Terrible sound

[Rob68]

Gutentag,

Sorry for my English on this forum but I can't write German that well. Hope you don't mind.

The thing is recently I bought a young secondhand Xelos 32 MB180 to finally replace my Xelos@Media 5970 (2001).
I had some problems getting it to update the software and setup the DVB-C channels at first but disconnecting the data lines in the miniscart-adapter (I use a DVD-recorder with it to record one channel while watching another) did the trick. Many thanks to this forum! Without this patch it would simply shut down while searching for stations.

Anyway, now it runs normally and I really like the high picture quality and looks of this set.

So much for the good news. The bad news is, the sound is really awful. I just hate it. It is bad even for a cheap flat tv. It sounds worse than my 30 year old clock radio! Of course it just lacks any kind of lower frequencies, but also it just isn't clear. On low volumes, listening close to the set, it just sounds plain distorted. When playing a DVD over scart (high quality cable) that shows high contrast text, even extra rattling sounds are audible.

My other 13 year old Xelos sounds way, way, WAY better than this crap. Specially since I connected a set of Dynaudio speakers directly to it (using the square 9 pin plug it has).

Is there any way to get a normal decent sound from a MB180? I tried using the analogue out connected to a decent Technics amplifier and the same Dynaudio speakers I used before. Even then it sounds like the speakers are somewhere in a metal bucket.

Before I go and buy a receiver with digital inputs, does anyone know if this would sound normal or would this also be a waste of money? In other words, is the problem in the D/A convertor of the set? Is the digital audio out of the Xelos 32 any good?

Btw I don't like surround sets, sound bars and all that, I just need a decent 2.0 stereo sound.

Thanks for your help.

PS I can read German

[Loewengrube]

Hast Du den Sound denn mal mit einem anderen Xelos 32 beim Händler verglichen?
Vielleicht ist etwas nicht in Ordnung?! Toneinstellungen alle probiert?

Bei einem Digitalausgang würde ich keine Probleme sehen.

[Rob68]

Danke.

Nein, hab ich nicht, er hat keiner mehr. Nur Art modelle.

None of the sound options seem to have any influence on the sound output, not even when I tell the set I connected active speakers instead of an amplifier.

I also forgot two other annoying sound related issues:
- the set itself hums all the time (50 Hz from the power supply?)
- after changing channels, sound is not in sync with the picture again and again. Of course you can correct this, but I don't want to have to do this all the time. I'm using a CI+ module my cable provider provided and it seems that coded HD channels are more often (way) out of sync.

Rob

[Pretch]

Der MB180 Art klingt tatsächlich nicht besonders, vor allem im Vergleich zu einem alten Xelos CRT-TV.

Warum allerdings angeschlossene externe Lautsprecher ebenfalls mies klingen kann ich nicht erklären.

[Rob68]

Bei einem Digitalausgang würde ich keine Probleme sehen.

I'm not sure. If I would buy a Denon DRA-F109 that does 2 channel stereo and only accepts LPCM, the MB180 would still have to convert the other digital formats. I hope it does at least that right. But I wouldn't be surprised anymore if it doesn't. And if I play a DVD (via DVD-R on scart), sound still passes the A/D conversion of the TV. What good is that?

Does anyone have experience with the digital audio out of a MB180?

Would you have any other amplifier suggestions in this price range?

Should I just sell the Xelos again and buy a new Art 32?

[Rob68]

Oké, no reactions for some time so obviously no one ever tried to get decent sound from a 'einstieg' Loewe. Strange

Meanwhile, I found out that a single Broadcom BCM3556 chip does all the sound D/A, DSP and A/D conversion (and video on top of that). It's an older chip used in lots of (cheaper) LCD tv's (like Vestel). But it should not perform that bad. My assumption was it was the mainly the headphones/analog audio output/LF amp stages that are making the sound as bad as it is. Of course the speakers are nothing that comes near 'oberklasse' (they or the tv's cabinet are even resonating badly at some frequencies) but also these LF stages are far below what one would expect from a Loewe (or any TV for that matter) for some reason. Besides distortion they also add lots of noise.

Now to test the digital out without spending too much money, I found this little device (Conrad, 30 euro): http://www.conrad.nl/ce/nl/product/4243 ... optisch-DA. It uses the 'famous' Wolfson SPDIF receiver WM8805 and a fine DAC (many about this on the internet). Bottom line is it converts (only) LPCM to analog in a very acceptable way. Now, using this device on the Xelos' digital out finally gets me normal quality sound through my stereo amp and Dynaudio's. Conclusion is the BCM3556 does a fine job decoding Dolby Digital, even in a Xelos .

While there aren't many non-surround amplifiers/receivers that support digital inputs, I thought I would share this with you.

Regards,
Rob

[ausKC]

Keine Überraschung, dass er den Sound "wie" ein Vestel hat...

[Rob68]

Keine Überraschung, dass er den Sound "wie" ein Vestel hat...

You can say that again. Look what IP scanner says about my 'Loewe' ;-)

Screen Shot 2014-01-17 at 14.45.25.png

[ausKC]

Vestel baut die MB 180 ja auch

[Loewengrube]

Mist, doch erwischt