Is DEQX a game changer?

Todd, if I understand correctly you are supplying the Premate with a digital input, and when you connect the analog "main speaker" outputs of the Premate to your (monoblock?) amplifiers everything works fine. But when you connect the analog "main speaker" outputs of the Premate to analog inputs of your preamp, and connect the preamp’s analog outputs to your amplifiers, you get nothing.

If that is a correct interpretation, the only possibilities I can think of (assuming you are using similar settings of the Premate in the two cases) are that the preamp’s input select switch is not set to the right input, or there is a connection problem, or the preamp has a problem.

In any event, as you alluded to I suspect the cause of this problem will turn out to be something simple.

Wondering if any could share their connection setup.

FWIW, I use my DEQX HDP-5 as my preamp.

Good luck, and enjoy! Regards,
-- Al

Hi Al and thanks for the quick reply.  Your interpretation is correct.  It does sound quite good without my preamp, but I really like the tubes I have in it, adds a little “warmth” to the overall presentation, so I’m not ready to discard it.  The preamp isn’t super finicky, but confirming that the analog out into the preamp should suffice, has me stumped.

Ok, I won’t throw a “solved” in there, but generally the simplest answer is correct.  I wasn’t plugging both XLR’s from the preamp into the DEQX, just one side; which there was just white noise coming out.  Plugging both in makes it work, along with the sub. 

I believe the DEQX comes with operating software on a CD. Neither of my laptops have a disc drive so I might need to buy one. Does anyone know if that software can be accessed as a download and not read from a physical disc?

Yes, the software, user manual etc are available to download from the DEQX site (you will need to ask by email: alangford@deqx.com for the latest login & password to do so).