Help! Having trouble deciding on new server and more.

[nwjg]

I recently moved and have my system cobbled together in my new house, which lacks the dedicated room my last place had. Here is what I have:

 

In my office, I have a Mac Mini, dual core I7, 8gb ram, 256GB SSD connected via Ethernet to a Drobo 5N with about 1 gb of music on it. I also listen to a lot of internet radio streamed to iTunes. This computer is my main work unit so nothing is optimized for music. I do have A+ on it.

 

The Mac Mini is connected via 1.5 meter generic USB to a Berkeley USB.

 

The Berkeley USB is connected to an Alpha Dac series one by a 20’ Canare DA206 110ohm digital cable and that cable crosses a doorway on the way to the living room (not ideal in length or routing).

 

The balanced outputs of the Alpha Dac are connected to a Meyer Sound CP-10 and in turn to a pair of Meyer Sound HD-2 monitors. The RCA outputs go to a JL112 sub.

 

The system sounds pretty good but not as good as I would like. The room has tons of volume and isn’t treated in any way but the EQ has helped on that front.

 

Here are the changes I am looking at:

 

--Buying a new rack to organize everything and help with vibration control.

--I have a BPT 3.5 Signature Plus that I want to add in to clean up the AC.

--Buying a new server, I have spent hours and hours reading here on this one and can’t figure out if I should get a new mini, a 2009 mini, a macbook pro, a Zuma, SOtM sMS-1000, or other server. I’d love to avoid the cable to the office. I’m coming to the conclusion that the differences are really minor but my system is VERY resolving so I should hear more than most if there are differences. I don’t really want to buy more than one to try so I’ll have to go on options. I am not married to the Apple system or Itunes but I’m no computer IT guy either. I posted here as this is the toughest issue.

--Should I access the music wirelessly?

 

Lastly, FWIW, I listen to jazz, rock and a lot of very dynamic live recordings; this system is built around the latter. I’ve had better systems for solo vocalists or simple ensembles but nothing that handles a live Grateful Dead recording like this one.

 

Any and all opinions and suggestions would be great.

[DigiPete]

Hey nwjg,

 

always nice to see a pro rig.

 

You didn't specify what sonics you are missing, but here goes . .

 

 

I would consider:

 

1) Treat the room a little - first reflections + corner bass traps?

 

2) Digital room correction, dump/bypass the CP-10 if not needed for volume

 

3) Get a longer AES/EBU cable and get it out of the way, length does not matter

 

4) Get a dedicated music server only if you want multi-tasking

 

 

Just my 5 cents

[nwjg]

Thanks Pete, worth more than 5 cents!

 

The room is tough and that my be my Achilles heal. All glass back wall, tons of volume and it is the living room...

 

I use the DSP that is built into the Sub which helps with the most important room stuff (below 50hz) and the main think I use on the CP-10 is the low cut filter on the mains. I use the high cut built into the sub so get a smooth transition. It is tougher running the mains full-range. I have a few other tweaks on the EQ but nothing extreme. I don't need the boost from the CP-10.

 

There are a couple reasons I want to do something besides use a long AES/EBU cable from my office.

 

1) I'd like to use the power conditioner that I have for all the gear (except maybe the sub)

2) Berkeley recommends plugging the Dac and USB into the same outlet.

3) Vibration reduction from a good rack

 

Am I correct about the miniscule differences in the servers? The radio station I listen to most seems to only work with iTunes, is there another non-mac/non-iTunes way (like JRiver) to access the ogg.m3u stream?

 

If I go with a Zuma (which sounds like it may be the "best" of the options), it sounds like I need to:

a) keep a cable running to the office (router) to access the Drobo

b) add in a wifi card (does this harm the performance?) to access the files and internet wirelessly

c) move the modem and router from my office to the living room and connect to computer via Ethernet cable.

[DigiPete]

. . . and I'm sure those are all great little tweaks, but they will not solve the underling fundamentals.

 

And I'm still missing your sonic complaint . . . .

 

I am a great fan of DSP.

Many audiophiles seem think that they are so clever and hear so well, that they don't even need to measure the freq. response of the rig/room combination.

I am satisfied with being able to enjoy the great difference when DSP has linearized the response.

That said, there is a price to pay: time smear in the lower octaves, what some would call lack of impact or speed.

In electronics you would call it rise time, ie. the time it takes to build a freq up to full signal.

 

Hard rooms easily have lots of +15-20dB peaks in the freaq. response below 200hz.

This can be lessened if you are smart about it, even in a living room, examples:

 

- Putting massive shelves of stuff especially on the rear wall - vinyl and books

- Thick rug on the floor

- Thick curtains or acoustic slide panels over windows

- Corner bass traps - the most space efficient and less intrusive way

- Tube bass traps - probably the cheapest way

- Put dual subs in front corners of a symmetrical setup

- Dampen ceiling and possible remove parallel surfaces

- Dampen the floor by floating on rock-wool floor bats

- Removing the parallel wall surfaces with rock-wool dampened plasterboard

 

I am not sure I understand what the CP-10 is doing.

Do you have a waterfall or regular freq. response chart of the room?

If not, I suggest you start right there, because you are stumbling around in the dark.

 

Another 5 cents.

And you knew all that, didn't you ;-)

[DigiPete]

My living room that measures rather good even if it is still rather terrible:

 

 

Left front speaker:

 

 

RED - Before DSP

Blue - DSP filters

Green - After DSP

[nwjg]

Mostly the CP-10 is acting as a crossover so the mains do not operate full range plus a few tweaks to flatten things out higher up. The high pass on the sub is at about 60Htz so room correction under that is done with the sub's built in DSP.

 

I have a XTZ Room Analyzer II Pro so I am not totally in the dark, it is just a little dim.

 

Maybe a photo would help...