Preamp

[Buzzme]

Just as a phono cartridge need preamplification for the amplifier to be able to magnify the signal. I've found the Buzz output from pretty much all the Buzz boxes I've had to be a very low output. I'm wondering if anyone has uses a preamp on a Buzz. I'm going to try it this afternoon and I'll report the results.

[Emporium]

Don't know what you are smoking but there is no preamplification issue with any of the boxes. 

I have pretty much every box model since the xrs4500 series (xrs4500, xrs4900, x5, u5, b5, e5, st4000, hd5, e1, e2, ..and even my original xpl3000) and I have them connected in many different ways.  Some direct to TV and using integrated crappy TV integrated speakers ; one on a TV with a Bose sound bar ; another connected through my Yamaha receiver and JBL control 1 speakers; one connected to a computer monitor via HDMI and using the audio out from the monitor to the a basic set of Bose Sound companion computer speakers ; and even one connected to another computer monitor, but using my Anker soundcore Bluetooth speaker paired to it.

The only method I have not connected it is using the optical output, but that should not make any difference since there is no internal amplification involved on that, it is a pure digital audio output.

They all work exactly as expected.  And in some scenarios I even found that it was louder than other devices, so on the newer boxes (5 series- running Android 11) I had to disable the "max volume" option they have (if using external volume control)  to decrease the volume output by the box manually to match other inputs a little closer.  On most boxes I typically leave the volume control at about 60% to 65%, and then control the volume using the external source.

 

 

Edited February 4, 2023 by Emporium

[Buzzme]

First of all I don't smoke, I assume that was meant in jest? I've had boxes since the early 3000's. Have you tried hooking up to an analogue amplifier through its auxiliary input? I have a Consonance Opera integrated amplifier with 3 inputs at my cottage in Nova Scotia. I run the Formuler through one of the inputs. I can not normally run the amplifier much past 10 o'clock on the gain contro with other inpui sourcesl. On the Formuler the setting has to be around 3 pm. I have my other boxes here in my home hooked up to a Cayin Class A integrated. and it is fine because it has stream input. I also have one hooked up to an Onkyo AV with a stream input. They work fine, I'm assuming just like a receiver that has a phono input the signal from the source gets amplified. The output into the Consonance does not. I run other equipment which have higher signal output through the Consonance with no issues. Hence the question. BTW what is the signal to noise ratio of your speakers? Mine are 86 db at one watt. I believe yours are more efficient than that?

[Emporium]

Well I do have one going through an analog amplifier (and that is on my old Yamaha receiver), but that is not a fair comparison, since I am use some cheap HDMI to audio extractor, and then the HDMI going to my TV and the audio going to the Yamaha. The speakers are all JBL "Control 1 Pro" models and they have a sensitivity of "87 dB SPL, 1 W 1 m" whcih is pretty average, and they are 4ohm.  I don't know what the SNR is, but that should not make a difference in terms of perceived loudness.  That is more for clarity and that would also need to be considered along with the THD of the amplifier you are using, since everything gets compounded.

If you are using one of the 1/8" jacks adapters into the A/V port, all I can tell you that the quality of these adapters varies a LOT.  I have my older E2 connected to a crappy Audiovox old analog only TV using one of these adapters.  I went through about 4 adapters till I found one that is acceptable.  They are made so cheap, that even the jack length is off by fractions of a mm on each one, that in some cases, I needed to slightly play with how deep I would install the adapter, otherwise certain items would not work (left channel, right channel and even the video would get distorted).  At the end all the ones I bought from amazon were junk.  I ended up using one that I had from my ancient WDTV Live unit, but the cables were differently mapped.  One of the audio outputs was actually the video, and vice versa.  It's not perfect, but it works if you don't play with it too much.

Which device are you using first of all ?   If it is one of the newer boxes (X5, U5, etc..) then turn on the "enable max volume" setting.  This will effectively fix the buzz box to the max output settings and all remaining volume controls would be from your amplifier.  This is similar to many other STB I have seen even from cable receivers like the old Scientific Atlanta or Motorola boxes.  They have an option in the settings for variable output (which is great for connecting straight to a TV and controlling volume direct from the box), or they have a FIXED output settings, which is designed to be used for external audio devices, like receivers, soundbars, etc...

If your box is one of the newer ones (Android 11), and you are using an external sound device, you should enable this "max volume" option.  If you have one of the older devices (Android 9 or older), you just need to adjust the box volume to a setting of your liking.  Like I said, in my case it is about 65%.   There are others who prefer to crank it all the way up.  But that would also depend on the input sensitivity of of your amp.  Sometime it can overpower the inputs on some devices, giving you really distorted sound.