[BeeBop]

Mike I bought my Sapphires , and indeed my whole system, strictly for 2 channel Redbook playback. I've thought about using it when watching DVD movies but the monster bass they put into those things has me worried about overloading my speakers. For me movies are not so much about sound as they are about a good story and up until now I've been using just my tv speakers. I am not interested in a sub woofer, but know that I could stick in some high pass filters to protect the Sapphires. I see that your web site suggests putting them between the pre-amp and the amp, but this would put them in the path of CD playback as well, which is a deal killer for me. My question is, could I just put them between the analog outs of the dvd players and the pre-amp? That way they would only be working for dvd playback.

Thanks!

[Mike Dzurko]

Mike I bought my Sapphires , and indeed my whole system, strictly for 2 channel Redbook playback. I've thought about using it when watching DVD movies but the monster bass they put into those things has me worried about overloading my speakers. For me movies are not so much about sound as they are about a good story and up until now I've been using just my tv speakers. I am not interested in a sub woofer, but know that I could stick in some high pass filters to protect the Sapphires. I see that y ...

BeeBop:

I know others have done it but I've not tried it myself. I've got to head out the door. If you want, I can probably test the idea sometime this weekend. Let me know and I'll give it a go

[BeeBop]

Thanks! . I'll put a pair of 65 Hz filters in next month's budget if it works.

[Mike Dzurko]

Thanks! . I'll put a pair of 65 Hz filters in next month's budget if it works.

Sounds good, my whole system is torn up at present, but when I put it back together I want to try it myself. Have a good one!

[BeeBop]

Mike, any news on this front?

[Mike Dzurko]

Mike, any news on this front?

We finally finished painting on Thursday and they got all the carpet in. Still a bit of trim work to do.  I've been putting the system back together most of today. I'm hoping to have a working system by tonight and be able to start doing tests in a day or so.

[BeeBop]

Thanks Mike but another ac member has offered to send me a set of 85 Hz filters to try out.

[Mike Dzurko]

I noticed you were getting a set to try. Yet, curiosity still was raging in my heart. Hence, I ran the test:

I ran from a Panasonic XP30 into a Halo preamp. The results were the same as if using into an amplifier. A smooth 6db/oct rolloff starting right around the mid 80s. There was about 4db loss of output with the filter, (insertion loss).

IF you listen, stop, insert filters, and listen again, it will immediately sound less real, less dynamic, collapsed soundstage, etc. All the things that a 3-5db loss in volume will do. Turn the volume back up to where it was before, and magically it will all be good again

[BeeBop]

Thanks Mike. The ac member who is sending the filters told me to keep them since he no longer needs them . Sorry about that! I will be calling Brenda for a new set of silversonic interconnects, though.

[hectic1]

I have a pair of 85hz filters and I would have to agree with Mike that they do a spectacular job of "cleaning" out some of the unwanted lower frequencies on the Sapphires....

IMO I would go with the 85hz over the 65hz ones as they are 1st order...[/quote]

[Rich Carlson]

Don't know if adding to this thread is the right thing, but given the title, thought I'd try ...

I'd like to try high-pass filters with my Sapphire III LE/Titan system, but I am running balanced cables to the main amp.  Does anyone know whether something similar to the ACI high-pass filters is available for a balanced/XLR setup?  

Thanks,
Rich

[Mike Dzurko]

Don't know if adding to this thread is the right thing, but given the title, thought I'd try ...

I'd like to try high-pass filters with my Sapphire III LE/Titan system, but I am running balanced cables to the main amp.  Does anyone know whether something similar to the ACI high-pass filters is available for a balanced/XLR setup?  

Thanks,
Rich

Rich:

We actually had a small run custom made. We don't have them on-line. I'll have to check on pricing and availability. They are in a small black box with two inputs on one end and two outputs on the other end.

[Rich Carlson]

Just a followup, in case anyone is interested ...  after some off-circle correspondence, I bought the balanced high-pass filter Mike mentions.  It arrived last night, and after not too much time spent tweaking (two subs together with the RDQ-1 equalizer gives a lot to play with), I was able to achieve substantially better sound than I'd experienced before -- it has cleared things up in the 40-50 Hz region that I was unable to fix with any combination of subwoofer location/settings/equalization.  The filter is totally transparent; in fact, increased transparency of the system as a whole is one way to describe the improvement.  Thanks, Mike!

Rich