[SillyHoney]

Hi everybody!
I'm leaving the U.S and going back to my home country in October

and I started thinking about what I'm gonna bring back home. LCD-2 is the only keeper

Everything else will go. DacMagic will be replaced by Digital Link III and Asgard will be replaced by either Concerto or Woo 6

 
I'm also thinking about grabbing some compact active monitors for speaker listening purpose. The reason for compact and active is that I will carry them in my luggage when I fly back. What comes to my mind is Adam A3X and Adam Sub 7 to make it a 2.1. I don't think I can live without a subwoofer especially those A3X are extremely small.
 
Digital Link III has both RCA and balanced outputs.

 
Sub 7 has balanced input and output.

 
A3X has balanced input.

 
1. So can I set them up as in the following diagram

 
2. I'm a total noob regarding active speakers but AFAIR, satellites receive audio signal from subwoofer is a common setup?
 
3. How does crossover work with active speakers? As I know they have built-in crossover that automatically work when subwoofer is detected, is that true?
 
4. How does Digital Link III work when both balanced and unbalanced outputs are used? Which one will be the first priority? Is there any way to switch back and forth between XLR and RCA?
 
Or both outputs will send out signal at the same time? If so does it affect the sound quality?
 
5. Speakers set up like that will be balanced, is that true?
 
6. And is the Adam A3X a good choice? How is it compared to my LCD-2 setup sound quality wise? If it's too much of inferior I know I will find myself picking up the LCD-2 most of the time and the Adam will be collecting dust and that's I don't want.
 
Thanks guys!

 

[SillyHoney]

Err anyone

 

[GeorgeGoodman]

Be patient. It looks really good to me, but I have very limited experience in that area. A sub and the monitors can definitely do things even the LCD-2 cannot, like have bass you can feel and real imaging. I would go for it, but get some more advice first.

 

[Roseval]

[size=medium]Ad 1 – right, you don’t have much other options[/size]
[size=medium]Ad 2 – yes, because..[/size]
[size=medium]Ad 3 – the sub is good only for the lowest bass, the monitors are not. (you can’t get it from a small monitor).  Connect them to the sub and use the filter of the sub to feed the monitors with anything but the lowest bass. Of course they won’t autodetect as XLR  is a full plain analog connection.  Experiment a little with the settings[/size]
[size=medium]Ad 4 – ask PS audio[/size]
[size=medium]Ad 5 – XLR is balanced by design[/size]
[size=medium]Ad 6 – you have to decide yourself by  listening to the Adam.[/size]

 

[GeorgeGoodman]

+1 
 
Definitely listen to them or else read well respected reviews. I have bought gear from reading reviews from people I trust, and it has works out well. 

 

[SillyHoney]

Thank you guys

 
Things are cleared up a lot for me.
 
Say if I add up 2 active speakers and a active center speaker later on. What is the best way to setup 5.1 surround system? By adding a USB to 5.1 analog decoder? Is there any alternative?
 
Thanks a bunch guys!

 

[SillyHoney]

I checked the DLIII manual. Signal will be sent out on both XLR and RCA output

 

[Illia]

Did you manage to create such set-up? How to you like Adams so far?) How do they compare to your LCD2?
I am thinking about creating similar set-up for desktop use...
Thank you in advance.