JimS

Oops, Eloise and Panelhead are correct, LIO deletes mic pres, not ADC first point is still hopefully relevant

Hi, two quick points: 1) I'm using LIO-8 in similar capacity (passive t/mm, digital mm/ww and room/dipole correction on the woofers) and as BJ noted it works great for that application 2) Note the LIO-8 is much lower price point than the ULN-8 because it does not have ADC included . . . Best, Jim

Barry - thanks for the article. Yes I meant low-pass rather than low compliance. PS - was somewhat tongue-in-cheek above but having the components in the dipole null likely won't hurt either

Hi Roch - sorry, missing your point on low compliance air isolation not protecting equipment from airborne vibration while wood would? Fortunately my gear is in the dipole "null" so maybe I've just never noticed?!?!?

lightly inflated best $1.49 ever spent on audio bonus is I learned in which corner of my amp the transformer resides

For me, listening levels also vary significantly depending on the recording (not just due to loudness wars) and I find each has it's own volume at which it sounds "right" (typically b/t 75-85 dB w/ sufficient headroom for peaks) My ideal system is one that provides realistic playback volumes with ultra-low distortion. The downside, of course, to such a system is that it is easy to keep slightly "adjusting" the volume with no pre-warning signs that something (hopefully not your ears) is going to fail . . .

Hi Jeff - interesting thoughts and pretty complicated stuff . . . There is an important frequency component as well - low frequencies are omni in conventional designs as well, so depends on what frequency range you choose to define "omni". Also, it depends on timing of reflected sound (more than 6ms or so will be interpreted by the brain as reflected rather than "smearing" of the direct sound), so should matter less the further speakers are from room boundaries. And if speakers need to be near boundaries, it should be much easier to treat the closest reflection points from conventional speakers. You could also add in line array as an intermediate option (which will tend to "mirror" the sound at the ceiling and floor boundaries, but provide wide horizontal dispersion). I'm not sure there is a "best" approach, but I'm really liking dipoles these days for the natural bass response as the figure 8 radiation pattern cancels out a lot of the room influence and provides greater direct sound to radiated (at the expense of significantly more drivers required) at frequencies where room interaction considerations are typically highest. For some detailed discussions, search at htguide for recent threads on RAAL and also check out build threads by Dan Neubec (DLNeubec) who has done many omni designs as well as conventional and John K's dipole Nao minis. http://htguide.com/forum/showthread.php4?t=35622 http://techtalk.parts-express.com/showthread.php?t=216510

Dennis Murphy is a very well-respected designer and has a great ear. Disclaimer: I haven't yet heard this speaker, but have heard many of Dennis' previous designs and can highly recommend his work. Dennis is local and has helped me with sorting out x/o design and measurement issues on previous speakers. No other affiliation.

maggies are a great choice kits are a great choice, if by a well-respected designer some include boxes (or can be built in pre-fab PE or Madisound cabinets) which if you can build a Buffalo DAC will be well within your abilities #4 is a mistake unless you have measurement gear and design experience (or have enough design info to emulate the target slopes) - a big part of the "kit" is the crossover and it is the most difficult to get right

Hi Jeff - here's my next likely project (hopefully late fall or next winter): http://www.htguide.com/forum/showthread.php4?t=39342 The design is a work-in-progress by JonMarsh who occasionally posts here under the metric halo threads. I haven't fully priced it out yet but should come in right around the midpoint of your range (drivers are ~$2,700). Highlights are: - 3.5-way MTMWW design (with 2.5 way passive MTM design and active M/W implemented in LIO) - dipole up to ~1600Hz - waveguide above that - similar bottom end configuration to new Orion Should be fun

Simple answer: it substitutes, new amp takes over and your integrated is acting solely as a pre-amp. Unless your speakers are capable of bi-amping (not the same as bi-wiring) which is a more complicated discussion, and note, actual power and current speakers see depends on a number of factors, not just what's written on the amp box . . .

unless you're south of the equator, then I think it's the other way around

I find integer mode to be very compelling on my system running the beta from MH. And, apologies Tim, I haven't posted to this thread lately because software has been running flawlessly since the last update and I'm spending all my time listening

jtwrace - have you tried the character feature to compare direct out vs. your pre? (just curious, not trying to start a tube/ss discussion . . .)

direct to EAD PM6300 (running balanced 4 channels out with M/W crossovers in the LIO)