Help with DRPX setup.

schallerz

Ok so i need help setting up my DRPX there's one thing i want to mention right away because its so important, My church is currently running our services out of a local movie theater every sunday morning we get in at 6:00 for setup and our services start at 9:15 so i don't have a whole lot of time to mess with this since i have to get the band up and ready and sound checked. Anyway we have 2 Mackie SA1530z active loud speakers as our mains and 1 Mackie SWA1501 Active Subwoofer. Now I've all ready established that my mains are not on the supported speaker list but does anyone know if a.) is there another speaker that is close enough to use as a preset and b.) for the AFS which is better Fixed filters or live filters?

Dra

If by theatre you mean upholstered stadium seats, carpet floors, pleated wall coverings and high ceilings, wow, you have it made! AFS - you want both. Some fixed (room's problem frequencies) and some live (paster's inability to stay in one spot and speak with the same level). It should only take you one set-up to see how many fixed you need, but in general you want to get to to the loudness that you need (plus a little more) and note how many fixed are latched (start with 9 or 10 hopefully not that many) and then set to that number as your usual the rest will be live with a 5 sec lift. Start with the Music High and see if that is enough for you. If not keep stepping to wider filters until you have at least a few opens left for live. I like to use a wider filter (even speech) than the fixed.
Get the speakers as high as possible and as forward as possible.

DRA

schallerz

Yea we do! My tech both has an amazingly comfy seat! all right cool thanks!

Gadget

The C300 and whatever sub doesn't really matter...set the HPF @ 20 hz since the subs have one.. let the sub set that...

Use LR 24 filters and try 100 hz HPL/LPF

I like to run with 6 fixed and 6 live filters

G

schallerz

all right cool thanks! Ill have to try all of those suggestions this sunday.

schallerz

Ok so last sunday i got my DRPX setup, unfortunately I couldn't set it up until after the service because of a minor problem, but i did mention to my youth pastor that you guys said to get them as high as possible off the ground so we tilted our mains back angling them up a bit more and it made such an incredible difference! But I did put on a song after i setup the DRPX and it sounded 100 times better especially in the area of the low ends since we used to run our sub as a monitor and control it that way and we didn't have a crossover so our Bass and Kick only went through the sub. But so far so good the only thing i have to look at is the AFS and the other stuff like the limiter/compressor etc. But thanks so much for the help! If you guys have anymore ideas that may help me please let me know they would be much appreciated!

schallerz

ok so i have another question. According to Mackie frequency response range for my mains are: 38 Hz to 20 kHz and my sub's frequency response range is: 36 Hz–120 Hz. So my question is a.) what is the range on the filters because the manual is confusing sometimes, and b.) when i setup the filters should i setup my mains and subs to overlap a frequency or two or set it up so at a certain frequency only my sub will pick it up instead of both my sub and my mains?

Dra

While the tops may do 38hz :roll:, all the other frequencies that the low driver reproduces with suffer .
Do you mean under lap (leave a gap)? Do you have a way to generate tones? Select a crossover frequency (say 100hz). Set up a LR24 for the LPF for the sub and HPF for the top. Send a 100hz tone and move the filters down to 90hz and up to 110hz (both). In theory the tone should be the same volume for all settings. If there is a loss when filters are at 100hz then you have cancelation and either the high should be raised a couple of hertz ans/or the low should be lowered until the loss is regained. You can try an overlap if needed, but that should not be the case.

The range of the flters is effectively unlimited (to capacity of any PA).


DRA

schallerz

yea Im either going to look for an app for my iPhone or download them to my phone and what i was wondering could i set it up so both my subs and my mains pick up a frequency they have in common and both play that frequency?

Gadget

I don't get it? :roll: If you over0lap the frequencies you will have interactions in the overlap that will affect the sound, and NOT in a good way... some people use that as a crutch for a poorly designed and implemented system...

You have a sub with a variable Lopass.. and a fixed hipass, set a frequency below the lopass limit, as Dra said 100 hz is a reasonable starting point.

If you look closely at the frequency response of those speakers you will see that they are LISTED as 10 db down @ 38 hz.. Actually it's more like 17 db down from the 110 hz response...Even the 50 hz \"3db down\" spec (which is a crock) is 10 db down from the 110 hz response...but the real problem is the lower you make the woofer in the tops go, the less lo mid clarity there will be...PLUS you overlap the sub and tops and you have a real opportunity for disastrous sound... Start with the LR 24 100 hz for both and see how that sounds... let the subs set their own HPF

Gadget

schallerz

all right thank you i wasn't sure if that would be a good thing or a bad thing. The thing that annoys me a little is the fact that the sound tech for our adults know how to use the DRPX BUT he's not supposed to come help since he has to so a sound check for the adults plus that what he gets paid to do. lol but he doesn't answer any of my questions so it like ugh!

Dra

Is he in the church sound tech union? WWJD would seem to apply.

DRA

Gadget

What a turd...Oh well, the lord helps those that help themselves...Have you seen the \"READ ME FIRST BEFORE POSTING\" area? Yes, there is a wealth of info there for you to educate yourself with... the FAQ's there and the Start here will have you smarter than he'll even be before you know it...

What Dra was saying is... interference in the crossover region can often be minimized by spreading the crossover region a few hz, and then if necessary.. using a PEQ to make up any loss in that area. A frequency sweep ...available on the Binkster audio CD thats download able..

Rock on dude...there IS some Christian rock thats great... but I don't understand why a church would require ONLY gospel music...Make a joyous noise onto the lord!
G

schallerz

Lol we rock out!! LOL ok cool I'll check it lout later