Help! Technical Advice Please

Wesley85

Hello ladies and Gents,

I'm in the process of buying some Audio Technica ADX5000 headphones and a Chord Hugo TT2.  

I already own a KEF R500 5.1.2 setup which is running through a Denon AVR 7200WA.

Since I'm buying a Hugo TT2 anyway I've thought about using the DAC/AMP to power my speakers, however I am unsure with a couple of points.

The Hugo TT2 has a rated output of 20W. The KEFs have a sensitivity of 88db and an resistance of 8 Ohms.
Using an online calculator I'm lead to believe that this enough for 104 SPL at 1 metre. Am I correct in thinking this speaker is sensitive enough to be powered by the Hugo TT2 and provide enough volume in a seating distance of 3 meters and room size of 4 x 5 metres?

My second conundrum is how I integrate my front speakers so I can use my AVR for surround sound?
As the Hugo TT2 only has digital inputs I would have to send a digital signal for the fronts to the Hugo TT2? Can an AVR send the fronts only as a digital signal?

My other train of thought was buying a Naim Supernait 3 and pushing an analogue signal from the AVRs preout to the Supernait 3 and Hugo TT2 to the Supernait 3 too for extra amplification. However this is additional costs. Is my first option possible?

Many thanks in advance.

SickSquirrel

Why not add a TToby to the TT2?

I am not a big fan of Chord DACS myself, they only get good at DAVE level and that is insanely over priced for what it is, no Chord hype trains on this forum!

Have you had a look at the Mytek Brookyln AMP & DAC  combo? blows the Chord away IMHO:-

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Brooklyn_Amp                                                                                                        Visit the post for more.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                mytekdigital.com                                                                               
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Brooklyn DAC                                                                                                        Visit the post for more.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                mytekdigital.com

Wesley85

I wanted to go with the Ttoby but it has no way of connecting to my AVR. The Naim has AV Passthrough.
I decided on the Chord Hugo TT2 as it sounded the best when I tested them. I tested HD800S/820, Focal Utopia and the Audio Technica ath-adx5000 in all combinations.
The ADX5000 with the Chord HugoTT2 was vastly superior to everything else I tested. I haven't tested the Brooklyn but the ADX5000/ TT2 combination put a huge smile on my face and gave me goosebumps so that's worth the asking price to me lol.

SickSquirrel

Maybe with headphones the TT2 works better, I am not much of a headphone user...

Do try a Brooklyn if you can.

Wesley85

The TT2 is purely being bought for headphones. I'm just trying to get more use out of it if I can by using its DAC and / amp for my KEFs if possible. That's where I'm stuck on the technicalities of it.

SickSquirrel

Surely your dealer or Chord can advise on this

I keep my AV and HiFi systems completely separate for the best quality.

Wesley85

I have asked them for advice but still waiting on a reply.
In a perfect world I'd have a dedicated home cinema, a dedicated listening room and a family room. However I have space constraints, I can't fit two sets of stereo speakers in the space I have to have two separate setups. Once we buy a bigger house with a garage I'm going to convert it as I mentioned above.

gibbsy

Your best bet for a stereo amp to separate the cinema and music side is for an amp with HT by-pass. It's the easiest way to enjoy both from the same speakers and will give the KEFs the outright power they deserve to perform to their optimum. Something you will not achieve with the Hugo.

I have completely separated my headphone use from the speaker side and when you get a good combination of 'phones and amp it can be a joy to use. Your problem arises by trying to connect both AVR and the Hugo to the stereo amp. Both will need to use the direct input to by-pass the stereo amps pre-amp so that volume is controlled by the connected devices volume controls.

My connection when the headphone amp was connected in the main system was, Denon X6200 to the Rega stereo amp via pre-out RCA to the Rega's direct input. Dedicated line-out (for external equipment) by RCA to the headphone amp. My only music source, SACD player is connected to the Rega amp by line-in using the SACD player's inbuilt DAC. With what you are proposing I think you may need to use some kind of switcher.

Wesley85

That's a great help thank you. That's what I thought I'd have to do but wasn't too sure.
With the AV Bypass switch turned off on the Supernait-3 that should isolate the TT2 from the AV reciever? And using the TT2 in headphone mode should isolate the TT2 from the Supernait-3? So theoretically they should behave as two separate systems? As I only want the TT2 in use when using HP.

Many thanks

gibbsy

I don't know enough about the Supernait to know how it would be configured to use the by-pass function. Usually there is just one pair of dedicated RCA in to allow the unit to be used as a power amp and I would connect the receiver to that. If that is the case then you would have to use a switcher to connect both the pre-outs from the receiver and the pre-amp from the Hugo to the by-pass of the Nait. That is certainly what I would have had to do if I wished to connect both my receiver and headphone amp to my Rega stereo amp.

However as my headphone amp doesn't have a DAC it was far easier to use the dedicated external equipment line-out to the headphone amp. For headphone use the connections were SACD player to Rega amp then Rega out the headphone amp. This allowed the headphone amp to control the volume.