Connecting Wiim

[modplod]

I am waiting for my Wiim Ultra to be delivered and was hoping that this setup would work....My favorite receiver at the moment is my Carver HR-752 It does not have a subwoofer output but it does have an excellent phono stage. It also has jumpers between the pre amp and power amp sections. Would it be feasible to connect the Wiim between the pre and power amp stages with the rcd inputs and outputs?

Thanks in advance

 

[Incognito]

I am waiting for my Wiim Ultra to be delivered and was hoping that this setup would work....My favorite receiver at the moment is my Carver HR-752 It does not have a subwoofer output but it does have an excellent phono stage. It also has jumpers between the pre amp and power amp sections. Would it be feasible to connect the Wiim between the pre and power amp stages with the rcd inputs and outputs?

Thanks in advance

Modplod, The Wiim Ultra should be able to use the amplifier on the Carver Receiver using the WiiM RCA Output to the Carver RCA Main In after removing the jumpers. Now what you may want to think about is how you are going to connect sources particularly those sources that are currently input to the Carver amp (e.g. cd player). The Carver Receiver only has an analog output (the Pre Amp Out). The WiiM has both digital and analog inputs and outputs. You should be able to connect the Pre Amp Out RCA connections from the Carver to the RCA In on the WiiM. I advise checking with WiiM support to verify whether the Pre Amp Out signal from the Caver is compatible with the WiiM. Pre Amp Out is not exactly the same as Line Out.

Now back to the analog/digital possibilities. Again thinking about say a CD. If you have a CD with a digital signal out, coaxial or optical (toslink), you would probably want to connect the CD player's digital out to the digital in on the WiiM. The reason is the WiiM most likely has a better DAC (digital to analog converter) than most CD players (unless it is a newer and most likely pretty expensive player). Connected this way a CD player's digital signal would be converted to analog by the WiiM and then sent to the Carver Amp for amplification. If interested you can connect a TV by HDMI to the WiiM also. You can leave a turntable connected to the phono stage on the Carver or connect to the WiiM depending on which you think sounds best. I am unsure how the Carver Receiver's Sonic Hologram Processing will be affected. My assumption is that it will be passed thru since that processing along with volume and balance are before the Pre Amp Out and is one of the reasons why Pre Amp Out differs from Line Out. The WiiM also has a sub out that you may be able to use to connect a sub.

Having two volume controls, one on the Carver and one on the WiiM may introduce issues. Most likely you can set a volume on the Carver, leave it, and use the WiiM for volume control. Someone may be able to jump in and address this complication.

Good luck. If you can get it to work I think you will be pleased with the WiiM Ultra. (BTW - disclaimer: How you connect the WiiM and other components are made at your own risk. Verify WiiM connections with WiiM Support.)

 

[Incognito]

 

[harkpabst]

It does not have a subwoofer output but it does have an excellent phono stage.

If you plan to use the subwoofer output of the WiiM Ultra then you must set it up and use it with the HR-752 set to one fixed volume setting and never change that. Changing the volume on the HR-752 would upset the level balance between mains and sub. Trying to control the volume from both devices would be calling for trouble, indeed.

Also note, that all the sources connected to the HR-752 and fed into the Ultra's analogue input will be digitised, processed (volume, EQ, room correction) and then be converted to analogue again to feed line output. The signal will always pass the Ultra's ADC and DAC. I'm not saying that this is a problem, just be aware of this fact.

Using one of the tape outputs instead of the pre output would make sure that only the Ultra has control over the volume setting. You'd have to check if the output voltage of the tape output is high enough to not introduce additional noise. The dubbing button would have to remain in the Source position to be able to play back Phono, CD, Video and Aux.

Alternatively you could even fully connect the Ultra like a tape, but I don't see no real advantage in this case.

The output volume of the WiiM Ultra should be set to match the input sensitivity of the HR-752's main input.


I hope my brain didn't mess it all up at this early time of the day ...

 

[Incognito]

Using one of the tape outputs instead of the pre output would make sure that only the Ultra has control over the volume setting.

Brilliant! Why didn't I think of that?

 

[harkpabst]

Brilliant! Why didn't I think of that?

Well, similar questions have been asked here before and I alread had to bent my brain around how source selectors, tape monitor switches and volume controls would work together in each possible configuration. Took me the better part of a long evening.

It's all probably forgotten again within a year, but now I know where to look up my own wisdom.