Hello everyone, after surfing the forums for a post specifically similar to mine, I have decided to post a new thread.
I have joined a small 4 piece live band recently and I am trying to setup the PA system properly that they have. I am the youngest person in the band so the old farts wanted me to look at fixing our issues. The guy who left the band used to do it all and now its on me, I guess.
So the band has three amplifiers. One powers the monitor mix, one powers the main speakers and one powers the subs. They have a Samson S3 way crossover hooked into the rack. I am trying to figure out the best way to set this crossover up with this setup.
I have read so much on the internet about stereo 2 way or mono 3 way, but that requires three amplifiers to run mids and highs to the tops and low to the sub woofers. How should I set up with this equipment? Should I set the Samson to 2 way mono and just run a high output to each speaker with one amp and a mono sub output to the other amp for the bass?
The other day I turned on what they already had setup in Stereo 2 way with the above wiring and all the mids were coming out of one speaker and all highs out of the other. If I switch it to mono 2 way will this make the highs and mids come out of the tops and lows out of the bass? I honestly just want it to be even in each top. I understand if we get another amp we can just run stereo 2 way and highs out of one amp and mids out of another but I am limited to what we have.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
I have joined a small 4 piece live band recently and I am trying to setup the PA system properly that they have. I am the youngest person in the band so the old farts wanted me to look at fixing our issues. The guy who left the band used to do it all and now its on me, I guess.
So the band has three amplifiers. One powers the monitor mix, one powers the main speakers and one powers the subs. They have a Samson S3 way crossover hooked into the rack. I am trying to figure out the best way to set this crossover up with this setup.
I have read so much on the internet about stereo 2 way or mono 3 way, but that requires three amplifiers to run mids and highs to the tops and low to the sub woofers. How should I set up with this equipment? Should I set the Samson to 2 way mono and just run a high output to each speaker with one amp and a mono sub output to the other amp for the bass?
The other day I turned on what they already had setup in Stereo 2 way with the above wiring and all the mids were coming out of one speaker and all highs out of the other. If I switch it to mono 2 way will this make the highs and mids come out of the tops and lows out of the bass? I honestly just want it to be even in each top. I understand if we get another amp we can just run stereo 2 way and highs out of one amp and mids out of another but I am limited to what we have.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
We are using the DL 1608 Mackie Mixer with the Ipad setup. I am not sure on the specifics of the actual amplifiers, I do know that they have two channels each, one is a 1500 for monitors, a 4000 for the sub amp and I am not sure of the main speaker amplifier wattage. I would have to get the specifics on the brand for you when I go over there in the morning. How do you know if an amp is stereo or not?
If they are 2 channel, I would call them stereo
Have you connected up like page 11 in this manual?
http://www.samsontech.com/site_media/legacy_docs/S3way own man_4lan.pdf
Brian
Have you connected up like page 11 in this manual?
http://www.samsontech.com/site_media/legacy_docs/S3way own man_4lan.pdf
Brian
Brian, so I have read through the manual and my only question is how would I set it up that way if we only have one amp for the main speakers and one for the subwoofer? That one wants you to set up one more the mids and one for the highs. Would I just set up that way and instead of the mids amp just have the amp powering the mono sub for low and just plug the other amp with the high outputs on the crossover and skip mids?
And the mixer has a LR out which I am going into the xover with so I assume that means stereo as well.
My confusion on page 11 is that it dedicates an amp to the mids. We have two main speakers and a subwoofer. One of the amps we have is for the sub and one is for the speakers. How do I set it up without getting another amp? Just run the two high outputs to the top speakers from the crossover into the amp into the tops and the same for just the mono sub with the subwoofer amp and allow the passive crossovers in the main speakers to split out the high into mids and highs in the speaker itself so I can get bass separation?
In a Stereo 2-way operation as per page 11:
The Low channels (#1) will be, well, Low , or Sub, and the respective outputs will be connected to your sub amp and subwoofers. Set the xover frequency (low pass) accordingly, at 90 - 150 Hz aprx.
The High channels (#3) will be the rest of the range - also set the xover frequency (high pass) to the same 90 - 150 Hz. Those two channels' outputs will go to the main amp and main (passive) speakers. The main speakers will receive a signal from 90-150 Hz up, and their passive xover will split the signal to the bass/mid and tweeter/horn.
With this setting, you are NOT using the channels #2.
The Low channels (#1) will be, well, Low , or Sub, and the respective outputs will be connected to your sub amp and subwoofers. Set the xover frequency (low pass) accordingly, at 90 - 150 Hz aprx.
The High channels (#3) will be the rest of the range - also set the xover frequency (high pass) to the same 90 - 150 Hz. Those two channels' outputs will go to the main amp and main (passive) speakers. The main speakers will receive a signal from 90-150 Hz up, and their passive xover will split the signal to the bass/mid and tweeter/horn.
With this setting, you are NOT using the channels #2.
Draki, thank you. So leaving the mid channels empty. If we are using a Mono sub output from channel one side with the low channel and not both and daisy chaining our two subwoofers would this be the reason that one side of my main speakers sounded low and one side sounded high?
In other words. There are two channels on the cross over. Each channel has an input and three outputs a low, a mid and a high. The Left and right outputs from the mixer go into each input of the crossover so channel one and two. One side has a low output and a high output going to two different amps. and the other just has a high output going to the amplifier for the tops, effectively making a mono sub signal and a stereo top signal. When we originally had it set up was it the fact that it was set up that way causing the two main speakers to sound so different or was it more than likely just the fact that the crossover setting was probably off?
Thanks!
After looking at the manual I'm not surprised you are having problems setting this unit up, it's needlessly complicated. That is partly because they have crammed so many features into it and partly because the manual seems to gloss over some important things.
First thing to do is make sure the crossover is set to stereo 2-way, that is accomplished with the rotary dial referred to as the "Operating Mode Selector" at the very center of the unit, turn it to the left as far as it will go(page 11). That will turn on some LED indicators over the front panel controls that will be used for this mode of operation, ignore all others. On the rear panel the only connectors that should be used are the Inputs and Low and High outputs. In your case there is no advantage to using the summed mono output, even though you have the whole sound system connected in "stereo" most band instruments are mono so the sound is mono anyway. The only thing that would come through in stereo would be stereo effects or stereo backing tracks/break music which can be a "nice to have" but in practice most people wouldn't notice either way.
I suspect the sound difference you noticed with the main speakers initially was due to a configuration error.
First thing to do is make sure the crossover is set to stereo 2-way, that is accomplished with the rotary dial referred to as the "Operating Mode Selector" at the very center of the unit, turn it to the left as far as it will go(page 11). That will turn on some LED indicators over the front panel controls that will be used for this mode of operation, ignore all others. On the rear panel the only connectors that should be used are the Inputs and Low and High outputs. In your case there is no advantage to using the summed mono output, even though you have the whole sound system connected in "stereo" most band instruments are mono so the sound is mono anyway. The only thing that would come through in stereo would be stereo effects or stereo backing tracks/break music which can be a "nice to have" but in practice most people wouldn't notice either way.
I suspect the sound difference you noticed with the main speakers initially was due to a configuration error.
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Hi air
Like conanski said, it'll be easier if you do a mono mix.
I've attached my S3 showing it in 2-way setup. For you, the RANGE light should be OFF. Then you have 35Hz to 800Hz. The LOW goes to your SUBS. The 2 knobs under the MIDS are inactive. The HIGH goes to your MAINS.
The next attachment is your system setup. The L and R Out from your Mackie are the same signals in a Mono Mix.
Hope it helps.
Regards
Mike
Like conanski said, it'll be easier if you do a mono mix.
I've attached my S3 showing it in 2-way setup. For you, the RANGE light should be OFF. Then you have 35Hz to 800Hz. The LOW goes to your SUBS. The 2 knobs under the MIDS are inactive. The HIGH goes to your MAINS.
The next attachment is your system setup. The L and R Out from your Mackie are the same signals in a Mono Mix.
Hope it helps.
Regards
Mike
Attachments
for live music you really want the subs no higher then 100 and preferably lower depending on how low you mains are rated at, I normally run mine at 70hz indoors 100hz outdoors
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