Options
setting up compressor and limiter on 260 question
Jaymichael1
Posts: 12
seasons greetings to everybody!
im a new user of the driverack 260, had a couple nights of use
and things worked very well. the fellow i usually work with who is more
familar with this unit cannot be with me tomorrow night for a dance that
i am doing the sound at.
i was hoping someone may be able to walk me through the set up
of setting my compressor and limiter on the 260.
i am using 4 rcf 4pro 8001 self powered subs and 2 rcf 4pro 4001 3 way
self powered tops. i have no problem setting up the wizard configuration
but as far as setting up the limiter and compressor i am not so comfortable. the venue is a fairly large room, biggest this rig has been
set up in so i know they will be getting pushed pretty hard so i hope
someone could help me get a better grasp at setting this up properly
so i protect my gear yet have the ability to run at high volume if needed.
here is the specs on the speakers.
http://www.rcfaudio.com/vediMacro.phtml ... roduct.htm
http://www.rcfaudio.com/vediMacro.phtml ... roduct.htm
ive been told to set cross overs as follows, tops 100, bottoms 45 and 100
does this sound suitable?
if someone could give me a step by step walk through of the rest
it would be greatly appreciated.
btw, its for live music earlier in the night and then dj's for the rest of
the night.
thank!
im a new user of the driverack 260, had a couple nights of use
and things worked very well. the fellow i usually work with who is more
familar with this unit cannot be with me tomorrow night for a dance that
i am doing the sound at.
i was hoping someone may be able to walk me through the set up
of setting my compressor and limiter on the 260.
i am using 4 rcf 4pro 8001 self powered subs and 2 rcf 4pro 4001 3 way
self powered tops. i have no problem setting up the wizard configuration
but as far as setting up the limiter and compressor i am not so comfortable. the venue is a fairly large room, biggest this rig has been
set up in so i know they will be getting pushed pretty hard so i hope
someone could help me get a better grasp at setting this up properly
so i protect my gear yet have the ability to run at high volume if needed.
here is the specs on the speakers.
http://www.rcfaudio.com/vediMacro.phtml ... roduct.htm
http://www.rcfaudio.com/vediMacro.phtml ... roduct.htm
ive been told to set cross overs as follows, tops 100, bottoms 45 and 100
does this sound suitable?
if someone could give me a step by step walk through of the rest
it would be greatly appreciated.
btw, its for live music earlier in the night and then dj's for the rest of
the night.
thank!
0
Comments
Gadget
You do not want to use the compressor. Limiter setting is going to be difficult to set up because you have limiting built in all your cabs. You could set yours to brickwall 2-3 db above where the cabs go into steady limiting. But, that is difficult to judge.
You didn't mention the Auto-EQ. I hope that means that you haven't used it (good). Untill you have read the entire READ ME 1st SECTION, do not attempt it (sucky sound. Are you using a laptop for set-up and control? If not, consider it.
Good luck.
DRA
to work yet, tried one model of adapter and it didnt work. working
on sourcing another one. im in canada having trouble finding one.
im not using auto eq as i havent had much time to play with it. ill
have the system set up for 5 days over new years weekend, will
have lots of time to play with it then. so no compressor huh? forgive
my lack of knowedge but i was under the impression that a compressor
would allow the system to go louder than normal by reducing
the level of peak audio signals but not affecting quiter ones, thus allowing
the over all volume to be increased safely... to a point. thoughts?
wanted to run 2 more speakers in the back corners of the room for fills.
how would i modify my wizard set up so i could send a full range signal
to the back speakers?
The compressor will allow you to go all loud all the time, but you sacrifice musicality (dynamics). This is not good for speakers or amps (Do I smell smoke?) either.
Setting up speakers in the rear firing in is not a problem, but is not natual sound if the band is coming at you from the other direction. The much better solution is to set speakers 1/2 way back firing in the same direction as the mains stacks. Just set the delay for them. It is easy to do.
Assuming that you are running 2 x 4, then just use the other 2 available outputs to mimic the set-up of the tops (except use a filter instead of a full x-over and set the delay). PS - the wixard has nothing to do with it.
You can try to run the filter down a bit (closer to full range) but you may have some phasing problems. But give it a try if you wish. (Gadget??)
DRA
so to be clear, i would run xlrs from the open 2 channels and not use a
cross over on them? so in the set up i would have to select 4 main channels
and 2 sub channels, then when setting up the cross over i would adjust so
the rears get a full range signal? you mentioned a filter... sorry not following,
can you explain. thanks
so when would you use a compressor? hypothetically, if i were in a position where i was willing to sacrifice some sound dynamics for volume. how would i set the 260 up to do this. occasionally
my system gets rented out for techno shows and sometimes a little
extra volume would be preferable vs overall quality of sound.
thanks
The guys here don't recommend using the compressor because it's an overall system compressor... You can read my spiel about it in this thread...
Kev
from a mic on stage? my situation would not be for live music, pre-recorded only, still a bad idea?
A compressor will allow much higher average volume, but as Gadget says...most modern (Techno) is already highly compressed. Compression as you wish to use it will shorten the life of your gear, but if you feel a need and your customer requests it, go for it.
Since you rent your system for Techno shows, you should set the Peak Stop \"brickwall\" at you absolute max volume and set up your password protection. That way if a DJ pushes everything to the max and then pushes all the EQ's to max the 260 won't let it pass, no matter what. Unless of coarse they figure out that the cabinet gains are not maxed out and turn them up. OOPS! The idiots got throught the proof.
DRA
As Dra pointed out...compression allows for increased energy to your amps and drivers... This increased energy could potentially create failure (usually in underpowered systems) with loudspeakers (burn a voice coil),...or it could trigger the thermal protection of an exhausted amplifier from a higher duty cycle (especially if driving a low impedance load),...which could shut it down... Also,...over-compression can cause a pumping or breathing sound that can be very annoying... Personally,...I don't see the benefits outweighing the risk...
Regardless,...I would most certainly set-up the limiters as Dra suggested...especially if your going to rent your equipment out...
Kev
We still have the Mid outs and those could be used to drive your rear channels. The process of setting up a band pass filter is quite simple. I cannot give you a button by button description, but by pressing the Xover button and toggling through the menu till you find the lopass and hipass points and setting them where the speaker abilities lie you can achieve your goal. I would set the hipass somewhat high however, in the 120 and up area, NOT below the tops crossover point, as this can elicit comb filtering.
Does that answer your question?
Gadget
peace