System arrived....and now?!? :)

[acalex]

Guys,

finally I can enjoy my first hi-fi system. I bought everything I need...now I need help to set-up and connect!

I am sorry if my questions are silly but it is really my first system and know nothing about it. I bought it because I love enjoying great sound and now that I work I can finally afford....but I want to become an expert also! 🙂

First of all...behind my Monitor Audio RX6 there are 4 plugs, one pair red/black which is HF and the other which is LF...what's the difference? Where should I connect my cable?

What about the positioning in the room? I would like to try and adjust but would like to have some advice to start from you guys who are very expert!

Apart everything I am so excited and can't wait to play my music!!! Once I connect the rDAC to the PC through USB, where do I connect the DAC? I mean I have 4 inputs in my ampli CD, AUX, DVD, TUNER...they are all the same? For now I only play through pc...I will soon buy a good CD player!

Thanks a lot!!!!!!! :rockout:

 

[John Duncan]

1) I would put the DAC in the 'Aux' socket (though actually any of them would work).

2) Since you have an rDAC you have the basis of a system good enough to eclipse CD players up to £1k and beyond*

3) It doesn't matter which of the HF/LF pairs you plug into. Just make sure the connecters between the two pairs remain connected though, unless you propose to biwire**

4) In the first instance, place them the same distance apart as you will be sitting from them (so you and the speakers make an equilateral triangle) and point them slightly inwards, but not so much that they're pointing at you when you're sitting down. You can then, if you can be bothered (;-)), vary them out or in by small amounts until they sound the best to you.

* IMO, YMMV

** I suspect because you have asked this question you won't be, so don't worry about it

 

[acalex]

1) I would put the DAC in the 'Aux' socket (though actually any of them would work).

2) Since you have an rDAC you have the basis of a system good enough to eclipse CD players up to £1k and beyond*

3) It doesn't matter which of the HF/LF pairs you plug into. Just make sure the connecters between the two pairs remain connected though, unless you propose to biwire**

4) In the first instance, place them the same distance apart as you will be sitting from them (so you and the speakers make an equilateral triangle) and point them slightly inwards, but not so much that they're pointing at you when you're sitting down. You can then, if you can be bothered (;-)), vary them out or in by small amounts until they sound the best to you.

* IMO, YMMV

** I suspect because you have asked this question you won't be, so don't worry about it

Great advise to start, thanks a lot! Answer number 3 does not make any sense for me...for now :wall: ! But you got it already 😀

Going to set up my triangle...can't tell you how excited I am!! 🙂

 

[John Duncan]

I thought it might not. Ignore it, and just plug the cables in the bottom set of connectors (one red, one black).

 

[acalex]

I thought it might not. Ignore it, and just plug the cables in the bottom set of connectors (one red, one black).

I really would like to understand the difference though...can you explain me the concept in simpler words? 🙂

Thanks!

 

[MUSICRAFT]

Hi acalex

What finish have you chosen for your Silver RX6's please?

All the best

Rick @ Musicraft

 

[Andrew Everard]

What finish have you chosen for your Silver RX6's please?

Not sure that's going to affect how they're wired up...

 

[El Hefe]

acalex,

HF = High Frequency = Tweeters on your speakers

LF = Low Frequencey = Midbass/woofers on your speakers

When you have 4 such connections on your speakers, the speakers basically is allowing you to bi-amp or bi-wire.

Bi-amp is basically having 2 sets of power amps. Each power amp drives each component on your speaker. ie: one drives the tweeter and the other one drives the midbass/woofer.

Bi-wire is basically running 2 pairs of speaker cable but terminated to one amplifier.

Hope that make sense.

I thought it might not. Ignore it, and just plug the cables in the bottom set of connectors (one red, one black).

I really would like to understand the difference though...can you explain me the concept in simpler words? 🙂

Thanks!

 

[acalex]

Hi acalex

What finish have you chosen for your Silver RX6's please?

All the best

Rick @ Musicraft

Hi Rick, the finish is the Black Oak Real Wood Veneer! Very nice and perfectly matching all the black I have in my living room/office!

 

[acalex]

acalex,

HF = High Frequency = Tweeters on your speakers

LF = Low Frequencey = Midbass/woofers on your speakers

When you have 4 such connections on your speakers, the speakers basically is allowing you to bi-amp or bi-wire.

Bi-amp is basically having 2 sets of power amps. Each power amp drives each component on your speaker. ie: one drives the tweeter and the other one drives the midbass/woofer.

Bi-wire is basically running 2 pairs of speaker cable but terminated to one amplifier.

Hope that make sense.

I thought it might not. Ignore it, and just plug the cables in the bottom set of connectors (one red, one black).

I really would like to understand the difference though...can you explain me the concept in simpler words? 🙂

Thanks!

So to bi-amp I need two ampli, correct?

 

[MUSICRAFT]

Hi acalex

What finish have you chosen for your Silver RX6's please?

All the best

Rick @ Musicraft

Hi Rick, the finish is the Black Oak Real Wood Veneer! Very nice and perfectly matching all the black I have in my living room/office!

Hi acalex

Thanks for your reply.

Nice 🙂 The black finishes in RX6's are popular.

Anyway how does the system sound?

All the best

Rck @ Musicraft

 

[acalex]

Hi acalex

What finish have you chosen for your Silver RX6's please?

All the best

Rick @ Musicraft

Hi Rick, the finish is the Black Oak Real Wood Veneer! Very nice and perfectly matching all the black I have in my living room/office!

Hi acalex

Thanks for your reply.

Nice 🙂 The black finishes in RX6's are popular.

Anyway how does the system sound?

All the best

Rck @ Musicraft

Rick, I will tell in an hour (hopefully) cz Media Markt forgot to deliver the second speaker.... :wall:

 

[acalex]

So If I understand correctly, the standard set-up of speakers is bi-wire, so do not need to change anything if I want to keep it like that...if I want to bi-amp I have to do something (don't know what for now...but that's too far 😀)

Difference between HF and LF is the frequency...to have more bass I use LF, correct?

 

[Diamond Joe]

So to bi-amp I need two ampli, correct?

Yep, that's right... looks like your new hobby could get quite expensive!!! 😉

 

[acalex]

So to bi-amp I need two ampli, correct?

Yep, that's right... looks like your new hobby could get quite expensive!!! 😉

Ahaha, usually all my hobbies are quite expensive...don't know why! Yes I know...because I like to have the best whenever I decided to start something...planning to buy a Canon EOS 5D also 😀

Regarding hi-fi for now I am done, 2 great speakers + ampli + rDAC are enough to start...I think I am gonna had a Sonos as a next step to get some internet streaming and being able to play from iphone/ipad also...

I mean I don't spend much money for the rest, I have no kids, good job, my gf works also...I can afford to spend some money for things I like, do you agree?

 

[Diamond Joe]

So If I understand correctly, the standard set-up of speakers is bi-wire, so do not need to change anything if I want to keep it like that...if I want to bi-amp I have to do something (don't know what for now...but that's too far 😀)

Difference between HF and LF is the frequency...to have more bass I use LF, correct?

Most speakers (but not mine) have bi-wire terminals, on the photo below the LF and HF terminals are connected by a bar - the bridging plate - yours might be connected by small jumper wires (I don't know).

Connect your speaker cable into the red and black LF or HF terminals (doesn't really matter which) but you must have the connector between the two sets of terminals as shown below.

...and I certainly agree with you about spending money on special things (or 'shiny' things as I like to call them - even if they aren't!!)

 

[acalex]

So If I understand correctly, the standard set-up of speakers is bi-wire, so do not need to change anything if I want to keep it like that...if I want to bi-amp I have to do something (don't know what for now...but that's too far 😀)

Difference between HF and LF is the frequency...to have more bass I use LF, correct?

Most speakers (but not mine) have bi-wire terminals, on the photo below the LF and HF terminals are connected by a bar - the bridging plate - yours might be connected by small jumper wires (I don't know).

Connect your speaker cable into the red and black LF or HF terminals (doesn't really matter which) but you must have the connector between the two sets of terminals as shown below.

...and I certainly agree with you about spending money on special things (or 'shiny' things as I like to call them - even if they aren't!!)

Yes I have those...so in this way actually doesn't matter if I plug into HF and LF....because they are anyway connected...this because is bi-wire. If for specific reasons (which I don't know yet) I would like to bi-amp. I have to remove the bridge and THEN only would make sense to chose between HF and LF...if I understand correctly!

Yes, shiny things are the best!! :cheers:

 

[El Hefe]

acalex,

Bi-amping - you are right. You need 2 amps. But no integrated amps, but just power amps.

Integrated amps = Pre amp + Power amp

To bi amp, you need 2 power amps.

To biwire - you just need one integrated amp. But you need 2 pairs of soeakers cables on each speaker.

 

[Diamond Joe]

Yes I have those...so in this way actually doesn't matter if I plug into HF and LF....because they are anyway connected...this because is bi-wire. If for specific reasons (which I don't know yet) I would like to bi-amp. I have to remove the bridge and THEN only would make sense to chose between HF and LF...if I understand correctly!

Yes, shiny things are the best!! :cheers:

Yep, you're spot on about bi-amping - I used to wonder about doing that myself, if I'd found an Audiolab 8000P I might have done it, can't do it now anyhow, so I'm not bothered any more -plus I should have mentioned earlier that you have to remove the plate if you bi-wire too.

:cheers: to shiny things my friend, long may they continue to empty our wallets!

 

[The_Lhc]

Yes I have those...so in this way actually doesn't matter if I plug into HF and LF....because they are anyway connected...this because is bi-wire. If for specific reasons (which I don't know yet) I would like to bi-amp. I have to remove the bridge and THEN only would make sense to chose between HF and LF...if I understand correctly!

No if you bi-amp (or bi-wire) you remove the connectors between the terminals, so they're no longer connected, that means each pair of terminals needs a connection to an amplifier, otherwise you won't get any sound out of the part of the speaker that isn't connected. So you'll either only get all the low-frequency sounds or you'll only get all the high frequency sounds, neither of which would sound very good.

 

[acalex]

Yes I have those...so in this way actually doesn't matter if I plug into HF and LF....because they are anyway connected...this because is bi-wire. If for specific reasons (which I don't know yet) I would like to bi-amp. I have to remove the bridge and THEN only would make sense to chose between HF and LF...if I understand correctly!

No if you bi-amp (or bi-wire) you remove the connectors between the terminals, so they're no longer connected, that means each pair of terminals needs a connection to an amplifier, otherwise you won't get any sound out of the part of the speaker that isn't connected. So you'll either only get all the low-frequency sounds or you'll only get all the high frequency sounds, neither of which would sound very good.

I seeeee, ok to recap

Let's call it standard mode the by default status which is:

plugs are connected through the bridge and I use only one cable to connect the speaker to the ampli (either LF or HF doesn't matter since they are anyway connected). In this way even with only one cable per speaker all the parts of the speakers will work

Bi-wire: I need to have one amp and two pair of cables per speaker. Removing the bridge between the HF and LF terminals...I connect each cable to a black/red and those to the ampli (how does it work since the ampli just have 2 pair of terminals). So I have 2 sets of cables coming out from each speaker and going to the ampli

What are the benefits of bi-wiring over the "standard mode"?

 

[acalex]

Yes I have those...so in this way actually doesn't matter if I plug into HF and LF....because they are anyway connected...this because is bi-wire. If for specific reasons (which I don't know yet) I would like to bi-amp. I have to remove the bridge and THEN only would make sense to chose between HF and LF...if I understand correctly!

Yes, shiny things are the best!! :cheers:

Yep, you're spot on about bi-amping - I used to wonder about doing that myself, if I'd found an Audiolab 8000P I might have done it, can't do it now anyhow, so I'm not bothered any more -plus I should have mentioned earlier that you have to remove the plate if you bi-wire too.

:cheers: to shiny things my friend, long may they continue to empty our wallets!

Ahaha, indeed!!! :cheers:

 

[steve_1979]

This is the normal way to connect speakers.

This is bi-wired.

This is bi-amped.

 

[steve_1979]

What are the benefits of bi-wiring over the "standard mode"?

Bi-wiring is supposed to sound better and bi-amping is supposed to sound the best.

However, in reality not all speakers actually sound better when bi-wired or bi-amped. In my experience most speakers don't actually improve when bi-wired and a few can even sound worse.

 

[acalex]

What are the benefits of bi-wiring over the "standard mode"?

Bi-wiring is supposed to sound better and bi-amping is supposed to sound the best.

However, in reality not all speakers actually sound better when bi-wired or bi-amped. In my experience most speakers don't actually improve when bi-wired and a few can even sound worse.

Wow, those drawings are great, thanks a lot! So I will start using the normal mode and trying to find the best place to put the speakers...as a further step I might try to bi-wire...just need 2 extra sets of speaker cables!

Thanks for all the answers guys...!