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but cant it degrade the signal quality even if its just analog pass thru?
I guess theoretically it could, but I have A/B'd my system straight from my Fireface 800 to my monitors and through the CS, and my ears do not hear any discernable difference. I used to have a Big Knob, and I could definitely hear a difference when A/B ing with straight path. I've never cracked open the CS, so I can't personally attest to the workmanship inside.
Again, it kind of depends on what your budget is. If you have $1k to spend on a solution, then I would say definitely go with something like the Coleman M3PH mkII. I think it would be an improvement over the CS. I almost bought that before I bought my CS, but in the end, I couldn't justify 2x the price when I couldn't hear 2x the audio improvement (plus the Coleman has no remote )
The Central Station is passive. The greater impact would be at the DAC (ie: DM24), I would think. The question is whether something like the Bryston boxes are more appealing where passive analog audio routing is concerned.
PreSonus' notes wrote:The main audio path of the Central Station is completely passive, offering the most transparent sonic quality.
To some extent, there is a "degradation" of the sound every time audio passes through an analog phase. The important thing is to have that degradation as unmeasurable as possible.
Last edited by Frodo on Mon Jun 23, 2008 7:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I made a balanced, passive monitor switcher out of Goldpoint parts, three sources on the left switch, a stepped attenuator and a six way output switch on the right. As clean and transparent as anything you can buy anywhere at any price.
Good stuff.[/img]
daily performer user since 1987
dp 7.24 / macpro 2.26 eight core / 6 gigs ram / 10.6.8
pci 424 / 2408mkiii / 2x1296 / 308 / mtp-av/mtp2
apogee ad16x and 2xda16x / otari concept elite
and more keyboards than you can shake a stick at
Frodo wrote:The Central Station is passive. The greater impact would be at the DAC (ie: DM24), I would think. The question is whether something like the Bryston boxes are more appealing where passive analog audio routing is concerned.
The Brystons are speaker level switchers... not line level. Coleman for basic line level switchers without level control...
MS6R would be a good one, line level in and six switchedline level outputs, balanced and passive, one rack space.
daily performer user since 1987
dp 7.24 / macpro 2.26 eight core / 6 gigs ram / 10.6.8
pci 424 / 2408mkiii / 2x1296 / 308 / mtp-av/mtp2
apogee ad16x and 2xda16x / otari concept elite
and more keyboards than you can shake a stick at
Frodo wrote:The Central Station is passive. The greater impact would be at the DAC (ie: DM24), I would think. The question is whether something like the Bryston boxes are more appealing where passive analog audio routing is concerned.
The Brystons are speaker level switchers... not line level. Coleman for basic line level switchers without level control...
MS6R would be a good one, line level in and six switchedline level outputs, balanced and passive, one rack space.
+1 for the Coleman LS3 if a simple passive line level switcher with transparent signal path is what you need.
I use it for the last 4 years and I am absolutely satisfied with it.
cheers
If you need the headphone amp, then the Central Station no longer passes the transparency rule -- for most (but not all) other signal paths in that unit, it is probably true that it is primarily a passive unit. But it has other flaws, which are called upon in many reviews as well as user feedback, in terms of a couple of oversights in routing options.
If your needs are fairly straightforward, then the Coleman units are by far your best bet, in terms of workmanship, audio quality (i.e. transparency in this case), vendor support and warranties, wide product range to select from, extremely ergonomic design with good choices for level stepping etc. when it comes to the rotary dials and the simple button switches for speakers, muting, mono-sum, left or right channel, etc. They also make a sub crossover switcher, and several variants of monitor switching with or without talkback features.
I had their main unit (without the talkback feature) last year to evaluate, but ended up sending it back as my needs are simpler still. I'll get one of their other units later on, once the need truly arrives (I have not yet ordered a pair of Avantone powered monitors so do not currently have two pairs of active monitors to switch between -- and I decided not to bother with the input switching as I'll stick with standard mostly-passive audio preamp/line-switcher designs for that functionality).
I have owned Bryston gear for 25 years and swear by that brand. I talk to them at trade shows as well, and they're great people. They guarantee their product for something like 20-25 years, and are even pretty flexible on a case-by-case basis if faults come up after that time period. I sold my power amp once I went to active monitors, but still use the .5B preamp and though my Ashly LX308B line mixer is slightly more transparent (and also 20 years newer as well as being a fairly high-end brand like Bryston), I have no compelling reason to upgrade right at this point in time. Bryston amps are used in pro studios all around the world, so aren't just for hi fi systems, and recent gear is mostly balanced inputs/outputs.
I didn't know Bryston makes a monitor switcher, but it does not surprise me. They were one of the first companies to go to all-passive designs, so I'm sure it can be depended on to be good quality, but maybe some on-line searching will find good comparative reviews.
I think Central Station tries to do too many things in order to appeal to a broad audiences for purposes of building a customer base from scratch. Some of the other brands have been at this longer and are more focused in addressing targeted audiences and their concerns and needs. I also don't happen to think it's more than just adequate quality, from having reviewed a unit after it came out. But my bigger concern with PreSonus is product/brand reliability, as well as ergonomics/design.
Big Knob gets mixed reviews. It seems to be popular with those who have no choice but to rule out more expensive options. I have developed a bit of a bias against Mackie after many years of owning and using their gear, as they seem to deliberately bias their sound to please the rock crowd.
Obviously, Cranesong and Dangerous fall into the "more expensive" category (and especially Avocet). But if your needs include analog summing for the mix bus, Dangerous might be the way to go (certainly the quality and ergonomics are both top-notch, but the device is overkill for many, and one of the two main switching devices -- I forget which -- is fairly unusable without the somewhat expensive remote control add-on).
Dangerous is a very nice piece. I may get one since I don't have a good solution since getting rid of my console. The remote is one of it's best features (which would certainly keep me from swiveling around all day long to tweak at my racks.)
Oh, right, it's easy to forget those two units as they're somewhat out of the realm of standard stereo system switching, but it covers those solutions as well.
SPL can be tricky to get stateside though. I forget the location of our original poster.
if you're switching active monitors, then use a mackie BIG KNOB, if you're switching passive speakers (yamaha ns10'a / bose 301's / aurotones) i would look at a Niles HPS-4 from crutchfield, i own two of them..
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