No Low End
WitchsMark
Posts: 116
We played a gig back in May and have been in the studio recording since. Tonight I finally got to where I started putting our Practice Studio back together and when I hooked up the Console with the DRPA I was only getting High end through the horns. After much trouble shooting, I bypassed everything and went from Mic - Mixer - PowerAmp - to SP2(1/4\" Parallel 8OHM jack)... still nothing but the horn is working... in both Peavey SP2's. I plugged that setup into a 15\" Monitor sitting nearby and all was well. What could be wrong with my SP2's to have only the horns working??
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Comments
Have you run a cable from the lo outs of the DRPA to the amps for the subs?
Have you verified all cables are hooked up as I specified?
what are the input and output lights in the DRPA doing?
try a signal to the lo amps and see what happens
G
Bi-amp input via 4-pin switching Neutrik Speakon
The key word here is switching, that would mean that when the NL4 was in the speaker the xover would be interrupted...did you disconnect it?
It's easy enough to verify if you fried the woofers, and no they don't always make scratchy noises...they may be open circuited, or the cone may be frozen...pull a woofer out and with a 9 volt batters (a couple paper clips or wire may be needed) touch the battery to the speaker and it should move and make a clicking sound.
try that first, and verify that the woofers are good... you can do the same thing with an NL4 connector connected to the speaker at the jack...put the battery across the 1+, 1- terminals and the same should happen...
G
G
They usually call the cooked voice coils abuse and you'd be charged for baskets at least I bet...
Gadget
You flunked gain structure totally! The idea is to get the equipment all talking the same language AND determine where the CLIP point of the system is...theoretically, when the mixer clips, the Driverack AND amps should still be in a NO CLIP situation!...
Also, lets clear something else up. You most likely sent too little AC voltage to the speakers and FRIED them with DC voltage which is actually TOO LITTLE power. (when the power supply gets exhausted it flatlines at the voltage where the amp power supply gets exhausted.. this is then replacing good clean AC voltage with voice coil barbecuing DC voltage!)
If your running that EP 2500 in stereo you have only 450 watts of power on a speaker that can take 2400 watts of clean power, In parallel bridged you would get 2400 watts, BUT thats for both speakers and each only gets 1/2 of that or 1200 watts.
What did you have your HPF set at?
G
I know you deal with alot of people on a daily basis so I don't expect you to remeber, but you actually spent a solid week with me via e-mails and phone calls helping me setup my system. My EP2500 is in Bridged Mode, and you actually gave me the wiring diagram to set it up so I could Bi-Amp my SP2's.
You told me to set it at [50Hz to 100Hz BW18 lows ], [105Hz - 1.60KHz mids LR24], [1.60KHz on up for highs LR24].
I just hope it doesn't happen again. The worst part is that it doesn't make any sense why it happened to begin with. I had played atleast 20 practice sessions with this same exact setup(granted not as much power at practice as a Live gig obviously) and atleast 1 gig prior to the destructive one, and there was no problems, everything was beautiful. If I atleast new what was done wrong I would feel better because I could then avoid it. Something tells me these Behringer AMPS although cheap are just a huge mistake. My sales guy/tech at GC is tending to think that the AMPS may be at fault with surging and what not.
Are you SURE that when the gain structure was done, that with the mixer @ clip, the driverack still had PLENTY of headroom (no yellow or red lights above the output, or input meters)? AND that the amps still had NO RED LIGHTS?
Are you sure you didn't put the LIMITERS on, on the amps? That would reduce the power by almost 1/3 and increase the duty rate of the amp (normally an amp only works in the 10-50 % area with the peaks and valleys of the music)
I can pretty much guarantee you that that amp was clipping...the power supply was exhausted and the DC current fried the voice coils...The local GC gooks are clueless in most cases...I have POUNDED at just below clipping on those amps even full range, all day and all night and never had a problem,, I got the passive xovers smoking hot once :shock:...
I remember you and our talks very well...you are missing something.. re-check those amp settings:
switches 4,5,6,7, pushed right ->
switches 1,2,3 and 8,9,10 pushed left <- As your looking at the back of the amp...
Make CERTAIN that when you do the gain structure that you DO NOT clip the input signal on the input channels, and that the LIMITERS and COMPRESSORS are OFF on all equipment!
That with the OUTPUT meters of the mixer at JUST BARELY clipping (a flickering red light occasionally only...) that there is still 3-6 db of headroom on the input, and outputs of the DRPA(more would be better).
That the amps , when turned up to clipping are then turned DOWN by 3 - 6 db for headroom.
Now... when you get this mess all straitened out, with the system up and running and at OUTDOOR concert volume... have the drummer kick the kick drum repeatedly and if he has a double kick that he pound the livin hell out of the bass drum and observe the clip lights on the DRPA and the amps, this is with the limiters OFF... if the lights are hitting on EITHER, the transient peaks will get through the limiters and you will have the SAME thing happen!
Gadget
G