2. home-theater
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Help setting up HT and Integrated Amp and Sub

Hi, all...
I have a bit of a hodge-podge system that I am trying to get set up and am having a brain-cramp determining the best way to wire things here...let me give a summary of the journey thus far:
- I live in a tiny little apartment, so my ancient full-range floor standing Polks do not fit, nor does much of anything
- Had a nice little home theater setup featuring Cambridge SoundWorks surround speakers and sub hooked up to a Yamaha RX-A700 HT receiver. Not bad, but I decided to get a little more audiophile as the quality was just meh.
- Bought a set of Harbeth P3ESRs and, wow, they are pretty fantastic...the sub became more important and so I replaced that with an SVS SB-2000.
So now I had the P3ESR, SVS sub and 3 Cambridge speakers (center and surround) driven by the Yamaha...not bad, but not great.
- SACD player (old Pioneer) died, replaced with Oppo BDP-103
- Got a Teac DAC to hook my Mac up to the stereo system
- Felt the P3s were underdriven, so got an Emotiva MiniX (pre-out from receiver into it onto the Harbeths)...sounded much better, surround and movies was bad though, so got 3 Cambridge Minx21s (very blah, but a bit better than the old ones) and left them hooked to the receiver...as is the sub
This was fine for a little bit, but I felt the receiver was really holding me back, so looked at integrated amps...tried a Musical Fidelity 3.5, but it doesn't like my power (even with a conditioner!), so gave it to my brother. Found a good deal on an Exposure 2010s2d and am where I am now:
- I want to connect the Oppo, the Teac DAC and the HT receiver to the Exposure, driving the Harbeths for quality stereo sound and leave the 3 other speakers connected to the HT receiver....but where do I connect the sub? If I connect it to the Exposure for use in music listening, I lose it from the HT setup so movies will suffer (as will the occasional surround disc I play). If I connect it directly to the Oppo, I need to play with the settings constantly and I lose sound level control (i.e. when I turn up the amp/receiver, it won't get louder too).
I did buy a fairly good quality RCA Y connector thinking I could run from both the integrated amp and receiver, but it introduced a pronounced hum, which I am assuming is a ground loop somewhere...

At this point I am getting all confused and it is annoying, as it is a feeling I am not used to. Anyone have any ideas on the best way to connect all this? I mean...I want pure audio through the integrated amp, with the ability to watch movies and play surround content through the receiver...
Thanks in advance!
Os.
osmodious
osmodious OP
8 posts
 
That would be fantastic, thanks!
Ideally, that would be my preference for install, as the idea of the switch is really bothering me for some reason...not to mention I'm lazy and don't want to get up off my fat butt to switch from AVR to Integrated (granted, would only have to for the sub, but still).
So you have both the AVR and your A5 connected to your sub...does it have more than the one set of inputs, or did you use a Y connector? I guess the diagram will show it...
Thanks, again!
Os.
erikt
268 posts
 

Here is my overall system connection diagram

http://erikt.cts.com/Pictures/hometheater/HT-Bypass-Diagram-1.jpg

And for HT/movies/multichannel sources

http://erikt.cts.com/Pictures/hometheater/HT-Bypass-Diagram-HTmode.jpg


And for 2-channel sources

http://erikt.cts.com/Pictures/hometheater/HT-Bypass-Diagram-2chnlmode.jpg

Hope that helps and good luck with your own setup.

osmodious OP
8 posts
 
Those are great!
I see the difference now...on my SVS sub, there is only one input. There are a grand total of 4 RCA jacks, 2 (white and red) for Line Output and 2 (also white and red, of course) that do double duty as L/R input and LFE in (the red/right input). I guess they felt there wasn't need for a separate input for LFE.
I had plugged in a Y to the red (which had the LFE from the AVR and the Right from the A3.5) and the Left from the A3.5 into the white. Maybe I'll try moving the Y to the upper end, by the the AVR and Integrated...or just wait until I have the switchbox.
Thank you...very much appreciated!
Os.
erikt
268 posts
 

I’d also verify that the Exposure Int Amp has ’true’ HT Direct when you have your AVR front preouts connected to one of the inputs.

With the sub connected to the preouts of the Exposure, you should not hear any signal at all if the Exposure ’bypasses’ its internal preamp section.

If you do hear something from the sub, then the Exposure has a unity gain design and the AVR L/R preout signals are still going thru the Exposure preamp section (and hence the Exposure preouts to the sub).

This may explain the hum with your "Y" connection from both the AVR and the Exposure to the sub.

osmodious OP
8 posts
 

I just typed up the whole sordid story...and this stupid website ate it. I'm not retyping it. Suffice it to say that this whole thing has been as much of a disaster as attempting to post my frickin reply...and I'm just done.

A couple of quick notes: 1) According to Exposure, and borne out in my experience (as much as I could tell with how poorly all of this works) the PreAmp Out on their Integrateds is FIXED volume, which makes it a LINE OUT, so useless for me (or for anyone expecting to use their Integrated as a Preamp). 2) If you adjust the volume on the Exposure when using the AV-in, it turns the volume up and down...it is NOT a fixed-gain output. 3) If you use analog outs on an Oppo BDP-103, be aware that the player acts as a preamp and you can adjust volume on it...and it defaults to 100%, regardless of what you set the default to, or the maximum either (when you turn it off/on, it's back at 100 again). This will cause sound to come out of your speakers even if the Integrated has the volume all the way down...and will blow your speakers if you hadn't turned the amp's volume down first. 4) Also, the Oppo sends signal/sound out to the analogue out AND HDMI out simultaneously...this cannot be adjusted...making it useless as a single source for both an AVR and an Integrated, as the Integrated will then receive a signal from both the AV in and CD in and you will get noise, and not a good noise. 5) If you live in a small apartment, decide whether you want to have an audiophile sound system OR a home theater because you don't have the space to do both and you apparently can't use one system for both unless you compromise on the audiophile side.

Now...let's see if this post also gets blanked out when I save, in which case I'll be in the market for a new laptop once I've thrown this one against a wall...

Os.

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