norty303

I'm not a great fan of active speakers because of the extra leads involved. If you're running 2 tops and 2 subs then thats twice as many sets of leads to run to provide power and signal to each cab. More cabs...2 more leads each...

The Ultradrives have a history of producing 'frying eggs' type noises on the outputs occassionally. This seems to be down to poor finishing on the boards where component legs have not been trimmed right and short on the bottom of the case. This can be easily fixed with strips of gaffa tape (see, it DOES do everything) on the bottom of the case internally and light trimming of the legs. Not all suffer this and mines been fine but i might do the mod just for safety's sake (don't want it going off in the middle of a gig)

QUOTE speaker management systems are normaly a crossover thats been tuned to work with just one make of speaker,,, BOSE , EV and others all have them to work with there kit... its basicly a cross over with out the adjustments..... Personally i'd dispute those comments as being 'all' they are.... Often there are very complicated and extreme filter and EQ curves to even out poor design and frequency response (Bose and EV being guilty of this in the past) Digital crossover units (LMS - Loudspeaker Management Systems) are the dogs danglies if you ask me. They allow you to split the signa

I take it you're talking about an active crossover? (goes before the amplifier in the signal chain rather than after = 'passive') Basically a crossover takes the audio signal and splits it into separate frequency bands (depending on how its configured, some are fixed, some can be changed by the user) It then sends each of these bands to a separate set of outputs. This allows you to connect to an amp and only send it a specific frequency range e.g. most commonly you'll use an active crossover to run mid/top cabs and subs. The x-over splits the signal so that everything below 150hz

It's slightly worrying to hear talk of clipping amps to get more power. A small clipping amp is far more damaging than a large amp run within its limits because it causes the signal to get squared off which effectively tries to make the cone stay extended at each end of its travel. This causes the voice coil to heat up and potentially burn out. A good driver should be able to deal with an amp roughly twice its RMS rating without suffering a mechanical failure but your ears are a good guide for when something is amiss. To get more volume you can either add more cabs or get ones with a highe

Re-cones done right are just as good as new drivers but they need to be done right. Some of my Precision Devices and Beyma drivers come in around £200 a throw so replacing them entirely is not an option.

The amp gives 350w into 8R loads. I've got the same amp but rebadged by a German distributor. As for speakers, there's so much choice out there in that range and they should all be able to handle the output. Don't forget if a speaker is rated at 250wrms to 300wrms is should be able to take peaks of 450-600w so don't worry if the speaker you end up with 'appears' to have a lower rating than the amp. At this level 50w is negligible anyway.

To be honest a hipass of 25hz is a little low. Most 15" full range cabs will struggle to reproduce any noticeable signal below 50hz and many don't get close to that. Even good quality double 18" bass bins will struggle to reproduce below 35-40hz with any level that you'd notice. Spec sheets will often quote either a -3db, -6db or -10db frequency point which is basically where the natural roll-off of the cabinet is. This is usually tied to the port tuning frequency in bass reflex cabs. Putting any large level through at frequencies below this runs the risk of damaging the driver as the con

It's interesting to see how you guys configure your sound systems and where you have the power bias. When all my kit goes out its around 7k (4 way system) with roughly 1Kw mids/tops(down to 180hz), 3Kw low mid/bass (180hz down to 80hz) and 2.5Kw subs (everything below 80hz) Admittedly that is primarily heavy dance music but even doing other music DJ's and live bands it sounds very balanced and 'hifi'. Its amazing how the extra energy from a sub or 2 in any setup really can make the music come alive and you really don't have to push the tops half as hard then. Make sure you've got the cro

With any problem like this, its best to isolate each piece of kit in turn using a known good source (such as a line level input - CD or something similar) with a known good patch lead. Then work through, bypassing each link until you find the culprit. Decks are the most common problem but weary mixers and regularly unplugged leads are also guilty. also check any connections on any balanced XLR patch leads (if you use them) as I've found simple shorts in poorly constructed ones are common.

I've gotta ask, you're not the same Gary from the ill fated DJ Connected are you? (sorry, i realise Gary is a popular name :unsure: )

Thought i'd say hi once more, it seems my first evening of posting got wiped out with the server backup problem so here i am again!! (deja vu?) I'm not a mobile DJ as such (please don't hold that against me ;) ) but I'm an ex sound/light tech who's now 'hobbying' with PA/lighting hire using home grown, tried and tested kit. I'm a bit of a techie at heart so don't hold that against me if i pop up in one of your threads rambling irrelevant nonsense http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html/emoticons/huh.gif Making good quality loud noise for a reasonable price is where i'm coming from... The foru

Quick tip for you: Wire the 2 subs in parallel and you'll get a 8R load. Most amps will bridge into 8R and will be much cheaper to find. I'd suggest something that gives around 500w a side into 4R will work nicely. You don't need to run the subs in stereo, just make sure you're feeding it a summed output of both channels.