Upgrading desk speakers - Adam Audio T5V and a DAC?

philgyford

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My desk at home currently has a pair of Audioengine A2+ speakers and a BK Electronics Gemini II subwoofer. I ended up with this partly because at the time I didn't have much space on my desk for speakers but the little A2+s needed some extra bass.

But I now have more space on my desk and less on the floor so it seems like a good excuse for an upgrade. My current thoughts are replacing the above with a pair Adam Audio T5Vs. It'd be nice to keep using the sub with them but it's just not practical space-wise, unfortunately, and I hope the T5Vs alone will have enough bass for me.

Two questions:

1. Does that sound like a reasonable upgrade or, at least, "side" grade? I don't want things to sound worse!

2. I'll be playing music from my MacBook via USB to a DAC that I don't yet have. Maybe the Schiit Modius? It'd be nice if the device was something I could also plug headphones into occasionally but maybe it's best to get another box for that one day. Any other suggestions?
 
I have not heard either set of speakers, but Adams are well regarded so I would expect it to prove an upgrade.

My own desk setup is Tannoy Gold 5s on desktop stands, with DAC duties handled by an SMSL SU8.

I am very pleased with the results, and the SU8 allows a balanced XLR connection - which I assume is some of the appeal of the Modius. According to the measurements, the Tannoys do not offer enough rumble to keep true bassheads happy, but I am plenty entertained by them.

Schiit stock levels seem fairly low\erratic since lockdown; SMSL most likely will be discounted by Amazon for Black Friday (I bought mine during last year's sale).
 
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Thanks. The SU8 looks very nice. I like that the Modius doesn't require a power cable (runs off USB alone if that's the audio input) and I don't need a remote control. But, as you say, given Schiit are out of stock I may not have that choice!

Are you happy with those particular stands?
 
I'd suggest the T5V and the highly flexible MiniDSP 2×4HD instead of a DAC would be a great upgrade. I would however keep the sub as without you'd be missing quite a lot of the low end.
 
Thanks, I hadn't come across that. I'd wondered how best, and not too expensively, to integrate the T5Vs with a non-AdamAudio sub – I found it hard to find things discussing hooking up a pair of monitors and a sub, that weren't too "How to set up an entire home recording studio" focused.

I see MiniDSP has a guide for how to do this with the 2x4HD although it also requires buying a $75 UMIK-1 microphone and calibrating everything, which is probably getting too into the details for my needs...

How else would I go about hooking up the T5Vs and a sub? I feel like I'm missing some magic search terms when fruitlessly googling for info.
 
I hadn't realised the Modius would run on USB alone - that's a nice touch!

Stands have done the job I wanted them to: raised the speakers above my monitors (screens). I have isolation pads angling speakers down towards me slightly, as they are on the 50cm height setting.

With regards the sub: if you connect the Adams using XLR, could you hook up the sub to the Modius's RCA?
 
With regards the sub: if you connect the Adams using XLR, could you hook up the sub to the Modius's RCA?

I hadn't thought of that and I guess it might work. Although as I understand it (which isn't well), ideally you only want to pass the relevant parts of the signal to speakers vs sub, so that they're not both trying to reproduce the entire range. I think the MiniDSP 2x4HD mentioned above deals with this, filtering the high/low parts accordingly.

I assume having two speakers and a sub is common which is why I'm puzzled I'm finding it so hard to find descriptions of how to connect them up simply. So many reviews of speakers, and DACs, and subs... but very little about how to combine them.
 
I hadn't thought of that and I guess it might work. Although as I understand it (which isn't well), ideally you only want to pass the relevant parts of the signal to speakers vs sub, so that they're not both trying to reproduce the entire range. I think the MiniDSP 2x4HD mentioned above deals with this, filtering the high/low parts accordingly.

I assume having two speakers and a sub is common which is why I'm puzzled I'm finding it so hard to find descriptions of how to connect them up simply. So many reviews of speakers, and DACs, and subs... but very little about how to combine them.

Adam sub has XLR in and out, so it's in the middle of a daisy chain. It looks like it also has a crossover option to control the frequency range that is passed on to the monitors...

 
Yeah, that does look the simplest option. Similarly, AudioEngine do a sub that's matched to their speakers. But I assume there are plenty of people with 2.1 systems that are using more generic subs. Maybe one/some of them will be along soon to fill me in on how they do it...
 
I completely forgot that the sub I have (Gemini II) has a "Low Level Frequency Contour" knob for adjusting the frequency at which it should kick it, depending on how low the main speakers can go.

And looking at the FAQ for the Modius:

Wait a sec, you have two totally separate output stages on this DAC, one for single-ended and one for balanced?
Yes. We chose to optimize for each use. The balanced output stage uses an inherently balanced, differential op-amp, whereas the SE stages use a single-ended op-amp. Both are very high performance, and both are designed specifically for their use.

So I can use both at the same time?
Yes. They are totally separate.

So that all seems promising.
 

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