intermediate setup question drpa+ over xti amps

danxt

I've been doing sound for several years now, but I'm getting more into the digital world with it.
I heard something from the "harman guy" at sweetwater recently that made me start thinking about setting up a little different. The suggestion was that I ought to move as much of the "processing" to the amps as possible, and mainly use the drpa+ for balancing and master eq-ing.
Here's what I'm working with:
2 STX812m as tops
2 SRX718 as subs
drpa+
2 xti4002 amps

This is a live sound (band) setup, and for the venues, I could care less about stereo, so to get the most power from the amps, I am running the tops daisy chained off of one amp in bridged mono (3200 w total output), and the subs off the other amp in the same way.

What are your opinions about using the amp dsp instead of the drpa+ for crossover, limiter, eq?

I do have bandmanager2 installed, and have played around a little, but don't really see much extra capability compared to the front panel.

Dra

Generally I think it has many benefits to do like he said. But only those things that, once set, should never be touched. PEQ settings for cab flat response and RMS limiting (doesn't the XTI have rms limiting?) are the 2 that come to mind. X-over settings and Peak limiting I believe best suited for the DRPA, because you'll have on the fly access. The PEQs in the DRPA would come in very handy as general / broad room adjustments. At least, it is worth a try.

Let us know how this work out for you, as others can learn from your experience.

DRA

danxt

If the xti amos have rms limiting, I have not found it.
Through bandmanager2, there is an output attenuator, but I I have not found any documentation of how it works.

As for PEQs, I have never even used them in either the amps or in the drpa+. Should I be? What benefit would I have? The freq response curves for the speakers in this rig are quite flat to begin with, and after auto eqing with high precision on the drpa+, my external rta software shows good results.

Dra

I don't have XTI amps, so I can't confirm the RMS limiters, but I am pretty sure that I have read discussions on PSW or Harmony Central that they do.n Unless I am thinking of a different Crown amp.

I'll assume that your Auto EQ sessions have been in a free air environment. The PEQ's are just to "perfect" the 2-3db dips and peaks that show up. If you don't have them... great news for you. If you have adjacent GEQ frequencies in a given room giving you feedback problem. Trade them off to a single PEQ filter. The result will be more pleasing and less audible.

DRA

danxt

Fair Fair enough, some times I'm in open air, sometimes not, but I run the auto eq in each room before a performance. Also, I do use the live feedback suppression on the drpa+ with all filters set to live. Rarely do I see more than 1 or 2 filters light up, which indicates to me that these aren't constant room problems, but anomalies during a performance.

WHat do you think?

ALSO, do you know where I can find more documentation on the output attenuator for the xti2 amps?

Dra

By open air, I am talking about the baseline flattening adjustments that you never change once set. Example: Let's say that yoru speakers in an outdoor, reflection free environment have a natural peak of 3db from 2000-6300hz. You would correct that with the a PEQ filter to bring it back as close to -0- as possible. Then if you go into a room that is naturally resonant at 4k, you may get away with a 6db cut at 4k, instead of a 9db cut if not for starting out flat.
Auto-Eq passes are quicker and less invasive if the cabs have a "flattest" starting point.

DRA