It is yeah, I guess the t.amp can handle that since it says 4x 810 W @ 4 Ohm and the eighteensound is rated 450W, don't ask me why I did not think of that.. guess I forgot it was 4 channel, lol. But my DCX is still full.
That would mean simply going mono with the tops, or was there a way around that with a splitter xlr? I haven't really read much on those, just heard from somewhere that some people use them to get more inputs, so I am wondering if that is how they do it. Is it possible to connect two of the amplifiers inputs, each running two mids, and only use one splitter xlr cable to go to the sound management unit, since they all share exactly the same tuning/x-over points etc. or is that just gibberish I made up?
If you draw out the current connections between your input, DCX and your amplifiers, I'll happily take a look and annotate the options
I don't understand how you don't understand that no extra processor outputs are needed. You don't need to change anything just build another pair of mid boxes, load them with drivers and connect them to the same amp outputs that currently drive the other mids. You could just install a second speakon in the boxes and daisychain the pairs... same result.
We haven't touched on this yet but what drivers/cabs are you using for kicks? Is it the 3rd pair if 18's in the picture?
As for the DSP the best way to do this 4-way setup is with mono sub and kick.
On the input configuration set the "SUM" to be A+B, then select either LMHLMH or LLMMHH routing. Now feed both LL outputs with the SUM input but use the L and R inputs to feed the MM and HH outputs.
Next is crossover setup. The first L output is for subs so rename it as such and set the filters to 35hz and 80hz or whatever is suitable for your cabs.
The second L output is for kicks so rename it as such and set the filters for 80-250hz or whatever is suitable.
Mid and high outputs are stereo so the first MH pair get linked to the L input, the second MH pair get linked to the R input. Given that you have a 1.4" exit CD I think you should try to make the mid-hi crossover as low as possible so start with the manufacturers 1.3khz recommendation.
So Mid outputs are 250hz to 1.3khz and High outputs are 1.3Khz and out, do not put a low pass filter at the very topend.. it's just wasted processing.
All filter should be 4th order LR except the 35hz highpass on the subs which should be 4th or Butterworth. If you try to use 48dB filters this unit will run out of processing power so my advice is don't go there.
That gets you a basic safe setup but it's a long way from sounding good, the next step is EQ and you really need some way to measure the system to do this well, the mids and highs are going to need the most correction and these are also most significant in terms of sound quality. You should be able to get quite good results with 2-4 parametric filters per output and a small amount of driver time alignment, and thankfully you only have to work on one mid and high output, the results can then be copied to the other outputs.
The sub and kick outputs may not need much if any EQ, if they do 1 or 2 filters should get it done.
Now as for getting these signals to all the necessary amp channels that is easier than you think.
Mids and highs are direct connection one to one.
On the PLX driving the kicks set the DIP switches for parallel input, that sends the signal from input 1 to input 2 internally.. no jumper needed.
The XLS amp driving the subs doesn't have that option unfortunately so you need a splitter cable to connect both inputs. Make sure the slide switch is set to Dual.
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The kicks are the 3rd pair, so it is all the same Colossus 18XB in the manufacturers own cabinet design.
And yeah, I certainly dont understand my understanding either, but I did start learning only with forums & google 4 years ago when I decided to build a sound, so I've sort of only touched the subjects that I have had to touch to get it running, which have been everything from making cabinets, drivers, amplifiers, mixers, crossovers, DJ equipment, cables etc. so I am missing a lot of information on theory of all kinds
Seems like I need a good book or two about everything sound-theory related so that I could actually study a bit
We did measure the sound once with a help from a friend, and based on that he set a few EQ's to mids and tops on the DCX, one for kicks, none to subs. Will have to get it measured again with the new mids & start practicing with the analog EQ that I have.
My configuration was using 6 mono channels with
2 subs in output 1
2 subs in output 2 (same settings as subs in output 1)
2 kicks in output 3
2 mids in output 4
1 top in output 5
1 top in output 6
Everything else were summed but tops were L & R. So I will get that splitter cable for the XLS, and put mids in 3 and 4. I was using butterworth 24db with pretty much everything though
And yeah, I certainly dont understand my understanding either, but I did start learning only with forums & google 4 years ago when I decided to build a sound, so I've sort of only touched the subjects that I have had to touch to get it running, which have been everything from making cabinets, drivers, amplifiers, mixers, crossovers, DJ equipment, cables etc. so I am missing a lot of information on theory of all kinds
Seems like I need a good book or two about everything sound-theory related so that I could actually study a bit
We did measure the sound once with a help from a friend, and based on that he set a few EQ's to mids and tops on the DCX, one for kicks, none to subs. Will have to get it measured again with the new mids & start practicing with the analog EQ that I have.
My configuration was using 6 mono channels with
2 subs in output 1
2 subs in output 2 (same settings as subs in output 1)
2 kicks in output 3
2 mids in output 4
1 top in output 5
1 top in output 6
Everything else were summed but tops were L & R. So I will get that splitter cable for the XLS, and put mids in 3 and 4. I was using butterworth 24db with pretty much everything though
OK maybe I reacted a little bit strongly in one of the above posts.. sorry about that, it seems you are doing quite well with all this despite being relatively new.
The main reason for my suggesting LR filters is that a complimentary pair at the same frequency(one HP and one LP) will sum flat whereas BW filters produce a bump in response.
Now the big caveat with that is the actual acoustic response of the speaker is a product of the filters response and the drivers unfiltered response, so you could end up using a whole bunch of "non matching" filters to get smooth overall response. There is no right or wrong, the correct solution for your particular combo is whatever it takes to get the results you like.
The main reason for my suggesting LR filters is that a complimentary pair at the same frequency(one HP and one LP) will sum flat whereas BW filters produce a bump in response.
Now the big caveat with that is the actual acoustic response of the speaker is a product of the filters response and the drivers unfiltered response, so you could end up using a whole bunch of "non matching" filters to get smooth overall response. There is no right or wrong, the correct solution for your particular combo is whatever it takes to get the results you like.
Haha no worries, I do think there are a lot of things I've skipped since I only learned exactly what was needed for my sound, and nothing else, and you've been very helpful! Will try different filters out once I get a chance to play again, somewhere, someday, and actually have a listen to the sound. Thank you!