New Toys - Reviews will be forthcoming......

EndersShadow
EndersShadow Posts: 17,596
edited January 2012 in Speakers
Got in some new toys this week that I have been waiting on for a bit.

2 sets of MIT EXp1 IC's (not pictured)
1 set of 12 ft Audioquest CV-4 38v dbs speaker wire (pictured)

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Looking forward to playing around with these shortly. I got the CV-4's for a steal (Thanks dcmartinpc!!). I know that many recommend running MIT IC's with MIT speaker wire, but Don (dcmartinpc) had both these speaker wires and said they were pretty close in sound with his rig.

I want to get these IC's and wires up and running in my rig until I get my turn in the MIT demo so I can see if I want to go the route of MIT IC's & speaker wire with network boxes (Shotgun, CVt, AVt, etc), Transparent (recommended by trietz3), or Audioquest dbs series IC's and speaker wire.

P.S. if anyone has a set of CV-4 dbs they wouldnt mind selling shoot me a PM. I will need one for my center (since I am doing this in my HT rig). I am not buying right now, but will be in here in a month or so and was hoping to have scouted out a set already :smile: I dont need it to be crazy long so 8-12 feet would be fine (only really need 8 feet at present but you never know)
"....not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." William Bruce Cameron, Informal Sociology: A Casual Introduction to Sociological Thinking (1963)
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  • Lietuvis91
    Lietuvis91 Posts: 908
    edited January 2012
    I got the exp2 speaker wires and at first I hooked one speaker up with my old audioquest wire and the right speaker with the exp2. Not the best method, but it's quiet interesting comparing the two wires that way. Of course you also should do an a to b comparison with both channels with the same wires to get a uniform sound.

    Also, they say speaker wires need burn in time, but I'm not sure about ic's.
    Living Room 7.1 HT Rig:

    M70 | CS2 | M60 | Atrium5 - Surr. | SUB - Emotiva ULTRA12 + Tara Labs sub cable | Pioneer Elite VSX-52 | Parasound HCAs 1000A | Sony BDP-S790 | Belkin PureAV PF60 | MIT Exp2 Wires

    Bedroom 5.0 HT Rig (Music/Movies/Gaming) :

    LSi9 | LsiC | Lsi/fx | Marantz SR7002 | NAD T955 | Sony BDP-S360 | Belkin PureAV PF30 | AQ Blue Racer II ICs & AQ Type 4 wires | PS3
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  • unc2701
    unc2701 Posts: 3,587
    edited January 2012
    I think I've got some CV-4 (no dbs) sitting in a box. Shoot me a PM if you're interested.
    Gallo Ref 3.1 : Bryston 4b SST : Musical fidelity CD Pre : VPI HW-19
    Gallo Ref AV, Frankengallo Ref 3, LC60i : Bryston 9b SST : Meridian 565
    Jordan JX92s : MF X-T100 : Xray v8
    Backburner:Krell KAV-300i
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  • EndersShadow
    EndersShadow Posts: 17,596
    edited January 2012
    Unc, you've got a PM :smile:
    "....not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." William Bruce Cameron, Informal Sociology: A Casual Introduction to Sociological Thinking (1963)
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  • EndersShadow
    EndersShadow Posts: 17,596
    edited January 2012
    Lietuvis91 wrote: »
    I got the exp2 speaker wires and at first I hooked one speaker up with my old audioquest wire and the right speaker with the exp2. Not the best method, but it's quiet interesting comparing the two wires that way. Of course you also should do an a to b comparison with both channels with the same wires to get a uniform sound.

    Also, they say speaker wires need burn in time, but I'm not sure about ic's.

    Yeah, for right now I am probably going to use them upstairs with my Monitor 60's till I burn in the MIT IC's. I believe they recommend about 100 hours. I will probably leave them there until I get my turn on the MIT demo and then throw them in the mix against the Cvt's (as thats what I really want to hear anyway).

    The EXp1's are just waaay to cheap right now to pass up on 2 pairs, especially since I am going to get a USB DAC setup for my computer here in a month or two. Sucks they only had 2m pairs (since thats 6.6 feet) but oh well.

    Might get another 2 or 3 pairs just for the hell of it......
    "....not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." William Bruce Cameron, Informal Sociology: A Casual Introduction to Sociological Thinking (1963)
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  • EndersShadow
    EndersShadow Posts: 17,596
    edited January 2012
    P.S. anyone know if you can take a non dbs cable and make it one? I know they sell dbs upgrade kits, but those are only for existing dbs cables.......
    "....not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." William Bruce Cameron, Informal Sociology: A Casual Introduction to Sociological Thinking (1963)
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  • Drenis
    Drenis Posts: 2,871
    edited January 2012
    Nice dude.

    I'm holding off on installing my MIT's until I locate and secure a set of their EXp 1 speaker wires.
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  • EndersShadow
    EndersShadow Posts: 17,596
    edited January 2012
    Drenis wrote: »
    Nice dude.

    I'm holding off on installing my MIT's until I locate and secure a set of their EXp 1 speaker wires.

    Yeah, I may look to aquire a pair of those EXp1's when I get my bonus, or if I do some outside work and have some non budgeted cash :smile:.

    I may end up sending the CV-4's in to be re-terminated (which is 110 bucks), but I am not sure. I am dropping by a local hi-fi store tonight or tomorrow to get their thoughts on if I need to given I believe they have been re-terminated previously by a Polkie with a dubious history (not dcmartinpc). If they think I am fine I might get a set of AQ spades for the speaker end of the wires (and just not send them to AQ) so I can use my custom Audioquest FLX 14/4 jumpers with GLS Audio Locking banana's on my LSi's. Might also pick up a pair of AQ banana's for the amp end to complete the look :smile:
    "....not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." William Bruce Cameron, Informal Sociology: A Casual Introduction to Sociological Thinking (1963)
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  • codyc1ark
    codyc1ark Posts: 2,532
    edited January 2012
    Congrats ES! I'll be awaiting your review of your new toys, nothing like doing some swapping and listening!
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  • EndersShadow
    EndersShadow Posts: 17,596
    edited January 2012
    codyc1ark wrote: »
    Congrats ES! I'll be awaiting your review of your new toys, nothing like doing some swapping and listening!

    Yeah it might be a while on the MIT IC's since I am sooo close to the MIT demo of the other cables I am torn about switching things in my main rig until then as I dont want to change everything up and then have a short time to re-learn the sound to then compare it to more new gear......

    But who knows lol
    "....not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." William Bruce Cameron, Informal Sociology: A Casual Introduction to Sociological Thinking (1963)
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  • Drenis
    Drenis Posts: 2,871
    edited January 2012
    EndersShadow wrote: »
    Yeah it might be a while on the MIT IC's since I am sooo close to the MIT demo of the other cables I am torn about switching things in my main rig until then as I dont want to change everything up and then have a short time to re-learn the sound to then compare it to more new gear......

    But who knows lol

    ...or on the other hand you could compare what this level of MIT is to what you'll get in the demo. I say go for it. Put them in.
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  • EndersShadow
    EndersShadow Posts: 17,596
    edited January 2012
    Drenis wrote: »
    ...or on the other hand you could compare what this level of MIT is to what you'll get in the demo. I say go for it. Put them in.

    I think I will put them my rig upstairs. I am being sent a pair of CVT-8 72dbs to demo with the MITs and CV-4s so it's more of a fair compare. I plan to put the MITs in and write about how they compare to my current rig (Signal Cable and Audioquest 14/4 wire), then do some Signal Cable IC + Audioquest SC v. MIT IC + MIT SC v. MIT IC + Audioquest SC

    P.S. right now they are on about 2 mins from install upstairs :smile:
    "....not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." William Bruce Cameron, Informal Sociology: A Casual Introduction to Sociological Thinking (1963)
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  • EndersShadow
    EndersShadow Posts: 17,596
    edited January 2012
    So I discovered something today that has made things 100% better than it was, and it wasnt anything I had to buy lol....

    I was playing with my laptop hooked up via HDMI to my Integra and hit the display tab and saw I was only getting 48hz to the Integra.... weird I thought as I know that playing back FLAC I should be getting waaayyy better than that.

    Into the playback properties of the HDMI port and realize its only doing 16bit 48hz when my Integra can handle the full 24/96hz signal.... Changed it up, hit play again....

    And entered sonic bliss. I dont think I will be switching out cables for at least another week as this is soooo much more than it was before :smile:.

    P.S. this finalized my need for a Sonos or Squeezebox touch, and proved that my Integra's DAC can KICK A$$.

    Also interesting to go from direct mode to stereo. Direct seems more muted on the high's and mid's and quite nice on the lows. Stereo opens up the highs and mids but at the expense of some of the bass. Liking stereo of the two a bit more even though I believe its because its using the xovers I set for the LSi's and also adding in the sub.

    Different strokes for different folks though.
    "....not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." William Bruce Cameron, Informal Sociology: A Casual Introduction to Sociological Thinking (1963)
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  • EndersShadow
    EndersShadow Posts: 17,596
    edited January 2012
    Discovery number two.....

    Dont drink when tweaking and then posting results.... you might miss the obvious....

    Think I figured out why the Stereo v. Direct sounds different.

    I am using the front and rear surround pre-outs on the integra to my carver. So I get 2 channels of amplification to each speaker. Direct mode I believe is turning off the rear surround pre-outs which just so happen to be connected to the highs, the fronts to the lows....

    So that explains why it sounds wierd in Direct and not in Stereo....

    Will have to do some re-wiring on Sunday and see what we get....... for tonight I am just gonna chill to the tunes.....
    "....not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." William Bruce Cameron, Informal Sociology: A Casual Introduction to Sociological Thinking (1963)
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  • Drenis
    Drenis Posts: 2,871
    edited January 2012
    EndersShadow wrote: »
    So I discovered something today that has made things 100% better than it was, and it wasnt anything I had to buy lol....

    I was playing with my laptop hooked up via HDMI to my Integra and hit the display tab and saw I was only getting 48hz to the Integra.... weird I thought as I know that playing back FLAC I should be getting waaayyy better than that.

    Into the playback properties of the HDMI port and realize its only doing 16bit 48hz when my Integra can handle the full 24/96hz signal.... Changed it up, hit play again....

    And entered sonic bliss. I dont think I will be switching out cables for at least another week as this is soooo much more than it was before :smile:.

    P.S. this finalized my need for a Sonos or Squeezebox touch, and proved that my Integra's DAC can KICK A$$.

    Also interesting to go from direct mode to stereo. Direct seems more muted on the high's and mid's and quite nice on the lows. Stereo opens up the highs and mids but at the expense of some of the bass. Liking stereo of the two a bit more even though I believe its because its using the xovers I set for the LSi's and also adding in the sub.

    Different strokes for different folks though.

    That is weird man. Up until coming here, I always picked the best sounding option because I honestly didn't know the differences between sample rates etc. I can set mine to 24/96 or 24/192 and I know my Pio Elite can accept the hi rez formats, but it actually makes the sound softer. It's as if you threw a comforter over the speakers and it sounds terrible. I always thought there wasn't any audible difference between 16/44.1 and 24/48. At least not to my ears given my source to AVR. Direct sounds muted unless I enable a option called Sound Retrieval. Sounds great. However turn it off and it sounds just like direct. I currently have mine set to 16/44.1 just because I dont have any DAC in the middle and it's the highest sample rate of my music.
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  • EndersShadow
    EndersShadow Posts: 17,596
    edited January 2012
    Drenis read my post right above yours.... explains the mutedness in direct mode..... its due to my ghetto bi-amping :smile:

    I also have a feature that enhances compressed music... but its disabled if the source bitrate is 24/96 since you cant make it sound any better :smile:////
    "....not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." William Bruce Cameron, Informal Sociology: A Casual Introduction to Sociological Thinking (1963)
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  • Drenis
    Drenis Posts: 2,871
    edited January 2012
    I did. I was commenting on your HDMI output change for the sample rate. Ideally if you're using MM and have the 2 boxes checked off for exclusive exceptions in the windows sound options, MM should set what the sample rate going out is bypassing whatever you set. However, I don't think that's happening.
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  • EndersShadow
    EndersShadow Posts: 17,596
    edited January 2012
    Drenis wrote: »
    I did. I was commenting on your HDMI output change for the sample rate. Ideally if you're using MM and have the 2 boxes checked off for exclusive exceptions in the windows sound options, MM should set what the sample rate going out is bypassing whatever you set. However, I don't think that's happening.

    I had the output dsp set to mediamonkey direct wave. Oh well liking the sound. Jumping around and totally jaming out right now.

    Check you guys later
    "....not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." William Bruce Cameron, Informal Sociology: A Casual Introduction to Sociological Thinking (1963)
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  • EndersShadow
    EndersShadow Posts: 17,596
    edited January 2012
    Decided to make my custom jumpers with some flx 14/2 wire and monster quick connect.....

    Final product for testing use.....

    1cd7d1df.jpg
    "....not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." William Bruce Cameron, Informal Sociology: A Casual Introduction to Sociological Thinking (1963)
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  • EndersShadow
    EndersShadow Posts: 17,596
    edited January 2012
    Drenis I blame you and the alcohol

    7e8151ec.jpg

    Ps still like stereo better even like this
    "....not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." William Bruce Cameron, Informal Sociology: A Casual Introduction to Sociological Thinking (1963)
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  • Drenis
    Drenis Posts: 2,871
    edited January 2012
    I really don't know.... I'll have to re-check my settings.

    Don't blame me! I was drinking too but unlike you, I don't lack discipline. :p

    How's the new cables sound? Not sure i like the way you used your jumpers. Are they on the same hole as your banana's? I want to make some nice new jumpers. Be nice if companies like MIT made high quality jumpers. I wish I had picked up those banana jumpers that were offered here last year. All I remember is that it was for a good cause.
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  • EndersShadow
    EndersShadow Posts: 17,596
    edited January 2012
    I didn't have a choice with the jumpers. The speakers are bananas so I couldn't do banana to banana jumpers and I didn't have spade connectors. Seeing if pepster can hook me up with some spade to spade jumpers.

    Haven't done tons of critical listening yet. Honestly am going to run a hour tonight for fun down here and then move them back upstairs and hook back up my custom cables.
    "....not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." William Bruce Cameron, Informal Sociology: A Casual Introduction to Sociological Thinking (1963)
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