NAD T773 & LSis = Cost-Effective

trees

First, thanks folks for providing me the info necessary to put together my new system: NAD T773, LSi9s, LSi7s, LSic, & a small but valiant Dayton sub.

First impressions, WOW! My girlfriend was over for a movie and put in a Nora Jones CD. She was stunned. Her response was, "Do you know how much money you just cost me?" Her Bose cubes likely go on ebay soon.

For anyone interested, total system net cost = $3,000 + shipping ($90). I shopped hard, but went through authorized dealers.

Surprising to me is that, after setting all the speakers to small, the system sounds best with the receiver crossover set to 60. I'll be getting a SPL meter tomorrow and am interested in some hard info about what my ears are telling me. I'm not sure if the NAD sub output jack is filtered or not, the specs don't say and I couldn't find out on the net. Guess I'll have to contact NAD or start unplugging speakers.

Anyway, thanks again,

Trees

timothyj

Congrats on the new system, NAD is such a musical way to do Home Theatre, you'll take as much joy in 2 channel music listening as you will in Saving Private Ryan DTS

trees

TJ,

You hit it. Surprisingly, I'm spending much more time listening to music than watching movies.

I'm now doing income taxes and the NAD EARS and Enhanced stereo 1 listening modes are super in that I can be at my desk and still enjoy the music rather than having to sit in the sweet spot. The 9's seem to help out here too. I've had Onkyo, Sony, Pioneer, and Yamaha receivers before and their listening modes seemed much more artifical than the NAD's.

Now back to TurboTax,

Trees

pjdami

Congrats on a very nice dual-threat system there trees. The LSi and that NAD receiver are great together for both movies and music. Nice choice and you are absolutely correct about a cost effective solution.

Your sub output is LFE from the receiver so it should be filtered at the crossover frequency you specify on the speaker settings menu screen. See page 16 of your user manual.

Paul

timothyj

Trees, did you get the 773 from Sat. Audio? Where did you end up buying the gear from? Glad to hear that you are enjoying the set-up. Lots of guys on the forum use Rotel with LSI's but surprisingly few use NAD. When I first got into HT I plowed through Yamaha, Kenwood, JVC, Onkyo, HK, and Denon receivers plus a rotel amp. Insane, really. When the NAD arrived, even mated to my old 800i's, I finally started listening to my cd's again.

To me this was quite an accomplishment as I conduct three choirs and sing professionally in Houston and need to listen to music for both pleasure and business:)

trees

PJ and other folks,

My confusion comes from reading articles about using the receiver's sub output jacks as being the worst way to hook up the sub. Something about double filtering and supposing to use the output jacks only if the jack is unfiltered.

I set the speakers to small, the receiver crossover to 60, and turned up the sub's frequency crossover frequency controll to max. I was thinking that this would take care of any double filtering. But I'm not sure.

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.

And this is much more fun than doing taxes.

Trees

pjdami

I'm not familiar with that Dayton sub. My Hsu sub for example has a toggle switch for filter or unfiltered input.

What model Dayton sub do you have? Does the input jack say LFE on it?

trees

TJ,

I got the T773 new A-stock from Sound Seller in Marionette (SP?) WI, an authorized NAD dealer. They had it on sale ($1,440) for just a little more than the T763. I found it about $30 cheaper at another dealer but they were not a authorized dealer and I didn't want to take the chance.

I had to chuckle at the UPS driver. I asked if he needed any help carrying the receiver up the stairs (about 60' up). He laughed and said that it was only a receiver. Shipping weight, double boxed, was 75 lbs. He quit laughing about 1/3 of the way up.

PJ,

The Dayton sub is the one that is highly recommended at the Home Theatre Forum, the #300-632. I think that the nickname is the Tiny Mighty. Seem like a good deal at $150 shipped as it sounds better than my girlfriend's Bose (OK, a cheap shot) and the Paradyme (sp?) that I have in my living room.

It's controls are: Crossover Frequency Control, Phase Switch, Power Switch, and Volume Control.

Inputs are line level RCA inputs and high level inputs. The manual says that the RCA inputs are preferred way to connect pre-out or preamplifier outputs directly to the subwoofer amplifier's internal crossover. The manual says that this is the preferred way to connect the subwoofer amplifier. It says to use the high-level (speaker) inputs only if the preamplifier outputs are not available. This appears to be in conflict with some of the articles that I've read.

pjdami

Originally posted by trees
TJ,

I got the T773 new A-stock from Sound Seller in Marionette (SP?) WI, an authorized NAD dealer. They had it on sale ($1,440) for just a little more than the T763. I found it about $30 cheaper at another dealer but they were not a authorized dealer and I didn't want to take the chance.

I had to chuckle at the UPS driver. I asked if he needed any help carrying the receiver up the stairs (about 60' up). He laughed and said that it was only a receiver. Shipping weight, double boxed, was 75 lbs. He quit laughing about 1/3 of the way up.

PJ,

The Dayton sub is the one that is highly recommended at the Home Theatre Forum, the #300-632. I think that the nickname is the Tiny Mighty. Seem like a good deal at $150 shipped as it sounds better than my girlfriend's Bose (OK, a cheap shot) and the Paradyme (sp?) that I have in my living room.

It's controls are: Crossover Frequency Control, Phase Switch, Power Switch, and Volume Control.

Inputs are line level RCA inputs and high level inputs. The manual says that the RCA inputs are preferred way to connect pre-out or preamplifier outputs directly to the subwoofer amplifier's internal crossover. The manual says that this is the preferred way to connect the subwoofer amplifier. It says to use the high-level (speaker) inputs only if the preamplifier outputs are not available. This appears to be in conflict with some of the articles that I've read.

Gotcha. So your best bet is to NOT use the LFE output from your receiver. Instead, use the left or right preout on the receiver as a line out to the sub using a RCA cable / sub cable. Turn down the crossover to 60 - 80 hz preference on the sub.

Next, you will have to experiment with using the NADs speaker menu to set the sub to ON and your mains to small (even though you don't have the sub hooked up through the LFE on the receiver); but this will help to crossover your mains properly. Set the crossover on the NAD to the same setting as the crossover on the sub. I think I like this option the best.

Your other option is to run your mains full range (receiver menu sub to OFF and speakers set to large) and set the crossover on the sub to like 45 - 50 hz. This option will let the sub take over when the mains start to taper off. Use the one of the preouts left or right on the receiver again.

Go with which way sounds best; the way you are currently set up, if you are using the LFE out on the receiver and the crossover on the sub, then you may be doing some double filtering even though its probably a 12 db / octave slope.

Let us know how you make out and if you can hear a difference on music.

Paul

pjdami

trees,
After looking at your sub manual, I noticed that you can set the sub crossover as high as 160 hz on the sub. That's pretty high so the way you are set up now (using the LFE out on the receiver with the sub ON and small speaker settings on the receiver) may just be okay due to the 12 db / octave slope. Make sure you have the dial on the sub set to the highest crossover setting like you mentioned above.

I would compare this way to option 1 I had above and see which one sounds better to you.

The second option I listed with setting your speakers to Large may put a strain on your center and some audible distortion.

Sorry about the confusion! I had to think twice about this one since all of my subs have the LFE input option.

Paul

trees

Thanks for the help. I'll play around with it over the weekend.

Trees

Foz

trees,

Thanks for posting!! I've decided I'm going to get the Nad t773 and an SVS PB12/2 or SVS PCultra.

I know I want LSI9's up front. But I can't decide if I want 9's for side surrounds of LSI/FX. And what about the rear channel? 9's, 7's or FX? If you don't like FX anywhere please share your thoughts as to why.

I have waited a long time to see anyone post about the Nad t773 on all the forums I look at. Yours is the first one I've found.

Thanks again.

trees

FOZ,

I didn't consider the FXs for several reasons:
1. More expensive than the 7s
2. Small room (14x14x9)
3. Windows and closets on side walls making speakers difficult to mount on walls (now running 5.1 but might go with a rear surround if I can get a single 7 or LSiC cheap)
4. Demoed the 7s and FXs and did not think that the Fx's surround sound was better; different, but not better
5. I'd already spent a lot of time getting the surrounds on my old R system (R20s) to sound as good as possible given the room's limitations. I'm sure that more tweaking this weekend will make things even better with the angled tweaters on the 7s.
5. I'll probably be selling the 7s to my girlfriend so I still have the flexibility to change if I move the equipment to my rec room, which is much larger

After a few days I'm still extremly happy with the system. I plan on doing the final tweaking (programming the remote, etc.) this weekend.

The only thing that I've found that is not perfect is a very slight whir from the fan that you can hear to about 8' from the unit if there is complete silence in the room. Of course, once I put in a cd or dvd or move back to the couch (about 11 feet from the receiver) it disappears . It is noticable only when I turn the unit on or off and there is complete silence in the room. Not a problem to me. No hums or pops that some NAD posters with the 75x series have reported.

One thing that I've noticed is that the system reproduces exactly what is in the signal, whether it is FM, CD, Cable, or DVD. GIGO for the old mainframe programmers! Sometimes, though, I can compensate for poor studio work by using the EARS or Enhanced Stereo 1 modes.

I hope this helps,

Trees

francis1967

Trees, I assume you are using the Dayton Titanic sub? What kind of setting have you found good for your setup here? Volume, crossover and phase? I have been struggling lately with my own Dayton after we moved into a new apt. Just curious, as our listening habits are very similar. Naturally, room acoustics and placement isn't the same, but it would be helpful to have a starting point.

Mike.

trees

I'm not an expert on this, but have played around with the settings a bit. I ended up:
1. Setting the sub crossover at max, 160. My idea was to eliminate double filtering.
2. Leaving the default (not the 180) phase.
3. Setting the sub volume at 10:00.
4. Setting the speakers to small on the NAD T773.
5. Experimenting with the receiver crossover, the LSi9s seemed to hold the base pretty well down to 60 hz. Not a lot of difference between 80 and 60 but it irritates me when the base from the Dayton turns boomy, so I settled on 60 hz.
6. Set the sound on the sub -2 on average from the rest of the speakers.

This seems to provide a great transition from the sub to the speakers. I have the Avia disk and will pick up a RShack SPL meter tomorrow. I'm curious to find out if what my ears are telling me is even close to reality.

Trees

francis1967

thanks for great info.