To DSP or not to DSP that is the question

[Mike Andrade]

Over the past few years, I have taken advantage of the great prices on eBay and I've put together a PA system for personal use. My goal was to keep the system small, light and powerful. I have acquired a Crest ProRack mixer, 2 Turbosound TQ445DP tops (3-way, powered 1600 wts) and 2 RCF ART 905-AS subs (powered 1000 wts), BSS FCS 966 31-band EQ, Drawmer DL241 compressor for the mains and an assortment of reverbs, compressors and delays. I purchased a Driverack PX, but I was recently told I should get a BSS Omnidrive 366T because it is more suited to my system than the PX. The Turbosound tops have built in DSP that is set at the factory and and the RCF subs have a processor with volume, limiter, phase, and switchable crossover at 80 Hz or 120 Hz. Will I need any of the other features that the digital DSP units offer? Should I upgrade to the BSS or another brand? Or, would the system sound better if I used an analog crossover like a BSS FDS 310? Do I really need digital DSP or should I just run it as is? Thanks in advance for your advice.

[spottyaudio]

if the turbosound tops have a highpass crossover in them, i would say you dont even need a crossover at all. the rcf crossover is a bit limiting, but might stack up nicely with where the turbor cabs fall off when set at 80 hz. would all depend imo on style of music and spl needed. personally i think i'd just run your bss 31 band eq out to the subs, and the subs passthrough jacks out to the mains and call it done. i dont like the dbx driverack px and i would definitely suggest the bss minidrive is a much better option..down the road, maybe..if you need it.

[tuchan]

Yeah, keep it simple.

 

Mixer-EQ-subs-tops no compressor in there. Play with the crossover and see what it sounds like between settings.

[gdawg55]

I use powered speakers and a DSP. I like having the flexibility. With a dsp unit you can do lots of things to taylor the sound of your cabs....eq settings, shelving, multiple crossover settings to chose from, high pass/low pass filters, etc. I think my system sounds much better with the dsp and personalized settings than without.

[RoadRanger]

I have two DSP's sittin' on the shelf here - what I use is a DBX223 crossover and a Rane MQ302 stereo EQ. I get to feel all smug when the DSP reboots or pops the drivers out on somebody else's rig . My FOH rack has those plus a DBX AFS224 and a MaxxBass 107 in it .

[Pro Sound Guy]

 

Over the past few years, I have taken advantage of the great prices on eBay and I've put together a PA system for personal use. My goal was to keep the system small, light and powerful. I have acquired a Crest ProRack mixer, 2 Turbosound TQ445DP tops (3-way, powered 1600 wts) and 2 RCF ART 905-AS subs (powered 1000 wts), BSS FCS 966 31-band EQ, Drawmer DL241 compressor for the mains and an assortment of reverbs, compressors and delays. I purchased a Driverack PX, but I was recently told I should get a BSS Omnidrive 366T because it is more suited to my system than the PX. The Turbosound tops have built in DSP that is set at the factory and and the RCF subs have a processor with volume, limiter, phase, and switchable crossover at 80 Hz or 120 Hz. Will I need any of the other features that the digital DSP units offer? Should I upgrade to the BSS or another brand? Or, would the system sound better if I used an analog crossover like a BSS FDS 310? Do I really need digital DSP or should I just run it as is? Thanks in advance for your advice.

I had a DBX Driverack PA and I dumped it and

went back to the analog EAW controller. The PA and PX are sonically crap IMHO.

I have heard the DBX 260 and higher are better sonically and the BSS is sonically better. If I were you I would not waste your time with that model Driverack (If you really want a Driverack).

If you have the ability to run out of the sub and high pass at 80 or 120 to the

Turbos then that is the way to go. I would not run the turbos full range with the subs. The speaker delays are all done inside of the Turbo's electronics so really

you do not need the Driverack for anything. Use the GEQ you have.

I would go with 120hz for your high pass for sure. If the Turbo's had 15" drivers

instead of 12" then 80hz would work ok in my opinion and experience.

[agedhorse]

I have installed many DriveRack PA's and never had any problems with them (sound quality or otherwise).

 

IF you can bypass the crossovers (low pass in the subs and high pass in the tops) in your subs and tops, the DRPA in 2 way mode (you will probably end up with a better sounding system since the crossovers in your speakers were not designed to work well together. Now IF you had bought subs and tops that were designed to work together, then I would skip the external processing, but you didn't ask that question did you?

 

IMO, any sound quality differences between units will be more than offset by any differences in non-bypassable latency that your current powered speakers may have. This MAY be a bigger problem than any difference in processors.

[RoadRanger]

I have installed many DriveRack PA's and never had any problems with them (sound quality or otherwise).

You obviously forgot to use the auto-EQ functionality .

[agedhorse]

You obviously forgot to use the auto-EQ functionality .

 

Correct, I don't ever use wizards and marketing based features.

[Coaster]

i believe the correct pronunciation is "WHIZZZZZAHHHHHH!" while standing arms stretched in a karate stance.