DBX DriveRack vs. Behringer DCX2496

zybar · « **on:** 6 Jul 2004, 01:17 am »

Has anybody compared these units?

I am looking for a crossover and parametric eq for my VMPS Larger subs.

Thanks,

George

MikeCTM2 · « **Reply #1 on:** 6 Jul 2004, 01:38 am »

everyone says to get the dbx over the behringer. the behringer is the rock bottom cheapest. on the other hand, i heard one guy at audioasylum had a driverack 260 and dcx2496 and couldn't hear the difference b/t the two so he sold the DR260.

i have the Driverack PA. it's a great unit. are your other pieces XLR? or will you have to get XLR to RCA cables?

zybar · « **Reply #2 on:** 6 Jul 2004, 01:41 am »

Mike,

My amps are balanced and my preamp is balanced out only as well.

How is ease of use on the Driverack?

George

MikeCTM2 · « **Reply #3 on:** 6 Jul 2004, 01:52 am »

extremely easy. there's no problem in that dept. you should have it all understood the first day. you should like how easy it is to set-up. is it just gonna be a lp x-over? or maybe band-passed. 18-70hz, for example. it has a feature for managing subwoofers. something about making them less boomy, if necessay, and other stuff. that's all in the sub-harmonic synthesizer program.

when considering digital pieces, do people ever give consideration to the DAC inside?

Al Garay · « **Reply #4 on:** 16 Jul 2004, 06:09 am »

Zybar,

Have you made a decision? Have you found good prices on line for either DCX2496 or the Driverack PA?

I'm in a similar situation.

Thanks,

Al

Bingenito · « **Reply #5 on:** 20 Jul 2004, 12:32 am »

http://www.musiciansbuy.com/mb/item.asp?ic=DRIVERACKPAKIT&k=t&source=overture&OVRAW=dbx%20driverack%20PA&OVKEY=dbx%20driverack%20pa&OVMTC=standard

$499 w/ a free mic

Mine works great. I have done an A/B with and w/o the driverack. The driverack does not adversely affect the sound. With EQ and X over the sound is awesome

zybar · « **Reply #6 on:** 20 Jul 2004, 12:54 am »

Quote from: Al Garay

Zybar,

Have you made a decision? Have you found good prices on line for either DCX2496 or the Driverack PA?

I'm in a similar situation.

Thanks,

Al

Al,

I haven't decided yet. I am also thinking about a Marchand crossover.

Bingenito, how much flexibilty is there in the crossover?

George

doug s. · « **Reply #7 on:** 20 Jul 2004, 03:26 am »

may also wanna check out fullcompass.com. they're wery competitive w/pricing.

http://fullcompass.com/Products/pages/SKU--53122/index.html

i have dealt w/joel at x1116...

doug s.

Bingenito · « **Reply #8 on:** 20 Jul 2004, 11:58 am »

6/12/18/24 LR and BW

Increments from 1.2 Hz-10Hz depending on the Freq.

Variable gain control for High, Mid, Low

As someone else mentioned the setup and config are very easy. If you have questions DBX tech support can help you. I called them with clarifying questions around the PEQ and Sub-harmonic functionality. The got me on the right track in under 5 minutes.

This is the future as far as I am concerned. Everyone I called that sold both the berhinger and DBX said buy the DBX DriveRack PA. PA techs don't seem to care to much for Berhinger products. They call them knock offs that sometimes work and sometimes dont. Not my words just passing on what I was told by around 6 techs.

Per DBX:
There is also the 260 and studio but even DBX told me to get the PA because it is the least expensive and for what I am using it for it can more then get the job done. The studio is $50 more and the only difference is the preset componets and speakers are for studio and not PA. Since we would be using custom speakers and amps not an issue. Save the $50 get the PA

JoshK · « **Reply #9 on:** 20 Jul 2004, 01:21 pm »

George,

Thinking about going digital xo? I am. I think this will likely be my next big step in audio. Of course I am going to need more amps, but then I am itching to build some of the DIY amp kits anyway.

I need to read up a lot on these and find which will work best for me. In the end I will probably mod or have modded whichever I choose. I think a 3-way digital xo is minimum requirement for me. Volume control in the digital realm would be nice if it was implemented correctly. If you split the signal into 3-way and it doesn't do volume then you are going to need an expensive multichannel preamp. Dan Banquer makes a nice one but only one source.

I think my Spectron will continue to work great, especially on bass duties only and then I can go tubes on mids and highs if I so choose.

JoshK · « **Reply #10 on:** 20 Jul 2004, 01:31 pm »

Somehow I was thinking this was used between the digital source and preamp, but it looks like it takes an analog signal from the preamp and then converts to digital, does its business and converts back to analog with multi outputs.

Wonder if you can find one that inputs digital to skip one unnecessary conversion.

zybar · « **Reply #11 on:** 20 Jul 2004, 01:52 pm »

Josh,

Since Brian highly recommends that you don't try and use an active crossover for the mids/highs, I was thinking of running an untouched signal from my preamp to the mids/highs and only having the crossover for the bass.

If used in this way, I am thinking the benfits of going active (and of course removing the passive crossover) will outweigh the extra connversion step.

Does that make sense?

George

JoshK · « **Reply #12 on:** 20 Jul 2004, 01:55 pm »

But the extra A/D and D/A steps are still involved in the high pass. I really like the DEQX implementation on paper but $3500 is a little steep. But considering how flexible it is, maybe it will be a one time investment for all future audio.

Bingenito · « **Reply #13 on:** 20 Jul 2004, 02:06 pm »

Zybar,

That is how I use the DriveRack. I considered not using any passive crossovers but after talking with Rick Craig I thought it best to use a passive crossover in the array.

I think I made the right choice
* If the digital crossover power cycles on you without a passive crossover to protect ribbons it could get real ugly. You will hear a loud pop. The Xover has to be on first then your amps.

Sudden power loss without some tweeter protection could make for a bad day.

randytsuch · « **Reply #14 on:** 20 Jul 2004, 02:08 pm »

Quote from: JoshK

Somehow I was thinking this was used between the digital source and preamp, but it looks like it takes an analog signal from the preamp and then converts to digital, does its business and converts back to analog with multi outputs.

Wonder if you can find one that inputs digital to skip one unnecessary conversion.

I thought the 2496 can input a digital signal. Pretty sure it has a D/A inside, and then outputs analog signals. There are threads over at diyaudio on modding the deq2496, which would probably help if you want to mod it later.

Randy

JoshK · « **Reply #15 on:** 20 Jul 2004, 02:40 pm »

Quote from: Bingenito

Zybar,

That is how I use the DriveRack. I considered not using any passive crossovers but after talking with Rick Craig I thought it best to use a passive crossover in the array.

I think I made the right choice
* If the digital crossover power cycles on you without a passive crossover to protect ribbons it could get real ugly. You will hear a loud pop. The Xover has to be on first then your amps.

Sudden power loss without some tweeter protection could make for a bad day.

That is a very good point and something else to consider. I would have thought that the product itself (driverack) would have some sort of protection built in for this sort of thing.

Bingenito · « **Reply #16 on:** 20 Jul 2004, 10:01 pm »

Zybar,

Not to my knowledge. I am thinking about calling DBX to see what options there are.

I am also considering UPS just for the DriveRack if it does not affect the sound.

15 minutes of backup is more then enough as a last resort

csero · « **Reply #17 on:** 21 Jul 2004, 01:39 am »

Quote from: Bingenito

Zybar,

I think I made the right choice
* If the digital crossover power cycles on you without a passive crossover to protect ribbons it could get real ugly. You will hear a loud pop. The Xover has to be on first then your amps.

Sudden power loss without some tweeter protection could make for a bad day.

Most digital EQ manual definitely states you have to switch power amp off before you cycle the EQ or you can damage the speakers.

Concerning the Driverack I've tried it and definitely did not like it. It was quiet, but as soon as the music played there was a definite haze of noise behind the music. True, I've used it for extreme freqs ( e.g 40Hz low pass) so it could be the accumulated rounding errors.

I've build a direct i2s I/O for it, but it did not help, the noise remained.

I still prefer the older DSPs uising 48 bit fixed point algorytms (EV, RANE) to the newer floating point ones.

Csero

Bingenito · « **Reply #18 on:** 21 Jul 2004, 02:49 am »

The issue is not manually cycling power but power surges and outages. When the power comes back on you can have an issue

JoshK · « **Reply #19 on:** 22 Jul 2004, 01:19 pm »

Frank,

My familiarity with pro audio equipment is limited. Are you referring to processors like the Electro-voice Dx38 and Rane RPM series processors? Do you know if other manufacturers other than DEQX have an all digital crossover/processor?