Official Classe SSP-800 thread. - Page 47

It's near and dear to my heart. In my system I need 2 sub outputs, with a crossover between them. The ULF sub gets <30Hz, the mid-bass sub gets 30-80Hz. The SSP-800 cannot do this yet, so I made a detailed explanation about it and sent it to Dave Nauber, and he agreed to percolate on it.

With one sub and 2 Aux outs, I also suggested they offer the option for stereo midbass subs and 1 ULF. Your situation needs 4 sub feeds, but you could use three, with the C bass fed equally to the L/R subs.

Anyway, if any other SSP-800 owners feel a desire for such subwoofer crossover capabilities, might be good to let Classe know while they are still in the SW development phase of the SSP.

Nothing obvious, but I'm out of my depth to venture anything but guesses about that. It's certainly a complex matter.

Are you determining blend by listening, measuring?

Glad to see I'm not alone on this! Two mid-bass subs would works just as well to be honest. I'm going to mention this to Classe as well. Maybe with some more owner feedback they are willing to add the option.

Funny that you should ask. I've measured and EQ'd each individual channel, but chose the slope by ear.

Once you have the mains and subs on, have you tried taking a measurement to see how well they splice at the crossover? I'm told you need 1/12th or at least 1/6th octave resolution for this. If you find some nulls, adjusting woofer timing might then help.

I would think you'd be able to get equally good sonic results with 24dB crossovers, maybe even better, by reducing the overlap region. Just a thought anyway. (I'm not trying to cause you any trouble!)

I have the measurement tools (.01Hz resolution), I've just been lazy since I did the initial set-up. It's easy to end up spending a full day just tweaking all of the variables and verifying the results through listening, when I'd rather just sit down and listen.

FWIW - I went into the situation believing the logical solution would in fact be the 24dB slopes.

I'll give it another shot when I get the itch to do some more fine tuning. I'm happy with the results for the time being.

I'm with you 100%. Same for me.

My board comes tonite. I may follow, but hell or high water it's getting installed stat Woohooooo

It's great news that Classe is filling orders and everyone here is getting their boards. Unfortunately for me, I may have to wait till the end of Oct to get my unit since I just placed it.

Looooooooong wait, bit I'm sure it'll be worth it.

forgive my ignorance, but i'm toying seriously with the idea of getting a classe ssp-800preampro for my new HT setup and i wanted to be sure that it will ship with all the video decoding capabilities that were originally lacking when it was 1st released (and reviewed/drooled over/etc.)

also, i am arguing with my HT guy about whether or not to populate all the HDMI and component inputs of my Pio 141 -- my argument being that there should be less "stops" for the video signal to travel between the source and the TV. his argument is that the components put into the Classe ssp-800 are far, FAR superior than anything found in my Pio 141 or Verizon's FiOS HD Box. i didn't know how to respond -- but i think he just wants my pending setup to be more "elegant" than what I currently have -- where i sometimes have to play with 3 different remotes just to change the channel and lower the volume. honestly, i don't mind using 3 remotes if it means I am getting the best possible picture.

what do you guys think? should I let the Classe 800 handle the switching for my TV? seems such a waste to have 3 out of 4 HDMI inputs on my Pio collecting dust.

thanks in advance for taking the time to reply.

CMM.

There's no video decoding or processing in the SSP that would affect your main display, just switching. There is some downscaling so that HD signals can be shown on the touchscreen panel. And there's a video overlay for certain control screens to appear on the main display (OSD function).

The new units do have support for the various HD audio codecs--as do the ones being retrofit with the dual DSP board, and new software.


If you want the option to see any of the video sources on the SSP screen, you either have to pass the HDMI thru, or run a parallel analog video output to the SSP while the HDMI goes to the display. But don't forget that audio usually travels on the HDMI as well. In my case, I connect the DVR's HDMI direct to the PJ, and run S/PDIF and coax video to the SSP (I can program the DVR without turning on the PJ). But the BD player's HDMI has to go to the SSP to get at the hi-rez audio.

This version of the SSP800 (CT-SSP) has The Blands name all over it...


http://www.classeaudio.com/ctseries/ct-ssp.htm

I would wait to install the board a new software version 2.0 will be issued shortly. I was told to wait till it comes out

Was the original SSP-800, with the last software prior to the dual DSP, a bug free product? If not, what sort of bugs remained?

I do not know what is the difference he said that the 1.9 is not the official release. The 2.0 version will be the official release any day now. Based on versioning it should not be a big difference probably something minor. It was recommended to wait so I would not have to download software twice

Thanks!

Just to confirm these are bugs in the single DSP configuration, right? And that final code is 1.9? Or was it 1.0?

I suspect the single unit code series halted, since 1.9.9 and 2.0 won't work in the older DSP. I was just wondering how bug-free I might hope the dual DSP unit to be.

The "preliminary code" is 1.9.9, which is what I'm running in the new dual DSP unit. I don't think this code would work in the single DSP unit, as it adds the HD codecs.

Just got a new 1.9.9 drop this morning (build 0062) so will see how they're doing.

The area of sub-woofers is interesting. I'm yet to buy the SSP800, it certainly looks to fit my bill except I have a dilemma.
I particularly want to hook up my JL12's in stereo which is possible but I'd also like to run my mains bi-amped balanced(I run two stereo amplifiers).
In order to accommodate this I'd need at least 4 aux outlets switchable as per existing two.
I only run 5 channels, so is it possible to use a set of rear outputs?

I'm in the camp of sound quality first and this preamp certainly has this. I'm also keen to go balanced.

Part of the qualities of this preamp is leaving video processing out of it. Players and or projectors, monitors can do this.

There's two flavors of bi-amping, and I wonder which one you need:

a) active crossovers ahead of the amps
b) passive crossovers in the speakers, i.e., removed the hi/lo jumper straps from the back of the speakers.

If the latter, then all you need is a Y-adapter to drive your two stereo amps. No need to use separate outputs.

If the former, what kind of speaker are they?

I've b) passive crossovers. You are right I can use Y- adapter. I contemplated active but more boxes, wires and not easy to remove existing passives.

I run Y-adapter now from pre out to subs to run them in stereo using RCA's.

I run Tannoy DMT II 12 monitors as mains.

I'm already bi-amping by using one RCA interconnect to one input of stereo amplifier, which is split internally(bass on one channel, treble on other) to other input. Saves money by only needing one pair of interconnects for both amplifiers.

These amps have unused balanced inputs, I'm not sure about splitting these internally or just running an extra set of connects in balanced as per Classe's aux's.

The consensus is balanced is better lower noise floor etc.

Yup, more work than it's worth. Especially the crossover tuning nightmare.


You can run one long interconnect to each pair of amps, and put the XLR splitter near the amp. Either very short cords or none will be needed, depending on the splitter's construction.


If you are saying you can get inside the amp, and bridge the inputs from one channel to the other, then yes, that would work fine, and be a very clean way to go. No need to waste an aux output to duplicate a signal.


It's only better for hum if you need it, and otherwise it's at best 3 dB lower noise floor. Not all that exciting. But no harm in using it.

Am interested in the SSP-800 which I am told is getting a price increase soon - perhaps because the Classe Custom Line is being introduced.
I want to upgrade my processor (IR- RDC-7) to the new codecs, have 2 sub outputs, add video processing and room correction.
I don't want to fall victim to the argument that your system is only as good as the weakest link - I have Aerial 9s, Aerial CC5 as center, good amplification as well - this is a 60% video -40% music system usage.

My question is - the SSP-800 doesn't deliver all of the items on my wish list and some of them I can kick to the curb but is the higher than my budget SSP-800 really going to be a huge difference
AND
assuming I am buying from the same dealer that I purchased other expensive items from what services should I expect in the way of instalaltion, tweaking, etc, I have been out of the market for a number of years so I am asking a serious question here. Thanks

My dealer gave me a discount and offered to make any software or hardware upgrades at my house. No charge for the visit. Normally you would have to bring it in to him for the upgrade. I hate to unplug all the ables which would be a nightmare for me but he volunteered to come to my house to do all that.

Not that this is for everyone, but updating the SSP software is about as easy as it gets, as long as you have a laptop nearby and the right cable. I've done it about 6 times. No glitches.

Hardware, now that's horse of a different color.

Lyson, I'd hope the Classe dealer would do a complete setup and room tuning whether you bought anything else from them or not.

Interesting I noticed different DAC's on rears, but I agree where it counts they are happening.

To be frank I'm stereo first still and for movies the critical centre has good DAC's.

Gosh the rears on movies and music are fillers. Surround music is still not happening on a large scale to justify good rear DAC's although with DTS HD Master I'm impressed ie: Quincy jones 75th birth live BR.

It is a cost thing and as always with manufacturing they have to draw the line somewhere.

I recall an early Sony SACD top line player that had brilliant execution but right at the output had $2 opamps. This is becoming rare nowadays.

Classe have started from quality execution for music first which is fundamental to movies as well. I've always been in this camp.

I've always enjoyed the bonus of great movie sound even in stereo after music.
Most who would be looking at the Classe would be in this camp.

My reference is Robert Harley and he is in this camp and has given this preamp a thumbs up for audio.

Anyone using the SSP800 with an Oppo BDP83? Curious if anyone experienced any issues and is anyone using it for SACD playback? I'm aware the SP800 will not decode DSD.

I have that combination and it seems to work fine. I only had two SACD's to test it with but it seemed to play without any issues. I had the Oppo do the decoding and send the LPCM over to the Classe.

I've had the BDP83 since it came out, and it has worked perfectly with the SSP800 for SACD playback. The BDP83 will convert DSD to PCM and send it via HDMI to the SSP800, and it sounds great.

I've got over 50 SACDs and I've not had any playback issues.

I tried that combo, but I felt the conversion from DSD to PCM stripped all of the magic and emotion out of the sound. It also sounded like someone threw a wet blanket over the speakers.

JUST KIDDING!

I haven't actually listened to SACD with the SSP-800, but I have downloaded 96KHz music files played back from my Mac Mini connected to the 800 and they sound great. But then 44.1KHz files sound just as good to me. I think most of it comes down to the quality of the master to begin with rather than the higher sampling rate. More care is usually put into the recordings that make it onto SACD.