TOPIC:

Hello ,
I have a DIY 3 way center channel speaker with two PWR -ice 125 plate amp -. 1st PWR-ice is driving the mid-tweeter with a 2 channel output . 2nd PWR -ice is driving woofer in a BTL mode. analogue input with a splitter rca cable works great. I am trying to play around with digital input. I tried the following : Oppo 203 digital coaxial output - cananre impedance transformer -xlr cable - 1st PWR-ice digital xlr input - 1st PWR-ice digital XLR out put to 2nd PWR ice XLR digital input. I am getting music only from 1st PWR-ice . 2nd PWR-ice is silent. Tried to reverse the connection. Getting music only from the connected PWR-ice . Seems like the digital daisy chain between two PWR-ice with XLR is not getting signal forwarded. Any thoughts , suggestions.
Thanks,
Ashwin.

@ Ashwin

We already replied to this via email, but here is for others.
Most likely that the issue is related to the very long able you're trying to run here. SPDIF is lowpower (circa 0.5V) and not meant for such long distance. Try a shorter cable to prove that your DSP configuration is indeed correct.

If it is, you might need to move to AES-EBU (i.e. need an active SPDIF to AES_EBU at your source) and run everything XLR to XLR. It will do the trick.

DevTeam

Hi Devteam,

I have a bit more to add to this...

I have 3x PWR-ICE125. I built an SPDIF to AES/EBU buffer using a simple 74HC04 (or 74LS04) circuit, which I hacked into an optical output SPDIF (data/+5V/GND pins) of a Dayton Airplay/bluetooth/wifi device. I must admit, the SPDIF data pin is at 3.3V level so not ideal, but within H & L levels of the 74HC04 or 74LS04. However, AES/EBU output is at 5V level. My XLR cables are 30cm long, and wired correct (1=shield, 2=hot, 3=cold).

The digital IN signal works on all 3 PWR-ICE125, but the digital out only on ONE. I can successfully daisy chain out from this PWR-ICE125 to the other two (and then further).

So, it is clear I have a lucky/borderline impedance matching problem most likely. It might even be slew rate... Admittently I am using a 74LS04 (so is the issue CMOS vs TTL?) By the way, I built the adapter circuit using leftover stuff from my childhood.... Building it new would cost about $1-$5.

It would be very helpful if we could know more about the re-buffering circuit details in the PWR-ICE125 so that I can adjust my adapter circuit accordingly so that it works with all three amps?

Thanks for your help,
Trev