DBX DriveRack 260 Parametric EQ

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Hi,

I am a DBX DriveRack 260 in a DJ application with mainly digital music MP3/M4A

There is a 4 Band Parametric EQ that comes with the 260. I am not sure what 4 frequencies I should start with and what their bandwidth (Q) should be. Does anyone have any suggestions?

XOVER: High Pass Filter at 40hz

Thanks!

 

[museav]

Hi,

I am a DBX DriveRack 260 in a DJ application with mainly digital music MP3/M4A

There is a 4 Band Parametric EQ that comes with the 260. I am not sure what 4 frequencies I should start with and what their bandwidth (Q) should be. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Not knowing what speakers you have or anything about the situation, I would start with looking to see if the manufacturers of your speakers provide recommended processing for your speakers. If they do then is probably where you should start. If not then the next best option might be to measure the frequency response of your system and adjust the filters to obtain the desired response. If you don't have the tools for that then you may have to simply go by ear and hopefully you are good at identifying frequencies.

XOVER: High Pass Filter at 40hz

What is your system? Are you running subwoofers and/or running the mains bi-amped? The crossover settings are going to depend on what you are trying to do and the products involved. A crossover usually consists of a high pass filter that is used to send higher frequencies to the mains (or to the HF driver(s) in a bi-amp situation) along with a low pass filter that sends the low frequencies to the subwoofer(s) (or to the woofer in a bi-amp scenario). Again, the manufacturers recommendations for processing are the best place to start, but if you don't have those then to offer any recomendations we'd need to know what speakers and amplifiers you have and the system configuration (subs and full rnage mains, bi-amp mains, subs and bi-amp mains, etc.). It might also help to know things like the genre of music potentially involved.


I have to be honest and say that it sounds like you might benefit from involving someone more familiar with setting up speaker processing and the DR 260 in particular. Maybe you can check around locally and find someone that could help you.

 

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Not knowing what speakers you have or anything about the situation, I would start with looking to see if the manufacturers of your speakers provide recommended processing for your speakers. If they do then is probably where you should start. If not then the next best option might be to measure the frequency response of your system and adjust the filters to obtain the desired response. If you don't have the tools for that then you may have to simply go by ear and hopefully you are good at identifying frequencies.


What is your system? Are you running subwoofers and/or running the mains bi-amped? The crossover settings are going to depend on what you are trying to do and the products involved. A crossover usually consists of a high pass filter that is used to send higher frequencies to the mains (or to the HF driver(s) in a bi-amp situation) along with a low pass filter that sends the low frequencies to the subwoofer(s) (or to the woofer in a bi-amp scenario). Again, the manufacturers recommendations for processing are the best place to start, but if you don't have those then to offer any recomendations we'd need to know what speakers and amplifiers you have and the system configuration (subs and full rnage mains, bi-amp mains, subs and bi-amp mains, etc.). It might also help to know things like the genre of music potentially involved.


I have to be honest and say that it sounds like you might benefit from involving someone more familiar with setting up speaker processing and the DR 260 in particular. Maybe you can check around locally and find someone that could help you.

I have Yamaha S115V's and they are full range.

 

[museav]

I have Yamaha S115V's and they are full range.

So no subwoofers? Are you running the dbx 160 in the 2x2 mode preset?

Unfortunately, Yamaha does not seem to provide recommended processing for your speakers other than that when used with the Club V subwoofers they recommend a 90Hz, 12dB/octave crossover. You could contact Yamaha and see if they have any recomendations that aren't on their web site. You might also search the web and see if anyone has any recommendations to offer, although I did a quick search and did not find anything relevant. You could also ask on some of the audio forums if anyone has any recommendations or settings they'd share. Otherwise you're apparently on your own.

Having a high pass filter on the speaker via the 'crossover' is a good idea, but since the response of the S115V apparently starts to drop off at around 70Hz, is -10dB at 55Hz and around -20dB at 40Hz then 40Hz may be a bit low in frequency for that filter. Although it will limit the output from the speaker below that frequency, for it to provide much protection from low frequency content that could possibly damage the speakers you might consider bumping the high pass filter up to 50Hz or even higher, depending on how much low end you are trying to get from the speaker.

Similarly, the high frequency response of the S115V appears to start to drop off pretty steeply around 12kHz to 13kHz and is -10dB at 16kHz so unless you need the very high frequency output and are using the EQ to boost those frequencies then you might also want to low pass the speaker at 18kHz or so.

 

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Hi,

Where did you find those specs? I looked on Yamaha's website and all I saw was 55hz-16khz (-10dB)


Thanks!

 

[museav]

Where did you find those specs? I looked on Yamaha's website and all I saw was 55hz-16khz (-10dB)

I looked at the S115V frequency response chart on Page 32 of the S115V manual, http://download.yamaha.com/api/asse...ite-master.prod.wsys.yamaha.com&asset_id=8769.

 

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Hi! Still no luck with getting this rig to sound good. Do you have any other ideas?

I tried setting some EQ points on the parametric, and worked with the bandwidth too.

Some specific ideas or settings to try would be great!!

Thanks!

 

[cmckeeman]

What exactly do you need the Driverack for?

 

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Want to utilize some.of the.advanced features such as delay and high pass filter.

 

[lakota651]

Hi! Still no luck with getting this rig to sound good. Do you have any other ideas?

What exactly doesn't sound good; can you please go into further detail? Is it too bright, thin, harsh, muddy, muffled,... what?

Also; from the point of wanting the speakers to sound as "flat" as possible, the 260 does have an input for an RTA mic if you have or can borrow one. Place the mic at a decent general location in the room and the run Auto-EQ function. Not great, but it does provide a decent starting point. I will also second Muse and suggest that you use a higher HP filter than 40Hz. If its graph shows it starting to roll of around 70Hz I would start there then slowly back it down with music playing. While the speaker may technically be able to reproduce frequencies as low as 50Hz, it doesn't necessarily mean it can do so and still sound musical. If you are getting a bunch of smearing in the mids and EQ isn't really helping, it might be because you are asking/pushing the speakers too much in the lower octaves and it is affecting how well it can reproduce the content that lies further up the spectrum. If you are interested, Dave Rat as a demonstration on You Tube that helps explains why this is.

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[cmckeeman]

Want to utilize some.of the.advanced features such as delay and high pass filter.

Like Lakota said why do you need it, does your rig sound aweful without it? What do you need a delay for if you only have two speakers, and i would set the HPF and LPF to match your speakers response but other than that we need to know exactly how it doesn't sound good without the Driverack so we can guide you in how to set it up.