TOPIC:

Hi!

I want to create an active Stereo 3way-crossover (2x3) utilizing the 88A. Heaving read the user manual of the 88A I think that it schould generally be possible via custom settings. Right or wrong?

The problem I see from this theoretical point of view is the logsweep. That will work for mids and woofer since they can take low frequencies. But it will destroy the tweeter unless I can limit the sweep's frequency range. Is such a limitation possible?

Has anyone ever tried to create crossovers for active with the 88A?

Thanks,
Eunegis

Apparently it is possible to set high pass and low pass filters with target curves, although it's an "undocumented feature" - www.minidsp.com/forum/dirac-series-suppo...ve-file-format#18555

For the tweeter, you'd need to use a passive network to protect it, and/or keep levels low enough. It depends a lot on the tweeter, some are more robust than others.

Still, I can't help feeling that this not the right tool for the job...

Hi John,

thanks for your reply.

It seems as if there were the potential to use the 88A as a sort oft luxury multiway crossover, but the potential isn't used so far. I bet that implementing HP/LP for each channel would be a minor tweak. Together with the capability of designing target curves this could become an awesome tool. Sadly it is only intended for true surround application so far, as ist seems.

But the audiophile and DIY market demands easy-to-use multiway crossovers, I think. Maybe miniDSP team will make up their minds. There's already a to-do for a multiway crossover described on the website, but it is not a one box solution. Utilizing the 88A that way is perfectly obvious in my opinion.

Eunegis

Hi again Eunegis,

Eunegis wrote:

But the audiophile and DIY market demands easy-to-use multiway crossovers, I think.

I guess I don't follow, as miniDSP has lots of those - 2x8/4x10Hd, nanoDIGI, miniSHARC, etc. Even nanoAVR HD/A.

John,
the devices you mentioned are no Dirac machines. So they are IIR crossovers, but not the unique easy to use FIR(+IIR) devices offered by Dirac..

Well, the miniSHARC has FIR, but that aside, remember that there are two different tasks to perform. These are accompanied by two different types of measurement. One task is the crossover that is used to linearize the drivers and divide the frequency band, which requires pseudo-anechoic measurements. The other task is room correction, which requires in-room measurements (in the case of Dirac, nine of them).

I'm not saying that it couldn't be made to work... but I do think it would be more optimal to do the crossover as one thing, and put Dirac in front of that. I suppose miniDSP might one day make a box that does both, who knows.

You are right. My point of wiew is that of an Acourate owner. Acourate can do all that (non-echoic driver linearization and echoic room correction as two seperate, consecutive processes, the second on top of the first) - but it is not easy to use, requires a computer constantly connected and doesn't provide an integrated preamp+DAC with RC!
So den 88A would be THE THING - if it only had some LP/HP-filters in front of the Dirac system (or utilized the Dirac-process twice like Acourate does).
But these are only silly dreams... (although the unit is so close to realization)

That would be pretty neat

Sounds like what you want is the NanoAVR-DLA, which is not released yet but is listed on the page for Home Theater series. I'm also guessing you could get the HDA and convert that to DL in the future, but that's just a guess.

I think it will be the same - the Dirac box doesn't have the crossover built in. You CAN put a nanoAVR DL in front of a nanoAVR HDA though...

Cascading the unists would be feasible I think, especially regarding the overall price.
BUT: the AV-products only feature HDMI connections. So a parallel TV and music operation is not possible. There is no HDMI in high class audio.
So there's still a need for a new combination of already known and realized features.

Just so I follow you guys, are you thinking about combining the nanoAVR-DL plus HDA as an alternative to DDRC-88A, with a US$100 savings? Maybe that is a reasonable suggestion. I'm wondering if there's a better way to get that functionality, but it would be a future product. General idea is: digital in, analog out, 8 channels, and ALL the bells and whistles (IIR and FIR filters, crossovers, bass management, option for Dirac Live).

Eugenis, I was uncertain at first about the HDMI format to connect an audio device, but then warmed up to it quickly. You just need to rethink how things are connected. I'm connected to a computer using a $40 usb to hdmi adapter and it works well, just need to set the display to be always on (no power savings mode).

Also you can connect video to the outgoing HDMI from the nanoAVR.

Hm, I think the question was firstly whether the DDRC-88A can be used to do active crossovers, and then second was that currently two boxes are needed if you want to do Dirac AND active crossover. So some combinations could be DDRC-22D + nanoDIGI, DDRC-22D + 4x10Hd, DDRC-22A + 4x10Hd, DDRC-22D + miniSHARC, nanoAVR DL + nanoAVR HDA. I don't know what the feasibility would be of getting all the functionality into one box or how much of a market there would be. And even so, if the thinking is that you could specify your target (bandpass) driver response and have the software "figure it out" from there, that's different from how the miniDSP software works now. So non-trivial, I think

I think there's a larger issue here. Crossovers are best designed with direct field measurements, whereas Dirac measures the room response at the listening position. So IMO it's best to use different boxes for crossover and room correction.

Hi. I am at the same position. I need to connect 2 hdmi sources (PS4 and Macmini HTPC), I need active crossover for active 2-way with up to 4 subs, bass management and room correction. First I was thinking about stacking sources-> nanoavr HD -> nanoavr DLA -> power amps. Then about sources-> minidsp 4x10HD -> DRC-88A -> power amps and finally sources -> two openDRC with Acourate -> two dacs -> power amps. I have not decided yet which solution is the best. There is no single unit on the market which has this all (active crossover, bass management for 4 subs and room correction) and demand is growing. TD