Balthazar B
Major Contributor
- Joined
- Nov 1, 2022
- Messages
- 608
Just some early impressions integrating the Sub Pro with my small Vanatoo T1 active speakers.
Setup:
Initial setup was a little rough. Vanatoo speakers have their own volume control, and we typically keep the control at a bit less than 11 o'clock, since they can get ear-splitting at maximum volume, and they're located in the bedroom. From that starting point, RoomFit just couldn't attenuate the sub enough to provide a good balance with the speakers -- ergo it was uncontrollably boomy -- so in this case it was necessary to crank up the Vanatoos' volume to about 3 o'clock, at which point a reasonable room correction could be done. Then setting the max volume in Audio Settings in the WHA to about 70% keeps the system within a good volume range, and enabled smooth attenuation across the full dynamic range during playback using the WHA volume control. I'll try tweaking things further to find the optimal setup for these speakers (I'm also tempted to substitute a Pro Plus to optimize DAC/sonic performance, although there might be an interesting and potentially even better alternative solution coming down the pike when the Sound speakers come to market...).
At this early point, the combination is pretty nice. Operating with a digital signal, the Vanatoos use DSP to provide pretty smooth frequency response to lower frequencies than they have any business reproducing. But switching the processing to the WiiM and feeding the speakers via line out, even at this point, the sub provides a nice controlled and subtle reinforcement that improves the overall aural experience considerably. One of my favorite test albums is One On One by Bill Mays/Ray Drummond, and Drummond's bass has a lot more extension and sounds tight down low, very nicely supporting Bill Mays's piano. The spare arrangements are great for careful listening of harmonics and peaks/valleys in mid-to-low range frequency response. Listening to Strange Currencies by R.E.M. also demonstrated how the bass extension and definition was strongly improved by the sub. Finally, the Zinman recording of the 3rd movement of Beethoven's fifth symphony was improved by smooth and subtle bass extension, without any annoying artifacts. The Vanatoo speakers were already sonically very impressive on their own, but the addition of the Sub Pro tangibly elevates them to another level, especially with a WiiM streaming/correction device driving the transducers.
Next steps are continuing to tweak this setup to adjust for room resonances and some by-ear adjustments. I'll also add it to the main listening Schiit-Gallo 2-channel setup to see if/how it melds (my expectations are a bit low but I'm always happy to be pleasantly surprised). Given the proximate release of WiiM's Sound speakers, I have to think they and the Sub Pro were designed to work together optimally, and I suspect that'll provide a nice turnkey, easy to setup all-in-one package, although WiiM has said recently that they'll be adding some advanced tuning capabilities to those products in due course.
Setup:
- WiiM Pro streamer (firmware 4.8.724036)
- Vanatoo Transparent One active speakers (original release)
- WiiM Sub Pro (firmware 5.2.724241)
- Line out from Pro to speakers
- Pro and Sub WiFi sources
Initial setup was a little rough. Vanatoo speakers have their own volume control, and we typically keep the control at a bit less than 11 o'clock, since they can get ear-splitting at maximum volume, and they're located in the bedroom. From that starting point, RoomFit just couldn't attenuate the sub enough to provide a good balance with the speakers -- ergo it was uncontrollably boomy -- so in this case it was necessary to crank up the Vanatoos' volume to about 3 o'clock, at which point a reasonable room correction could be done. Then setting the max volume in Audio Settings in the WHA to about 70% keeps the system within a good volume range, and enabled smooth attenuation across the full dynamic range during playback using the WHA volume control. I'll try tweaking things further to find the optimal setup for these speakers (I'm also tempted to substitute a Pro Plus to optimize DAC/sonic performance, although there might be an interesting and potentially even better alternative solution coming down the pike when the Sound speakers come to market...).
At this early point, the combination is pretty nice. Operating with a digital signal, the Vanatoos use DSP to provide pretty smooth frequency response to lower frequencies than they have any business reproducing. But switching the processing to the WiiM and feeding the speakers via line out, even at this point, the sub provides a nice controlled and subtle reinforcement that improves the overall aural experience considerably. One of my favorite test albums is One On One by Bill Mays/Ray Drummond, and Drummond's bass has a lot more extension and sounds tight down low, very nicely supporting Bill Mays's piano. The spare arrangements are great for careful listening of harmonics and peaks/valleys in mid-to-low range frequency response. Listening to Strange Currencies by R.E.M. also demonstrated how the bass extension and definition was strongly improved by the sub. Finally, the Zinman recording of the 3rd movement of Beethoven's fifth symphony was improved by smooth and subtle bass extension, without any annoying artifacts. The Vanatoo speakers were already sonically very impressive on their own, but the addition of the Sub Pro tangibly elevates them to another level, especially with a WiiM streaming/correction device driving the transducers.
Next steps are continuing to tweak this setup to adjust for room resonances and some by-ear adjustments. I'll also add it to the main listening Schiit-Gallo 2-channel setup to see if/how it melds (my expectations are a bit low but I'm always happy to be pleasantly surprised). Given the proximate release of WiiM's Sound speakers, I have to think they and the Sub Pro were designed to work together optimally, and I suspect that'll provide a nice turnkey, easy to setup all-in-one package, although WiiM has said recently that they'll be adding some advanced tuning capabilities to those products in due course.
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