One channel quiet and muffled

[Grainger49]

The more time I spend here, the more I am impressed by the time, patience, insight, helpfulness and dedication of the Bottlehead team.  .  .  .   

In my case medication helps.  And every so often two fingers of Bourbon.

[marco08]

old scotch or armagnac does it for me -smile-

[marco08]

by the way doc, you were right, didn't see anything special, but resoldered about half the joints just to be sure, and lo, no more cracks and snaps !!! makes you humble about soldering skills...

so. recap, beepre ok, nakamichi dead. I stole my son's parasound zamp (puny but musical 40watt-er), makes music, but my DIY fullrange speakers (using a nice Davis 20DE8 unit) don't really sing, mids ok, but puny bass. better than -dread- no music.

I just tried my dad's QUAD 909 workhorse, the music is great, but the noiseflor is attrocious. with the source off, i can hear the white noise three feet away from the speaker. I had none with the nak or the parasound, I guess the quad's sensitiviy is very high. Any thoughts on a fix, there is no gain adjustment on the amp.

cheers all.

by the way, who's using what as far as transistor or class D amps ?

[adamct]

LOL. So basically you stole your son's amp AND your Dad's amp? You must be a popular guy.  I'll have to tell your grandchildren to be careful around grandpa! 

[marco08]

borrowed, and I'll pay back with interest (itune credit for one, a nice armagnac for the other).

Appart from that, any thoughts on an attenuator between the beepre and the quad ? a 6 or 10db job to lower the noise floor ? Would serve a double purpose, as I rarely can go up more than 10% volume level, and it's tricky to play not too loud.

[marco08]

I think johnsonad mentionned something like a "LPad" for a similar problem. Can I get info on this mythical beast ? (sorry for spamming)

[adamct]

People here are probably tired of me recommending them, but I've had good success with these in other applications. Don't go with less than 12 dB.

Best regards,
Adam

[Paul Birkeland]

Yeah, $25 for what is essentially four resistors is reasonably steep, but they are incredibly convenient.

-PB

[marco08]

what resistor values are adapted to the bee ? I'll build them around a cable! or would it be more convenient to solder them directly before the RCA output inside the bee ??

i was thinking of a 10k/3.3k for 12db att

[Paul Birkeland]

10K/3.3K is a great place to start.  These are best soldered into your amplifier, or at the amplifier end of your interconnects.  (Remember - we want the BeePre driving the cable/amp, not the L-pad)

[4krow]

 This reminds me of an idea that I had quite some time ago. Since a soldered connection is usually the best, I thought of taking one end of an interconnect apart, and then soldering it to the output of the pre-amp. Of course, you will always be stuck with the chosen length of that interconnect.

[2wo]

I do that all the time. I used to worry 'what if the cable isn't long enough' but Duh, make it the right length or unsolder it and put in a new one...John

[4krow]

 Hmmm, maybe the next step is power cords permanently mounted the equipment. Pretty big step, but I bet we can sell it....again.

[marco08]

the davis speaker is the one used in the MV One. A specialized shop in paris sources it, and gives away for free the full MV One schematic that Davis has chosen to give them with ok to distribute. I just built them over the last two weeks, my very first homebuilt speakers (and 2nd Hifi DIY experience after the Bee....). Cost me 2000 euros of drivers, and 200 bucks of assorted wood, glue, laquer.... the MV One retails for 8000, so I guess its a good deal.

source http://www.lamaisonduhautparleur.com/HpDavis.php

sound is gorgeous, and its the first time Ive gotten away from panels in the last 10 years (maggies for 9 years, and last year with 3 different ML i didn't warm to). the speaker is direct connect to the amp, no filter, no nothing. fluild music, warm and musical mid range, almost as good as maggies, no sibilence in the highs that go waaaay up wthout being metallic. Lows, cant say as I have no good amp, cf rest of my post. By the way, the LPad did not do it. i had to go up to -20db to get the noise out, but at that level, no dynamics left. with the Quad, noise withstanding, I'd say very good lows down to 100, a bit less under. Very listenable, like my first 1.6's.

at the audioporn dealer that made me choose that model, thunderous lows i'll be trying to get.

I'd really love to hear what you guys use for amps.

[marco08]

specs on the 20DE8 (in french, but the curves are universal)

http://www.toutlehautparleur.com/images/Davis_Acoustics/20DE8_Stereo_Image_N54.pdf