|
Post by mcirish on Mar 15, 2024 21:31:31 GMT -6
Odd. I can't get rid of the distortion. I'm starting to think this one is defective. Not sure how anyone is getting usable results. Lynx Aurora (n) Outs 1&2 feed the Arc box The output of the Arc box feeds the input 1&2 of a Dangerous Monitor ST Monitor ST feeds LYD48 speakers Super simple and straight forward yet all I'm getting is heavy distortion on any wav files of albums I own, that are known to be loud. strange. Is it possible this box is -10 input? That would explain it but then I would send it back.
|
|
|
Post by andersmv on Mar 15, 2024 22:37:03 GMT -6
Odd. I can't get rid of the distortion. I'm starting to think this one is defective. Not sure how anyone is getting usable results. Lynx Aurora (n) Outs 1&2 feed the Arc box The output of the Arc box feeds the input 1&2 of a Dangerous Monitor ST Monitor ST feeds LYD48 speakers Super simple and straight forward yet all I'm getting is heavy distortion on any wav files of albums I own, that are known to be loud. strange. Is it possible this box is -10 input? That would explain it but then I would send it back. Really dumb question, but I ran into this during a restart yesterday… Are you sure SonarWorks isn’t running in the background? Other than that, the whole plug-in meter for Arc4 is showing plenty of headroom for me.
|
|
|
Post by mcirish on Mar 16, 2024 5:33:28 GMT -6
Matt, where do you have it in you signal chain? I have it between the converter and monitor controller. So it can and does get fed signals that are near zero dB all the time. No clipping showing in the Lynx mixer, so I know I'm not feeding it a clipped signal. Maybe the box wants to see -10 at it's input? I also believe that the trim control adjusts the output of the Arc box. So that would explain why the box still shows clipping even when the trim is at the lowest setting. Looks like I either have to turn down the output of the convertors or put the Arc box between the monitor controller and speaker. Neither are what I want. I still believe this may be a defective unit. I would love to be proven wrong but it seems I may be the only one with this problem. Also, Sonarworks was off. I have it set to off by default.
|
|
|
Post by Shadowk on Mar 16, 2024 5:56:13 GMT -6
Matt, where do you have it in you signal chain? I have it between the converter and monitor controller. So it can and does get fed signals that are near zero dB all the time. No clipping showing in the Lynx mixer, so I know I'm not feeding it a clipped signal. Maybe the box wants to see -10 at it's input? I also believe that the trim control adjusts the output of the Arc box. So that would explain why the box still shows clipping even when the trim is at the lowest setting. Looks like I either have to turn down the output of the convertors or put the Arc box between the monitor controller and speaker. Neither are what I want. I still believe this may be a defective unit. I would love to be proven wrong but it seems I may be the only one with this problem. Also, Sonarworks was off. I have it set to off by default. It would be odd for them to use XLR, have 120dB converters then use -10dB on input although it could be and I'm very interested in this as well. If I remember correctly you can set the Aurora in banks of 4 to consumer level -10dB via the line trim on the outputs, have you tried it?
Also if I remember correctly the Aurora's +4 is actually 0dBFS = 20dBu, mine's even worse as 0dbFS = 24dBU and I don't have an option to go -10 on my line outs.
|
|
|
Post by andersmv on Mar 16, 2024 6:51:08 GMT -6
Matt, where do you have it in you signal chain? I have it between the converter and monitor controller. So it can and does get fed signals that are near zero dB all the time. No clipping showing in the Lynx mixer, so I know I'm not feeding it a clipped signal. Maybe the box wants to see -10 at it's input? I also believe that the trim control adjusts the output of the Arc box. So that would explain why the box still shows clipping even when the trim is at the lowest setting. Looks like I either have to turn down the output of the convertors or put the Arc box between the monitor controller and speaker. Neither are what I want. I still believe this may be a defective unit. I would love to be proven wrong but it seems I may be the only one with this problem. Also, Sonarworks was off. I have it set to off by default. I don’t think this is going to fix your problem, but shouldn’t the ARC hardware be after your monitor controller and before the speakers? That’s more or less how mine is set up, as my analog console is feeding the ARC, and ARC to monitors. I’ve had 3 hours of sleep, I’ll think it through later today
|
|
|
Post by mcirish on Mar 16, 2024 7:35:08 GMT -6
You might be right Matt, but if I put it after the monitor controller, I lose the ability to use it on different sets of speakers.
On a good note, all my recent room treatments helped the low end and did a great job of smoothing out the room.
I used the Arc plugin to compare against Sonarworks. Interesting comparison. They did not get the exact same calibration. I might like the low end of Arc better. Seems fuller. More testing needed today.
|
|
|
Post by andersmv on Mar 16, 2024 8:03:23 GMT -6
You might be right Matt, but if I put it after the monitor controller, I lose the ability to use it on different sets of speakers. On a good note, all my recent room treatments helped the low end and did a great job of smoothing out the room. I used the Arc plugin to compare against Sonarworks. Interesting comparison. They did not get the exact same calibration. I might like the low end of Arc better. Seems fuller. More testing needed today. Are you switching speakers on your monitor controller? You just make the switch from Speaker A to Speaker B on the controller and then pull up Speakers B's calibration on the Arc software. You're going to have to do that regardless of where the Arc is in the signal chain, one calibration isn't going to work for all your speakers. The more I think about this, the more I think you're overloading and clipping the Arc hardware by feeding it before your monitor controller. If you're like me, my analog console is more or less my monitor controller. The monitor output on my Apollo interface goes out to one of the "Source" inputs on my API Console, then the monitor output on the console goes to the ARC Hardware. I turn the monitor output all the way up on my Apollo before sending to the API Console, but that's all analog I/O. The ARC Studio is having to do conversion, so by placing the ARC Hardware between your interface monitor out and your monitor controller, I'm assuming you've got the monitor output on your interface turned all the way up as well? That's definitely going to clip your ARC I would think. Move that sucker after the Monitor controller and report back.
|
|
|
Post by mcirish on Mar 16, 2024 8:16:39 GMT -6
I will move it and do some more testing today. It's a bummer that I won't be able to to use it on all my speakers. I have multiple speaker outputs on my monitor controller and I have three pairs and a sub. This would only be able to correct my main speakers. Still, I will give it a shot.
And you are correct in that the output of the converter is all the way at zero dB. I must be clipping the input to the Arc box. I can also try reducing the output from the Lynx and see if that is a workaround.
|
|
|
Post by andersmv on Mar 16, 2024 8:31:29 GMT -6
I will move it and do some more testing today. It's a bummer that I won't be able to to use it on all my speakers. I have multiple speaker outputs on my monitor controller and I have three pairs and a sub. This would only be able to correct my main speakers. Still, I will give it a shot. And you are correct in that the output of the converter is all the way at zero dB. I must be clipping the input to the Arc box. I can also try reducing the output from the Lynx and see if that is a workaround. I think IK's official solution for people like you is "buy more hardware boxes for each speaker"
|
|
|
Post by mcirish on Mar 16, 2024 14:35:56 GMT -6
Putting the box AFTER my monitor controller cured all the clipping and distortion. Of course, now I can only do correction on my main set of speakers but I tend to spend 90% of my time on them anyway.
Arc Studio showed a larger dip at 100hz than Sonarworks. Sonarworks showed that my new panels cured a lot of my room mode problems. Arc Studio still thinks I have some issues, but, it's liveable. Either way, they both sound good and now the real testing begins.
Thank for all the help.
|
|
|
Post by FM77 on Apr 5, 2024 14:29:09 GMT -6
After 2 weeks of integration here are some thoughts.
I have the ARC studio box before my monitor controller so I can use all my speakers and system-wide is available for familiarity. It does not need to be connected via USB to use it, once you have a profile loaded. And you can shut it off for non-corrected listening at the front any time.
I will say I can most definitely hear the converters change from my HILO. I have been mixing with the HILO for years, so its a bit like missing an old friend.
The conversion from the ARC is not bad, it's just sounds a bit boring - its just not the HILO. These are AKM 'velvet sound' chips but I don't know the model and did not open it up yet.
Same as mcirish, I had massive clipping initially putting it before the monitor controller. I had to adjust the full-scale trim settings on the HILO by about 14dBV.
All in all, it's a win for now. I feel like it is giving me a clearer picture through daily listening. My ears have adjusted and what I thought was a bit anemic the first couple of days has become full again. The NOVA is not out of the running, but we'll give it a bit more time being put to real world use in studios and i'll keep tuning in to the feedback I read. At this price, the ARC was a no brainer as I had used it in the software form already.
FM
|
|