The official "Theta" thread - Page 23

You probably don't remember but, I'm the guy that sent you the DW website links awhile back my friend

There were 2 Macbook Pros involved at the same time too, so actually a couple of more bucks spent.
Of course I keep kicking around the idea of a Gen. VIII too since I had the digi-out card installed almost 5 years ago and never move on one of those either.

It might take a personal tour to convince me I still might want a projector since I've been looking at those since the remote controls were wired to the projector with a cord as thick as myas my Transparent speaker cable

It probably won't be too long before I come back down here again. A couple of weeks or weekends every so often, just to make sure everything is still all in one piece.
Perhaps the next time, now that I'm aware of it.
Although, one would think the tour was free and it's only the projector that they'll charge for.
I should be able to at least look around, even if there's only 2 nickels left in my pocket today.

No doubt a scope is better but most folks ain't got one of them!

Usually one would measure voltage at the speaker terminals to determine levels using a steady 1khz test tone avail. from various sources. That is the most common way for us mere mortals I believe, and was mentioned at the beginning of all of this ruckus.

The scope I built from a kit many moon ago is in my attic with cobwebs forming on it as we speak.
It needed new tubes at least 20yrs ago and I never replaced them

hmmmmmmm. No

Only if they have the CBIIIHD! And enjoying music and movies more than ever is exactly what I am doing. Improvement over the CBIII is significant on every source. Even my non-audio oriented wife and older son have made comments while listening to the March Madness broadcast and uncompressed audio on Blu Rays. That one you can't miss!!!
Member comments on comparing the HDMI and analog inputs should be made AFTER hearing the HDMI connection! The sound I hear is not the cold clinical digital source sound I expected. Then again it isn't quite as warm and soft as analog either but is clearly shaded in that direction (disclaimer - my ears ony in my system in my room). The result is the most pleasing balance of sound I have heard in terms of detail, imaging and natural presence of musicians. Yes, BB, I am continuing my testing this week but as of now, I can't see why I need any more than a single hdmi cable.
While I used to think the CB was a possible limiting factor in my system I now feel the system is limited by the source, as it should be!
FYI, 5.2 speakers are the standard (for this board) Aerial 9's, CC5 and L/R5's along with a pair of Linn 5150 woofers. Sources are a DV-60 (modded) and, for now, a Samsung 6900 which will be replaced with either an Oppo or ??. Amps are Wyred 4 Sound SX1000 monoblocks. Dedicated power, balanced power conditioner and extensive filtering.
There aren't too many of these out in customer hands yet but those of us who have it have been pretty consistent in our observations. Thanks, Theta, whoops, I mean ATI! Craig too!!! Bravo! Job well done. It was worth the wait to have no second thoughts about which pre pro to choose!
BP

Again, nice to hear from you and very happy another CB-III upgrade is turning out so well, especially being so local.
I'd hate it if someone drove up here to punch me out cause they thought the CB-IIIHD sucked after reading my rave reviews

Glad it's working out, I read this stuff and really want to get back to NY to use mine again, it's almost like going through withdrawal!

Got any new snow down there yet

Hey BB;
The weather event predicted for today is the typical last gasp for Old Man Winter; nothing to fear now... Come back to NY, home to your wife and CBIIIHD!!!
bp

Hi;
Curious how you handle the relationship between the high and low slopes. Is there a constant between them? If high is set one way should low be set another? Do you have them set the same? How is it related to the frequency you select?
Am I being clear enough?
Thx!
bp

It all depends on your room and how your speakers measure towards the low end. The CB3 HD gives you the flexibility to set high and low crossovers differently to smoothen the frequency response at the low end. Of course, to find out the frequency response at the low end you need to measure low end frrequency response and if you're interested I suggest you start a separate thread solely in that regard.

You only have the option to select different slopes for high freq. and low freq. through one type of crossover, that is the "Butterworth".

I have read that they always should be set the same, I don't really recall the reasoning behind it. You could do a web search on that and spend the day reading some theories.
In fact, I seem to recall that the Casablanca manual also suggests you use the same setting for both hi and low freq.'s as well, there may be a short answer as to why they say it should be set that way. You could check-out the manual in the crossover section and look under Butterworth settings.

Or, if you like the Butterworth and want to use it, I would set it up "normally" at first and then begin playing with these settings. You might find that there is one setting or another that will have an impact to the level in which you enjoy your system, even if it's not supposed to be used that way!

EDIT: I know that Ash's system, which is set-up by a pro calibrator, at least at one time, had a different setting for both
hi and low freqs, as well as having different slopes for each of these freqs.

By the way, your credibility has become very suspect!

You tell me to come in the water is just fine but the Alert for my area says 6-10 inches of snow over the next 36 hours.
Almost a foot of snow is not exactly what I'd call great weather, nope…not good at all!

It sounds more like one of those days that gets me a $25 credit and a free movie from the airline for keeping me sitting in one place for too long.

There are some nice models....er photos in there.

We want you back in NY if you hadn't figured that out already! Whatever snow ends up on the ground here will be gone in no time. The crocus are already poping through and buds are on the forsythia. Next week will be in the 50's; time to break out the bathing suits!
Thanks to Steve and BB for the feedback on the high and low slopes. I will try some different settings when I am ready to fine tune.
In the meantime it's back to some familiar music and movies as I get used to what the HD can do to the sound of disks I thought I knew.
bp

BP
When I get back home I'll give you Ash's Butterworth settings.
He's got Aerials as well but, you know...better ones!
Of course different rooms and all of that stuff but this is exactly what Theta will eventually do on their website, share with us all of these settings other users have.

Do you know what a bubbameister is? That's what you're telling me!

Believe me when I tell you, that once you cross over Interstate 84 and go North by just a few feet, the entire weather pattern is different from just the few mi. south to where you are.

It's snowing now and by morning there should be a good 8" with some additional tomorrow.
Next week we will not see 50 degrees, they do not forecast a 50 degree day until April 1st, and that is 50, not in the 50's.
Since it'll be April Fools Day, Steve will probably scare me to death with some story about some major storm system about to roll in.

But, I just booked my flight to return this weekend, since Fla. is really not my favorite place in the world and rarely stay very long, but it certainly does have it's advantages.

I have seen MAJOR snow fall North of 84 in April too, and the way this winter has gone so far, I would not be surprised to see a repeat of one of those.

This ends the Weather Alert, should there be actual emergency and I get grounded, you will hear me complain again.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled Theta Digital Casablanca III Upgrades, already in progress.

I don't think there should be a "T" in there but I doubt our spellcheckers would catch that, especially since the Urban Dictionary makes the same error.


As someone who makes that crossing twice a week, I am all too familiar with that observation.

You're right, no T but I did look it up to get an english spelling and I used what they gave me still feeling it was wrong


Like my office used to tell me when I called down to the city to say, "I'm snowed in and I can't make it in today".

Well, they said, it's not snowing here and nobody told you to move all the way the hell up there. Find some way to get in!

That's another one of my bubbameisers

Well, if you haven't got the weather yet - be prepared! I've been home over the past week and a half with an ankle injury and woke up with a HUGE amount of snow on the ground. It's been blowing here non-stop all day...thick heavy snow...quite an accumulation.

The same system is heading for you next

I am so busy at the office (and at home on my notebook office) that I haven't had time to think of a creative April Fool's joke to fbowl anyone over this year.
Other than tellin' you for weeks now how I just luv my new Citadel 1.5 amps and my Gen VIII Series 2 DAC.

Whats really funny is its even odds that my CB3 HD upgraded will arrive next Wed - Friday & you know what day Friday is!!

The reason I brought this up is you want/need to ensure you are as very close nay dead on. One could even use 2 probes and subtract the two using the same offset. Coupled with very high impedance probes it would remove all doubt that no dB level difference is factoring into the listening portion of the tests. One could also tell how "clean" the signal is whereas a Multi-meter can't. I presume that this is the best/only way to satisfy the most finicky AVS members.

For once I agree with Shawn. Remember first comparisons with DD and DTS on LFE tracks on DVDs? Anything that can stimulate the nervous system will have an effect either consciously or subconsciously, or both. While being scientific in the approach, I also believe that it may not be necessary to go that far. A practical approach would be if you hear a difference, you'll buy the one you liked and not the other one. I assume people demo at different levels and material. And if you can't tell the difference, then you can't lose picking either one. Go for the features you like best, or the aesthetics.

I've heard numerous DACs and they all aren't the same. I don't care if you turn the volume up. Gee let me make the sound of nails on the chalkboard louder.

In Shawn's point, if you have to break out a meter/scope then you're in the category of either will work fine. Ultimately you have to listen to your material at the level you enjoy. Then try the other system. Which ever one sounds better is the one you buy. I've come to trust my ears as to what sounds phenomenal and what just sounds good.

I agree on every point.

You must realize that most people do not have a scope in their arsenal.
And since I was certain no scope would be available for the comparison, Shawn and I were both just trying to say that a multi-meter, (which almost everyone owns or should own) would be a far better piece of test gear to use then an SPL Meter.

Since the time was being spent to level match anyway, at least the use of a Multi-meter would insure that this test was matched to "a reasonable degree of accuracy" without going too crazy. And for this particular use, I feel it's simplicity goes well beyond that of even an SPL Meter.

I'm sure you are aware that most people would not even go through the trouble of doing this much work, so we were just hoping that since he even bothered to do the work, that he might exclude the use of an SPL Meter for this test.

But it was almost certainly the only piece of test gear available, since I believe that being the enterprising enthusiast that he is, he would have almost certainly given it a shot!
At least that is my belief and our hope.

To insist on a scope would complicate the entire ordeal to no end

Ordered four Paradigm sub 12s in black piano gloss finish today. They will be shipped with boat, but I am also waiting for my CB III HD to arrive which also seems to take a while so I guess patience is what I need right now...

BP, I am glad you are enjoying your new Baby !!

Sounds like you are having some fun with it..

Enjoy !!

Craig

What do you guys use for xover for the LFE on the CBIII? I know the LFE channel has a digital brick wall at 120 Hz, not a roll-off, so many suggest to use 80Hz which is also THX standard. But content creators almost always roll-off their stuff between 80-100Hz so if following that it would be okay to set the LFE xover to 120Hz. What do you think, and what slope do you use?

120 hz. Otherwise you may be losing information that is on the disc. Of course if your sub isn't flat to 120 hz or you are worried about localization, you may want to rethink that. But otherwise, I would say 120 hz for sure. I use 120 hz and don't have localization.

Hey Michael;
Still waiting...perhaps the storm took a different route. So long as it doesnt' interfere with my enjoying the CBIIIHD it really doesn't matter!

Hi BB;
You said: Do you know what a bubbameister is? Of course! And you are correct!!! I know better since I used to work with somebody from your hometown many years ago.
Thanks! I look forward to trying the settings. I used Phase Perfect before but since that has been removed I have switched to Butterworth.
Still curious why they limit connections to 3 per input?
Listening tests continuing...very pleased so far.
bp

You need to look through the screen of crossover settings again.

I still have no CB-IIIHD sitting in front of me, but I'm sure nothing there has changed!
You still have all the options that you had before the upgrade regarding selection of crossovers.

As far as limiting the number of connections per input, I think 3 is usually more then enough for you to toggle through with the D/A button. Otherwise it might take forever to get back to one you skipped over.
I guess they just though people didn't need that many anymore since HDMI will be your main source and it's unlikely you will opt for, lets say, the Tos connection instead.

If you require more connections for any particular device, just make another input and place half of em on one input and the less seldom used ones on the new input.
There's probably plenty of inputs still available that you're not using now anyway.

Just to clarify, it is not a crossover, but a low-pass filter.

80 Hz is a great choice, as it works well for all movie and music content. If the CB3 can offer tailored settings for LFE filter for different inputs (the Meridian 861 does that, for example), then I'd use 80 Hz for music sources and 100 Hz for movies. I find the LFE frequencies up to 120 Hz add no value to the presentation--just muddiness. YMMV.

So my conscience spoke up and I decided not to waste a dealers time when I have no intention of buying anything new/full retail. Instead I just scored a Modwright 36.5 with external powersupply - in transit now. If 10K (list) worth of tubeamp does not trounce the six shooter, I will officially declare it Theta engineering miracle number 2. (Number 1 would be the Xtreme card, for allegedly remaining the best piece of digital technology money can buy in its class for 11 years straight). Either that or I'll get a multi-meter.

Thats not difficult to do at 10k. That's 5000.00 a channel vs about 417.00 a channel. Six shooter is a bargain for the performance. Gen VIII beats the Six Shooter and you get a dac. That was my logic. Not sure why you have not considered that? Dump the PS Audio dac.

I would have considered that if PS audio was shipping the lens, which would allow me to continue to use the bridge with a non PS audio DAC (i.e. the Gen VIII). Keep in mind though that the price of a lens and a used GenVIII would be over $9,000, while I paid $7,000 for the Modwright, and PWD + Bridge. I would hope the Bridge + PWD using I2S and a 2 chassis tube preamp sounds better than a lens + GenVIII, so I'll hopefully I end up with better sound for less money, with my setup.

This is more along the lines of what I use. Although I'd have to admit alot of this depends on your speakers.