hi
i have msb reference that use as a pre connected to the s202 amplifier.
my question is why the volume under 70 is useless and i have to go very high to make the speakers wake up.
my speakers are zellaton plural evo.
thank you
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What input impedance have you set on S202?
Two suggestions
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Make sure the toggle switch near the input XLRs on the S202 is in the down position.
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Try different XLR cables, not all are compatible with the 75ohm amplifier inputs.
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i think my dealer set it on 75 and he said it’s only numbers
it’s set on 75.
what’s the main differences between the s202 and the m205 monoblocks in terms of driving the speakers to it’s potential?
thank you
At a volume of 70 with the reference DAC you are only asking for a MAXIMUM of 0.167 Watts, assuming the source music was continuously close to clipping. Is that wattage suficient to “wake up” your speakers?
my dealer said that this is normal with msb reference preamp.
i will listen to the m205 monoblocks and decide.
I think the problem here is simply your expectation vs how the Reference DAC and S202 actually interact. The Reference DAC creates a signal at about 3.5Vrms and the Reference preamp then attenuates that signal to your desired volume level. There is no amplification in the Reference DAC. The S202 then amplifies the signal from the reference DAC by about 16 times. If you want the full 200Watts the amplifier is designed to deliver you must be at a volume setting of 97 or greater. The closer to “100” you get the less of the signal is “thrown away”, however that may be too loud for your system. I think you are used to other preamps where you never want to get close to “100” because you run out of “headroom”, (the internal amplifiers saturate). In the MSB system there is no saturation of any amplifiers or signal degredation until the S202 clips, which means it has been asked to reproduce more than 200Watts rms. This can only happen at volume settings above 97 in conjunction with music that has been recorded “hot”.