[Erik Garci]

Quote:

How can I possibly own an Smyth Realiser if I don't have speakers and the presets on the Realiser are less than ideal?

 
If you can borrow a speaker for a few minutes, it's possible to make your own personalized 7.1 preset by using just one speaker (and an amp for it, if the speaker does not have a built-in amp).

 

[maverickronin]

You could also rent time from a studio or make a profile from a friend's or acquaintance's system at their apartment/condo/whatever.

 

[frenshprince]

Quote:

I have just received my realizer and I...

Thanks in advance for any and all help received.

 
Don't hesitate to contact Mike Smyth or Lorr Kramer.
I had some trouble with my Realiser, and they've been very helpfull and available (even sunday)

 

[CanMad]

 
Don't hesitate to contact Mike Smyth or Lorr Kramer.
I had some trouble with my Realiser, and they've been very helpfull and available (even sunday)

Thanks. Lorr was very responsive to my emails regarding the issues I was having. I have been sent a new set of mics after doing some tests Lorr asked me to do.

Unfortunately I won't be able to try them out for another week as I am interstate at the moment.

 

[TruBrew]

So I got my Realiser in a few weeks back. It is much better than the DH unit I was running before. I won't say it is the greatest thing I have ever heard, but a great improvement. I have a date booked with AIX next month, so I am excited about the product getting even better soon.
 
I have a question that I am hoping someone can answer. I hear some hum/buzz if I turn the headphone amp up all the way (Lyr to HE-6). I know it is not the tubes. I my Mac and Realiser connected to a Niles input switch. When connected to the computer, I can turn the volume knob up all the way, and it is dead silent. With the Realiser on the other hand, I get a very noticeable noise. I am guessing it must be interference picked up from the RCA cables, but was wondering if anyone else has had a similar experience. My amp is across the room from my Realiser and I am using 2 sets of generic RCA cables I pulled out of my bucket of cables connected to each other with a set of RCA couplers. The total length of the Cables is about 21 feet. I just purchased a replacement set from BJC, which are a bit longer (31ft). While they will be longer, the cables should presumably be shielded much better. 
 
I don't notice any static while audio is running, but I would still like to get rid of the problem. 
 
Edit: I do hear the noise while audio is running.

 

[sillysally]

Quote:

So I got my Realiser in a few weeks back. It is much better than the DH unit I was running before. I won't say it is the greatest thing I have ever heard, but a great improvement. I have a date booked with AIX next month, so I am excited about the product getting even better soon.
 
I have a question that I am hoping someone can answer. I hear some hum/buzz if I turn the headphone amp up all the way (Lyr to HE-6). I know it is not the tubes. I my Mac and Realiser connected to a Niles input switch. When connected to the computer, I can turn the volume knob up all the way, and it is dead silent. With the Realiser on the other hand, I get a very noticeable noise. I am guessing it must be interference picked up from the RCA cables, but was wondering if anyone else has had a similar experience. My amp is across the room from my Realiser and I am using 2 sets of generic RCA cables I pulled out of my bucket of cables connected to each other with a set of RCA couplers. The total length of the Cables is about 21 feet. I just purchased a replacement set from BJC, which are a bit longer (31ft). While they will be longer, the cables should presumably be shielded much better. 
 
I don't notice any static while audio is running, but I would still like to get rid of the problem. 
 
Edit: I do hear the noise while audio is running.

Where do you have the volume set on the Realiser?
 
Have you tried running a much shorter good RCA cables from you Realiser to your lyr?

 

[dsperber]

You're positive this isn't a real hum... like a ground loop hum?  Do you have a number of components plugged into a common power strip or surge suppressor?
 
Do you have a 3-prong power cord on something which might be suspect, like your headphone amp?  This isn't to blame the amp, or the cord, or any particular component... but rather just the whole system of interconnected components and cables, and the resulting ground loop.  So perhaps your situation might be similar, and you just might be the victim of a ground loop hum?
 
Have you tried "raising" the 3-prong plug from your headphone amp, using what I call a "lifter", which is simply a 3-to-2 adapter that eliminates the ground prong from touching or plugging into anything?  This is the precise recommended solution for a ground loop hum.
 
I suggest this because I had a similar problem caused by my Stax SRM-T1S headphone amp, which is part of the whole connection sequence involving my Realiser, DBX 14/10 EQ, Yamaha AVR, all the equipment plugged into the AVR, etc.  I had a visible (on the EQ's graphic spectrum analyzer display) and audible (in my ears) low-frequency hum which was at around 60hz.  I'd never heard it before inserting the Realiser into the system and interconnecting everything the way it needed to be done.
 
My solution:  a $1 gray plastic "lifter" to eliminate the ground prong from the [cough... B.S.] $500 after-market power cord I was using for my Stax headphone amp, plugging into the power strip.  I actually had to use a clipper to eliminate the piece of the plastic lifter into which the ground prong inserts (and then goes nowhere), just because of the physical dimensions of the [cough... B.S.] power cord plug.  But once I got that minor issue resolved and got the plug/lifter properly put together, like magic the ground loop hum was INSTANTLY GONE!  DISAPPEARED!
 
Visibly and audibly, my ground loop hum had gone to zero.  It was a ground loop hum problem, just somehow come to light with the interconnecting of things due to the new Realiser in the system.

 

[dsperber]

OH... and an important milestone recently passed, for this thread and for me:
 
My own Realiser... serial #0001... has now just recently had its SECOND BIRTHDAY.
 
Born April 6, 2009.
 
Champagne glass lifted.
 

 

[TruBrew]

Well I know the hum is not coming from the amp side. As I said, when I switch to another source,y my computer, I have no hum. The computer only a few feet away from the amp. They are both plugged into an APC ES 750 UPS. With that setup there is 0 hum, so I don't think the amp is having a ground loop problem. When I switch to the Realiser I hear the hum. The Realiser is set to 0db, and is plugged into an APC H15 power conditioner. I suppose I could move the amp to near the Realiser and use shorter cables. I could not leave it like that, but try it as a test to determine if it is a cable or power problem on the Realiser end. 

 

[TruBrew]

OK, so I spent some time moving things around to try and isolate my problem. There is a very small amount of hum coming off my amp even from my computer, which I thought there was not. I tried my LCD-2, which are more sensitive than the HE-6. Is is very quite on the LCD-2, volume all the way up, and non existent on the HE-6. It is a very small amount, and not the main issue. I have tracked the source of the problem to the outlet which all of my gear is plugged into. Since it seems to be an AC ground hum, I will move my search somewhere else. I do appreciate all the ideas though.
 
Edit: I thought it was the outlet, but it is the TV. A ground lift may solve my problem, so I may try that.

 

[dsperber]

Quote:

The Realiser is set to 0db

If this is the default volume level, it is way too high... though it may be what works properly in your setup.
 
As I recall, the default "factory" level is about -15db or -20db, or somewhere in there.  I found that to be too low for me and required me to turn the other volume levels in my own setup up to high... specifically, the volume on my SRM-T1S headphone amp.  I almost had to max it out for "normal and satisfactory" listening, and then had no room to go "louder" if I wanted to.
 
So I changed the default Realiser level to -10db, which seemed to be just right for all the other levels which now were either somewhere between "12 o'clock to 2 o'clock' which I felt was a good place for them all.  I now had quite adequate room to make any of them "louder".
 
Now that's just my own situation.  But might you try something similar, turning DOWN the Realiser to say-10db and turning up the peripheral volume/gain levels available to you so that you're back to the real volume you want in your ears but with a more balanced volume setting throughout the system?
 
Worth a try, anyway, turning the Realiser's volume down significantly by perhaps 50% from what you have right now.  That's still double the "factory" setting.  See what happens?

 

[TruBrew]

I Thought the factory setting was -10, but maybe it was -15 or 20. I actually already tried turning that down. I went all the way to -50 with no affect. I have been having trouble determining what levels to keep everything at however. I had my Receiver (Onkyo 708) set to 82.5db, which it states as THX reference level. That sounded like a good place to start, but that would sometimes cause the Input Line in Clip to flash. I now have the Onkyo at 70db, and the Realiser at 0. At those settings I have to keep my Lyr between 12 and 2 o'clock. 
 
As for the main source of the hum, it is a ground loop caused by my TV. Unplugging the TV, or using a cheater plug drops the hum by 95%. There is still a tiny bit left, but nothing to be bothered by. I bought a Tripp Lite IS500HG that I found cheap on Ebay to fix the problem. I may try running the TV and Lyr into is to see if I can not get rid of that last 5% of hum.
 
I did some preliminary tests today running stereo music through the Realiser. I was running a 3.5mm out from my mac mini, and I am using the stock room settings, so it was obviously not an ideal test. I however did like the sound. I can not figure out a way however to bypass the processing, should I want the "headphone sound". I was planning on running my iMac > V-DAC > Onkyo > Realiser > Lyr > HP. I can not do that if I would be restricted to always listening to the virtualized sound. I have been thinking about buying the Explorations In Space And Time album. Binaural recordings will be rendered pointless after virtualization. 

 

[sillysally]

That is correct, setting the Realiser volume at 0 is to high, even -10 may be boarder-line and still to high. Under normal conditions -12 is fine but using the HE-6's you do need to turn the volume level up in the Realiser. I now set my volume in the Realiser at -3 for all my preset PRIR's, from there I can use the volume control in the Realiser to increase or decrease the volume for my HE-6's as I like.
 
The key here is getting a better DAC/power supply than in the Realiser and using the Realisers optical out to the DAC. The reason for using the optical out from the Realiser is you are keeping the audio signal in the digital domain to your DAC, the DAC dose its thing by converting the digital to analog and then out to your amp via interconnects.
 
I use a Supernova 6 optical 1/2M from my Realiser to my Audio-GD DAC19 DSP1v5 (very neutral) and then use a pair of 1/2M Eclipse 6 interconnects to my WA5LE amp.
The Oppo BD-95 is my source player that I run up to 8 Blue Jean RCA cables 2 1/2' to my Realiser.
 
Factory default is -21 in the Realiser.
 

 

[TruBrew]

Is there a potential for clipping if the Realiser is set to 0db? I will lower it if need be. I adjust the volume on the Lyr. The Receiver and Realiser volumes are left at constant levels.

 

[sillysally]

Distortion is the main problem, for clipping set your Realiser to soft clip and hear if there is also that problem.
 
My BD-95 is always set to 100% volume, my WA5LE is always set at 12:00. The only clipping I have seen/heard is with my LFE Ch but that's only because I didn't have my mix block settings set up properly for my A300b Amplifier with a pair TES100SS.
 
As far as ground loops go be very careful on what you do to solve that problem, that is something I don't like to get involved in (to many variables and electrical hazards).
 
I don't know why you would need to turn your amp up to 100% volume and doing so makes it understandable why you would hear a hum.