DSP crossovers and Phono Stages, share your thoughts....
It's a big compromise to the phono signal?
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DSP crossovers and Phono Stages, share your thoughts....
It's a big compromise to the phono signal?
I'm going to say no on compromising the signal.
Properly set up a DSP crossover can "fine tune" a speaker system in ways an analog crossover can never do such as driver time alignment, phase response, band pass output EQ, band pass output limiting.
Ok there were some analog crossovers that did have output limiting and some with EQ in the form of plug in cards or modules.
What DSP are you looking at using?
There is no DSP that I'm aware of that can directly take a phono input.
Are you asking if digitizing an analog signal from a phono section is too big a compromise? I guess I’m not sure what you are asking or saying.Quote:
Originally Posted by cosmicjazz
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If you can tell us more about your overall system it would help an appropriate response.Quote:
Originally Posted by cosmicjazz
There are phono stages and turntables that feature an AD conversion. Is it a compromise? That depends on why you might want to convert vinyl to digital and the budget you have.
As a rule those who have invested in an expensive turntable, arm and cartridge are unlikely to consider an active crossover unless it’s necessary (like a Jbl 4345 or 4355) and preferably not a dsp active crossover.
The compromise is in the user implementation unless set up by the loudspeaker designer in the consumer hifi space. That also applies to analogue crossovers. There are some very good examples OEM dsp loudspeakers featuring the DEQX crossover and they have been specifically set up and integrated into the design by the loudspeaker engineer. They are generally hi end systems over $50,000. What l am referring to here is legitimately integrating an active crossover to a specific loudspeaker.
In the diy home audio space it’s s case of deciding what suits your needs and your budget.
Dayton Audio have a cool low cost dsp crossover you may wish to try. There is a learning curve with any active crossover so be prepared to spend some time making adjustments.
What you have to bear in mind is that popular music is generally mixed and mastered on several different kinds of loudspeaker monitors so engineer can gauge how the recording will sound at home. Yes this is true. If you start messing with the mastering EQ when you plug in a dsp active crossover (in other words attempting to make the loudspeaker perfect) then you will end up with a different rendition to that which the artist and engineer intended. So it might sound odd. That is why loudspeaker manufacturers like Dynaudio have scaled back on dsp processing in their active loudspeakers to just assisting with the loudspeaker room placement generally. At home you won’t know what the engineer intended so a safe place to be is to screw with the signal as little as possible.
This may awaken some discussion but there is irrefutable logic here.
Quote:
DSP crossovers and Phono Stages, share your thoughts....
It's a big compromise to the phono signal?
I am a little confused as well by your question as it gets a bit complicated. As Mike said no DSP will take a signal at the level even from a high output MM not getting into MC. For it to happen you would want to be at line level past the phono stage. The phono stage amplifies and does RIAA EQ. In better pre-amps they also allow you to vary the loading for the cartridge so you could optimize the response up top.
Do you have an analog pre-amp with a phono stage or a stand alone phono stage?
After that it's really no different than any other line level analog signal you would convert to digital and use DSP to process. Really a preference issue as I see it. To some Analog guys it would be sacrilege, me I would be open to try it.
Rob:)
Perhaps the OP does not appreciate the Day the Earth stood still around here was the day after the last driver rolled of the line at Northridge.
In my experience the answer to the general question about signal processing is to choose high quality components and minimize the path, especially in the treble frequency range. Therefore, even though I use analog crossover and equalization, I take a separate full range output from my preamp and feed that to an amplifier for the treble then through a passive highpass network to my horns. I would do the same if I were using digital processing. I get away with this because my horn/driver combo work well with a simple high pass network.
If the question is, once having chosen an analog source for the salient qualities of analog, whether it makes sense to pass that signal through digital processing, for me, probably not. If playing and finding something special in LP's recorded before digital mastering (and not digitally remastered reissues), then, never. However, twenty or thirty thousand dollars, including professional setup, might buy another answer. I think straining at an analog gnat to play digitally mastered LP's is questionable, especially if you have the capacity to set up some high res digital.
I should probably semanticise "in my experience." I'm not in the tweak wars. My requirements for a sound system are that it sound musical and not irritate me even after hours of listening. This has led me to simple two-way speakers using a fifteen to a horn and beryllium, electronics no worse than '90's high end, an old Thorens turntable, sanely priced moving magnet and moving coil cartridges, slightly above modest digital sources, including a Bryston DAC, and non-esoteric wires. Having once had the experience of hearing a speaker system which cost about five times more than I had ever dreamed of spending, and knowing I was going to have to match it or get another hobby, I assiduously remain ignorant of what $200,000 systems sound like.
There is a riaa filter ready to use in Rephase. So in theory you can feed the pickup signal to the analog input of your filter. Maybe you need some amplification.
I don't know if it is wise to use it. Probably depending on the quality of the analog circuits of the filter.
There are a few phono stages with AD conversion. So the data could be stored and then played back through a digital signal path. These are generally budget quality products.