Rolledmyown
Registered
Thread Starter
- Joined
- Apr 12, 2023
- Posts
- 6
More
- Preamp, Processor or Receiver
- Wadia Di122,,
- Main Amp
- Home made
- Computer Audio
- JRiver, Windows (Sony) laptop
- Front Speakers
- Home made, completely, except for drivers
- Subwoofers
- SVS PB1000
Hi folks,
Like most things in my (retired) life now, I think there is the possibility of one last attempt to breath some new life into old stuff, so long as not much cash is involved.
My current DIY hifi includes a Foreplay valve amp, an AEM6000 power amp and some kit speakers. Having got rid of my ancient CD player and Behringer DSP I have some modern commercial pieces too - a laptop running JRiver Media Centre as my only source/DSP, with DAC taken care of by either a Topping D10 connected to the Foreplay or a Wadia Di122 connected to the power amp. The AEM6000 power amp is now nearly 40 years old and its MOSFETS are not available. I'm rather worried that one day it will fail and leave me with a wonderous repair project and perhaps charred curtains and broken drivers as well. So I'm contemplating an upgrade that will hopefully sound better (system does sound good to me now though) and be somewhat future proof, for as long as we both may live. My speakers include some good Scan Speak and Peerless drivers and a pair of home made crossovers. Spent a lot of time custom winding inductors and collecting capacitors. With JRiver I can get a reasonably good room response but I think there is room for improvement. What I'm contemplating is converting my speakers to active, using Hypex FA123 plate amps. I like the idea of being able to match my drivers better than by electrical padding and to obtain absolutely precise crossovers rather than what I got as a result of making my own inductors, I've also never been able to time align my drivers either, which would be nice and while I'm at it I could look at putting a house curve on the plate amp rather than use JRiver and get a better integration between my speakers and subwoofer as well, as there is no highpass filter on the bass driver of my home grown crossovers.
This will cost a few Aussie dollars to do this, but I guess replacing the AEM6000 with something similar would not be cheap either if it blows, and maybe active speakers will be better anyway.
Although I've done a bit of work making my gear so far, I'm no expert, so I don't know what to expect in regard to any improvements to be gained by going active and in regard to programming the filters for the plate amps.
I'd appreciate any points of view!
PK
Like most things in my (retired) life now, I think there is the possibility of one last attempt to breath some new life into old stuff, so long as not much cash is involved.
My current DIY hifi includes a Foreplay valve amp, an AEM6000 power amp and some kit speakers. Having got rid of my ancient CD player and Behringer DSP I have some modern commercial pieces too - a laptop running JRiver Media Centre as my only source/DSP, with DAC taken care of by either a Topping D10 connected to the Foreplay or a Wadia Di122 connected to the power amp. The AEM6000 power amp is now nearly 40 years old and its MOSFETS are not available. I'm rather worried that one day it will fail and leave me with a wonderous repair project and perhaps charred curtains and broken drivers as well. So I'm contemplating an upgrade that will hopefully sound better (system does sound good to me now though) and be somewhat future proof, for as long as we both may live. My speakers include some good Scan Speak and Peerless drivers and a pair of home made crossovers. Spent a lot of time custom winding inductors and collecting capacitors. With JRiver I can get a reasonably good room response but I think there is room for improvement. What I'm contemplating is converting my speakers to active, using Hypex FA123 plate amps. I like the idea of being able to match my drivers better than by electrical padding and to obtain absolutely precise crossovers rather than what I got as a result of making my own inductors, I've also never been able to time align my drivers either, which would be nice and while I'm at it I could look at putting a house curve on the plate amp rather than use JRiver and get a better integration between my speakers and subwoofer as well, as there is no highpass filter on the bass driver of my home grown crossovers.
This will cost a few Aussie dollars to do this, but I guess replacing the AEM6000 with something similar would not be cheap either if it blows, and maybe active speakers will be better anyway.
Although I've done a bit of work making my gear so far, I'm no expert, so I don't know what to expect in regard to any improvements to be gained by going active and in regard to programming the filters for the plate amps.
I'd appreciate any points of view!
PK
