Eppie

Eppie

Audioholic Ninja
I went to the Monoprice store to buy rca cables. I told the salesperson I needed 5 rca cables to connect my Monolith amp.
I get home and I have 5 stereo cables.
I read the instructions, I need 5 single rca connectors correct?
is my understanding correct:

Do i connect my speakers to the amp? Yes
do I connect a single RCA cable from the amp to the Denon’s preout- yes

I need 5 single rca cables, figured out the diagram.
I will try to be nice when I return the cables tomorrow
Depends whether the two ends are far enough apart to reach two inputs on the Monolith. Nothing wrong with using 2 stereo cables and 1 single cable, or even 3 stereo cables and leaving 1 connection unused. The amount of cross-talk between left and right cables in a stereo cable should be imperceptible. Also nothing wrong with exchanging for 5 singles. ;)
 
Old Onkyo

Old Onkyo

Audioholic General
Well…this is a tough post to write, I have so much respect for 99.9 of the advice offered as it pertains to AV equipment.

With regards to adding an external amp. I connected the Monolith 5x, clear and obvious difference in sound quality.

I am not talking about ROI vs an upgrade in speakers. I plugged in the amp, powered it in and I have not adjusted anything.

The sound is fuller at lower volumes, quieter, more natural tonality vocally. I don’t know all the latest technology, can’t figure out how this new stuff works, I trust my ears. I know what I hear.

You can save money by letting your receiver drive your system, and invest more in your speakers, I get it. You will never sell me on the idea that quality external amplification will not improve sound quality. I am not talking about playing high at high volume. Ymmv.
 
Pogre

Pogre

Audioholic Slumlord
With regards to adding an external amp. I connected the Monolith 5x, clear and obvious difference in sound quality.
Well that sucks. I did not notice anything even remotely close to that when I got my Monolith. There was no change at all until I turned it up to ridiculous levels...
 
Old Onkyo

Old Onkyo

Audioholic General
Well that sucks. I did not notice anything even remotely close to that when I got my Monolith. There was no change at all until I turned it up to ridiculous levels...
Pogre, I don’t see much room for improvement with your setup!
 
Old Onkyo

Old Onkyo

Audioholic General
I think my wife is commandeering the system. She wants a new cabinet, I saw her looking at BDI products.

I think it is a result of the pandemic. The additional hours spent consuming media, noticeable improvements to the old system, ( Thanks Audioholics!) I think she can see and hear the difference.

i think you all have created two Audioholics!
 
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lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
Well…this is a tough post to write, I have so much respect for 99.9 of the advice offered as it pertains to AV equipment.

With regards to adding an external amp. I connected the Monolith 5x, clear and obvious difference in sound quality.

I am not talking about ROI vs an upgrade in speakers. I plugged in the amp, powered it in and I have not adjusted anything.

The sound is fuller at lower volumes, quieter, more natural tonality vocally. I don’t know all the latest technology, can’t figure out how this new stuff works, I trust my ears. I know what I hear.

You can save money by letting your receiver drive your system, and invest more in your speakers, I get it. You will never sell me on the idea that quality external amplification will not improve sound quality. I am not talking about playing high at high volume. Ymmv.
Definitely not my experience with a variety of pre-amps, avrs and amps and various speakers. YMMV. It would be an interesting experience....just never found that one to work out.
 
Old Onkyo

Old Onkyo

Audioholic General
I definitely can’t argue with your experience.
I wonder how rerunning Audyessy will impact the sound.

Expectation bias?
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
Could be, the rush of new gear can be exciting. I'd rerun Audyssey just to account for change in amp section/levels, tho.
 
Pogre

Pogre

Audioholic Slumlord
Pogre, I don’t see much room for improvement with your setup!
Aw, shucks. That is nice of you to say. I've put a lot into my system and appreciate that you notice and appreciate that. Thanks man.
I definitely can’t argue with your experience.
I wonder how rerunning Audyessy will impact the sound.

Expectation bias?
I suspect expectation bias, yes. I also think a lot of folks are insulted when I suggest that, but it's not an insult. It's a fact about the human brain and no one, no one can completely escape their biases. It's very strong, pervasive and a bane for good science. Your brain is fully capable of perceiving things that aren't there (or missing things that are there) and we can be very convincingly fooled. Especially when you're looking for, or primed to expect something. I wouldn't trust my own brain unless there were some controls.

It happens in science all the time. What, we've had incontrovertible scientific evidence of life on Mars, and more recently life on Venus! Both claims have since been examined more closely and alternate explanations have been put forth that could explain the observatons. When it was first announced tho, they were convinced. Bill Clinton announced the Mars thing as fact during his presidency! Good ol' peer review.

A lot of the scientific method and peer review are the attempt to eliminate biases. Scientists go to great pains to eliminate as much as possible to avoid false positives. That's where DBTs for listening comparisons come in. The few I've read about, once biases are removed under controlled, blind conditions the testers have never been able to consistently tell one from another. Not an easy thing to set up tho. There's a lot to account for.
 
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Pogre

Pogre

Audioholic Slumlord
Pogre, I don’t see much room for improvement with your setup!
You know looking at your sig, you don't have a shabby setup either. Those JBLs are great speakers and I know what you're packing for subwoofage. That's a very competent rig you got and I'll bet it sounds pretty awesome.
 
Old Onkyo

Old Onkyo

Audioholic General
You know looking at your sig, you don't have a shabby setup either. Those JBLs are great speakers and I know what you're packing for subwoofage. That's a very competent rig you got and I'll bet it sounds pretty awesome.
Thanks man, we are Really enjoying it. Looking at a next level, two channel setup by years end.
 
G

Golfx

Full Audioholic
Regarding expectation bias, I love a quote I recently read from I believe Mark Twain. “It’s easier to fool someone than it is to convince them they have been fooled.”


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
panteragstk

panteragstk

Audioholic Warlord
Aw, shucks. That is nice of you to say. I've put a lot into my system and appreciate that you notice and appreciate that. Thanks man.

I suspect expectation bias, yes. I also think a lot of folks are insulted when I suggest that, but it's not an insult. It's a fact about the human brain and no one, no one can completely escape their biases. It's very strong, pervasive and a bane for good science. Your brain is fully capable of perceiving things that aren't there (or missing things that are there) and we can be very convincingly fooled. Especially when you're looking for, or primed to expect something. I wouldn't trust my own brain unless there were some controls.

It happens in science all the time. What, we've had incontrovertible scientific evidence of life on Mars, and more recently life on Venus! Both claims have since been examined more closely and alternate explanations have been put forth that could explain the observatons. When it was first announced tho, they were convinced. Bill Clinton announced the Mars thing as fact during his presidency! Good ol' peer review.

A lot of the scientific method and peer review are the attempt to eliminate biases. Scientists go to great pains to eliminate as much as possible to avoid false positives. That's where DBTs for listening comparisons come in. The few I've read about, once biases are removed under controlled, blind conditions the testers have never been able to consistently tell one from another. Not an easy thing to set up tho. There's a lot to account for.
While I agree with the expectation bias, I also know that I've heard speakers come "alive" when hooked up to a different amp. The reason was the amp that was powering the speakers simply wasn't adequate and the new amp was. Nothing wrong with either amp, but the difference was noticeable.

That is really the ONLY situation I can think of that would ever apply to an amp sounding different. It doesn't sound different, it's just better for the job.

Now, if his speakers aren't difficult to drive at his given SPL then I don't see how the new amp would make a difference. BUT, if everyone is happy, then who cares?

I would love to do a true DBT just to see how much bias I really have. I know I'm full of sh!t 99% of the time, but this topic is very interesting to me.
 
Old Onkyo

Old Onkyo

Audioholic General
Maybe I shouldn’t say it sound better, just different?
This reminds me of going to the optometrist. Which looks better, A or B. When you finish the optometrist doesn’t send you out the room, scramble the settings and tell you to identify which prescription you said looks better.

What is better?

I trust the knowledge base of the forum enough not to get silly about it, but after I rerun Audyssey I suspect the sound may be closer to my experience,

In the meantime I am delusionally happy.
 
Old Onkyo

Old Onkyo

Audioholic General
Finally got the 85 inch mounted. Initial impressions….it is a tv, just bigger.
 
ryanosaur

ryanosaur

Audioholic Overlord
Right now 15’. I think the tv is too high on the wall, wife says she likes it right there. I think I have been hijacked!
Hijacked... or at least approved of. :)

No if only I could get "hijacked" to build 3 big Subs for the greatroom. :D Like 36x24x48" large. ;)
 

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