Analog input w/ xr45 Panny

goskers · « **on:** 17 Feb 2004, 08:14 pm »

HI all,
I have been very intrigued about the mods Wayne is offering for the panny but unfortunately I can not run the digital portion with my setup. I have a pair of Linkwitz Orion's that have an analog xo which you need 8 channels of amplification to run. Would the panny be a great canadite to get into for an analog amp or should I keep looking?

Thanks

Wayne1 · « **Reply #1 on:** 17 Feb 2004, 09:46 pm »

Keep looking.

The SA-XR45 sounds best with a digital input. You can send five channels of analog into it but it may not sound as good as some alternatives.

The Panasonic was designed to be used as an HT receiver. With the mods it can be used as a very good stereo receiver and it can be used for passively bi-amping a pair of stereo speakers. It does sound VERY good WHEN USED WITH A DIGITAL INPUT. The quality of sound drops off when used with the analog inputs.

It also does work very well in a 5.1 HT system with a digital input from a DVD player.

I would not suggest the use of an SACD or a DVD-A player in either 2 channel or multi-channel use. A digital signal from a Redbook CD sounds better.

goskers · « **Reply #2 on:** 17 Feb 2004, 10:05 pm »

goskers · « **Reply #3 on:** 17 Feb 2004, 10:05 pm »

Thanks for the reply Wayne.

LAN · « **Reply #4 on:** 18 Feb 2004, 05:18 am »

Quote from: Wayne1

It does sound VERY good WHEN USED WITH A DIGITAL INPUT.

Hi Wayne, do you know if it accepts digital 24/96khz input?

Wayne1 · « **Reply #5 on:** 18 Feb 2004, 01:30 pm »

The SA-XR does accept 24/96. In fact it will accept up to 192 kHz. In a couple of our comparisons, the DAM used some 24/96 DADs with truly astounding results.

This is only for stereo, however. You cannot use the SA-XR45 in the Party mode with the 24/96 signals.

OBF · « **Reply #6 on:** 18 Feb 2004, 04:40 pm »

Quote from: Wayne1

The SA-XR does accept 24/96. In fact it will accept up to 192 kHz. In a couple of our comparisons, the DAM used some 24/96 DADs with truly astounding results.

This is only for stereo, however. You cannot use the SA-XR45 in the Party mode with the 24/96 signals.

Would you say the best results were with a higher resolution signal single amp'd, or normal redbook biamped?

Wayne1 · « **Reply #7 on:** 18 Feb 2004, 04:57 pm »

It depends on what speakers you are driving.

If you do not have a demanding set of speakers, the 24/96 DAD sounded better than Redbook. There are very few of these discs out there, however.

Driving the RM-40s, I would say you really should run the unit in Party mode, passive bi-amp.

OBF · « **Reply #8 on:** 18 Feb 2004, 07:02 pm »

Yeah, I don't even own any 24/96 discs, but I was also thinking of the XR70 and it's ability to decode DVD-A. I assume party mode will still only work with Redbook, and while I don't have a DVD-A collection, I am interested in the format.

So..... I don't have anything like RM-40s, but my speakers are a minimum 6 ohm load and they really like current.

All things considered, I'd prefer using the Panny in a HT environment and keeping the ability to use the high rez capabilities, but not if I have to leave too much sonics on the table......

OBF · « **Reply #9 on:** 19 Feb 2004, 09:36 pm »

Wayne,

So another corrolary of this discussion I was thinking about..... if a person wanted to biamp their speakers but also use this in a HT setup, I believe the only way would be to buy 2 units and mod them both (or live with inferior sonics on either the bass or treble of your main speakers), split the incoming digital signal (can you even split an SPDIF without loss?) or use SPDIF and Optical if the player has both, and then wire one unit to all 5 speakers and the other to one set of terminals on the main speakers. While that would be quite expensive, is that a workable option?

Tyson · « **Reply #10 on:** 19 Feb 2004, 09:55 pm »

I'm going to try this out on Saturday, should be fun. How cool would it be to be able to biamp all 5 or 6 speakers? Since the same remote controls both units, switching inputs and volume control should not be a problem.

eico1 · « **Reply #11 on:** 19 Feb 2004, 10:07 pm »

If you really want to use the analog inputs, I'd suggest trying high quality isolation transformers like Jensen Isomax for $200. I suspect grounding with this little box isn't great and this might really help for a low cost.

I feel more sound is lost in shoddy i/o circuitry and ground systems with all this price sensitive gear. Event a good 75 Ohm iso-xformer from Jensen will help without getting intrusive, read the lit.

steve

http://www.jensen-transformers.com/iso_aud.html

dwk · « **Reply #12 on:** 21 Feb 2004, 04:45 am »

Quote from: OBF

Wayne,

So another corrolary of this discussion I was thinking about..... if a person wanted to biamp their speakers but also use this in a HT setup, I believe the only way would be to buy 2 units and mod them both (or live with inferior sonics on either the bass or treble of your main speakers), split the incoming digital signal (can you even split an SPDIF without loss?)

No need to split the signal. The Pannys have an spdif OUTPUT - the current spdif input is automatically routed to it. Simply daisy-chain the two amps via an optical cable, and you're good to go.