27-Jan-2021, 13:24
I've had my Expert Pro 140 for just over a week now and thought I'd share my experiences.
I am connecting the amp to a pair of ProAc D18s so before using the amp for the first time I used the configurator to enable SAM for my speakers. All other settings in the configurator were left as default. My first impressions of hearing the amp were very poor. Not just 'wait for the burn in' level of poor but really bad. Playing with the bass and treble controls with the remote I could either make it totally unlistenable or slightly improved, but still nowhere near expected levels. I also felt that the bass and treble controls were making far too dramatic effects to the sound. Something felt very wrong.
Back to the configurator. I found the 'Tone control frequency adjustment' but had no idea what this was intended to do or what settings I should use (the 'help' info was no help at all). My speakers have a frequency response of 30HZ to 30kHZ so perhaps these are the setting I should use in the configurator? I set the configurator to 30HZ for treble and 20kHZ for bass and tried again. Instantly the sound was transformed and was much more in line with expectations. The bass and treble adjustments through the remote now make minor adjustments as expected but I am happy leaving them at 0. Turning SAM on or off, or moving between 0% to 100% makes little difference to my ears (for my speakers).
So this raises a few questions:
1. Is the purpose of the frequency adjustment in the configurator to as closely as possible match the frequency response of the speakers? If this is the case, why is there no guidance telling you this? I have asked Devialet support what the intended purpose of the frequency adjustment is and they have not really given a clear answer. They did tell me that I need to be careful not to exceed the range of my speakers as I may damage them. Given the huge difference these setting had on my system and the potential for damage to the speakers I really think Devialet need to improve their guidance here. If anyone has any advice on the frequency adjustment setting I'd be very grateful if you would share with me!
2. Reading many of the reviews saying what a huge improvement SAM made to their speakers I was disappointed not to hear the same effect. I appreciate every speaker will be different in the effect SAM will play but has anyone else had the same experience of hearing no difference? The Devialet support guy said he thought that with SAM activated the frequency adjustments should be greyed out. This is not the case for me, unless somehow SAM has not been activated correctly? Is there any way to tell?
Ok, that's my thoughts one week in. I am now very happy with the sound but quite amazed that I've had to make 'best guess' adjustments to settings I don't fully understand to get here!
If anyone has any clearer information on the configurator settings it would be great to hear from you.
Cheers!
I am connecting the amp to a pair of ProAc D18s so before using the amp for the first time I used the configurator to enable SAM for my speakers. All other settings in the configurator were left as default. My first impressions of hearing the amp were very poor. Not just 'wait for the burn in' level of poor but really bad. Playing with the bass and treble controls with the remote I could either make it totally unlistenable or slightly improved, but still nowhere near expected levels. I also felt that the bass and treble controls were making far too dramatic effects to the sound. Something felt very wrong.
Back to the configurator. I found the 'Tone control frequency adjustment' but had no idea what this was intended to do or what settings I should use (the 'help' info was no help at all). My speakers have a frequency response of 30HZ to 30kHZ so perhaps these are the setting I should use in the configurator? I set the configurator to 30HZ for treble and 20kHZ for bass and tried again. Instantly the sound was transformed and was much more in line with expectations. The bass and treble adjustments through the remote now make minor adjustments as expected but I am happy leaving them at 0. Turning SAM on or off, or moving between 0% to 100% makes little difference to my ears (for my speakers).
So this raises a few questions:
1. Is the purpose of the frequency adjustment in the configurator to as closely as possible match the frequency response of the speakers? If this is the case, why is there no guidance telling you this? I have asked Devialet support what the intended purpose of the frequency adjustment is and they have not really given a clear answer. They did tell me that I need to be careful not to exceed the range of my speakers as I may damage them. Given the huge difference these setting had on my system and the potential for damage to the speakers I really think Devialet need to improve their guidance here. If anyone has any advice on the frequency adjustment setting I'd be very grateful if you would share with me!
2. Reading many of the reviews saying what a huge improvement SAM made to their speakers I was disappointed not to hear the same effect. I appreciate every speaker will be different in the effect SAM will play but has anyone else had the same experience of hearing no difference? The Devialet support guy said he thought that with SAM activated the frequency adjustments should be greyed out. This is not the case for me, unless somehow SAM has not been activated correctly? Is there any way to tell?
Ok, that's my thoughts one week in. I am now very happy with the sound but quite amazed that I've had to make 'best guess' adjustments to settings I don't fully understand to get here!
If anyone has any clearer information on the configurator settings it would be great to hear from you.
Cheers!
