Official Classe SSP-800 thread. - Page 176

Let me explain a little about THX calibration. The reference level at which movies are played in cinemas and in homes is the same in either case. What is not the same, is the means for setting that calibration.

In cinemas the test signal is wideband noise at -20 dBFS, set to play at 85 dB spl. That was much too loud and shocking a noise signal for home users, so we (Tony Grimani and yours truly) decided to define a -30 dBFS narrow band noise signal. The end result is the same: when the volume control is set for 0, it is playing at reference level (ignoring Dialnorm...).

As for the SSP's internal noise, back when I bought my SSP-800 in late 2009, I noticed the internal noise was apparently intending 85 dB. I brought this to Classe's attention and it was corrected in a FW update.

The test signal is generated at -30 dBFS, so you should set your speakers to 75 dB if it is your intention to calibrate the volume control per THX. This is easy to confirm. After calibrating to 75, play a THX test signal, and set the volume to hit 75 dB spl. Look at the MV setting. It will be 0 (or darned close). I have confirmed this on numerous occasions.

Of course this calibration to a known spl is not required at all. It has no effect on sound quality (assuming all the speakers are balanced properly), only on what the volume control reads out.

Thanks for the clarification Roger. For me, it's just a reference for me to know at approx. what dB level I am listening to(-10dB, -5dB, etc.) from reference of 85dB. Certainly the source material plays into that as well.

Dave

I am curious about the volume settings people are using? I never seem to go beyond 74 and generally average around 68 and its seems plenty loud enough in my setup for these aging ears. Maybe if I was still in my 20's I would be cranking it up a lot higher? I realize room size, speakers, among other variables would come into play.

My typical listening levels vary between -15dB to about -7dB "Relative" volume setting(70dB-78dB "Absolute" volume setting). Actual SPL's of around 85-90dB, with peaks around 100-105dB. After attending a Transatlantic show in S.F., a couple of years ago, my hearing has become much more sensitive in the 2kHz-6kHz range. So I am starting to edge the volume down more often than not!

Dave
Edited by buttecreeker - 2/11/13 at 12:50pm

I use eBass in stereo mode, as my L&R speakers are not full range and I want to have the sub in the signal chain to capture the lows that my speakers can't reproduce.

Karl

Karl, can I ask; Is there a reason you are not setting up the crossover for your L&R speakers, as opposed to using the eBass feature? My understanding of the e-Bass feature is to enable your subwoofer below the crossover frequency., in addition to sending full range frequency signals to the designated speakers.

Dave
Edited by buttecreeker - 2/8/13 at 12:46pm

If I recall correctly (I'm not home to check this week), I wasn't getting anything out of my sub in Stereo direct mode. I believe I had to enable the eBass to get something on the .1 output in Stereo mode. But I may be getting confused with the setup on another AVP I was doing around the same time.

There is not exactly a stereo direct mode in the SSP-800. There is a stereo mode. And for 2-ch analog inputs, there is a Bypass option.

If you opt for analog input with Bypass, then e-bass will not work, as the signal is not converted to digital in bypass mode. If you do not use Bypass (for analog), or if you use digital sources, then the stereo mode will only use the subwoofer if either the bass management is used (main speaker crossed over), or if e-bass is active with full rage speakers.

 

I average about 75db as well for music, volume level around (- 50) unless I am listening to a good symphony and I crank it up to 85db.  

 

For movies I have never checked but the volume setting doesn't go above -25 If I had to guess it never goes above 95db except maybe for explosions :)

That makes sense then. I'm sure I setup my Revel Gems as full range, which is why I needed eBass to get the sub in stereo mode. I could have also set the Gems to Small (or whatever the Classe equivalent is) and then I could have used the cross-over approach to route the low frequencies to the sub, When I get home, I'll play around with that option to see which sounds best. The Gems are pretty good at LF but they are a small speaker so perhaps a 60Hz cross-over would be better than leaving them full range and using eBass.

Thanks, Roger.

It seems I am not to far off from what others are using for there volume setting. I watched the latest Batman movie tonight and had it set at -24 & It seemed very loud at that volume. Very good soundtrack by the way.

 

Yes - 24 with that movie rocks :) What amps do you use?

I have the Parasound Halo A52 a pretty modest amp and possibly the weakest link in my setup although that might be my speakers which are the Vienna acoustic Mozart Grands all around. One or the other would probably be my next upgrade if I ever decide to. I also have the Denon A1UDCI universal bd player and everything seems to play well together. I imagine you have quite a setup based on what you have up for sale.

The latest Batman Blu-ray has an incredible soundtrack! It is very dynamic!

 

Nice Parasound and Vienna speakers very decent same speakers all around way to go 5 or 7 or 9?

 

Yes my system is as follows

9.2 Audio 

(3) Bower & Wilkins 800Diamond (Left, Center, Right) 

(4) Bower & Wilkins 802D (Surround side right, Surround side left, Rear Right, Rear Left) 
(2)Bower & Wilkins Signature 7NT in ceiling (back speakers) 
(2) JL Audio Fathom F113 subs 

Amplifiers: Classé CA-M600 mono-blocks & CA-5200 
Surround Sound Processor: Classé SSP-800 
Universal Blu-Ray Player, DVD-A, SACD: OPPO BDP-95 
Music Server: Apple TV 

VIDEO: Projector: JVC DLA-RS35U Reference Series 
Screen: Stewart Film Screen Visionary, FireHawkG3 (10 feet wide, 2:35 aspect) ratio 

That is quite a setup you have. You must have a dedicated home theater room to accommodate all that gear. I have a 5.1 setup with my family room pre-wired for that. I actually have the Waltz Grand center and the Maestro Grand surrounds which were designed to go with the Mozart Grand fronts and a Rel Sub. With my wife being an interior designer everything needed to be aesthetically pleasing to the eye.

Roger - thank you very much for the reply to my post ..got it ! ......... enabled Surround modes in 2 channel sources in the menus and all working as it should .

Received my actual unit yesterday and a breeze to set up and fine tune ..still going to set up more configurations in order to fine tune sources with various speaker set ups.
Example- Connected my Mark Levinson No 37 CD transport to Coax Digital 2.......the input is some 6/8 db hotter than the HDMI inputs ( why I do not know ?) -will have to configure this in another Configuration which I plan to do to get the speakers running full + sub in any event and specify a default Configuration for this source .

When using the demo unit my dealer let me have some entry level Whatever brand HDMI cables -when setting up my unit ,I installed Audioquest Chocolate 2.5% silver HDMI cables ....whoever said that one cannot hear/see differences between HDMI cable is mistaken- these cables dispel the myth !!
My Kimber Select interconnects and speaker cables also has silver/copper - think silver makes a system sparkle .

The unit , albeit new ,is sounding stunning in terms of soundstage , resolution and has all the audiophile qualities I have been trying to pretend to hear for the last 5 years - much more so than my ex Lexicon MC12B....happy chappy am I !

I upgraded to the Audioquest Coffee HDMI on my Oppo Blu-ray player and noticed the sound was improved over the tributaries HDMI was using. My wife and friend also noticed.
Don't know if you'd notice the difference on a
DVR but the Classe SSP-800 is so resolving
With the lossless sound of a Blu-ray that I found their was a difference. It may be the make-up of silver/copper as Alsof1 mentioned.
Or it does a good job with jitter. I don't know.
But when I compared the two on Blu-ray the Audioquest sounded Better. And I did not want to. Ha!
I think the Classe has such a detailed sound everything makes a difference.
The new Blu-Ray "Skyfall" is excellent by the way. Both Video and Audio are 5 stars on that disc.

Even easier than a Lexicon, would you say?
Hmmm. I have not run into that, and have run the S/PDIF and HDMI from the Oppo's in parallel to compare on occasion. Since the ML has no HDMI, how are you making the comparison?
Your comments correlate well with what many of us have found. It is indeed a pleasant surprise when hopes and expectations are met, or as in my case, exceeded.

I had a friend and co-worker with my wife,
Over for dinner and to watch the movie Skyfall
On Blu-ray. He was really taken with the sound quality improvements the Classe SSP-800 did for my system. He said in many ways it sounds much better then what he hears in a movie theater. He thought it was a major league improvement over the Anthem D2 which I previously had in my system.
The Classe SSP-800 bring a big smile to your face.
Congrats on your purchase Alsof1.

 

Interesting! cables I don't think they make much difference as long as you use good quality, I am happy with Mogami and Canaree cables used in 95% of recording studios if it is good enough for them it will do for me :)

 

http://www.amazon.com/AudioQuest-Coffee-0-6m-1-97ft-Braided/product-reviews/B003CT79CS/ref=cm_cr_pr_hist_1?ie=UTF8&filterBy=addOneStar&showViewpoints=0

 

Nasty comments!

 

Anyway I have learned to appreciate the SSP-800 it is so good it just disappear +1

Do you think Classé will release a new pre/ro anytime soon hopefully they wait until ATMOS and DTS MDA is around and include it then it will be time for an upgrade until then!!

I do my own comparisons and also let my wife chip in on her comments.
Some things that get good reviews I don't always like some times it works the opposite way! Luckily the great reviews of the Classe SSP-800 were all very very true! It is an excellent piece of gear.

In reply to Roger : The Classe is most probably more difficult to set up than the Lexicon as the Lex menus are very easy to navigate , as well as there is a tremendous amount of flexibility in adjusting modes , etc ....you can do this with the Classe via Configurations , however cannot tweak the modes itself ..nevertheless the Lex is history both for me ,as well as it appears , in the marketplace .

Talking about setup ............There is one issue in the set up of the Classe that I cannot fathom out and do not know how to correct :

I have 2 B&W DB1 subs - the left is connected to the balanced sub out /The right is connected to Aux 2
balanced out .r
I enable Subwoofer in the speaker rmenu and works just fine as it should .
I then enable Auxilary Channels/subs /2 mono- the bass just seems to disappear and all I get is a thump from both - go back to menu and use None , with only left sub in the system , and all the basss is back ..seems soonest I activate sub in auxiliary all bass disappears .

Anyone with knowledge how to resolve ??????

Thanks .........

What version firmware is running?
>Menu
>Status
>Version Info
it is a 3 digit number like 2.0.6 or 3.0.2.

Roger - thanks for being my SSP800 guru!

Version of my unit is 3.0.2, which I believe is latest .

Ran this on the demo unit with no issues , however believe this was still a HDMI1.3 version and had previous firmware .
Having said this , the dealer used Aux 1 Out balanced and set 2/3 Subs ....
I will also try this as well as the other options like Stereo subs.

I have also set the unit up as three configurations .......
Conf 1 - Satellite- standard crossover speaker /sub and had Aux set up as mentioned but now not using in the Config
Conf 2 - DVD/AppleTV/TV -same as per Conf 1 , but Speaker levels trimmed down by some 5 db to get levels at par with DSTV;
Conf3 - CD transport - Same as above , except Speakers set to LR full range + sub enabled .

Having the different Config surely cannot be confusing the functioning of the Aux section ??

I will also reboot the unit and check if this does not correct the issue

Finally if all fails .............I am using Balanced Sub out - we therefore have a single ended Sub out left which should be active even if you are using balanced .......can one use this as a second Sub Out or do things then go up in smoke ????

Yes, that is latest FW for the HDMI 1.4 version. I asked about the FW because there were earlier versions that had problems with the Aux outs. I have the same 3.0.2 and am using Mono2 sub outputs, but I use the phono outputs. I never checked to see if the balanced outs worked -- just assumed they did.
Yes, the only way to get the Aux1 output to carry a sub signal is to select Mono3.
Ok
The sub will do nothing with full range settings unless you opt for eBass.
No. I use some configs with Mono2 and others with no Aux outputs.
No problem connecting to the XLR and phono outputs at the same time. You lose the option for setting a different level or delay or even PEQ for the second output. That may not matter. But somehow this problem needs to get figured out.

One thing I have found helpful in tracking down such matters is to export your user settings backup file. You can send it to me and I will install it and see if the symptoms are the same. I'm not sure if this will work with your dealer's unit if the hardware is different. This process is done using the firmware downloader utility (same tool used for FW updates). The downloader and instructions are available here.

Thanks ~Dave ......also sent this to Dave Nauber of Classe and he finds it very strange as well ...........
I have in interim:
Rebooted the unit (only thing to do when any software driven anything goes strange on you ) , activated Subwoofer in Aux/3 Mono subs and changed the Balanced Output to Aux 1 from 2 – third sub volume is at zero:this method works just fine and bass is no problem .
The Aux 2 output will still be active , but that is not an issue I guess as all other outputs remain active in any event .
Will one day try Aux 2 Subs again to see whether the reboot fixed it ,but for now it is OK as is .
Nevertheless thanks for your offer to assist a Classe newbie - your willingness to do this , is much appreciated and will keep in touch .
Happy listening !

NM - figured it out.
Edited by dminches - 2/15/13 at 9:50am