Connecting Mackie 3-Way Active Speakers

dudegruvy

Our 8 piece rock band just purchased a Driverack PA and 2 Mackie SR1532z 3-Way Active Speakers for mains. They have their own amps and crossovers, and since they each have 2 15\" speakers that claim to go down to 38 hz we didn't get a sub. How would we set these bad boys up to bypass the Driverack's crossovers? Do all the other features in the Driverack still make it a good choice for our setup? Are there any presets that we should start from with this configuration?

Dra

You would set up a 2 x 2 (stereo in and stereo full range out. The wizard will set that up when to tell it that you are going to be stereo with custom tops (use linked EQ) and select subs as none. I would not run them to 38hz, I would use a filter and cut them off around 45 - 50 hz. BW 18

As far as not needing subs.... yes you can, but iiiiffffff you had subs, your mids and highs would be so much cleaner and have more reserve power.

If you need more help, feel free.

DRA

Gadget

Haven't heard a fullrange speaker yet that didn't sound WAYYY better with subs...
G

dudegruvy

These Mackies claim to not need a sub with 2 15\" woofers and 1300 watts per side. Please check out the specs and let me know if these might be the exception to the rule:
http://www.mackie.com/products/sa1532z/index.html

jakobsladderz

I dare say you'll be fine without subs with those cabinets, they look the goods and seem to have the power to back it up. An equivalent multi-cabinet system would be probably a 12\"plus horn for tops driven by a 200-300w/ch amp and a twin 15\" or an 18\" sub driven by an 1100w/ch amp. You should be pretty happy..

You'll still get value out of the equalizer for trimming up any room resonances and such and the feedback suppressor will be useful also for live work. The boxes have their own limiters and so leave the driverack ones disabled. Just run the mackie levels so that the boxes hit the limiters with the driverack showing +1>+5 db so there's some headroom within the driverack before it clips.

Duncan

rfaber

Dra, Gadget, jakobsladderz
I freelance for several bands and have recently picked up a DRPA to bring with for the different systems I work with. I am working with a band that uses the SA1532z's as tops and also uses the SWA1801z's as subs. I ran them last night with the DR in 2x2 mode using the built in xover on the subs. I chose the largest Mackie preset (450) I think because the custom selection did not offer any gain setting. I ran the Mackie's at unity and the sound was great!! I threw a little subharmonic in and the floor was pounding. We never got close to limit on the Mackie's. I plan on running the DR in 2x4 mode when I can play with the sytem more. Should I use the custom setting?? How do I set the gain structure?? Any other suggestions? Thanks...love the forum

Dra

Setting the gain structure with active speakers is difficult, but achievable. The only problem is that you have to bring your cabs up to full / limiting volume to do it. Other than that you just follow the laid out instructions in the walk through. Setting the limiter in the DRPA is very hard to get just right (because you have limiter in the cabs), but it really depends on what you want to do.
Yes, just use custom.

DRA

shallom4usa

Dra wrote:

You would set up a 2 x 2 (stereo in and stereo full range out. The wizard will set that up when to tell it that you are going to be stereo with custom tops (use linked EQ) and select subs as none. I would not run them to 38hz, I would use a filter and cut them off around 45 - 50 hz. BW 18

As far as not needing subs.... yes you can, but iiiiffffff you had subs, your mids and highs would be so much cleaner and have more reserve power.

If you need more help, feel free.

DRA

Hi, Charles here,
Yes, I've heard that you don't need woofers with these monsters. My own question is........ Let say I have extra cash at disposal for more quality sound, What if I decide to get 2 Sub-woofer with this type of 3 way speakers. What setup should I use to avoid any complication? I am thinking the bass will blow the Bride and Groom away during the dance.Thanks.

Gadget

Well.. I never heard a SWA 1801 (or 2) that blew me away..( or ANY Mackie tops that I would consider 'Monster\") 4 set together might have a chance against 1 of my LABsubs... but only in a block of 4...2 per side would cause serious comb filtering...and negate much of the benefits of 4...

I like lots of bass for DJ'ing.. as Dra said it gives a psycho acoustic appearance of really loud .. BUT... NOT obnoxious.

In any custom setup you need to set an HPF and LPF.. and if there are subs you need to add an HPF and LPF to the mix... this may seem difficult, but it's NOT... we have even laid out ALL the basics here...what filter types to choose, what frequency to choose for the xovers, and HPF and LPF's based on system power... it's pretty much a plug and play setup...

1. BW18 HPF for the subs @ (insert rated power/xover point... usually 3db down point of speaker + if under powered...

2. LR24 LPF for the sub.. depending on power available... 75hz to 120 hz (lower the power the higher the xover point...)( even up to 200 hz for 10\" lo end tops)

3 LR24 (like xover type and slopes on adjacent xover points) HPF for the tops... again depending on power and woofer size...


Be well
G