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Why does my set-up sound so bad?
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| CosmoKid |
I have a Numark Matrix 3 mixer hooked up to a Denon 2 channel receiver. I know the receiver is good because Denon 2 channels are some of the best in the business.
I bought a pair of JBL Northridge series bookshelves because this is strictly a basement set-up. They are rated at 100w. The receiver is 60w/channel.
The bass just muddies everything. Its so friggin distorted.
What kills me is that I have the same stuff with a gemini mixer hooked up to an onkyo receiver and a pair of kenwood bookshelves that are 10 years old and they sounded great. Now this sounds terrible. And its driving me crazy.
I have a passive Sony sub but I have no idea how to connect it. I know i can buy an external amp but i dont want to spend more money. I dont even know if i can connect a sub since there is no sub hookup on the receiver. The receiver has pre-out, but dont ask me if i can use them.
Could my mixer be causing this?
Am i sending too much bass to these bookshelves? I cant see that because they are JBLs...notorious for how well they handle bass.
I just dont get it. |
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| Boomer187 |
I've noticed that pretty much every receiver I try to use with my setup I get an inaudible distorted noise from it.
so I think it is your receiver, as long as you are grounding your decks properly. |
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| tvmann |
I also have a Denon 2 channel receiver (actually two of them, DRA345) and it works fine, ver clean sound at all times and when hooked up to my 24 bit computer sound card.
You might try swapping in the Onkyo receiver and see if that cures the problem.
Another possibility, and I'm guessing here, but I know the "line-level" audio voltage that consumer equipment is designed to work with, is a little less than the level that is standard with pro audio equipment. About 10 db I think. So if you reduced the output from your mixer by 10 db, maybe that would help. Possibly you have too much signal going into the Denon. You've probably already tried this. |
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| CosmoKid |
this system should be punding for a basement set-up. i have a denon 565rd connected to this with jbl's rated at 100w.
it just sounds terrible. if i lower it enough it sounds okay but basically it sounds like the speakers are blown at any normal volume. |
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| DeleriuM2K |
its gotta be your reciever
even though denon makes top-notch equipment, a 60w/channel reciever isnt exactly world class. especially when your running 200w worth of sound on a max of 120w output
try using a higher output reciever |
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| MrSquirrel |
| quote: | Originally posted by tvmann
Another possibility, and I'm guessing here, but I know the "line-level" audio voltage that consumer equipment is designed to work with, is a little less than the level that is standard with pro audio equipment. About 10 db I think. So if you reduced the output from your mixer by 10 db, maybe that would help. Possibly you have too much signal going into the Denon. You've probably already tried this. |
Professional line level std is +4dB and consumer line level std is -10dB. At least that is what my professor taught us in our sound design class.
MrS |
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| CosmoKid |
| quote: | Originally posted by DeleriuM2K
its gotta be your reciever
even though denon makes top-notch equipment, a 60w/channel reciever isnt exactly world class. especially when your running 200w worth of sound on a max of 120w output
try using a higher output reciever |
it was doing the same thing with a kenwood receiver as well. |
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| djHollen |
| make sure your decks are grounded. it sounds like it might be that. |
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| CosmoKid |
| quote: | Originally posted by djHollen
make sure your decks are grounded. it sounds like it might be that. |
they are grounded, but i dont know if they are grounded correctly.
there seems to be just one spot on my mixer to ground the wires, so i have both grounds going there.
it also seems like there is a spacer, for lack of a better word, to spilt up the two grounds so they dont touch each other. my wires are basically touching each other and touching the ground.
if each ground wire is touching each other will that effect it? |
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| DJTJ |
| quote: | Originally posted by CosmoKid
if each ground wire is touching each other will that effect it? |
No. Not in the slightest. This is absolutely fine. The grounding posts on mixers with more than one are electrically connected to each other on the inside of the mixer anyway. Sounds like you have grounded your decks just fine.
Try turning the master output level down on your mixer until it doesn't distort any more. How low do you have to go? What happens when you turn the volume up on the receiver? If you have to turn it down low on the mixer to stop it distorting, and you can turn the volume up on the receiver without distortion, then it sounds like the problem is with the mixer and not with the receiver or speakers. |
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| KiNeTiC ENeRgY |
| quote: | Originally posted by DJTJ
No. Not in the slightest. This is absolutely fine. The grounding posts on mixers with more than one are electrically connected to each other on the inside of the mixer anyway. Sounds like you have grounded your decks just fine.
Try turning the master output level down on your mixer until it doesn't distort any more. How low do you have to go? What happens when you turn the volume up on the receiver? If you have to turn it down low on the mixer to stop it distorting, and you can turn the volume up on the receiver without distortion, then it sounds like the problem is with the mixer and not with the receiver or speakers. |
I agree...sounds like a mixer problem |
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| vswede |
| hey try mixer master volume as low as you can and amplifier high instead... |
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