Should I sell my accuphase for this schiit

There is no reason I can fathom why the Vidar did not work on the mid/bass with the Sys in this arrangement  https://ibb.co/SRj7hPT.

Something was not wired correctly, or the Sys is faulty.
(try again double checking all connections and put your Freya in solid state output mode) 

Cheers George 

You have to use the Sys to lower the gain of the Vidar to match the Aegir.
As the Vidar has 22 x gain and the Aegir is 12 x gain, so there is quite a need for the Sys to be on the Vidar to equalize the gains. Without the Sys your speakers will sound too lower/mid and bass heavy.

Cheers George

@delvalle23


Yes the bass could get "too" much if the Vidar has a touch more gain if your not using the Sys to gain match.

As for the Vidar not working when the Sys in in the mix wired up like this https://ibb.co/SRj7hPT , it could only be the wrong connection, not switched to the correct input, or the Schiit is faulty, I can’t see any other explanation for it not to work.

Can anyone one else here see a problem that I’m not seeing????

BTW the Vidar has 22 x gain and the Aegir is 12 x gain so there is quite a need for the Sys to be on the Vidar to equalize the gains.

Cheers George

The term bi-amping gets thrown around a lot these days - often without any understanding.

 This sounds more like I couldn’t be bothered.
Like I said an experienced tech would take about an hour to do it and the parts cost are a pair of speaker terminal, I’ve done quite a few in the passed, it’s easy even for someone with basic electronic skills.

And sorry to tell you but they do do it.

http://swbg1.tripod.com/IMG_1343.JPG

http://www.ascendacoustics.com/images/products/speakers/cmt340c/340SEC_lf_bk_hr.jpg

http://www.ascendacoustics.com/images/products/speakers/cmt340m/340se_lt_bk_hr.jpg

Cheers George

@georgehifi Wow . Thanks so much for this diagram. You even included names of each component. Thanks so much.

Thanks, you may not even need the Sys if the gains of the Aegir and Vidar amps are the same. (unlikely if different manufacturers, but a possibility from the same Schiit) 
  
But if you do you and it's on the Vidar you can also vary the Sys to use it for "those odd recordings" that may need a bit more bass or a little less bass, or visa versa if it on the Aegir, a liitle more or less treble.
So it will almost be like having a control to vary the tonality of the sound if needed, with certain recordings

Cheers George

delvalle23
I do have have the Vidar and the Aegir
I am interested in your suggestion on a horizontal bi amping VS mono block config.
How exactly do I insert a Schiit sys in the signal path or in that diagram. Thanks for your time. My preamp is a Freya Plus

Very easy and will sound a lot better, you put the Schiit Sys on the louder of the two then your Freya drives the other amp and the Sys. You adjust the Sys once only to get the gain the same on both amps. The the Freya is your master volume.

I’ve redone the horizontal diagram for you to include the Schiit Sys, Aegir and Vidar.
In this I’m "assuming" the Vidar has more gain than the Aegir hence it has the Sys on it’s input. ("could" be the Aegir has more gain then you’d put the Sys on it)
https://ibb.co/SRj7hPT

Get a pair of these for your Freya’s output https://www.audioquest.com/accessories/splitters-connectors-adaptors/adaptors/hard-rca-splitter-male-to-2-female  There are even cheaper ones on ebay.

And I would copy and store that diagram as I don’t think they last long as it’s a free service to host them.

Cheers George

that does not mean that two bridged Aegirs won’t sound better than the op’s accuphase.

I never said they wouldn’t.
I said to the OP a stereo Aegir on the tweeters and a stereo Vidar on the bass with a $39 Sys will be the OP’s best option. And he can still use the trial period

Sierra’s are simply not bi-ampable

It's not hard, and would take about an hour and add value to the speakers as then they are bi-ampable or bi-wireable

I’m not sure that bridging the amp is a problem either.

It’s your money Andrew, Just Google the disadvantages of bridging/mono'ing stereo amps and spend time and look at many posts on it to get the right answer.
I didn’t need to because I bench tested it for myself and all the parameters I mentioned in my 2nd post take a hit for the worse save for the higher wattage.

Cheers George

forum corrects you with facts

Sorry but no one has correct anything, as they covered themselves by saying to you, "they still claim "bi-amping is best for "optimum sound quality".

Which itself tells you bi-amping two stereo amps  is better than mono'ing or bridging two stereo amps. Which all comes down to tested performance specs.

If the poster takes your advice, you should make him aware that there is no attenuation controls on either amplifier so, he will likely have a significant imbalance between lows and highs that will make his Schiit sound like s***.

You need to read a bit more carefully, before saying anything

" That will blow the old Accuphase away big time. (may need a $38 Shiit Sys passive on the louder of the two amps if they are not the same gain to equalize the gains) and then keep using your Freya as the main preamp and volume."   

All you have to do is look at the impedance loading recommend after bridging compared to when in stereo and that will give you an idea all is not well when bridged. Everything takes a hit, except for 8ohm wattage output. 

Cheers George

This by them says it all.
It shows an improvement in THD while in bridged mode, provided speaker ohm is not less than 4 ohm. However, they still claim "bi-amping is best for "optimum sound quality".

Better off with a 20w Class-A Aegir in stereo feeding both tweeters (that will stay Class-A much longer where it counts in the highs, than a mono one doing full range), and then a 100w Class-A/B Vidar feeding the bass.

Cheers George

Should work great as long as the speaker are 8 ohm nominal and still fairly efficient.

Your answer is there, that it is taking a hit, and the proof for all the others would be comparing independent measurements of both mono and stereo. I bet it’s not the only parameter to take a hit.
Half the parameters that are affected that I mention above are encompassed, by saying "so log as the speaker is 8ohms"

Here’s a question you could ask Grover, would you be better to have an Aegir on the highs and a Vidar on the bass (gain equalized) , than to have 2 mono’ed Aegir’s

Cheers George

I would suggest that the ascend acoustics sierra 2ex are on the inefficient side

Yes this is what I thought, especially with a ribbon tweeter, 20w amp is going to be working hard.
Why I said an Aegir on the highs and a Vidar on the mid/bass is going to be about as good as you can get.

Cheers George

@georgehifi so if I use the schiit in mono, you say I’ll take a big hit. What does that mean?

If you bridge an amp for mono, yes you gain much more wattage, but all other measured parameters become worse (take a hit)

Distortion is higher
Output impedance is higher
Damping factor is worse
Not as stable into low impedance’s
If it was just stable into 4ohms it won’t be bridged
Current output is worse
And there are a few others I can’t think of at the moment.
I jokingly say when you bridge you turn what may have been a good amp into a P.A. amp

Also, I asked the speaker designer at ascend acoustics about bi-wire when I had them made, and he swore to me that it’s a scam (bi-wire), it has no benefits, and was just created as marketing. So I believed him and didn’t get that option.

He was full of it, not only can you bi-wire, but you can also bi-amp as in this case, how can that be a scam? If you had the option then take them back and get the bi-wire version if they have them as they would also be later models most likely. 

Cheers George

He’s response was “get the monoblocks, it’ll be no problem”

There it is, too hard for just one 20w stereo Aegir.
Don’t even bother with bridged mono, it’s a band-aid fix for more power.

But if you like it then just one Vidar should do nicely, and it wouldn’t surprise me if it was still better than the old Accuphase, you get to use it for 2 weeks and if by some chance it wasn’t you can send it back to Schiit.
https://www.schiit.com/products/vidar

And later on if you kept it maybe get the speakers bi-wired and get a "used Aegir" for that Class-A sound for the tweeter.

Cheers George

According to the "audiofool"’s the Aegir does not seem to suffer much from bridging.

It is only 20w, "he talks about bass driving" and says "seem".
It was probably stressed in stereo mode and bridged just gave him more ooph!
There is no magic way of bridging an amp without the pitfalls.
Better comparison would have been on >100db speakers. then the stereo would surely have shone through.

Cheers George

andrewkelley OP
I kind of really want to buy a pair of schiit aegir and use them as monoblock amps. Am I crazy?

 Great stereo poweramp, if a little low in power and left as a stereo amp.
Bridge it for mono use, and all you gain is wattage, all other parameter that made it good stereo amp, will now take a large hit.

Pity your speakers are not bi-amp/wire’able (but doable with mods not too hard).
Then I would say get a Schiit Aegir (amp1) for the highs and a Schiit Vidar (amp2) for the mid/bass and horizontally bi-amp them,
http://www.av2day.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/biamp1.jpg

That will blow the old Accuphase away big time. (may need a $38 Shiit Sys passive on the louder of the two amps if they are not the same gain to equalize the gains) and then keep using your Freya as the main preamp and volume.

Cheers George