The X-Meridian 7.1 Thread - Page 43

I have a setup question.

All of my equipment is located in my theater room and audio/video is distributed out from there.

The HTPC will be directly connected to some Crown 402D Amps that I just ordered which will then drive the speakers. That's great for whenever I watch a movie in the theater (which I do 90% of the time).

But occasionally I watch satellite or regular programming up there. That audio will be coming out of the source in digital. What is my best option to get all of the sound into the amps, and not just from the HTPC? Should I run audio into the PC, and then right back out of the X-Meridian through the analog. Should I add a pre-pro to the mix, and run everything into that and then out to the amps? Are there any pre-pros with analog in and out?

Now that I think about it, how does the analog outs work on the X-Meridian (I just ordered mine, have not received it yet). It looks like 2 channels are output in one output, how does it seperate the left and right channels?

Your assumption is correct. In analog mode your receiver is doing no encoding.
Some models are still able to set delay times and bass management on the analog inputs. Not sure if all receivers can do that with analog input, but my guess is that anything worth buying can do it.

As to sounding better, I have never heard your Fosgate receiver before. What I can say is I use a 'tubed' denon 3910 going to my denon 5800 (upgraded to 5803) and I prefer the sound from my xm card now that I've moded it. In some ways I do miss the 'warm' sound from my tubed 3910 compared to the fairly bright xm setup, but overall my xm is much better. The soundstage is tight and very wide. Speakers don't totally disappear, but it's close. Not the fault of the card, more my speaker placement in a horrible room setup. After years with the 3910 I had grown very used to the warm sound and after first moding my xm and listening it was way to bright comparatively. I have since accoustically treated the room, and now it's very nice sounding.

Let me be clear as to my impression of the sound from the xm. It IS much better than my current setup, though I have heard much better sound in the past at my local high end dealers. This card is NOT the best sound I've heard before, it's just the best sound I have heard from a htpc and easily on par or better than my denon setup. I have zero loyalty to xm and no ties to the company. If something comes out that is better, I'll definately try it as I'm always looking for better sound.

As to the noise floor, the only time I hear it at all is when the receiver is at or very near reference level sound with nothing playing. It is a 'tad' bit noisier than my 3910 as I can turn the amp up 100% and never hear anything, where with the xm I do hear some noise at very high vol levels with no source playing. Sounds kinda stupid, but I took a lot of tinfoil and put it inside an envelope that sites on top of my soundcard. That actually helped the noisefloor a bit as I have sli 8800's in my computer firing straight down onto the soundcard. My htpc is also on 24/7.

At this moment with vista at least, there is no real way of changing delay times or bass management. There is a hack available which I have tried, I just didn't like it at all and it ruined the sound. That is a huge reason why I still use the pre/pro instead of going straight to amps. Once that barrier is overcome with new drivers that are no longer beta, then I will change over from the denon to tube amps and let the htpc do everything.

A pre/pro will also solve your digital issues with your satellite as you can plug everything into it and change sources from there. I do it and it works perfectly. Yes any pre/pro with analog inputs will work.

Yes 2 channels per 1/8" jack is how it works. You basically need a stereo 1/8" jack to stereo rca's and your set. Cables have been discussed pretty extensively in this thread. I personally went with the monster audio cables as they were decent quality and inexpensive. And they fit into the jacks side by side with no issues.

Just so I'm clear on this...

If I go analog out from my XM to my B&K Ref30's 6-channel analog inputs, the XM will intelligently switch between DTS/DD pass-through and digital-> analog processing for MP3s and WMAs?

The drivers appear to indicate that one has to choose which approach to use -- and that switching requires manual intervention with the setup application.

Any addition info/insights appreciated.

Thanks,

Good point, I guess the only way to answer that question is for me try it out.

Appreciate the detailed reply!

Your assumption is correct. In analog mode your receiver is doing no encoding.

In which case, I guess a good test will be to connect the XM to the Amp directly, and compare it against either another HTPC connected digitally to the Fosgate, or a settop DVD player connected digitally to the Fosgate, with the Fosgate connected to the Amp. (I guess, for this test, either I'll be pulling lots of wires in and out of the Amp, or I'll have to get an 8 channel analog switcher, which may not be a good idea, since that itself might color the sound. Lemme think about how I wanna test this.

Some models are still able to set delay times and bass management on the analog inputs. Not sure if all receivers can do that with analog input, but my guess is that anything worth buying can do it.

The Fosgate can do bass management on the analog input.

As to sounding better, I have never heard your Fosgate receiver before. What I can say is I use a 'tubed' denon 3910 going to my denon 5800 (upgraded to 5803) and I prefer the sound from my xm card now that I've moded it. In some ways I do miss the 'warm' sound from my tubed 3910 compared to the fairly bright xm setup, but overall my xm is much better. The soundstage is tight and very wide. Speakers don't totally disappear, but it's close. Not the fault of the card, more my speaker placement in a horrible room setup. After years with the 3910 I had grown very used to the warm sound and after first moding my xm and listening it was way to bright comparatively. I have since accoustically treated the room, and now it's very nice sounding.

Ah..a tubed 3910.. I guess you do love your sound..Now, I do have a dilemna here. The Fosgate is fairly neutral to slightly warm on the sound side, and the Sunfire is pretty much neutral, and the soeakers I have are Axioms, which even though are VERY neutral and detailed speakers, they tend to sound a tad bright with badly recorded material or bright components. I guess the only way to know is to try it out.

Let me be clear as to my impression of the sound from the xm. It IS much better than my current setup, though I have heard much better sound in the past at my local high end dealers. This card is NOT the best sound I've heard before, it's just the best sound I have heard from a htpc and easily on par or better than my denon setup. I have zero loyalty to xm and no ties to the company. If something comes out that is better, I'll definately try it as I'm always looking for better sound.

I'm all for that. I'm the same way.

As to the noise floor, the only time I hear it at all is when the receiver is at or very near reference level sound with nothing playing. It is a 'tad' bit noisier than my 3910 as I can turn the amp up 100% and never hear anything, where with the xm I do hear some noise at very high vol levels with no source playing. Sounds kinda stupid, but I took a lot of tinfoil and put it inside an envelope that sites on top of my soundcard. That actually helped the noisefloor a bit as I have sli 8800's in my computer firing straight down onto the soundcard. My htpc is also on 24/7.

Now, that's an interesting er..experiment..

Just to clarify. You plan on running all 6 channels of analog out to the pre amp from the XM. If you do this you will get multichannel for DTS/DD and 2 channel for MP3s, etc. This is the current behavior in Vista. No switching required.

How is the channel information seperated at the amps? i.e., how does the right stuff play from the right speaker, and the left fro mthe left? If it is split, wouldn't each output (in my case, 2 from a 2 channel amp) get identical information, so the lefts and rights would sound identical.

The 1/8" jack contains separate physical conductors. If you look closely at one you will see insulating 'rings' that separate these conductors (poles). The cable inside the insulation has more than one wire, so left and right signals are on separate wire.

This has more detail: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_plug

That's interesting, I learned something new today. Thanks.

New XMeridian Drivers on Auzentech's website!

enjoy!

Can anyone with Vista tell me how the X-Meridian is working? I have an XFi now, and I'm having problems with random static, and a half working microphone. Debating whether I made the wrong choice in going with XFi. Or is it just Creative's poor driver development?

Any listing of what the new drivers contain? bug fixes, new features, etc?
I also wonder why the XP drivers are 21MB and Vista are only 6MB. I would prefer a less bloated driver honestly. Hopefully the driver itself is small, and the 21MB is only the installer.

When I just installed the vista version and when i'm watching or listening to anything and open open the x-meridian control panel, my software doesn't crash no more but the speaker testing isn't working though.

New drivers are out..... no, I'm not crying.... I just have something in my eye......

I'm almost afraid to install them. Please please please please please let them have individual delay and level settings... please....

I just installed them. You can now adjust individual speaker level settings but you still can't adjust delays. They are still useless for my needs without the delay functionality.

I just opened this ticket with Auzentech:

I noticed that we can now adjust individual speaker volume settings with the new drivers but I can't find how to adjust the delays for each speaker. Is that functionality available with these new drivers? Is this something to expect in the next batch of drivers? Will this functionality ever be available?

Not being able to specify speaker delays for each speaker will make using the analog outputs useless for the majority of home theatre users. This is an essential requirement for a home theatre sound card.



I'll let you know what they reply.

I'm going to try to find a room correction software that does all of this instead of having to rely on the drivers.... though I don't think it exists except something like BruteFIR which looks extremely complicated.

If is does exist, it would not be a set it and forget it software, it would have to be something that runs in the background that controls your speakers constantly to keep your settings always on.

where does it let u adjust individaul speaker setting? I have vista

In the X-Meridian control panel, turn on the DSP and click on the tool icon to configure the DSP. You'll see all your speakers with sliders for each on to adjust the volume.

I wouldn't mind that one single bit... as long as it works. To find one that helps control standing waves would be a godsend. My Pioneer has that functionality and it works great.

Wasn't this feature on the last driver of vista? When I click on DSP mode under the main setting tab, all i see is a virtual 7.1. if i enable that, then i can do the sound shifter which does control individual speakers. I have 5.1 setup, i don't want to do a virtual 7.1

Has anyone tried out the new ATI Video card with the HDMI with this sound card? Will the hdmil sound be as good as the analog?

What I'd really like is to have the new-fangled Vista Audio Enhancements tab enabled so I can enable "Speaker Fill". There doesn't seem to be a good way to have stereo content played on all speakers at the moment.

Dickydoo, I created instructions on how to hack the registry to enable the enhancement tab:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=831193

If it was part of the old drivers, I must have missed it. However, you definitely cannot specify delays with either driver.

Afaik, hdmi is just a digital transport.... and as such, what you hear will be the dacs / output stage of whatever you the card to.

Similar in that sense to just using 'normal' digital now.


Do you mean the HDMI on the ATI card vs analog on the XM, or vs the analog on the ATI card?

If ATI vs ATI, then who knows.... hard call to make with knowing any specs.
If ATI HDMI vs XM analog, then my answer is above - depends on what you have it connected to.