouldn't have believed possible and then decided to wait for your post saying the same thing . Enjoy your improved sound quality. The rabbit hole is deep, though!

Haha yes audio has changed indeed forever. Today will try the auto upload. Many thanks

 

[aeroash]

Haha yes audio has changed indeed forever. Today will try the auto upload. Many thanks

The next step is to time align your mains and subwoofers.

Here's a simple way to do it.

There is a lot going on with REW, so it's important to get the fundamentals set up right away to save time and effort (I can't believe you manually inputted 60 values). Attached below is a link to a simple guide.

Even though I'm sure you've already seen a tonne of articles and videos on REW, I'm uploading this for reference purposes. I've had better results by aiming the microphone at the speakers as opposed to the ceiling. Try both, but be sure to start by selecting the correct mic calibration file.

 

[Amarendra]

The next step is to time align your mains and subwoofers.

Here's a simple way to do it.

There is a lot going on with REW, so it's important to get the fundamentals set up right away to save time and effort (I can't believe you manually inputted 60 values). Attached below is a link to a simple guide.

Even though I'm sure you've already seen a tonne of articles and videos on REW, I'm uploading this for reference purposes. I've had better results by aiming the microphone at the speakers as opposed to the ceiling. Try both, but be sure to start by selecting the right Mic calibration file.

Thanks will definitely try this.

 

[Amarendra]

The next step is to time align your mains and subwoofers.

Here's a simple way to do it.

There is a lot going on with REW, so it's important to get the fundamentals set up right away to save time and effort (I can't believe you manually inputted 60 values). Attached below is a link to a simple guide.

Even though I'm sure you've already seen a tonne of articles and videos on REW, I'm uploading this for reference purposes. I've had better results by aiming the microphone at the speakers as opposed to the ceiling. Try both, but be sure to start by selecting the correct mic calibration file.

Videos were very useful. Calibrated based on these.
All I can say it’s pure magic !!!!!! Thanks

 

[Amarendra]

Calibrated the Micca RB 42 yesterday. It was more of an experiment since these speakers dig really low. I took average readings (3) for each speaker. Quite surprisingly barring the low frequency bump which these speakers are known for, the rest of the curve was very flat. I was expecting a graph which was all over the place but quite surprised to see them flat after about 100. Anyways applied a flat target curve. The low frequency fun was gone but the speakers became very mature and flat sounding- they changed personality and became very sober. I will probably bring the LF bump back but still so much fun seeing speakers change colors. Probably will share the Wharfedale and Micca graphs for comparison later.

 

[aeroash]

Calibrated the Micca RB 42 yesterday. It was more of an experiment since these speakers dig really low. I took average readings (3) for each speaker. Quite surprisingly barring the low frequency bump which these speakers are known for, the rest of the curve was very flat. I was expecting a graph which was all over the place but quite surprised to see them flat after about 100. Anyways applied a flat target curve. The low frequency fun was gone but the speakers became very mature and flat sounding- they changed personality and became very sober. I will probably bring the LF bump back but still so much fun seeing speakers change colors. Probably will share the Wharfedale and Micca graphs for comparison later.

Try this house curve. Click on Preferences - House Curve - Browse - (Load this curve).

In the EQ window, under Target Settings, keep an eye on the Target level, and adjust accordingly

To fine-tune the house curve, open the text file, adjust individual decibel levels to your liking, and load the curve again.

 

[alpha1]

Hi everyone, I have two hi-fi setups: one for my bedroom which is powered from my desktop running ubuntu and other is living room which is sourcing audio from TV / set top box / mobile phone etc (3.5 mm TRS jack).

Now, few days back I was running sine wave generator on ubuntu and discovered that my room has some low frequency resonances around 124 Hz and 180 Hz.
On ubuntu I have pulse-effect which has equalizer. I setup notch filter for these offending frequencies and the boom was eliminated.
Now I could boost the bass and the clarity I heard in my system was amazing (day and night difference). The bass guitar sounds the way it should, and bass kick drum feels like it is in the room.

Encouraged by this experience, I feel that parametric / notch filter is a must to get great sounding bass frequencies in our rooms.
I wish to do the same for my living room setup however, I realize that I will have to install a DSP.

Enter miniDSP 2x4: I have been reading about it and also minDSP 2x4 HD. Barring the difference in output voltage, rest of the differences are of not much real use to me. Even the difference in output voltage is something I am not able to fathom: in the living room I run the audio from TV headphone jack, mobile phone output, set top box audio, to the Norge 1000 amplifier and till date haven't found anything lacking.
I was also reading around that line level output for most consumer goods is ~1 V. So then miniDSP should also work fine. Right?

Now assuming that I buy miniDSP or the HD variant - what plugin will I have to use to put Parametric EQ, notch filter etc. in the signal chain? All I can find are these plugins: https://www.minidsp.com/products/plugins/2x4-plug-ins
Nowhere can I find equalizer or filters plugins

 

[aeroash]

Now assuming that I buy miniDSP or the HD variant - what plugin will I have to use to put Parametric EQ, notch filter etc. in the signal chain? All I can find are these plugins: https://www.minidsp.com/products/plugins/2x4-plug-ins
Nowhere can I find equalizer or filters plugins

You'll have to connect miniDSP to the computer via the miniDSP plugin.

Measure with REW, adjust your EQ and export the file. Import the file in the miniDSP plugin and it automatically syncs with miniDSP.

You can set time delays and select various EQ filters here. You can disconnect the computer after. Watch one of the videos posted earlier for a thorough understanding.

 

[RajithKumar]

Hi,

Has any forum member used the minidsp ? I see a lot of threads but end with one- two answers. Not much can be found on the forum. Besides subwoofer tuning, are there any other uses ?
Is there any member willing to lend/ sell one ?

Hi ! Hope you have some answers in the below thread.

Minidsp -Various models ,features -Reg

I'm starting a thread on minidsp . I'm an user of minidsp 2*4HD model .I have used it for alignment of multisubs for HT purpose.It offers great flexibility .It can be used for stereo purpose for better integration of subs to make it 2.1 or 2.2,but never tried it personally. I'm still a learner...

www.hifivision.com

 

[archat68]

Reviving a old thread.

I Was reading about room equalization and minidsp and started to think how to implement this in purely two speaker setup (without SW).

My thought is to use a streamer based on rPi (Allo digione signature +rPi) feed the output to minidsp and output of the minidsp to the integrated amp.

Now is this a viable idea? If yes which minidsp would be the most suitable? Main purpose here is room correction/equalization.