[sleepysurf]

I love my Modwright linestage, but have an acoustically challenging family/listening room (lots of bass nodes) and WAF precludes significant use of bass traps.  I recently got the Denon 3808CI (intending to use only for video/surround), but found it does a great job taming those bass nodes, at the expense of losing the Modwright tube magic.  I posted this quandery on the AVForum Audyssey thread, and somebody suggested that I can "have my cake and eat it too" by feeding the Modwright directly into the Denon CD input (which will apply the Audyssey EQ), and then feed the Denon pre-outs back to my Belles amp.  The input impedance of the Denon is listed as 47 kOhms.  Functionally, this would be like wiring two pre-amps in series.  Any idea if this would be deleterious to my Modwright (or the Denon).

[HumanMedia]

I dont think you will get what you are after, with what you describe.

Doesnt Audyssey (the digital EQ) only work on digital signals in the digital domain?

Also the analog stages of the Denon arent the best, so the signal will be degraded considerably.

Maybe they meant the other way around?

ie  Keep all of your digital in the digital domain, decoded by the Denon and EQ-ed by Audyssey, then output from the 'preamp out' of the front two channels of the Denon into an input on the Modwright, and the Modwright to the poweramp and speakers.

I have the Denon 3808 as well.  Nice little receiver.  Im wondering what tweaks will push it a little.

[sleepysurf]

Believe it or not, it works superbly!  Apparently the Audyssey EQ is applied to all inputs.  Now I've got rich textured midrange, and the former bass nodes/nulls of my room are virtually inaudible.  Even off-axis listening is much improved, which has always been a problem with stats.  The only issue I ran into was a slight impedance mismatch requiring me to add ~7 dB boost to the Denon analog CD input, but I'm running the 3808 in "Pure Direct" mode, with the Audyssey Flat EQ applied, and in this configuration the Denon analog stage is excellent.  There is NO additional noise or detectable distortion.  This setup is absolutely the BEST sound I've ever gotten out of my Summits!

Maybe they meant the other way around? ie  Keep all of your digital in the digital domain, decoded by the Denon and EQ-ed by Audyssey, then output from the 'preamp out' of the front two channels of the Denon into an input on the Modwright, and the Modwright to the poweramp and speakers.

I had previously fed the Denon pre-outs through the Modwright home theater bypass, obviously bypassing the tube stage.  I hadn't tried one of the other (non-bypass) inputs, but will do so and see which sounds better.  Either way, at least I know it works, and I'm in hog heaven! 

[ted_b]

So are you saying you are taking a cd source (which does a d/a conversion) sending it to the Modwright pre, sending the tubed analog sweetness output to a cd input on the Denon , having Audyssey do an a/d conversion, room EQ it, then of course, another d/a, then sending the output to the Belles?  What do you do with the Modwright preamp's volume control?  Why use the Modwright at all?  Do you get any of the tube flavor and air/separation once the signal is processed a couple times?  great that you are getting good sound, but seems the Modwright pre is "in the way" (and I love my Modwright LS36.5, so what I'm purporting give me pause, but it seems the only thing the Modwright is doing is adding another switcher in front of the Denon processor's cd input).

[sleepysurf]

So are you saying you are taking a cd source (which does a d/a conversion) sending it to the Modwright pre, sending the tubed analog sweetness output to a cd input on the Denon , having Audyssey do an a/d conversion, room EQ it, then of course, another d/a, then sending the output to the Belles?  What do you do with the Modwright preamp's volume control?  Why use the Modwright at all?  Do you get any of the tube flavor and air/separation once the signal is processed a couple times?  great that you are getting good sound, but seems the Modwright pre is "in the way" (and I love my Modwright LS36.5, so what I'm purporting give me pause, but it seems the only thing the Modwright is doing is adding another switcher in front of the Denon processor's cd input).

True!  I set the Modwright volume control at the 1200 position, and was using the Denon for further adjustments.  In this fashion it's functioning only as an expensive tube buffer, but still giving GREAT tube flavor.  Despite all the A/D and D/A conversions, it sounds fantastic (still zero noise floor).  I just finished hooking it up as HumanMedia suggested, and will compare the two.  In my original configuration, the "tube flavored" signal is sent through Audyssey for EQ, then to my separate amp.  In this latter approach, the Audyssey EQ'd signal is fed to the Modwright, adding the tube effect last.  I'll report back which sounds better.   The key point is being able to preserve the tube magic, while eliminating bass nodes, plus getting the time domain/frequency corrections of Audyssey.  So far, so good.

[HumanMedia]

How is this going?
Did you try outputting from the Denon into the SWL and then into the power amps?
STill as happy with overall sound?

[sleepysurf]

At first blush, feeding the Modwright tube output into the Denon/Audyssey, sounded better to me, however I haven't had time for extensive comparisons.  Of note, I ran the Audyssey measurements solely with the Denon pre-outs feeding the Belles (Modwright not used whatsoever), so Audyssey never "saw" the tube sonics.  At some point I'll re-run Audyssey WITH Modwright in the loop, just for kicks.  My gut feeling is that Audyssey would end up "equalizing out" some of the desirable tube effects.  Lots of tweaking options lie ahead!

[sleepysurf]

Apparently the Audyssey EQ is applied to all inputs.

Correction, apparently, only Denon's two-channel analog inputs (e.g. CD, phono, ? others) include the necessary Analog to Digital conversion required to run Audyssey.