newly purchased MF Trio

[Sundeep V Menon]

Hi Folks,

I have finally bought ( an hour ago ) the M1 DAC, M3i Amp and the V-LPS II. I have a few questions which are shooting right inside my head. Please help.

1. What are the best speaker options considering that I listen to a lot of Scofield, tribal tech, gary willis, miles, and some rock too. I took a listen to the PMC DB1i. Nice. But I feel they are small for the slightly loudish gathering. What options do I have? I prefer bookshelves for the room that I am setting up in. My budget is about £1500/$2000. Should I buy Active or Passive? ( I love that forum page )

2. What is your opinion on the signal routing from my iPod, MacBook Pro to the DAC and then M3i? What is the ideal signal path?

3. How do I know whether my turntable is Moving Coil or Moving Magnet? I have an old nice sounding JVC but am planning to buy the Rega RP 1.

4. What is your opinion on the buy? please feel free to scream if one doesnt like it but with the reasons.

5. How can I use the pre-out of the M3i to Bi-Amp?

I get back home this monday. So have 3 days to figure setup. Till the time I buy my own speakers I shall be borrowing some pals worth it ones. So request you to kindly reply as I want to be sure of the speakers that I buy and the setup.

Thanks always,

Cheers!

Sundeep

 

[matt49]

Hi Folks,

I have finally bought ( an hour ago ) the M1 DAC, M3i Amp and the V-LPS II. I have a few questions which are shooting right inside my head. Please help.

1. What are the best speaker options considering that I listen to a lot of Scofield, tribal tech, gary willis, miles, and some rock too. I took a listen to the PMC DB1i. Nice. But I feel they are small for the slightly loudish gathering. What options do I have? I prefer bookshelves for the room that I am setting up in. My budget is about £1500/$2000. Should I buy Active or Passive? ( I love that forum page )

Hi Sundeep,

since you've already bought an integrated amp, buying active speakers would be a waste of money.

Cheers,

Matt

 

[stevebrock]

MacBook Pro > optical > DAC > AMP - nothing wrong with that fella, sounded ace to me! (provided your files are lossless - ALAC)

 

[stevebrock]

but am planning to buy the Rega RP 1.

be better if you could stretch to an RP3 - a signifacant step up IMHO

 

[Sundeep V Menon]

hey Matt,

Thank you for the advice. Got it. But my idea was 2nd take that is to have CD go via M1 to the AMP ( CD IN ) to Analog Input to Active Speaker; Phono goes to LPS II then DAC??.. then AMP ( Aux 1 ) then to Active Speaker ( just modes being switched on the M3i).

But all things file based digital goes to M1 and straight to the Active Speaker.

Is this advisable? The Active Speaker will have two Analog - Balanced and unbalanced inputs - Balanced goes from out of M1 to Active ( M3i doesnt have balanced outs );

The confusion is how to get the out from M3i into speaker right - Right meaning - No double Amplification. I hope I am making sense here.

Thanks

Sundeep

 

[Sundeep V Menon]

hey Steve,

Thanks. Will see how the wallet is affected before hearing comes in my way. 🙂

Thanks

Sundeep

 

[Sundeep V Menon]

Hi Steve,

I guess your advice is based on the fact that I will go for passive monitoring right? If I did I have no other choice but the route you have suggested, but if I go in for an Active speaker set.. Would you still suggest this? My media is a mix of FLAC, Apple Lossless and ofcourse the MP3@320kbps.

Your opinion on this..

Thanks

Sundeep

 

[stevebrock]

Sundeep, dont take this wrong but are you new to hifi?

You have purchased a really nice amp - FORGET about active speakers - you need a passive speaker.

Im not clued up on MF amps etc but someone will be along soon to help you

BTW you have some very nice kit there

 

[Sundeep V Menon]

Hi Steve,

Thanks. I feel kind of happy hearing that some right decision has been made. I shall put my priorities on the right Passive then. Thanks. Speaker advice are most welcome.

I am not new to Hi-Fi but am new to the DAC world. I also have had a lot to do with pro-studios in the past in terms of work and there the life is all Active. So therefore the DAC to Active route. Basically I dont want to buy and burn my fingers, in this case all the way as I will end up without hands and therefore will starve to death!

Sundeep

 

[matt49]

3. How do I know whether my turntable is Moving Coil or Moving Magnet? I have an old nice sounding JVC but am planning to buy the Rega RP 1.

Sundeep,

I haven't used a turntable for some time, but I think I'm right in saying that it's not the turntable that's MM/MC, but the cartridge. So you need to find out the make and model of your cartridge.

Matt

 

[GSB]

Worth considering the Kef R100 bookshelf speakers,i have an MF M3i running a pair and the control is superb.

 

[Electro]

Hi Folks,

I have finally bought ( an hour ago ) the M1 DAC, M3i Amp and the V-LPS II. I have a few questions which are shooting right inside my head. Please help.

1. What are the best speaker options considering that I listen to a lot of Scofield, tribal tech, gary willis, miles, and some rock too. I took a listen to the PMC DB1i. Nice. But I feel they are small for the slightly loudish gathering. What options do I have? I prefer bookshelves for the room that I am setting up in. My budget is about £1500/$2000. Should I buy Active or Passive? ( I love that forum page )

2. What is your opinion on the signal routing from my iPod, MacBook Pro to the DAC and then M3i? What is the ideal signal path?

3. How do I know whether my turntable is Moving Coil or Moving Magnet? I have an old nice sounding JVC but am planning to buy the Rega RP 1.

4. What is your opinion on the buy? please feel free to scream if one doesnt like it but with the reasons.

5. How can I use the pre-out of the M3i to Bi-Amp?

I get back home this monday. So have 3 days to figure setup. Till the time I buy my own speakers I shall be borrowing some pals worth it ones. So request you to kindly reply as I want to be sure of the speakers that I buy and the setup.

Thanks always,

Cheers!

Sundeep

If you really liked the PMC DB1i why not try the slightly bigger PMC TB2i , they should give you a lot more of everything and there are still some available it seems . 🙂

http://www.fanthorpes.co.uk/pmc-speakers/pmc-tb2i-speakers-2180025-413279-791630.php

 

[El Hefe]

Hi Sundeep,

My 2 cents...

1. What are the best speaker options considering that I listen to a lot of Scofield, tribal tech, gary willis, miles, and some rock too. I took a listen to the PMC DB1i. Nice. But I feel they are small for the slightly loudish gathering. What options do I have? I prefer bookshelves for the room that I am setting up in. My budget is about £1500/$2000. Should I buy Active or Passive? ( I love that forum page )




I find MF products blends well with ProAc, Heybrook, Dynaudio, EPOS. I recommend ProAc especially for rock music and becuase you mentioned bi-amping.

2. What is your opinion on the signal routing from my iPod, MacBook Pro to the DAC and then M3i? What is the ideal signal path?




If you have spare cash, get yourself a Wadia 170 or 171 dock and use a coaxial cable to connect to M1 DAC. For Macbook Pro, I assume you bought the 2nd generation M1 DAC that comes with Asynchronous USB, connect a decent USB cable from Macbook to the M1 DAC. Then a stereo interconnect to the M3i.

3. How do I know whether my turntable is Moving Coil or Moving Magnet? I have an old nice sounding JVC but am planning to buy the Rega RP 1.




Check the cartridge on the JVC.

4. What is your opinion on the buy? please feel free to scream if one doesnt like it but with the reasons.




Good choice. Good match. If you seldom play LPs, the V-LPS-II is adequate. If you are a heavy LP user, try out the M1 ViNL.

5. How can I use the pre-out of the M3i to Bi-Amp?

Connect a stereo interconnect from the pre out to a power amp of your choice. It may work with an active speaker too.

 

[lilneige]

Hi Folks,

I have finally bought ( an hour ago ) the M1 DAC, M3i Amp and the V-LPS II. I have a few questions which are shooting right inside my head. Please help.

1. What are the best speaker options considering that I listen to a lot of Scofield, tribal tech, gary willis, miles, and some rock too. I took a listen to the PMC DB1i. Nice. But I feel they are small for the slightly loudish gathering. What options do I have? I prefer bookshelves for the room that I am setting up in. My budget is about £1500/$2000. Should I buy Active or Passive? ( I love that forum page )

Since I am a Dynaudio speaker and M3i owner, with £1500/$2000 budget, I will definitely recommand Dynaudio passive bookshelves, Focus 110s, 160 and Excite X16.

2. What is your opinion on the signal routing from my iPod, MacBook Pro to the DAC and then M3i? What is the ideal signal path?

You will need to find out the spec of your MacBook Pro. For example, My mid 2009 MBP can only handle 24/96 sampling rate regardless of output method, but my late 2012 Mac Mini can output 24/196 with USB and HDMI. However, the USB on M1DAC can only handle 24/96. If I wanted to have the best signal path as possible between my Mini and M1DAC, I will need V-Link 192 in order to convert the USB into spdif. But with my MBP, I can simply use USB or optical.

The most convenient signal path that I can think of is getting Airport Express>a 3.5mm-optical TOSLINK cable>M1DAC, and then Airplay. But keep in mind, this solution only limited to 16/48 sampling rate. (see this.)

 

[Sundeep V Menon]

Hi Matt,

Sorry for the delay in replying. I was traveling and had no connectivity. Thank you. I am figuring out on the cartridge.

Sundeep

 

[Sundeep V Menon]

Hi GSB

Sorry for the delay in replying. I was traveling and had no connectivity. I actually have a pair of Kef iQ9's hooked up to my Marantz SR 7005. They are nice. So I shall defintely take a listen to the KEF 100's. Thanks

Sundeep

 

[Sundeep V Menon]

Hi Electro,

Sorry for the delay in replying. I was traveling and had no connectivity. I checked in India locally and they dont have the TB2i's here anymore as they have been phased out by PMC. But still looking.

Thanks

Sundeep

 

[Sundeep V Menon]

Hi El,

Sorry for the delay in replying. I was traveling and had no connectivity.

Thank you for your reply. I shall check on the ProAc and DynaAudio. I am not sure if heybrook is available in India.

On the M1DAC. Yes it is 2nd gen. I am trying to find a decent USB D cable.

Checking the cartridge on the JVC. Also thinking of changing the player.

Thanks on the thumbs up. I shall gauge my LP playing and then take a call. But frankly right now the priority is speakers. I am planning to use my old Denon DVD 1930 as a CD player for the time being. What is your opinion on that?

The Bi-Amping is confusing. I have to really read up.. So shall check.

Thanks a ton,

Sundeep

 

[Sundeep V Menon]

Hi Lilneige,

Sorry for the delay in replying. I was traveling and had no connectivity. Thank you for your reply. The DynaAudio guys here dont respond have called them numerous times. But still checking. The Airport Express idea is what i have for Airplay. So will check that.

Thanks

Sundeep