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\"Main Speaker Levels\" (again I know!)
berkon
Posts: 4
Hi guys,
please don't beat me. :oops: I know this topic has been discussed a few times here already, but somehow the wizard setting \"Main Speaker Levels\" is still causing headach to me.
Here are some questions regarding this:
1. My understanding is that the certain xx% setting that is shown when you select a certain speaker (and are asked to set that speaker to that level) is the level at which the speaker starts to clip right? If yes, why can I change that settings even for those builtin speaker presets? Of course It must be changed for \"Custom\" speakers.
2. My speaker is not listed there. So I guess I have to go the other way round (not as described in the manual). First I need to find the cliping point of my speaker system and then afterwards turn the level settings in DRPX to what I have set on the speaker. Right?
3. What does this setting really influence in the \"real world\"? It must set something that I could set manually (after the wizard) as well, isn't it? Yesterday I played around with that parameter and set it to 1% for testing. I didn't notice any change in gain somewhere. How is this possible?
BTW: Setting the level on a speaker system according to some graphical (or %) display is not really a good idea. This value can be anything. It is also a question of how linear the gain knobs on the speakers work.
Anyway! This is a great a device! Today I have my first gig with it and I cannot wait to see it in action!
Thanks in advance!
The DRPX newbie ;-)
please don't beat me. :oops: I know this topic has been discussed a few times here already, but somehow the wizard setting \"Main Speaker Levels\" is still causing headach to me.
Here are some questions regarding this:1. My understanding is that the certain xx% setting that is shown when you select a certain speaker (and are asked to set that speaker to that level) is the level at which the speaker starts to clip right? If yes, why can I change that settings even for those builtin speaker presets? Of course It must be changed for \"Custom\" speakers.
2. My speaker is not listed there. So I guess I have to go the other way round (not as described in the manual). First I need to find the cliping point of my speaker system and then afterwards turn the level settings in DRPX to what I have set on the speaker. Right?
3. What does this setting really influence in the \"real world\"? It must set something that I could set manually (after the wizard) as well, isn't it? Yesterday I played around with that parameter and set it to 1% for testing. I didn't notice any change in gain somewhere. How is this possible?
BTW: Setting the level on a speaker system according to some graphical (or %) display is not really a good idea. This value can be anything. It is also a question of how linear the gain knobs on the speakers work.
Anyway! This is a great a device! Today I have my first gig with it and I cannot wait to see it in action!
Thanks in advance!
The DRPX newbie ;-)
0
Comments
• You will now rotate the <DATA> wheel to match the same setting as your amplifier
of choice. Note that based on your amp selection, the DriveRack® PA will initially
display the recommended setting of that particular amp for obtaining maximum
headroom. This is done to match unity gain from the DriveRack® PA and your amplifier.
Note that if Sub Speakers are included in the speaker selection, you will be
asked if the sub woofer is bridged or mono. For more information regarding
Amplifier gain settings, please refer to the System Setup and Gain Structure information
located in the appendix section\".
The wizard sets a bunch of gain settings in the DriveRack but for them to mean anything, the amplifier input gain has to be set to a specific value. When you run the wizard, it assigns values to all of the DR outputs and then displays the knob so you will know where to set the amp gains. If, for some reason, you want to set the amp gains differently, you have to tell the wizard so it can reset DR output gains. You would do this by rotating the virtual knob in the wizard to match the settings on your amp. I would suggest that, for now, you use the amp gain settings that the wizard gives you.
Dennis
The thing with powered speakers is that they are VERY hard to find the clip point on since the low level clipping doesn't even register till the limiter starts to ramp up, and before you know it you go from -0- to full clip in a millisecond...
The Driverack wizard is your only real way to find that \"actual\" clip point...
G
thanks a lot for your suggestions! By the way, I got a HK (L.U.C.A.S) system. That is one of the earliest ones. It is now approx 6 years old (and still working very fine :-) ). I found two HK LUCAS systems in the DRPX, but these are newer series. Interesting enough, for both systems a value of exactly 50% is suggested. By coincidence I am using my system (most of the time) at 50% position of the amp knobs. I found this to be a good gain setting for my Denon DNX1500 - mixer. And the loudness level suits well for weddings :-) ... my main \"application\". :-) So this value could probably work well in conjunction with the DRPX also.
Finding the clipping point is not very easy in another way. I don't have the chance to fully power my system up in my apartment. :-) My neighbours won't be very happy. ;-) So the only way is to disconnect the tops. But at least the sub is working at full power, since it contains the Amp and thus cannot be disconnected ;-)
Regards,
Bernd
now I got the final explanation from the very friendly(!) dbx technical support:
They say that the speaker level setting in the wizard is only needed to set the limiters according to the selected speakers. And this is exactly the point. They confirmed that when \"Custom\" is selected in the wizard, the level setting has NO effect. I suggested to skip this step in the wizard when \"Custom\" is selected, to have less confusion.
They promised to forward this suggestion to the development team.
Regards,
Bernd