DEQX Owners Thread

[loki65]

Good idea, am working on organising up a time to get Alan to do the setup for me.

 

And done, thanks Alan.

 

Was an early morning (for me) Alan ran the set up for me before I went to work. Will put it through it's paces tonight.

[Darren69]

In a nutshell, we found one woofer had gone pop (Focal are following up on that one),

For the record, new woofer driver sent from the latest Focal importer, no cost and don't require the existing one back. Great support.

[aechmea]

Back in the Queensland thread Jiri or Mike? had a screen shot showing multi-stepped-limits in the calibration step that was done by Alan.

 

I hadn't seen that before even though I thought I had been through the software often enough.  So I tried it and ….. I couldn't get it to work at all.

 

Maybe it is something to do with cascaded DEQX boxes and not single-amp-with-subs setups like mine.

 

Any other hints?

 

Not that it matters to me at the moment, but one never knows.

 

 

 

 

Solved.

 

This is a feature introduced in version 3 of the software.

 

[sorry. I can't get rid of the second quote box]

Edited January 2, 2016 by aechmea

[Flynnyfalcon]

Hope you don't mind the intrusion on your convos, but I've been reading up on DEQX recently and wondering whether it may help in my situation. The layout of my listening/lounge room is limited and the position of my speakers is pretty much set. Going the room treatment path will no doubt be vetoed by the other half so I'm hoping to find something to increase the SQ in my setup.

The room has a void (walkway towards the kitchen) just to the left of the left speaker, the right speaker is wedged in a corner, the right hand wall is filled with books half wall high and in the middle of that wall is a brick fireplace. The left wall is filled with paintings etc and an Ikea 4x4 shelf full of LPs next to the couch. Behind the couch is a large curtain covered window.

The sound is good given the sum of the parts, but the soundstage is lacking and clarity I feel is lacking. Bass seems to be under control, well I think is.

Any thoughts whether a DEQX pre would make the difference I've been striving for?

Edited January 2, 2016 by Flynnyfalcon

[Flynnyfalcon]

[aab]

Hi @@Flynnyfalcon

 

I can't help with the question about the DEQX - sorry. 

 

Is it safe to say also you can't do the following:

 

- move the couch up a lot closer to the speakers.

- flip it around and have the tv/speakers at the opposite end of the room (and the couch moved around to suit), possibly moving the speakers a bit away from the wall with the window. 

 

For that first one, from your diagram it seems you are 4+ meters away from the speakers so the speakers are relatively close together in comparison (maybe 2.5 meters apart?) - limiting stereo effect/soundstage. Moving closer would give you more of an equilateral triangle (with you and the speakers as the points of the triangle) that could help with soundstage. You could test this by using a chair in a position closer to the speakers to see if it helps. Might help with clarity too?

 

For the second one, it could give you more flexibility on speaker positioning. Unfortunately this might block the window, and you might not have power, etc at that end of the room.

 

I expect these are not options available to you, just throwing them out there as you might not have considered them.

 

Does your Leben amp drive your Harbeth speakers ok? The speakers are 86db/1W/1m which seems a little inefficient to be using with an amp of about 30 watts. I have tried a similar thing in the past with a ~30 watt tube amp and my magneplanar speakers (same efficiency I think - 86dB/2.83v) and it sounded great at low to medium volumes, though it started to sound congested/compressed at above medium volumes. This was with me sitting 2 meters away from the speakers in a smaller room than yours.

 

I hope others can advise on the DEQX suitability.

 

Anthony

Edited January 2, 2016 by aab

[Darren69]

Assuming you cannot change the layout one iota-

I would push hard for some first reflection absorption as a compromise. Don't worry about diffusion or bass traps. Absorption is usually flat and can be matched to wall/ceiling colours.

Then DEQX will really shine. It will help with no room treatment of course, but if you added first reflection point absorption it would work very well with the DEQX, just my 2c. Sell it in $$ terms, that DEQX you are going to pay $x for will work y% better if we spend a pissy little $z on first reflection treatment darling, and that will be all, I promise.

Just my 2c.

Edited January 2, 2016 by Darren69

[Flynnyfalcon]

Assuming you cannot change the layout one iota-

I would push hard for some first reflection absorption as a compromise. Don't worry about diffusion or bass traps. Absorption is usually flat and can be matched to wall/ceiling colours.

Then DEQX will really shine. It will help with no room treatment of course, but if you added first reflection point absorption it would work very well with the DEQX, just my 2c. Sell it in $$ terms, that DEQX you are going to pay $x for will work y% better if we spend a pissy little $z on first reflection treatment darling, and that will be all, I promise.

Just my 2c.

 

You are a bad/good influence on me Daz... yet to establish which one... but banking on bad   I did put a heavy rug up on the 1st reflection point and it made in instant and very noticeable difference. Seriously looking at DEQX, looks to be an incredible improvement.  

 

Hey Anthony @@aab, sadly the room composition is well and truly set, no change position other than minor positional adjustments.  The Leben has no problem driving the Harbeths and are actually widely appraised as the perfect match.  30 odd tube watts is more than sufficient.  In my time of ownership, the volume dial has never been past 9 o'clock and I'm not shy on the volume when the time is right!  Appreciate your thoughts.

[Darren69]

It's all perception mate.

Baddies are so much more entertaining.

Seriously, first reflection points are the most important IMO.

Functional bass traps (not just for show) require a dedicated room IMO and diffusers, well they might be a bit of icing but I haven't found them making as big a difference as absorption.

[PorkBun69s]

Just curious to know if anyone here are using their Deqx pre's with turntable's? 

[gat474]

Just curious to know if anyone here are using their Deqx pre's with turntable's? 

I am.  So far so good.  I'm using a Premate but have used a HDP3 in the past.  The HDP3's A to D conversion left quite a bit to be desired.  In fact it was the A to D which led me to move away from the HPD3 to a conventional (albeit valve) pre.

The Premate on the other hand is a different proposition. The A to D seems to be significantly better than its predecessor and apart from a loss of a bit of 'valve' lushness I'd definitely say that it trumps my old pre.

 

Having said this I didn't have this opinion two days ago. I was running the DEQX as a straight pre and wasn't sure whether I preferred it or my old valve pre.  There were certain instruments and pieces of music which didn't sound right.  I'd been avoiding doing the full speaker measurement and correction file process as it all looked too hard and I was planning to wait until I got the DEQXpert service done.  I pulled my finger out yesterday and went through the process after reading the DEQX manual.   After an hours work I got a pretty good result.  I was able to compare the pre and post calibration file results and although the pre version wasn't bad by any stretch the calibrated speakers sounded significantly better.  Switching between the two I found that the uncalibrated speaker sounded a little thin and two dimensional by comparison to the calibrated speaker which was much fuller and three D.

 

I'm still going to get the DEQXpert service done as my knowledge of the software was tested to the limit and just by reading this thread there's a whole heap I don't know/understand.

Edited January 7, 2016 by GAT474

[PorkBun69s]

Good write up about your experience with this and thanks for sharing.  Certainly quite a powerful piece of equipment that requires either lots of practice/tweaking or submitting to the DEQXpert service to get it right.

[Darren69]

As others suggested to me, I would work with Alan first to get the perfect foundation and then one can play as much as they like after that.

One may not have even heard the 'right' sound in their room prior to that so I don't know what the benchmark would be for tweaking before getting the correct settings down pat, just my 2c, in hindsight and with experience of course!!

[loki65]

Just curious to know if anyone here are using their Deqx pre's with turntable's? 

 

I'm using a HDP-express II, depending on the cartridge used and  how loud you listen you may need a phono stage with reasonable gain. At the moment i'm using a rega ios, gain set at 64dB ( can also set to 70dB). Am pretty impressed how it sounds. With the right pressing/recording imaging has a touch more width and depth. Detail seems a bit more subtle but I am picking up detail I've not noticed before.

 

*****WARNING - digital content below********

 

Previously having used CD's or streaming ( even Spotify) to warm up the system before playing vinyl, I can quite easily listen to digital all day, they have done a great job on the DAC section. Which has got me thinking if I put a bit more time, effort and thought into the digital side of my setup (as I have with vinyl) I could be a lot happier.

[almikel]

I am.  So far so good.  I'm using a Premate but have used a HDP3 in the past.  The HDP3's A to D conversion left quite a bit to be desired.  In fact it was the A to D which led me to move away from the HPD3 to a conventional (albeit valve) pre.

The Premate on the other hand is a different proposition. The A to D seems to be significantly better than its predecessor 

Alan stated at the GTGs that a key difference between the HDP3 and the later model HDP4/5 and Premate etc was the work they'd done on the ADC input of the DEQX.

 

cheers

Mike

[Dean Gale]

Just a quick question does any of the DEQX enable home theatre bypass thru an analogue input ?

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[Satanica]

Just a quick question does any of the DEQX enable home theatre bypass thru an analogue input ?

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I don't think so.

[Dean Gale]

I don't think so.

Yeah, I didn't think so. Bit of deal braker unfortuntely. The premate looked really good.

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[Dean Gale]

I don't think so.

Yeah, I didn't think so. Bit of deal braker unfortuntely. The premate looked really good.

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[gat474]

Just a quick question does any of the DEQX enable home theatre bypass thru an analogue input ?

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@DEAN023 Not a pass through as such but quite easy to do with a DEQX plus there are benefits.  With the DEQX you just use the L and R out of your receiver into an analogue input on the DEQX.  Max out the volume on the DEQX and away you go, no loss of volume or digital bits at all.   The benefits are that you can have the bass management with your sub/s with the DEQX option rather than using the receiver .1 out.  

[Dean Gale]

@DEAN023 Not a pass through as such but quite easy to do with a DEQX plus there are benefits. With the DEQX you just use the L and R out of your receiver into an analogue input on the DEQX. Max out the volume on the DEQX and away you go, no loss of volume or digital bits at all. The benefits are that you can have the bass management with your sub/s with the DEQX option rather than using the receiver .1 out.

I'll check it out, though I kinda do that ( With the exception of a low/high pass) on the set up I've got now. Also I think the . 1 on a processor is pretty important.

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[gat474]

I'll check it out, though I kinda do that ( With the exception of a low/high pass) on the set up I've got now. Also I think the . 1 on a processor is pretty important.

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The .1 is important but if you set the receiver to 5 channels out the bass goes to the L and R mains.  The DEQX, when properly configured, will then send off the bass to the sub and the rest to the mains.  I'm just going through the set up of a DEQX and HT system in this configuration.  I am going to get the DEQX people to do the set up remotely to make sure I am getting the most out of it.  I have previously used a DEQX in an older system with the same HT integration.  I had lesser subs then but I have not had a better sounding HT system although now with better equipment I am expecting it to be even better.

 

The advantage of using the DEQX in this configuration is that it will do time alignment, speaker (inc sub) correction and room correction to give an a better performance between your mains and sub.  All you do once the two channel side is set up is to go through the HT set up side of things with the Audessy or what ever system your receiver uses as a 5 channel only (sub is going to the mains).   The only odd thing I found was that the receiver sees the left and right as being a fair way back from the front stage.  I guess this is because all of the digital processing take a little time.

[Dean Gale]

The .1 is important but if you set the receiver to 5 channels out the bass goes to the L and R mains. The DEQX, when properly configured, will then send off the bass to the sub and the rest to the mains. I'm just going through the set up of a DEQX and HT system in this configuration. I am going to get the DEQX people to do the set up remotely to make sure I am getting the most out of it. I have previously used a DEQX in an older system with the same HT integration. I had lesser subs then but I have not had a better sounding HT system although now with better equipment I am expecting it to be even better.

The advantage of using the DEQX in this configuration is that it will do time alignment, speaker (inc sub) correction and room correction to give an a better performance between your mains and sub. All you do once the two channel side is set up is to go through the HT set up side of things with the Audessy or what ever system your receiver uses as a 5 channel only (sub is going to the mains). The only odd thing I found was that the receiver sees the left and right as being a fair way back from the front stage. I guess this is because all of the digital processing take a little time.

Interesting, very interesting

The .1 is important but if you set the receiver to 5 channels out the bass goes to the L and R mains. The DEQX, when properly configured, will then send off the bass to the sub and the rest to the mains. I'm just going through the set up of a DEQX and HT system in this configuration. I am going to get the DEQX people to do the set up remotely to make sure I am getting the most out of it. I have previously used a DEQX in an older system with the same HT integration. I had lesser subs then but I have not had a better sounding HT system although now with better equipment I am expecting it to be even better.

The advantage of using the DEQX in this configuration is that it will do time alignment, speaker (inc sub) correction and room correction to give an a better performance between your mains and sub. All you do once the two channel side is set up is to go through the HT set up side of things with the Audessy or what ever system your receiver uses as a 5 channel only (sub is going to the mains). The only odd thing I found was that the receiver sees the left and right as being a fair way back from the front stage. I guess this is because all of the digital processing take a little time.

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[Dean Gale]

Interesting, very interesting

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Could you compensate by decreasing the distance manually for the L and R channels in the A/V processor.

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[gat474]

Leave is as the processor sees it. It's actually correct but seems wierd. The processor is just allowing for the time difference between the centre and the mains.