Cool... glad to see it in action to prove it survived the trip. Are you using the 6 analogue outs (do you in fact have any 5.1 music or are setup with 5.1) or doing downmixing to 2 channel and just using L/R mains? peter
I had to refresh my memory but on page 3-16 of the manual, in the audio setup 2 screen you can select whether SACD is Multichannel, 2.0 (ie folds surrounds/LFE into 2 channels) or uses the CD layer. I am sure you worked all that out. Peter
I'm proving what a noob I am. I don't have the wires to make the analogue outs and therefore, I'm using the HDMI. I was nearly through the Avalon SACD when I realized it was accessing the CD layer because you need to make the analogue connections for SACD. It still sounded amazing but I was perplexed when I didn't hear the sound-chasing during "India", a highlight of the SACD. I moved on to my second favorite album ever (Avalon being my first), Steven Wilson's "Hand. Cannot. Erase." Mercifully, he put both DVD and blu ray in his super deluxe editions. I stand by what I heard before, this machine provides a warmth in digital that rivals what makes vinyl so desirable.
The lexicon doesnt support DSD over HDMI.. thats a relatively recent innovation (and also needs a receiver that supports that protocol) So the only way to get pure DSD is via the analogue outs (and as I noted... if you dont have a full 5.1 speaker setup you can tell the lexicon to fold SACD [and MCH DVD] surrounds/lfe into L/R mains). One would assume that the DAC in the lexicon is potentially better than your receiver so the lexion analogue outs will be the way to go. If you want to PM me with your current gear/setup then we will have a better idead on how to maximize the sound of the rt20 peter
Finally got the Ayre P5-XE Phono Amp in and playing. Its one hell of a performance! Thank you, Peter! Best bang for music I've ever received! Shipping from New Zealand via Southern California! S0. The next big question some may have...Does it best the Icon Audio PS MK II Phono amp I have? Yes and no! There's a trade off. The Ayre does some things better and the Icon does some things better. Keep in mind, ones all SS with transistors and the other is all PP wiring with no transistors. Both fall into the same price category, new. They have two different presentations..... these two phono amps are about even as far as what they do considering the trade offs. I will have more to say as time goes on, but for now, I'm not going to get longed winded as some of you know from my posting in Jazz and conversations thread. @Davey would be happy as just like the ICON, the Ayre is a no feed back design. So im done and going to sit down and spin some records through the P5-XE. I will say tho... when I first fired up the P5, it was like hard...brittle just a tad....I let it run a little to bring up to speed but still had that edge to it. It wasn't bad, and had a very neutral performance, but still a tad hard around the higher edges and seemed very detailed a bit to much. I was using the same power cord and interconnects I had on the Icon. Analysis Plus Power Oval 10 Power cord and Wireworld Silver Eclipse 7 interconnects. These two products aren't necessary warm natured cords and cables you want on solid state gear....at least not for my enjoyment. That's why I used them on Tube gear, in this case, the All Tube Icon Audio Phono amp. So I switched out the Analysis Plus PC for a Triode Wire Labs Power Cord, the American 10, which is a warm natured cable. Then I switched out the WireWorld for a pair of nice Analysis Plus Solo Crystal copper interconnects. These are also slightly warm natured. I felt the edges to the Ayre needed a little tamed and boy oh boy it did the trick. Im going to sit down now and enjoy the music through the Ayre. Once again, thanks to you @returnstackerror, Peter.
Wow, I hadn't looked at this thread before, you all got some great gear! I've recommended the Ayre P-5xe a few times around here, it is a very nice phono stage, often trades for around $1500 these days, and a great deal at that price, but a bit better for free! Cool stuff
The bolded statements above sounded fishy to me, so I took a look at the Lexicon manual. Per the manual, the Lexicon has an "Audio Out" setting to specify when it sends a signal out its 2 channel (L/R) analog audio out connections versus its multichannel analog audio out connections, so apparently both sets are not active simultaneously. The manual also refers to an "Audio Out Table" that includes (among other info) what signal is driven to these analog outputs based on the source material. It is in this table where various source material that supports multichannel (e.g., SACD, DVD-A, DTS, Dolby Digital) are shown to be "2 CH downmix" when fed to the 2 ch analog audio outputs when Audio Out is set to "2 Channel". What the manual doesn't state and what would make sense is that the above would apply only if the source material selected / playing is actually multichannel. Thus, for SACD, if one sets the unit's "Super Audio CD Mode" to the value "Multichannel", or if selecting multichannel material from a DVD-A or DVD-D disc, the unit will perform a 2Ch downmix if you are using (and have the unit set to) the 2CH analog audio outputs. But it would make more sense if using the 2Ch analog audio outputs to set the "Super Audio CD Mode" to the value "Stereo" so as to select the SACD's 2 channel programming (what the manual refers to as "track") that all or just about all SACDs include, or select 2 channel material from a DVD-A or DVD-D disc. There would (should) be no downmixing applicable in these scenarios. Only if the source disc included only multichannel material would one be limited to the unit's 2 channel downmix functionality if using the 2 channel analog audio outputs. Doug
Just found this post. Congrats to all. Returnstackerror, very generous and these are the types of things that make this community so enjoyable.
Hello, new to this site I recently purchased a Icon audio PS 1 MK 2 , slippers-on I noticed you changed out your tubes im using 3 Golden-lion ECC83 and wounder what kind of OA2 Regulator valves did you end up getting Thanks
Just fyi, since you aren't quoting one of his posts, adding @ before the user name will send him an alert to your post, @Slippers-on
