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mfelt View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote mfelt Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Speaker Management
    Posted: 23 December 2018 at 1:49pm
I'm looking for any more up to date threads, or for recommendations on best speaker management units-

I've already had a look and couldn't find anything more recent than 2010- they've obviously improved/there are new options on the market since then.

over the last few years I've owned two Ultradrives that have completely broken on me at inconvenient times, and I currently use a dbx driverack that is giving me warning signs of doing the same (ie occasionally turns off and on randomly- definitely not ideal)

I know these have both been cheap options but you know how it is when you are starting.
I want to get a new speaker management system that sounds good and is reliable. i run subs, kicks, and then single amp channel mid tops.
I want to be able to run mid tops in stereo and kicks and sub in mono. so two in four out would be enough in theory, although i'd like the option to have split mid and high boxes in future so 6 out would be preferable.

What do people reccomend? for under £600 (that can be second hand though)

or can you point me in the direction of an appropriate and up to date thread?
Thanks!
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Young Croc
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote wires Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23 December 2018 at 2:40pm
Buy a dbmark xca. For the money they are easily the better sounding more reliable units in the price range.
I was skeptical at first but after my omnidrives finally aged out and then had to use ultradrives as a short stop gap, I bought a few xca’s.

Sound quality is good, comp limiters are decent enough, straightforward to navigate round. It’s even a strong contender against xta’s.

The dp model is ok as well, but imo save for the xca as the extra features are worthwhile for the difference in price between the two.

I’m a Armonia user now, but would definitely buy a dbmark xca again if need came up.
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mfelt View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote mfelt Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24 December 2018 at 5:35pm
thanks a lot!
just the sort of comprehensive, simple and useful answer i was looking for!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote Jo bg Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 December 2018 at 5:43pm
Driverack is quite limited and not flexible at all,at least the various pa editions.
the bigger dbx 360 gets some love on the forums but is not cheap.
Based on my experience i would suggest the opposite than Efinque, you should stay away from cheap dbx processors.
(for reference i used behringer dcx, various dbx Driveracks, xta, bss and run my sound with xilica XP)

behringer dcx are the cheapest workhorses, way better than driverack in my opinion, biggest problem for me is some live adjustements make sound skip, it's a set and forget box.
XCA seems to be a better product for little more money and is praised on this forum, but i never used one.
Ashly (lot of china clones around here, and works at 48Kbps if it bothers you) and Xilica (look at the xp / xa ranges) are not the real high end, they are a good compromise on functions and quality costing less (like the half) than the real high end like xta, lake, linea…
Even though lately processing is more and more embedded in amps, think lake/lab gruppen or Armonia/Powersoft.

One important thing that gets better the more you spend are the limiters.
Even if you need only 2in 4 out now i would go at least 3/6 if not 4/8.
Useful for stero inputs plus mono sub in, monitors, or going 4 way lately...

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote MattStolton Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 December 2018 at 3:26pm
+1 on XCA48.

Tend to only use mine 2x3, but then you can use C/D in as stereo full range fills, and bring in huge amounts of delay for them to suit. USB to laptop, and a simple GUI which is very simple to use. You can lock out front panel for dry hires too!

Completely flexible routing of A/B/C/D to any/some/all of O/p 1-8, doesn't run out of memory when deploying 48dB/Oct LR filters, which the berry DCX can do. And you can mix A-D into any one or more O/P so doing mono-sub-sum is easy, and keeping Mid-Tops stereo is equally easy. LCR, or 4 biamped wedge feeds is easy and no fuss. Plenty of memory to store your presets, both on board, or download to laptop.

Does a hell of a lot, for relatively peanuts.

Berry DCX is OK, very good for the money, but does have some eccentricities, as mentioned, and is looking old, now.

Have some time for the DBX stuff, but for the money, the Berry DCX wins over similar spec driverack. Expensive driveracks are pretty good, but then your into XTA/Lake money, so why bother, unless you run only JBL cabs.

For the money, DB Mark XCA are very hard to beat. Blue Aran seem to be a pretty honest and diligent lot, and Andy pops on here occasionally, and I have only ever found him knowledgeable and helpful. Being a bricks and mortar shop, as much as online, they actually physically exist, which means they have to offer both online price and old fashioned shop based help and support. No Brainer?
Matt Stolton - Technical Director (!!!) - Wilding Sound Ltd
"Sparkius metiretur vestra" - "Meter Your Mains"
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Boxes-R-Blue Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 January 2019 at 1:55am
Think really clearly why a berry DCX bought off Thomman with a 3 year warranty won't do the job.

DBX drive is utter poo, DB Mark stuff is kinda not Tour proven and more money, Behringer offer massive bang for buck!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote MattStolton Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 January 2019 at 9:57am
Originally posted by Boxes-R-Blue Boxes-R-Blue wrote:

Think really clearly why a berry DCX bought off Thomman with a 3 year warranty won't do the job.


If you like LR48 filters, the DCX runs out of processor memory, so you can't deploy what you want at all times, and you have to compromise. The glitch on audio when changing parameters is a bug which is distracting.


DCX is cheap and reliable enough, but needs a revamp to still compete with more modern stuff.


DB Mark USB/Laptop GUI is a doddle for set up, and you can deploy any combination of EQ/X-Over/Limiters/routing without hitting processor memory limits.

Nothing wrong with a DCX, just looking a bit dated with a few glitches.
Matt Stolton - Technical Director (!!!) - Wilding Sound Ltd
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote JBK Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 January 2019 at 10:31am
The new tracks looks (named t.racks DSP 206, 408, etc) quite powerfull for the price, on a french forum a few guys are testing it and to them it's a DCX Killer as it has more feature, models with more in/outs, for a reasonable price, so might be an option to some.
can't comment on quality/durability though

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Metropolismatt Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 February 2020 at 10:24pm
What are yiu thoughts on the Original soundweb 9088ii and 3088.iv used these for years and you can pick up on eBay etc ftom £50  upwards. 
They  sound ok to my ears and are own architecture programming so.you can pretty much do anything with em processing wise ?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote dylan-penguinmedia Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 February 2020 at 12:25pm
Originally posted by Metropolismatt Metropolismatt wrote:

What are yiu thoughts on the Original soundweb 9088ii and 3088.iv used these for years and you can pick up on eBay etc ftom £50  upwards. 
They  sound ok to my ears and are own architecture programming so.you can pretty much do anything with em processing wise ?

We stopped supporting 9088X Soundwebs a few years back, some of them are old enough to drink in the US now.
Fine if you want something to mess about with, just wouldn’t trust them in a critical / might lose trade situation. (We’ve deployed a shtload of them over the years).

Soundweb London’s can be got at a reasonable price second hand now, or Biamp TesiraForte’s for example. (If free form architecture is an important consideration to you).
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote fatfreddiescat Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 February 2020 at 1:45pm
A really useful feature to look for is separate compressor and limiter on the outputs, so can set comp for thermal control and limiter for over excursion and clip prevention.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Fracture_clinic Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 February 2020 at 1:48pm
Originally posted by fatfreddiescat fatfreddiescat wrote:

A really useful feature to look for is separate compressor and limiter on the outputs, so can set comp for thermal control and limiter for over excursion and clip prevention.



I thought too much compression raises RMS?
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