Vandersteen 5a - Setup help needed
Hello Olegus, If you talked with Richard at Vandersteen he may have heard that you have a video receiver that you want to connect to an integrated amplifier his response would be that won’t work as most integrateds don’t have a direct connection to the amplifier section. That being said many McIntosh integrateds and receives do have that direct connection. I am not too familiar with this McIntosh but the model you have listed is a stereo amplifier not an integrated. The integrated will have inputs marked on the back but this is to the preamp and not directly to the amplifier. It appears the Arcam is RCA (single-ended) output. The Vandersteen Crossovers are built to be either RCA or XLR not both. Here is a picture of the proper crossover for the Model 5A https://www.vandersteen.com/products/m5-hp Is this what you have? Although Tomic601 may be correct about programing the Arcam internally, I wouldn’t do that as the risk to damaging the drivers is too great, and Vandersteen uses very expensive drivers that have high reliability at normal volumes. Congrats on your purchase of a great speaker and don’t loose focus of your experience that lead to buying them. You can get there. If you find you can connect the crosover inline between the Arcam and the McIntosh amplifer section, call Vandersteen back about how to measure your amplifier input at 100 hertz to properly set your crossover as the next step. I will update the setup worksheet to show those instuctions later today and you can download that from the resources section of the website. Finally there is a video that shows Richard setting the bass on the speakers. Most of our dealers will do these steps for you for a fee to visit if they did not sell you the speakers. Worst case you will need another amplifier and the local Vandesteen dealer can certainly help with that. |
I sent email to Vandersteen support ( I think it was Richard who replied) and basically provided all of the equipment I have and asking which if any configuration can work. My McIntosh is 100% integrated it listed as one on McIntosh site and it says that on the front panel. Yes, I do have this filter with RCA connections. I did not see anything in Arcam manual allowing me to do use software for high pass filter, but even if it did it would be to risky. He and you both pointed to possible damage if it does not work somehow. Currently Arcam AVR850 is running with with P429 power amplifier. Basic atmos setup. I see more pre amp out available and was thinking to add another amp and create zone2 which would use that instead of other stuff being connected. Zone2 theoretically will be 5a's Also I have Cambridge 851n which is digital pre amp and there is 851w stereo amp available for it. That is another path I can take. I asked if local Vandersteen dealer would provide setup and was told only for things I purchase from them.... I'm trying not to loose focus and get it to a finish line and with all this help I'm confident something great will come out. I did not see any setup videos and any links would very much appreciated. |
