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@Mather If I remember correctly you use Dirac in your Arcam. If so, you are going to want to connect the sub to the Arcam and not the integrated amp, otherwise Dirac won’t read it or correct it. Since bass is the area most impacted by a room, and you like what Dirac does, you may want to see how you like the bass for music on your L100’s. Just select Direct (I think the button is labeled “Direct” on my AV40 at least), this will turn off the bass management and all other processing. You can flip back and forth between “Stereo” and “Direct” to compare.

Try before you buy anything.
 
SnowmaNick said:
@Mather If I remember correctly you use Dirac in your Arcam. If so, you are going to want to connect the sub to the Arcam and not the integrated amp, otherwise Dirac won’t read it or correct it. Since bass is the area most impacted by a room, and you like what Dirac does, you may want to see how you like the bass for music on your L100’s. Just select Direct (I think the button is labeled “Direct” on my AV40 at least), this will turn off the bass management and all other processing. You can flip back and forth between “Stereo” and “Direct” to compare.

Try before you buy anything.
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If I’m not mistaken, he is thinking of ditching the sub in the multichannel set up.
 
SnowmaNick said:
@Mather If I remember correctly you use Dirac in your Arcam. If so, you are going to want to connect the sub to the Arcam and not the integrated amp, otherwise Dirac won’t read it or correct it. Since bass is the area most impacted by a room, and you like what Dirac does, you may want to see how you like the bass for music on your L100’s. Just select Direct (I think the button is labeled “Direct” on my AV40 at least), this will turn off the bass management and all other processing. You can flip back and forth between “Stereo” and “Direct” to compare.

Try before you buy anything.
Click to expand...
Well see this is the thing, through the Arcam, with Direct bypass or DIRAC disabled I do not like the sound. But I'm also fairly certain that's partially the Arcam itself. It's boomy and messy, jumbled. But yes I had considered this. I'm okay without using DIRAC on the sub as it's got a lot of adjustments that can be made on the sub itself so I think I can likely dial it in fairly well via 2 channel however I am not certain even with a killer two channel amp, how it will deal with my rather challenging room.

My cheap cheap option is I can get a Arcam SA30 for about $1900 CAD which is very cheap. Class G amp, 200 watts @ 4 ohms, and has DIRAC if needed. But while I'm sure it would be a jump from my Arcam 550 AVR, its not really the jump I would want because I'm guessing it would still be pretty negligible and it's another of the same brand etc etc...
 
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Mather said:
Well see this is the thing, through the Arcam, with Direct bypass or DIRAC disabled I do not like the sound. But I'm also fairly certain that's partially the Arcam itself. It's boomy and messy, jumbled. But yes I had considered this. I'm okay without using DIRAC on the sub as it's got a lot of adjustments that can be made on the sub itself so I think I can likely dial it in fairly well via 2 channel however I am not certain even with a killer two channel amp, how it will deal with my rather challenging room.

My cheap cheap option is I can get a Arcam SA30 for about $1900 CAD which is very cheap. Class G amp, 120 watts, and has DIRAC if needed. But while I'm sure it would be a jump from my Arcam 550 AVR, its not really the jump I would want because I'm guessing it would still be pretty negligible and it's another of the same brand etc etc...
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The sub is probably the biggest compromise though because it will be out of the 5.1 system entirely if connected to the luxman, because it’s out of the pre amp and you’re bypassing that for HT bypass, and out of the 2 channel system entirely if it’s connected to the arcam. It’s kinda the one component that’s it’s very difficult to dial in to both unless it has multiple inputs itself.
 
Joe Mac said:
The sub is probably the biggest compromise though because it will be out of the 5.1 system entirely if connected to the luxman, because it’s out of the pre amp and you’re bypassing that for HT bypass, and out of the 2 channel system entirely if it’s connected to the arcam. It’s kinda the one component that’s it’s very difficult to dial in to both unless it has multiple inputs itself.
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I'm okay with the sub being out of the 5.1 because I really only watch sports and some tv shows upstairs and the JBLs will do the job with their 12 inch woofers, so it's okay.
 
Mather said:
My other easy option is to go scorched earth and get the Mark Levinson 5805 because I can get a deal but it's still crazy dumb pricy and honestly I hate its looks. But I bet it would sound good.
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If you only watch sports in there, why not just go to a 2.1 integrated with good room correction like Lyngdorf TDAI series?

A large part of the reason I’m willing to go spend on a Luxman is there is no digital processing/DAC that goes defunct and tanks its value or causes more headaches.
 
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