CHORD ELECTRONICS DAVE

[EVOLVIST]

Rodney, I would say bypass the 3 series and go for the Compact Alnico Monitor which can be custom made by Louis Chochos to fit your desk.  It is a considerable upgrade to the Super 3 or 3i.  It can be driven directly by DAVE and the pairing is a match made in heaven although you will want to find a good fast subwoofer to add to the mix.

Since I'm someone who is contemplating speakers for the first time how is the DAVE able to drive these? And would that go for the Super Alnico monitors or even the Super Alnico High Output monitors?

Plus, since these aren't active monitors, how do you hook up a sub? Some type of pigtailed RCA cables?

 

[rkt31]

I have not much experience of single driver speakers directly driven by chord dacs but I have tried some diy single driver speakers directly driven by mojo . though i get more than enough volume and did not need to go beyond purple upto light purple but imho single driver has its own limitations particularly for music involving complex pieces like in large orchestral western classical music. in that respect my speaker setup having kefr300 bookshelf speakers, benchmark ahb2 power amp fed directly by hugo at low gain setting performs much better in separating individual instruments with more punch and dynamism. off course I use monitor audio rsw12 active sub also fed by same RCA out of hugo which adds more depth to image.

 

[DaveRedRef-III]

What would you guys suggest for speakers and an amp out of the DAVE?

I think it depends on size of room and what type of music you mainly listen to Evolvist.

If for instance you want really big orchestral picture in a large room then the Kef Blade or Blade 2 would probably do a good job imo. Their brief is to create a picture as though from a single source point and they do this admirably. Bass is fast because the woofers fire against each other and cancel each other out internally. Vivid s do the same and this results in almost zero resonance in the cabinet.

I would expect the Vivid speaker cabinets to be deadest of all though. There is an almost Unanimous view from reviewers this side of the pond that Vivid speakers are right at the top of the pile.

Piega top lines with their best ribbon tweeter and mid solution are amongst the most detailed I know of. Very good for small room as speakers can be placed fairly close to walls.

In a large room perhaps Martin Logan should also be considered. The reason I say large is because Electrostatics fire backwards as well as forwards. No shortage of detail though either

Hope this helps a little

 

[flummoxed]

  No the tap lengths using a PC are limited; moreover they employ conventional algorithms, which are not nearly as effective at recovering timing information as the WTA algorithm. Don't convert to DSD too, you will degrade depth and detail resolution as well as give poor timing resolution too. 
 
So keep the data to Mojo/Hugo/Dave bit perfect.
 
Rob

Thanks for the clarification Rob

 

[PANURUS]

What would you guys suggest for speakers and an amp out of the DAVE?

With my Dave, I use 2 Pass labs monoblocks that I had plan to use soon with B&W 800D3.
But since thursday, I use a CPM 2650 in a second setup with Mojo.
From that , I want to say : Take time to discover the qualities of the Chord's amplifiers.
 
edit: CPM 2650 not SPM 2650.

 

[DaveRedRef-III]

I use the Chord SPM 1200 Mk II btw

 

[EVOLVIST]

I use the Chord SPM 1200 Mk II btw

Yeah, I was thinking of this route since I've seen some good prices on used ones, as well as the Benchmark that rkt31 mentioned.

These Piega speakers, are you talking the Master series?

I'm still very intrigued about driving speakers straight from the DAVE, though. Some people are doing it. I just wonder what their exact setup is. That would seem about as transparent as one could get. Romaz seems to think so, for what it's worth.

 

[DaveRedRef-III]

I would think you would need a monitor with a very light load to drive something direct from Dave. Regarding Piega I have the Coax series but I am sure the Master series will improve on that. Both use the 'tweeter and mid' single ribbon unit that goes down to 400hz before the woofers take over.

 

[DaveRedRef-III]

Funny story about the Piega's is that when I bought them I was in contact with the head office. I told the guy which speaker interested me and I was asking advice on the size I should be going for in the range. He told me a larger size than I would have expected (I wondered if it was just a sales pitch). I was a little worried a little because I didn't want it to swamp the room with bass. Anyway it turned out he was right but the really impressive feat was that I told him I would be setting them up on the long wall across the room and I needed to know that the optimum position would not be too far out in the room. Anyway he took my data on the dimensions of my listening room and came back with a measurement of front baffle should be approx. 60cm from the wall behind it. Do you know after months of adjustment I have found that he was almost bang on. I have settled at 61cm. That's an impressive understanding of their product I think. No wonder the Germans revere Swiss engineering at the same level us Brits revere German engineering.

 

[miko64]

With my Dave, I use 2 Pass labs monoblocks that I had plan to use soon with B&W 800D3.
But since thursday, I use a CPM 2650 in a second setup with Mojo.
From that , I want to say : Take time to discover the qualities of the Chord's amplifiers.

edit: CPM 2650 not SPM 2650.

panurus

How do passlab amps (which) compare to chord amps. I have the former ones and was always wondering how the latter ones perform. What is the main difference?

Thanks

Michael

 

[EVOLVIST]

Okay, so tell me if I'm right or wrong, or somewhere in between:

DAVE: preamp mode

Speakers: 95db - 8ohms - 2 watts

So... -3db is 3vRMS DAVE output via RCA which equals roughly 2.8 Watts. Therefore, now we are powering the speakers with DAVE in preamp mode, yes?

Now... +4db is 6.7vRMS DAVE output via RCA, which gives wiggle room in selecting your volume of 8db to play with in volume, being the difference between -3db and +4db without clipping, yes?

If I'm correct about the above, what I do not know, however, is at +4db it's not hitting the 95db speaker threshold is it? I mean, that's pretty loud... Or is it? I know this might seem elementary to some, but I'm stuck at this point. I wonder how loud I would actually be pushing the speakers.

Thanks!

Edit: Or did I just hit upon it here?

Every doubling of power is another +3dB of loudness. So:

2 w = 89 dB

4 w = 92 dB

8 w = 95 dB

Therefore, at 6.7vRMS you are hitting at around 95db, and in a small room that's going to be pretty loud.

 

[yellowblue]

Romaz seems to be busy at computeraudiophile just now 

 so maybe I can answer some questions about a high efficency-speaker setup with the Dave.
 
The Omega Compact Alnico Monitors can play pretty loud directly connected to the Dave´s RCA. Good enough for a small room. But with some music you should not press them too much. They can sound a little shouty then (especially with not enough burn in time). Much better even after connecting a subwoofer (I use a Klipsch 10´ subwoofer with a XLR-RCA adaptercable with good results).
 
This will be an incredible setup if you are in search after a very revealing, transparent sound with fantastic soundstage. And it has a really good value. But I am not sure if that kind of tonality will work for all.

 

[bmichels]

  Romaz seems to be busy at computeraudiophile just now 

 so maybe I can answer some questions about a high efficency-speaker setup with the Dave.
 
The Omega Compact Alnico Monitors can play pretty loud directly connected to the Dave´s RCA. Good enough for a small room. But with some music you should not press them too much. They can sound a little shouty then (especially with not enough burn in time). Much better even after connecting a subwoofer (I use a Klipsch 10´ subwoofer with a XLR-RCA adaptercable with good results).
 
This will be an incredible setup if you are in search after a very revealing, transparent sound with fantastic soundstage. And it has a really good value. But I am not sure if that kind of tonality will work for all.

 
Omega Compact Alnico Monitors are 95 db/w.
 
There are some much higher efficiency speakers like the  Klipsch LaScala II which are 105 db/w, the Teresonic Ingenium at 103 db/w, some Voxatic which also are at 105 db/w, or even..the mighty Tune Audio ANIMA at... 109 db/w.
 
I am considering them to use with my EC445 which also has a Speaker output rated at 3 watts.
 
 

 

[lovethatsound]

For those of you that are interested,their's an interview with John Franks in February's edition of Hi-Fi Choice called John,Hugo and Dave☺

 

[tunes]

Does anyone know of a portable DAP that has two SD micro card slots that can be used to stack with the Chord Hugo as a transport for flac file library that has USB out? It seems that most of the players currently only have Toslink digital out and this gives inferior SQ as bit perfect input to the Chord Hugo. Ideally, a DAP that also has Wifi to stream TIDAL etc. This would be an ideal transportable setup. If the DAVE was transportable I would buy it now. The HUGO 2 to my ears sounded great at the NYC CAMJAM and more than enough power to drive the HEK V2 to loud levels with plenty of headroom. I thought this pairing was great but the DAVE is really amazing and should be for the cost.