[PROTIEUS]

If you're asking me, you're better off with a Harmony if you also want to control other devices as well (although I have returned mine because it (or rather their support) couldn't cope with the complexity of my IR macros). You could also use Centro via IP on an iPad or iPhone. If you're more adventurous, a Phlips Pronto NG or Pro or a JP1 remote would be an option. Any of the high end controls, like Control4, AMX or Crestron should work as well, although those would be rather costly. Not sure if you need an IR remote to enable IP control.

There surport is amazing.... sorted me out straight away.. faster than amazon... got 2 remotes put other awat in safe place all sorted... just updating it today....

 

[Unsoundmethods]

All,

Greetings from Istanbul. I have been skimming through the messages (800 pages and counting obviously) and am around half the way to it. I couldn’t wait for completing the whole message thread and thought I could check with you about a question that I consider as key factor to buy this device. The answer to my question might be too obvious for some of you maybe, and apologies for that.

First a quick backstory. I have first seen Realiser A8 mentioned in Robert Harley’s book (The Complete Guide to High-End Audio) and his remarks were hard to believe really. Then came out that kickstarter campaign with the new product announcement which I have found most thrilling. Though I didn’t join the first purchaser group as I wasn’t sure whether it would succeed (It’s not that I do not trust Smyth, but I saw many campaigns fail for various reasons). After the shipment of the first batch has begun, I had contacted with James in order to clarify when the Realiser Exchange Program would kickstart but could not get clear answers. Some other enquiries in the last couple of years were also answered with ambitious statements. When I check the website it says that there was a section elaborating on that program, but again with ambiguous statements.

Although I am heavily interested in stereo systems features of the product, I personally do not have the opportunity to go to a place and make the necessary measurements of a decent Hi-Fi setup to capture the PRIR, so that the Exchange Program is a quite critical to me. So the question is, do you guys have any information on that front whether that program would be available if ever and if yes that the details would be (cost etc.)? In the meantime do the members of this forum consider to come up with an alternative environment to make that platform a reality ?

Thanks in advance,

 

[sander99]

I've started having a strange problem that maybe someone can help me with. I listen to music using a MacBook Pro (an older one with an HDMI output). Lately, midway through a listening session, the music will stop, the computer screen will start flashing, and the A16 display will say "no HDMI" rather than PCM like it should say. No amount of restarting the computer or the A16 will immediately help, but the problem magically fixes itself if I disconnect the computer from the A16 and reconnect it later. This happens when the computer is plugged into any of the four A16 HDMI inputs. The HDMI cable is new. All the other devices connected to the A16 (Roku, Xbox) work fine. This problem only started recently. Any ideas?

Do you have a tv/beamer/display connected to the A16 HDMI output?
Did you recently make changes in this regard, like adding a splitter and not using the A16 HDMI output anymore?
(I just ask because I remember someone couldn't get certain things to work without having any kind of display connected to the A16 HDMI output. In such cases a EDID emulater that simulates a display could help, see:
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/smyth-research-realiser-a16.807459/page-669#post-15835106
)

[Edit: changed occurances of EDIT to EDID, I had the wrong abbreviation in my head!]

 

[sander99]

So the question is, do you guys have any information on that front whether that program would be available if ever and if yes that the details would be (cost etc.)?

I am afraid we don't have any more information about that, certainly not details like costs.

In the meantime do the members of this forum consider to come up with an alternative environment to make that platform a reality ?

For personalising someone else's PRIR: for as far as I know: no.

For sharing our PRIRs: yes. Rene Lou's google drive, you can find a lot of PRIRs there and you could try if there is one that "fits" you:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1MWWb8KELPBbAC5WSHf82UXeV73v1O84W

Also @Litlgi74 plans to sell his own PRIRs:
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/3d-...-the-smyth-realiser-a16.957214/#post-16291620
And if you fly to him he can measure your own PRIR in a studio, but it's a long way from Istanbul.

Furthermore: you could rent a studio for a few ours to create your own PRIRs (this doesn't need to be very expensive but you will have to know what to do, better practise at home first with some simple cheap speakers if you don't have anything else).

Also there exist studio's who are experienced in doing PRIR measurements for clients, for exanple MSM studio in Munich Germany, but prices are very steep. (1190 Euros for a 9.1.4 measurement).
https://for-tune.de/produkt/dolby-atmos-prir-messung-msm-studios-muenchen/

@KaiSc has a studio in Germany and he once wrote he had plans to offer PRIR measurements (using a one- or two speaker method for measuring all the channels) for the normal hourly costs of using the studio. That would be a lot cheaper than MSM.

You can also rent speakers and amps (and maybe some acoustic absorber panels) to measure in your home.

 

[sander99]

There surport is amazing.... sorted me out straight away.. faster than amazon... got 2 remotes put other awat in safe place all sorted... just updating it today....

What did you buy, a Harmony?
Then you still need to copy a few missing key codes from an original A16 remote (if I understood correctly).
Maybe you could ask here if anyone with an original A16 remote lives close to you?

 

[jk6661]

Do you have a tv/beamer/display connected to the A16 HDMI output?
Did you recently make changes in this regard, like adding a splitter and not using the A16 HDMI output anymore?
(I just ask because I remember someone couldn't get certain things to work without having any kind of display connected to the A16 HDMI output. In such cases a EDIT emulater that simulates a display could help, see:
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/smyth-research-realiser-a16.807459/page-669#post-15835106
)

I have a TV connected to the A16's HDMI video pass-through, if that's what you mean. But that hasn't changed.

Edit: Just for kicks, I disconnected my TV from the video pass-through and... problem solved! The computer and A16 communicated fine, and I was able to listen to music. As soon as I reconnect the TV to the video pass-through, the problem immediately starts again. So maybe when the pass-through is connected, the Macbook knows that and doesn't know what to do with what is essentially a DAC connected to a TV? Anyway, I'm glad I figured it out, but it will be a pain connecting and disconnected the pass-through all the time.

 

[sander99]

I have a TV connected to the A16's HDMI video pass-through, if that's what you mean. But that hasn't changed.

Edit: Just for kicks, I disconnected my TV from the video pass-through and... problem solved! The computer and A16 communicated fine, and I was able to listen to music. As soon as I reconnect the TV to the video pass-through, the problem immediately starts again. So maybe when the pass-through is connected, the Macbook knows that and doesn't know what to do with what is essentially a DAC connected to a TV? Anyway, I'm glad I figured it out, but it will be a pain connecting and disconnected the pass-through all the time.

And if you configure the mac to use the tv as an additional monitor (even if you don't really use the tv that way)?

I also wonder if the following would be possible: put an EDID emulator between the mac and the A16 that only sends the A16 audio capabilities EDID information to the mac, and no video capabilities at all. (Probably a different type of EDID emulator is needed for that than the one I mentioned because the description of that one specifically mentions display EDID information and not audio.)

[Edit: changed occurances of EDIT to EDID, I had the wrong abbreviation in my head!]

 

[Eich1eeF]

I have a TV connected to the A16's HDMI video pass-through, if that's what you mean. But that hasn't changed.

Edit: Just for kicks, I disconnected my TV from the video pass-through and... problem solved! The computer and A16 communicated fine, and I was able to listen to music. As soon as I reconnect the TV to the video pass-through, the problem immediately starts again. So maybe when the pass-through is connected, the Macbook knows that and doesn't know what to do with what is essentially a DAC connected to a TV? Anyway, I'm glad I figured it out, but it will be a pain connecting and disconnected the pass-through all the time.

That problem should be related to the EDID that the A16 presents to your Mac. Could you please try to download and decode that, if possible both the non-working and a working version. I'm afraid you'll have to google a method to extract the EDID, since I don't have a Mac running MacOS and my A16 is still in Bangor...

 

[sander99]

I disconnected my TV from the video pass-through and... problem solved!

Oh wait a minute: I remember some time ago you asked about HDMI audio bypass. Could it be that the problems originally started after you changed the bypass settings in the A16 HDMI menu?
What settings do you have in the A16 HDMI menu, and which HDMI input is the mac connected to (I know you tried all inputs, but which one normally)?

 

[jk6661]

And if you configure the mac to use the tv as an additional monitor (even if you don't really use the tv that way)?

I also wonder if the following would be possible: put an EDID emulator between the mac and the A16 that only sends the A16 audio capabilities EDID information to the mac, and no video capabilities at all. (Probably a different type of EDID emulator is needed for that than the one I mentioned because the description of that one specifically mentions display EDID information and not audio.)

[Edit: changed occurances of EDIT to EDID, I had the wrong abbreviation in my head!]

I use the TV as an external monitor for the Mac periodically. I'm not familiar with EDID emulators, but I'll look into it.

 

[jk6661]

Oh wait a minute: I remember some time ago you asked about HDMI audio bypass. Could it be that the problems originally started after you changed the bypass settings in the A16 HDMI menu?
What settings do you have in the A16 HDMI menu, and which HDMI input is the mac connected to (I know you tried all inputs, but which one normally)?

I use audio bypass on HDMI 2 and the Mac is connected to HDMI 1, so I don't think that's the issue.

 

[Eich1eeF]

I use the TV as an external monitor for the Mac periodically. I'm not familiar with EDID emulators, but I'll look into it.

EDID manipulation is usually done in hardware, e.g. https://hdfury.com/product/dr-hdmi/ or https://gefen.com/product/booster-for-hdmi-with-edid-detective/

But since you're using a Computer, a software solution should work, e.g. https://github.com/Akemi/macOS-edid-modification or https://gist.github.com/ejdyksen/8302862

 

[Om ma Ni]

Did anyone managed to capture a proper subwoofer PRIR by connecting directly the A16 to an active Sub without using a receiver etc..?

 

[sander99]

Did anyone managed to capture a proper subwoofer PRIR by connecting directly the A16 to an active Sub without using a receiver etc..?

I did not try this myself (and waited a bit for others to respond to your question before I wrote this) but I don't see any reason why that would not work(?)
Why do you ask?

Another matter is that some people reported problems when they tried to create a PRIR containing only one virtual speaker (or maybe any odd number of virtual speakers is problematic?). So better not try to create a PRIR containing only one single subwoofer and no other speaker(s). And if you really only want to measure only a subwoofer (for example because you don't have other speakers and amps around at that time) then simply measure it twice, creating a PRIR containing two subwoofers, even if you will use only one of them.

And one more thing: Personally I would prefer to make all my normal virtual speakers full range by letting the subwoofer run - bass managed - with every speaker that I measure. Because then you won't have to worry about bass management settings (and possible limitations of the bass management) in the A16 at playback time. If for some reason in some scenario the low frequencies of other channels can not be redirected to the subwoofer then there is no problem because each virtual speaker has it's own subwoofer "baked in" already.

 

[Om ma Ni]

I did not try this myself (and waited a bit for others to respond to your question before I wrote this) but I don't see any reason why that would not work(?)
Why do you ask?

Another matter is that some people reported problems when they tried to create a PRIR containing only one virtual speaker (or maybe any odd number of virtual speakers is problematic?). So better not try to create a PRIR containing only one single subwoofer and no other speaker(s). And if you really only want to measure only a subwoofer (for example because you don't have other speakers and amps around at that time) then simply measure it twice, creating a PRIR containing two subwoofers, even if you will use only one of them.

And one more thing: Personally I would prefer to make all my normal virtual speakers full range by letting the subwoofer run - bass managed - with every speaker that I measure. Because then you won't have to worry about bass management settings (and possible limitations of the bass management) in the A16 at playback time. If for some reason in some scenario the low frequencies of other channels can not be redirected to the subwoofer then there is no problem because each virtual speaker has it's own subwoofer "baked in" already.

Ok let s take an example, if you have a sub, an active speaker and the A16, how will you set up and connect physicaly the sub and the active speaker to the A16 to be able to make a full range speaker PRIR measurement (sub+active spkr) ?