DATs 2 Problems

[ilardi]

I recently bought a DATS 2 system from Parts Express. I already owned a WT3 that I had upgraded to DATS v 1.02 software, but since the DATS hardware is supposed to be better than WT3 and it was Christmastime I decided to upgrade.

Well it turns out that the DATS 2 hardware I was sent was defective. When I was testing it I took out my old WT3 and ran that on the DATS 2 program (on a Windows 10 machine), and calibrated it, which gave me the odd results in the image. (In case you couldn't guess the green trace is supposed to be the real part of the 1K resistor's impedance). I tried calibrating the WT3 on a different Windows 10 machine on which I had loaded the DATS 2 software- same result. Just to convince myself that this mattered, I tried testing a few known value capacitors, and it turns out it does. Not surprisingly, the tested values were way off. I then reloaded the DATS 1.02 software on both of my machines (both of which are running Windows 10), and the WT3 calibrated perfectly,the capacitor values that were read by DATS 1 were very accurate and incidentally my WT3 hardware seems to run solidly under Windows 10.

So clearly there is some odd software interaction going on here. I have searched all of the settings I could find and nothing pops out-and as I said, when I reloaded the down level software all is just fine.

I haven't heard that anyone else has reported this behavior.Has anyone else seen it?

 

[xrk971]

I had one that was DOA and did not produce the right signal. PE promptly exchanged for a new one and that one works flawlessly. Each time I plug it in it is recognized and the software works. Very reliable now. You should exchange it.

 

[ilardi]

Thanks. I had, in fact, already contacted PE and they did tell me to return the DATS 2. I also later heard from customer support at PE who told me a few things that others might find useful.

1) The older WT3 can benefit by running a few speaker impedance sweeps through them before you calibrate or otherwise try to use them. This, apparently warms them up and stabilizes them. I did try this on the WT3 and it works. So if you are having trouble with your WT3 you might give this a try.

2) You can (and should) designate the hardware that you are using (WT3, DATS or DATS 2) in the DATS 2 software under Preferences in the Edit menu. I think the DATS 2 program defaults to DATS 2 hardware. I suspect that if I had reset it to WT3 that I would have avoided the bizarre results I show in my first post. Unfortunately I couldn't test this since I had already packed up my DATS 2 and wiped the DATS 2 software off of my machines.

 

[DrBoar]

I run WT3 and I have noticed that the first two three runs the speakers buzz along with the chirp then it suddenly turns to a clean chirp.

 

[eriksquires]

Of course you calibrated it first, right?

Yeah, one odd thing about these devices is they just use the audio interface of windows. They don't really know they are talking to a test device so can easily be set to the wrong one.

I will say mine has been perfect, and that I know of at least one megabucks speaker maker that relies on them for at least part of their qa process. It's good when it works right, which is often.

In measuring Scanspeak woofers the figures I got where better than published, and dead on for Focals

Good luck

Erik

 

[ilardi]

I have calibrated it so often that I can do it my sleep.

I calibrate it every time I use it. I don't really trust it otherwise. But I didn't know the trick to run a few test sweeps first until a few days ago. The test sweep tone changes as it warms up. You will recognize it when it sounds right.

So now I run 3-5 test sweeps, then I calibrate, then I use it. Fortunately it only takes a couple of minutes to do this.

The DATS 2 hardware is supposed to be better in this regard, however. After I get my replacement DATS 2 I will be in a better position to determine if that's true.

 

[eriksquires]

I calibrated my DATS V2 once and never again. It's always been spot on.

Best,

Erik