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+--- Thread: Devialet with waterfall niagara part of surround set (/Thread-Devialet-with-waterfall-niagara-part-of-surround-set)
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Devialet with waterfall niagara part of surround set - Wills1831 - 25-Nov-2021
Hi everyone,
I'm currently looking forward to buy a devialet amp that would suit my current speaker better.
I'd like to have some opinions and eventually get some advice.
My current setup is a Marantz sr7011, great amp but which doesn't do justice to my speakers. The Marantz is used to drive 5.1 channels.
My idea is to add a devialet 200 or 250 to drive the front speakers (waterfall niagaras platinum) in stereo mode for when I listen to music (which i do a lot and from all types music), and activate the Marantz when i need the surround speakers to come into play. (Both would be hooked up by rca interconnect - i've read all is programmable on the rear)
Most likely i'll hook the sub (bk xxls400) with specific speakon cable on the front channels, so that i have some bass during stereo listening.
Marantz will do the decoding when playing movies and passthrough signal via the rca to the front, while sending signal directly to rears, center and sub (lfe).
i don't think theses waterfall are SAMed (not sure that's an issue).
Does this config makes sense ? I struggle to read reviews pairing up devialet and niagara, although niagaras speakers are atohm which I believe should play beautifully with devialet.
Any feedback is welcome.
Budget is tight, so i might consider buying used.
Thanks
W.
RE: Devialet with waterfall niagara part of surround set - ogs - 26-Nov-2021
I think you should be able to make this work very nicely with a 200 or 250. Just connect the Niagaras and sub to the Devialet and make necessary adjustments to make 2ch sound great. Then connect the front L+R line out of the Marantz to the analog line in of the Devialet. Set this input as "Pass thru" and this should work. You might have to go back and adjust the level on the "Pass thru" if there is too much or too little sound coming from the Niagaras when you use them in the 5.1 setup (more than the Marantz can adjust ).
If you use the sub with Niagaras in 2ch, lack of SAM won't make a difference.
RE: Devialet with waterfall niagara part of surround set - Gerronwithit - 26-Nov-2021
This was one of the reasons for me buying the (now) 1000. The Devialet passes through to my Denon AV amp and drives the B&W 803s as the front speakers. Works fine but needs a certain amount of manipulation with remotes ie I have to ensure the Devialet amp is fired up first, then the Denon to have any sound at all. Drives my wife nuts at times.
RE: Devialet with waterfall niagara part of surround set - Wills1831 - 27-Nov-2021
Thank you for your replies.
Ogs, one thing though that scares me : leveling the passthru. Isn't that dangerous for the speakers ? Isn't it the goal of the passthru, to just pass the signal trough without interfering, leveling, etc. ?
Gerronwithit, i perfectly see the actual struggle ! 😁😁 It's weird though that you need to power them up in certain order to make it work ? Obviously since there is no hdmi there is non CEC which i have on the Marantz obviously. Isn't there a configurable trigger to fire the devialet on ?
Another generic question guys, is the pro version bringing so many features that i should chose it over the non pro ?
I believe i need the pro version for playing Spotify (most my main source of audio, beside CDs)?
I Have Spotify connect on my Marantz and the signal could be sent to the Expert, wouldn't this bypass any DAC improvement from the Expert ?
Thanks
W.
RE: Devialet with waterfall niagara part of surround set - ogs - 27-Nov-2021
I don't think so. The goal of passtru in the Devialet is using a fixed gain so the volume of mch can be controlled by the Marantz in a consistent way. Levelling is already taking place in the Marantz so an additional step in the Devialet does no harm.
The Pro or Core Infinity version is primarily a sound quality upgrade, but RAAT is running on the CI for example. The CI is actually a Linux computer so it might be easier for Devialet to include future protocols and apps.
RE: Devialet with waterfall niagara part of surround set - Wills1831 - 29-Nov-2021
Giving some news...
I'm now a happy owner of an expert 250 pro !!! That thing is amazing, so versatile and the sound quality is day and night compared with the Marantz.
I've played with the config a full day already 😇
Now the goal is to better integrate it into the 5.1 setup. At first, the front (connected to the Expert) were so low i couldn't hear them. I've done a few things and it's now dramatically improved.
- change db leveling (up to +15) and back to 0 now
- gradually reduce the vrms setting to align with Marantz input until reaching 1.2 which appears to be the value for denon/Marantz
- new audissey setup to level the whole setup
- icm ON / off, can't hear the difference though, knowing it's only the front thzt is connected and not the center which i believe would benefit more of this feature
- my interconnect rca is a chord clearway which needs some burnin time (brand new) so there's room for improvement here for sure
Anyway, It's now much better and very nice to listen to movies. Although i believe i hear a difference of dynamics compared to the sound without the Expert. Any settings you guys can recommend ? Vrms is right ? I didn't dare going any lower, any experience with Marantz? (Quite difficult to find)
Is it right that vrms impact the way speakers sound is amplified while the db leveling just increase their starting volume n that specific entry ?
Streaming wise : any chance devialet can integrate TuneIn in the streaming protocols?
ThankW.
RE: Devialet with waterfall niagara part of surround set - ogs - 29-Nov-2021
Congratulations! The 250 Pro is an excellent amplifier.
If you by vrms mean the output power of the 250 I'd keep that at 250 watts and only use the pass thru level adjustment, then Audissey to balance it all. In the original D-Premier there was a small sound quality gain in lowering the output power. With the 250/Pro CI that is no longer true. There is nothing wrong in the way you have done it though. If you feel you get better sound this way, keep it!
EDIT: I've looked at the Configurator. The Vrms you refer to is probably the sensitivity of the Line Input, not power output, Sorry about that! 1.2 volt seems a sensible value. A too low value here can easily lead to clipping (overload) the input so if you hear distortion when playing loud 5.1, this is the first place to look.
RE: Devialet with waterfall niagara part of surround set - Delija - 29-Nov-2021
With my Anthem MRX 720 I leave Vrms at 2V and set the volume/gain to +5 dB.
RE: Devialet with waterfall niagara part of surround set - Wills1831 - 30-Nov-2021
Thanks for your inputs guys.
At the moment i left it at 1.2vrms (running a marantz 7011 as an audio source), with +6db base level. And it seems to work great.
To be honest, i can't hear luch distortion as the front speakers in a surround set don't cary much sound (at least not in my config), and those chord rca cable wich require yet long burnin time before acting like they should... .
I'll try going gradually up again and see if i can get closer to 2vrms, just to test, as i understand that chaning the value can also affect the Expert consuming more power than needed.
RE: Devialet with waterfall niagara part of surround set - markush - 02-Dec-2021
If I remember correctly Marantz recommends a setting of not less that 1,6 vrms.