Setting gain structure with active speakers
rfielder
Posts: 8
The DRPA manual has an excellent section on seting the gain structure. Appendix A.8 is very clear. I used this recently when working with some Yorkville equipment - A4.4 amp, two E12 tops, one LS700p sub.
Great sound!
However, I also use active speakers at times. Part of the process is to set the amp levels with the speakers unplugged. No doubt this is so you don't do permanent damage to your hearing as you run your system flat out at max SPL.
How do you set the gain structure with an active speaker? Does this mean living with the big noise, maybe headphones, earplugs, hat, and a couple of thick towels around the head while you get blasted out the door and across the street?
I did do a search, but didn't find anything directly related. If this has been discussed, or is covered in one of the tutorials, please point me in the right direction - I have no wish to spent time discussing stuff that has been already been answered.
Great sound!
However, I also use active speakers at times. Part of the process is to set the amp levels with the speakers unplugged. No doubt this is so you don't do permanent damage to your hearing as you run your system flat out at max SPL.
How do you set the gain structure with an active speaker? Does this mean living with the big noise, maybe headphones, earplugs, hat, and a couple of thick towels around the head while you get blasted out the door and across the street?
I did do a search, but didn't find anything directly related. If this has been discussed, or is covered in one of the tutorials, please point me in the right direction - I have no wish to spent time discussing stuff that has been already been answered.
0
Comments
Well, the subject has been addressed, but its been a while. The fact is that self powered speakers are usually self limited and as such will start at some predeteremined level. If there is a clip light on the speakers you could inject pink noise till they just blink, you could mark that point on the mixer output meters, but as you say, that would be very loud. You could just do what most do and set the gain structure on the rest of the system and allow the speakers limiters to do thier job.. monitoring the clip lights when at performance volume for activity. If the clip lights are just blinking you better stay at or below that level.
gadget
Thanks for the response!
The catch is that active speakers are often positioned so that the DJ can not see the back panels clearly.
I like the idea of active speakers, I really like the sound produced by the Yorkville NX550p's, and I like that you have built in redundancy. And I keep hearing how fantastic the KV2 EX12 active speakers are.
However, when it comes time to actually live with them, there are trade offs that are not clear when you are considering the idea, sitting at home or debating online.