XE1 good price & LFE fix?

[Donkey99]

Hi all,

Thought I'd tell you a quicker way to get a cheap XE1. Only works if you live near a Richer sounds. I got them to beat online price today (the first XE1 they'd received that morning!) paid £456 and they knocked 25 quid off a 3m IXOS HDMI cable!

Generally pleased, not noticed lip sync put definitely have low base on analog.

Now reading the posts it seems this isn't a bug, but a standard for Dolby and to get around you should up the LFE on the amp +10db or reduced all channels (apart from LFE) on the XE1 -10db. Is this true?

I don't think I have firmware 1.3 is there a way to tell - I can't really connect the player to the net. Should I upgrade or leave it alone? I have had a few quirks like disks freezing on loading but each time power off then on again sorts.

Thanks

 

[CarlB]

It is true that you need to apply a +10db boost to the LFE over analogue *if your amplifier does not do this automatically*, however even after doing that I still found the bass during movies somewhat anaemic at times.

It was strange, as I had calibrated the LFE channel with the AVIA test disc and I knew the LFE output was perfectly balanced with the other channels, but certain things during movies such as car doors 'thudding' just sounded light. Switching back to digital coax brought more presence back to these sounds. I then read on the US AVS Forum that they see similar issues, and now the whole bass management of the XA2/XE1 is being questioned. It seems you can get the LFE channel correctly levelled, but when your speakers are set to 'small' on the XE1 it is not correctly routing bass information from the five channels through to LFE, so you get full output from signals sent to the .1 channel, but lose bass which should have been routed from the main channels.

This would certainly explain my experience so far. I have had to switch back to digital coax and regular DD output from the XE1 for now. With the bass issues and the lipsync issues I can't stand to watch movies through the analogue outputs, which is annoying as it's the entire reason I went for this player over the E1.

 

[rooster-x]

Hi CarlB, are you saying that even with bass management switched off (Speakers set to large) and the +10 db boost at the sub that the XE1 is still unfit for purpose (ignoring lip sync issues) , or do you just miss the managed bass?

Cheers Rooster-X

 

[CarlB]

Hi CarlB, are you saying that even with bass management switched off (Speakers set to large) and the +10 db boost at the sub that the XE1 is still unfit for purpose (ignoring lip sync issues) , or do you just miss the managed bass?

Cheers Rooster-X

If bass management is switched off (speakers set to large on XE1) then all is good, providing you really do have large speakers that can handle a full range signal.

 

[rooster-x]

Excuse for a speaker upgrade!

 

[city fan]

guys, I have adjusted the Sub to +10db on the anologues, but have set speakers to small on the XE1 so base gets routed to the sub. Are you saying that base will be better if I set to large? My speakers can handle a large frequency range, but surely it's better to let the sub do the low stuff. Speakers on my amp also set to small, for same reason.

 

[CarlB]

guys, I have adjusted the Sub to +10db on the anologues, but have set speakers to small on the XE1 so base gets routed to the sub. Are you saying that base will be better if I set to large? My speakers can handle a large frequency range, but surely it's better to let the sub do the low stuff. Speakers on my amp also set to small, for same reason.

From the evidence gathering at AVSForum, it appears that setting your speakers to small *does not result* in the bass being redirected to the sub as expected. You only get the .1 sub output, but lose any bass from the five channels that should be redirected.

So, if your speakers can handle a full range signal, then set them to large.

I use THX M&K satellites which only go down to 80Hz as per the THX specification, so I have had to revert to Dolby Digital over coax and let my amp handle the bass correctly.

 

[city fan]

Thanks Carl. I thought that's what you were getting at. I'll give it a try and see. I suppose I'll have to change them to large on the amp too, and change back when not using the Tosh. What a pain!

 

[rooster-x]

CarlB, to be honest I have played around with my system and the difference between managed bass and not is that the bass is quieter when the speakers are doing it on their own. They can still produce most of it. I guess it comes down to personal preference. Hmm must resist buying one

 

[CarlB]

Thanks Carl. I thought that's what you were getting at. I'll give it a try and see. I suppose I'll have to change them to large on the amp too, and change back when not using the Tosh. What a pain!

You don't have to change them on the amp if you're using the analogue outs on the XE1, as you're using the bass management on the player, rather than your amplifier. Well, you're not insofar as you're supplying a full range signal without bass management, but it means the signal supplied to your amp should be correct, as is.

Actually, I didn't mention if your amp can apply bass management to its EXT input then you'll be perfect anyway. Mine can't, it directly amplifies the signal without digitisation or any processing.