Someday I will post a thread. I got some PM's with questions, so I'm just going to answer them here, so everyone can see them. Sorry for thread crapping in advance
1. Why not MiniDSP:
The Xilica XD 4080 gives me only a very faint hiss at the listening position. I am not sure the miniDSP 4x10HD has as low of a noise floor as I read posts about it having hiss with horns, and I couldn't tell if it does FIR filters for tri-amping or not (I don't think it does). I know it says it does FIR for room correction, but this is not what I needed. Picking a well known pro audio brand that has huge value for the money made sense. The Xilica XD4080 also lets you configure it over your network, which is really handy. Yes there are more features and settings, but to me this adds versatility.
2. Need to match passive XO's:
All I did is do time alignment and set FIR filters (picked crossover points based on THD and off speaker spec sheet) with the mic at the sweet spot. You don't have to have a network analyzer or anything to measure the electrical characteristics of the passive crossover, although this might be fun it is a waste of time. I get that cabinets have resonating frequencies, but the benefits of tri-amping and using FIR filters far out weigh any passive crossover no matter the cost.
3. What speakers:
This doesn't really matter as much. Any speaker will sound many times better if you set things up like mine. What you should care about is drivers that can operate at very low distortion. My speakers are Klipsch Palladium P-39f's (x4) and a Klipsch Palladium P-27C (x1). I get distortion levels at 90dB that are better than the world's best headphones, and bass that very few have ever experienced. I need to remeasure as I replaced one of my sub drivers and expect distortion to be even lower now, but below are some pics.
4. Why no thread:
Most people I used to try to help on AVS Forum and other sites want high quality audio, but only want to buy an AVR, etc... The audience for people willing to build a setup like mine is very very small, and a system like this really needs to be experienced. It is an end all setup and will sound better than anything you've ever heard at any price, but me just saying that in a thread on most sites is just going to attract a bunch of skeptics.
Just to give you an idea, on other sites I've been told: all amps sound the same, an AVR is just as good, value brands like Emotiva (although really decent for the price) are as good as the best amps available, you can't possibly hear a 30dB improvement you are getting in noise floor with AHB2 amps (the hell I can't), etc... Let alone the other side of the spectrum of audiophiles telling me: digital is inferior, specs and measurements aren't as important as how something sounds (like the room won't define 60% of what you are hearing), science is magic and fidelity can't possibly be objectively defined or measured, I need $20k class A monoblocks to get good sound, etc...
BUT most (
) people here are much smarter than what I've ran into on other forums, so someday I will post a thread. Further, just the measurements to set this up take many hours to do and it is not simple unless someone does a lot of independent study of REW's manual, has a technical background, has the necessary tools, has lots of free time and of course has disposable income (i.e. no kids or other hobbies
). For me it took many iterations and lots of learning each time, but I have a degree in electrical engineering so I already had a basic understanding of technical concepts.
I think it would easily take a full week if not two of me training someone before they could replicate what I have done (assuming they haven't studied room acoustics, but are knowledgeable and able to learn technical topics quickly). I don't think a thread is going to achieve that without a lot of technical explanation and documentation, but it seems there are a lot of smart and interesting people on this forum, so I am not against it.
Basic Signal path:
PC audio out via RME multiple channel AES card, AES out->AES in Xilica XD4080's, analog out->Benchmark AHB2 amps (one channel to each L,M and H driver, amps driving the three woofers are in mono).
With Dirac enabled on my PC:
@Jorj
+/- 4 dB with no EQ, that sounds amazing, care to start a thread about your system?