ok, despite the fact that I am not working with the most
up-to-date (nor the greatest quality) equipment, I would still appreciate
your help in trying to solve this problem...
Bought 2 Groove Tubes the Brick preamps to replace the ART TPSII preamp
i have feeding analog signals into my Flying Cow A/D which sends SPDIF
into my AMIII
Prior to my purchase, the ART preamp worked fine in this setup. I
did not have to crank the gain to get a decent level in a mono protools
track. (by the way, i shoot for -3b to -6db peak levels... i know
there are on-going debates at how hot the recorded tracks should be,
but bear with me for the sake of this question)
When testing out 'the Bricks' i found i had to crank the gain on these
devices to 3/4 or even full gain to get a relatively mediocre signal
level into Protools (mediocre is -6 to -9db) I was using a cheap Oktava
condensor mic MK319 and Shure SM57, testing on two different sources
ac.gtr and elec.gtr. In both cases I had to play loudly to get any
signal.
but this just seemed odd because with the ART preamp, i didnt have this
problem... i posted to the recording.org forum and got a couple replies
from other Brick users who dont have this level/gain problem... but they
are using more up-to-date equipment.
1) a suggestion was that there is something possibly wrong with the input
impedance on the Flying Cow and the output impedance signal from the Brick.
recording org forum post
The Brick is terminated at 600 ohms for output... Ive emailed M-audio (formerly
midiman) on the Flying Cow requirements (which dont show up in the manual)
any knowledgable techies know that this may cause a problem?
2) I am also wondering if anyone has had SPDIF problems for the AMIII?
(other than prior to g4 revs.. ive made certain i have a revision after QC)
3) The Flying Cow has a input gain knob before A/D conversion... I have
to crank this all the way to get the mediocre signals from the Brick, but
I put it at 0db for the ART preamp... I hate to add this gain stage, because
others are reporting the Brick has more than enough gain for their systems..
there does not seem to be a reasonably costed a/d d/a converter out there
except the flying cow or art dio. Id hate to have to move to a $600 or even
more $ (rosetta) to cure this problem. Any alternative suggestions on how
to feed SPDIF signal from my preamps into the AMIII?
4) my comments: the Brick has a warm sound (when i listen to it with the monitor/
headphones volume up) I want to like and use these devices, but this signal
level problem baffles me..
your help/comments/suggestions are well appreciated!
thanke!
Edgar
AMIII, PTLE6.2.3, Flying Cow 24 bit, 1.25 MDD G4, 10.3.9
ART TPPSII, the Brick, Oktava MK319, Shure SM57