Did something odd.

jaudere

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Hello guys,

I did something very odd, took a plunge and bought a powered mixer in place of an amplifier

Actually i went to market to buy an amplifier for my subwoofers.( i am/was using Yamaha RXV 361. with sub crossover set at 160 Hz. the main speakers were philips Hi-Q full rangers 25 W RMS on open baffle and subs were locally made. i was driving the subs with a stereo amplifier which i had . i needed a better amp as this old amp was 20W RMS or so and gave bad distortion).
Could not find a mono amplifier easily which would support frequencies down to 30Hz. then i took an audition of norge 1000 at silo media, pune, which i would use as sub amplifier. On same day itself, i remembered what Cranky had said about active crossover and that i can use my AVR as multichannel amplifier. so i checked out Behringer 3400 active XO. i didn't like what i heard, although i know that you need to play with the settings to get the sound right.again there was going to be issue for converting unbalanced to balanced(RCA to XLR) signals. cables were not easily available.The same night i read about similar attempt by someone which failed. So i was scared to spend 10K of my hard earned money.
Called up Silo media again. he said he already sold that Norge 1000. They had MOsfet 2000 and 2060 in stock. i decided to take an audition again but my car tyre went flat. so i postponed the audition.

I went to the pro market in pune again. suddenly i remembered powered mixer which is being used in my hospital. it is Proton K300, connected to Polk audio BS speakers(don't remember the model but it has dual woofer and one tweeter costing about 25K/pair). I like the sound it produces. I enquired about it. The cost was 8.5K (for 150W RMS X2). but he needed 4 days to get it. i didn't have much time left and i stay in such a village that getting couriers other than simple envelopes is pretty difficult. He gave me another option :pROLAND 602D, powered mixer. i had never heard this company but i took his word and checked it. it is a 6 channel mixer with one stereo in socket.
i carried my DVD player with me. so i could take a short audition and i liked what i heard. the power was 250W RMS X 2 channles at 4 ohms( god knows what was THD.) But i suppose that it will give a least 100W RMS of clean power,more than enough for my 25W RMS speakers. The cost was too attractive :Rs 7.5K ( i suppose it is that low due to absence of brand value).This machine has a torroidal transformer and cooled by a fan along with heat sinks. i bought it.

when i came home, i decided to try it as stereo amp before using it as Sub amplifier. connected it to my philips full range speakers. and played few songs. there was a very spontaneus response from my wife "the speakers are sounding lively". it is an open baffle system, and it needs some equalization at lower frequencies(commercial open baffles like orionuse active XO ) so i pushed up equalizer at 60Hz and that is all that was needed. I did not need woofers for songs. so now it is full range single driver on open baffle doing everything. .No active/passive XOs and speakers getting purest sound signal without any processing except DA conversion and equalization at 60Hz. i will think of adding tweeters later if i feel the need in future.

So now i have a separate stereo amplifier for music and will use AVR for movies, PC and TV. I fear that full range speakers will be damaged by low frequency sounds on TV and movies. so i won't use them there.

It was an insane step to buy this large, powered mixer but in the end i was lucky be happy with its performance.
It will still work as sub amplifier for movies when it will get the sub input from AVR (will have to disconnect fullrangers but it will be an easy job with presence of 1/4" jacks and considering my frequency of watching movies at 1/month).

P.S.
while auditioning Norge 1000, i compared it with Denon PM710AE.(both being connected to Quad floor standers and using Denon 700 CDP). Denon was better in some aspects but i feel that it did not justify the cost difference of Rs 18K.(28K vs 10K)
 
Hello guys,

I did something very odd, took a plunge and bought a powered mixer in place of an amplifier

Actually i went to market to buy an amplifier for my subwoofers.( i am/was using Yamaha RXV 361. with sub crossover set at 160 Hz. the main speakers were philips Hi-Q full rangers 25 W RMS on open baffle and subs were locally made. i was driving the subs with a stereo amplifier which i had . i needed a better amp as this old amp was 20W RMS or so and gave bad distortion).
Could not find a mono amplifier easily which would support frequencies down to 30Hz. then i took an audition of norge 1000 at silo media, pune, which i would use as sub amplifier. On same day itself, i remembered what Cranky had said about active crossover and that i can use my AVR as multichannel amplifier. so i checked out Behringer 3400 active XO. i didn't like what i heard, although i know that you need to play with the settings to get the sound right.again there was going to be issue for converting unbalanced to balanced(RCA to XLR) signals. cables were not easily available.The same night i read about similar attempt by someone which failed. So i was scared to spend 10K of my hard earned money.
Called up Silo media again. he said he already sold that Norge 1000. They had MOsfet 2000 and 2060 in stock. i decided to take an audition again but my car tyre went flat. so i postponed the audition.

I went to the pro market in pune again. suddenly i remembered powered mixer which is being used in my hospital. it is Proton K300, connected to Polk audio BS speakers(don't remember the model but it has dual woofer and one tweeter costing about 25K/pair). I like the sound it produces. I enquired about it. The cost was 8.5K (for 150W RMS X2). but he needed 4 days to get it. i didn't have much time left and i stay in such a village that getting couriers other than simple envelopes is pretty difficult. He gave me another option :pROLAND 602D, powered mixer. i had never heard this company but i took his word and checked it. it is a 6 channel mixer with one stereo in socket.
i carried my DVD player with me. so i could take a short audition and i liked what i heard. the power was 250W RMS X 2 channles at 4 ohms( god knows what was THD.) But i suppose that it will give a least 100W RMS of clean power,more than enough for my 25W RMS speakers. The cost was too attractive :Rs 7.5K ( i suppose it is that low due to absence of brand value).This machine has a torroidal transformer and cooled by a fan along with heat sinks. i bought it.

when i came home, i decided to try it as stereo amp before using it as Sub amplifier. connected it to my philips full range speakers. and played few songs. there was a very spontaneus response from my wife "the speakers are sounding lively". it is an open baffle system, and it needs some equalization at lower frequencies(commercial open baffles like orionuse active XO ) so i pushed up equalizer at 60Hz and that is all that was needed. I did not need woofers for songs. so now it is full range single driver on open baffle doing everything. .No active/passive XOs and speakers getting purest sound signal without any processing except DA conversion and equalization at 60Hz. i will think of adding tweeters later if i feel the need in future.

So now i have a separate stereo amplifier for music and will use AVR for movies, PC and TV. I fear that full range speakers will be damaged by low frequency sounds on TV and movies. so i won't use them there.

It was an insane step to buy this large, powered mixer but in the end i was lucky be happy with its performance.
It will still work as sub amplifier for movies when it will get the sub input from AVR (will have to disconnect fullrangers but it will be an easy job with presence of 1/4" jacks and considering my frequency of watching movies at 1/month).

P.S.
while auditioning Norge 1000, i compared it with Denon PM710AE.(both being connected to Quad floor standers and using Denon 700 CDP). Denon was better in some aspects but i feel that it did not justify the cost difference of Rs 18K.(28K vs 10K)

a thousand congratulations on your bold step!!

and you seem to have a wife who is very supportive of your ventures in this field!

i have a wife who is very good in all other ways, but -when it comes to loudspeakers and listening to them, i get a dismissive wave of the hand, a slight upturning of the eyeballs, and little faster walk away from me! And sometimes a fervent plea - " listen, the carpenter is coming to do the kitchen cabinets, please do not start off on any project" - and a little later, the carpenter is asked if I have given any money to buy MDF boards!

In mitigation, I will say she makes very good sambhar, and very good tea.
 
a thousand congratulations on your bold step!!

and you seem to have a wife who is very supportive of your ventures in this field!

i have a wife who is very good in all other ways, but -when it comes to loudspeakers and listening to them, i get a dismissive wave of the hand, a slight upturning of the eyeballs, and little faster walk away from me! And sometimes a fervent plea - " listen, the carpenter is coming to do the kitchen cabinets, please do not start off on any project" - and a little later, the carpenter is asked if I have given any money to buy MDF boards!

In mitigation, I will say she makes very good sambhar, and very good tea.

Heh :p you make being married sound most enjoyable and fun!! :clapping:

Cheers
 
he he he, i completely identify with you there, my wife is equally dismissive of hi fi and is happy listening to music on her laptop speakers (shock horror!).

And jaudere, before this turns into a discussion on wives, let me congratulate you on your purchase, and hope you derive years of enjoyment from it.

i have a wife who is very good in all other ways, but -when it comes to loudspeakers and listening to them, i get a dismissive wave of the hand, a slight upturning of the eyeballs, and little faster walk away from me! And sometimes a fervent plea - " listen, the carpenter is coming to do the kitchen cabinets, please do not start off on any project" - and a little later, the carpenter is asked if I have given any money to buy MDF boards!
 
And jaudere, before this turns into a discussion on wives,

and i have been thinking, if that system of assigning titles to members of this forum is effected, then the title i would get - "super derailer of threads"

sorry, jaudere!

but the following picture show what happens when i push too far - Kannur ki Rani Sushmabai!




and then how I manage to survive! -

 
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he he he, i completely identify with you there, my wife is equally dismissive of hi fi and is happy listening to music on her laptop speakers (shock horror!).

And jaudere, before this turns into a discussion on wives, let me congratulate you on your purchase, and hope you derive years of enjoyment from it.

Hai Suri,

I think it is the same in all homes, only some people are bold to admit it in the forum,

N.Murali.
 
Congratulations, Jaudere! One more genuine enthusiast here, I guess.

A question - how would you switch between the mixer and the amplifier? Would you manually change connections and speaker wires or is there a better way you have struck upon?
 
Lovely sense of humour, Suri:).

I guess I am lucky as my better half actually enjoys (or at least pretends:)) music that I play. Even experimental ones that I want to try.

Lets see how long this luck lasts.
 
Congratulations, Jaudere! One more genuine enthusiast here, I guess.

A question - how would you switch between the mixer and the amplifier? Would you manually change connections and speaker wires or is there a better way you have struck upon?

hi,
actually i didn't get your question. it is a powered mixer. i don't have to switch between amplifier and mixer. all is built in one unit. it is going to mix everything i throw at it and play it through the speakers that are connected to it.

at present i have connected DVDp to it through the stereo sockets and use it exclusively for music.

when i use my AVR for movies, i will give a sub out to one of the six line in channels of the mixer. at that time i will disconnect my fullrangers from it and connect the woofers. it won't take more than 10 seconds as it has 1/4" jacks for speaker out. so 2 jacks pulled out and 2 jacks pushed in. that's all.

if i feed it with sub out and do not disconnect my fullrangers, it will feed sub frequencies to my full rangers and they will blow.

now the real problem, there are too many knobs on it and my 2.5 year old daughter finds it immensely interesting. so i can't keep it on unless i am in the same room. if she pushes the volume knob up, you can guess what will happen if 250 Watts going into 25 W speakers.i hvae tried my best so that she cannot reach it easily.
thankfully her younger brother has not started crawling yet:eek:
will post the pics soon.

BTW, in terms of listening to music, i have gone beyond a limit and my wife feels that it is a wastage of energy if she tells me something about it. her only condition is that i should not get bigger SOLs(space occupying lesions) in home. I must say i am very lucky.
 
now the real problem, there are too many knobs on it and my 2.5 year old daughter finds it immensely interesting. so i can't keep it on unless i am in the same room. if she pushes the volume knob up, you can guess what will happen if 250 Watts going into 25 W speakers.i hvae tried my best so that she cannot reach it easily.
thankfully her younger brother has not started crawling yet:eek:
will post the pics soon.

More fun!! :)
Build some lockable glasspanel doors and attach them on hinges to your rack.

Cheers
 
Hello Doctor,Can you give a little more detail about a power mixer? Can this equal a stereo amp for music? How would it sound paired with a 9.2?Thanks,sri

hi srikarkav, i think jaudere will concur with me when i venture to say that, perhaps,the 9.2 will really be a stand-in for studio monitors with this power mixer.
 
Hi suri,

What you mean is it won't be a good combo?

sri

hi srikarkav,

i meant that the 9.2 is so good, that if a sound engineer suddenly found himself without studio monitors, he could use the 9.2's without qualms.

that said, your marantz amp is probably doing a stellar job during your music listening sessions!:)
 
Hi suri,

Thanks for answering my dumb q. Yes my Marantz is doing fine indeed. It being a
vinatge item i am always in fear of it going kaput:indifferent14:. Just now i don't have the moolah to go for a new Stereo amp. So i am just noting all these cheap options as a stand by.:D

Thanks,
sri
 
Hi suri,

Thanks for answering my dumb q. Yes my Marantz is doing fine indeed. It being a
vinatge item i am always in fear of it going kaput:indifferent14:. Just now i don't have the moolah to go for a new Stereo amp. So i am just noting all these cheap options as a stand by.:D

Thanks,
sri

hi srikarkav,

those marantz amps are over-engineered - like the mercedes-benzes of the 1980's, and will probably even serve your children well!
 
Thank you suri for those encouraging words. I think i am lucky to have my fine stereo set up for so little. Both my amp and CDP are vintage. Got them, used, at Ritchie st for 3.8k and 4.2k respectively. My 9.2s are new of course and the price i paid was 16.5k. So for Rs 24500/- the system is worth for every paisa spent and some:)

cheers,
sri
 
he he he, i completely identify with you there, my wife is equally dismissive of hi fi and is happy listening to music on her laptop speakers (shock horror!).

.

Its all what ones feels content with isn't it? Most times we end up analysing music instead of listening and enjoying them. But then again its every man to his vice....
 
Jaudere, appreciate your experiment. I have often wondered how these would work with our Home-use speaker setup rather than a public/commercial use speaker setup. Thanks for sharing, you have also reminded me of a cheap amplifier for a sub-woofer, was always thinking of a plate amp. I could possibly use it to drive butt-kickers when I buy them for my Home Theater:)
 
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