Loving the vibelink

[wordsum]

Just received the vibelink and it's what I've been looking for. Sounds great and finally have enough watts to power my speakers properly. My speakers have power handling of 120 watts @ 6 ohms. How many watts it's actually receiving from vibelink is anyone's guess since their 6 ohm rating isn't listed. I noticed on the wiim amp pro, the sound started sounding compressed when turning the volume over 50%, I assume it must have been clipping the dynamic peaks. I have also noticed more bass when playing at higher volume. The difference isn't night and day because now I've noticed my speakers don't sound as good at high volume in general. Leads me to think there is not much point in having more watts than this.

Highly recommend to anyone with low sensitivity speakers that likes listening at decently loud volume levels. The extra headroom makes a difference! Not much else to say regarding the vibelink as it doesn't have any settings. The only downside is that it has no subwoofer output. I consider subwoofers to be a standard part of speaker systems. Any ideas on how to connect one without buying the ultra?

 

[Wiimer]

Just received the vibelink and it's what I've been looking for. Sounds great and finally have enough watts to power my speakers properly. My speakers have power handling of 120 watts @ 6 ohms. How many watts it's actually receiving from vibelink is anyone's guess since their 6 ohm rating isn't listed. I noticed on the wiim amp pro, the sound started sounding compressed when turning the volume over 50%, I assume it must have been clipping the dynamic peaks. I have also noticed more bass when playing at higher volume. The difference isn't night and day because now I've noticed my speakers don't sound as good at high volume in general. Leads me to think there is not much point in having more watts than this.

Highly recommend to anyone with low sensitivity speakers that likes listening at decently loud volume levels. The extra headroom makes a difference! Not much else to say regarding the vibelink as it doesn't have any settings. The only downside is that it has no subwoofer output. I consider subwoofers to be a standard part of speaker systems. Any ideas on how to connect one without buying the ultra?

Which streamers are connected to Vibelink now? If you are using WiiM, you can add a Mini or Pro and run the sub with multi-room playback.

 

[gazza1101]

You could add a sub with high level inputs ie a REL or if in the UK a BK.

 

[Doublej]

Buy one of these, https://www.wiimhome.com/wiim-sub-pro/

 

[wordsum]

Which streamers are connected to Vibelink now? If you are using WiiM, you can add a Mini or Pro and run the sub with multi-room playback.

No streamer is connected to it currently. I have it plugged directly into my pc with optical cable.

You could add a sub with high level inputs ie a REL or if in the UK a BK.

I don't see that my subwoofer has this option. It doesn't seem to be a common feature.

 

[Doublej]

Be careful when connecting Class D amplifier speaker outputs to the high level input on a subwoofer. It's my understanding that the minus speaker terminal on a Class D amplifier is not always ground whereas the minus input terminal on a subwoofer's high level input is ground. It's best to check with the amplifier manufacturer for instructions.

Here is a REL video showing a Class D amplifier's chassis ground being used for the minus connection to the REL subwoofer high level input.

 

[slartibartfast]

Be careful when connecting Class D amplifier speaker outputs to the high level input on a subwoofer. It's my understanding that the minus speaker terminal on a Class D amplifier is not always ground whereas the minus input terminal on a subwoofer's high level input is ground. It's best to check with the amplifier manufacturer for instructions.

Here is a REL video showing a Class D amplifier's chassis ground being used for the minus connection to the REL subwoofer high level input.

If the minus speaker terminal isn't ground then the positive terminal signal isn't referenced to ground either. Wouldn't that cause issues of chassis ground is connected to the subwoofer?

 

[Machiavelli]

the active kefs i have had in my 'office' for a few weeks were demonstration devices. the dealer found a customer for that special green, needed it back and so they are gone. was absolutely fine because exclusively streaming is done in this room and they did it good enough. picked up a new vibelink for the ultra and connected to kef q concerto meta. kef fan here. brilliant combination for a very reasonable price.

now my question: how does firmware update via bluetooth work? and what in the amp can be updated? the vibelink, better the app showed me it did. as layman i only want to learn. thank you.

 

[Bernhard]

Be careful when connecting Class D amplifier speaker outputs to the high level input on a subwoofer. It's my understanding that the minus speaker terminal on a Class D amplifier is not always ground whereas the minus input terminal on a subwoofer's high level input is ground.

Usually a real high level input is at least floating (or even balanced) and can handle a DC bias without problems. Not to be mixed with an input with switchable sensitivity only which indeed can be grounded but often is floating or balanced as well (the subwoofer's specifications will mention this) and so can be used as well.

 

[Burnside]

now my question: how does firmware update via bluetooth work? and what in the amp can be updated? the vibelink, better the app showed me it did. as layman i only want to learn. thank you.

The vibelink is Bluetooth connected to the app to facilitate firmware updates to either fix bugs or introduce features like the on/off switch. At one point, I think someone said it might be used to update the firmware to put the vibelink into “power amp” mode which I’d guess would be fixed max volume ignoring the volume knob, but haven’t seen any evidence of that being added. Maybe they could add input control to the app for vibelink too at some point, but beyond that there’s not much you could do…

 

[harkpabst]

I noticed on the wiim amp pro, the sound started sounding compressed when turning the volume over 50%, I assume it must have been clipping the dynamic peaks

This is most likely not the reason because the WiiM Amp Pro is designed to never come close to clipping even at full 0 dBFS input signal.

But no matter what it is that made the difference, what works better in your setup is better for you.

 

[wordsum]

This is most likely not the reason because the WiiM Amp Pro is designed to never come close to clipping even at full 0 dBFS input signal.

Interesting, maybe it just has higher distortion at high volume? I saw this was the case for some amps that were measured, but I am no expert. I am currently looking into a software solution for outputting analog and digital from my pc simultaneously, with the digital signal going to the vibelink and the analog signal going to the subwoofer. Wasn't sure whether the preferred way is to output the lfe channel only or use the line out and the subwoofer's low pass filter.