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[Scott Gentry]

I had previously been pursuing a different option and decided to change directions. I will be making a purchase of one of the two following systems early next week. Either:

A) 2 DSR115's & 4 DXS18's or,
B) 2 ETX 35's & 4 ETX18's

It was highly suggested by some to keep my boxes matched, to take advantage of manufacturers tunings, dsp, lack of phase issues, etc. I was also advised to run the wiring from mixer/driverack to the subs, and then to mains. Makes perfect sense, except...

I prefer to run the subs on a mono output from my board. Currently running to input three on the driverack, then to subs. Mains are running on output 1 & 2 of the driverack. Obviously this is breaking the hard connection between the subs and the mains. How much will that affect the congruency between the system? Does running the setup as preferred completely negate the benefits of running a matched group of boxes? Or do the speakers still respond to signal in a way that they will complement each other?

As always, thank you for the feedback.

[Debbie Dunkley]

Good question Scott... I have wondered this too and I am interested in the answer.

BTW... why would you consider the DR115 over the DSR112? Just wondering...

[Mark Cadwallader]

I infer that you are using the driverack to take the place of the speaker's internal cross-over processing. As such, you might lose some of the "special sauce" dsp that was built into the system. Whether or not that will make an audible difference is a matter upon which I will not speculate.

But you are still trying to duplicate or improve upon the factory engineers' optimized solution.  YMMV.

[Scott Gentry]

Good question Scott... I have wondered this too and I am interested in the answer.

BTW... why would you consider the DR115 over the DSR112? Just wondering...

Thank you,

There are frequent times when I can't use the subs due to the time of night. So, often when I'm practicing by myself, I will just run the mains when using the system for live sound. Prerecorded I'm almost always using subs, same as when everyone is together playing live. I'm choosing a 15" top so I can run them down to about 70/80 hz, get a fuller sound, and not hammer the neighbors, when not using subs. It's more of a flexibility thing for how I use my gear.

[Mark Cadwallader]

There are frequent times when I can't use the subs due to the time of night. So, often when I'm practicing by myself, I will just run the mains when using the system for live sound. Prerecorded I'm almost always using subs, same as when everyone is together playing live.

Can you just turn the subs on, but all the way down, for those practice sessions?

[David Winners]

I had previously been pursuing a different option and decided to change directions. I will be making a purchase of one of the two following systems early next week. Either:

A) 2 DSR115's & 4 DXS18's or,
B) 2 ETX 35's & 4 ETX18's

It was highly suggested by some to keep my boxes matched, to take advantage of manufacturers tunings, dsp, lack of phase issues, etc. I was also advised to run the wiring from mixer/driverack to the subs, and then to mains. Makes perfect sense, except...

I prefer to run the subs on a mono output from my board. Currently running to input three on the driverack, then to subs. Mains are running on output 1 & 2 of the driverack. Obviously this is breaking the hard connection between the subs and the mains. How much will that affect the congruency between the system? Does running the setup as preferred completely negate the benefits of running a matched group of boxes? Or do the speakers still respond to signal in a way that they will complement each other?

As always, thank you for the feedback.

I would not use the driverack. Either run the system full range or run subs on an aux. Unless you have the measurement chops to roll your own processing that is better than the smart guys at Yamaha or Electro Voice.

For practice, I would think the 12s would be fine running full range. I guess it depends on what your practice looks like. I use a single 10" box or a pair of headphones myself.

[Scott Gentry]

I would not use the driverack. Either run the system full range or run subs on an aux. Unless you have the measurement chops to roll your own processing that is better than the smart guys at Yamaha or Electro Voice.

For practice, I would think the 12s would be fine running full range. I guess it depends on what your practice looks like. I use a single 10" box or a pair of headphones myself.

How would you eq? I don't think the channel strips give the flexibility to do that with any detail, at least not on my analog desk. Yes there's some, but not enough to eq subs to my liking, highs are shelved, etc.

I understand not everyone is a fan of using a driverack, but I'm using a VENU360 and like it's functionality, and layout. It's easy enough for my novice skill set to operate as well, which is a plus. I would be setting the driverack crossover points to correspond with whatever settings are on the speakers. Just as an example 100hz and below to subs, above to mains. Driverack also has the ability to change that, say 80, set speakers accordingly, etc. If the only benefits to not using the driverack is retaining the factory crossover setup, I'm not sure that's enough benefit to remove it. There's a significant number of other functions that the driverack can perform that neither of the before mentioned systems will do, and there's a fairly comprehensive crossover section as well. Albeit, perhaps not as perfectly aligned as factory, but I imagine it can be dialed enough to work well. Furthermore, I can set multiple presets on the driverack configuration. The plan was to have a primary present where I run the full system, and another when running just the mains. A quick flip of a switch, or dial / push of a button, setting the speaker mains to full range, change the driverack preset accordingly ( likely one with a steep crossover set around 70/80 hz ), and I'd have a nicely setup option, with eq etc., for both operation modes.

Perhaps my bigger curiosity is in the phase alignment, and tunings of the drivers with their enclosure. I suspect this is where the driverack would likely not be as good as the engineers "sauce." But, would using it even affect those parameters? And if so, how?

[Dave Garoutte]

When you run the signal through the subs to the tops, it's a full frequency pass-through.
The crossover switches only control the box the switch is on.
The subs will get the full signal and low pass out the frequencies it doesn't want.
The tops will high pass out the lows.
Running the subs on an aux out will give you more control as to what is going to the sub.
The 360 will let you have more control over the crossover point and low / high pass settings, as well as delay if needed.
That said, you may not need it.

[Geert Friedhof]

Another topic, same question. Again!

[Paul G. OBrien]

Scott.. the driverack is totally redundant with these powered speakers systems, everything you think you may need the driverack for is already built into these speakers and is only a couple button presses or switch clicks away. You cannot defeat any of the processing in these boxes so the second rate IIR DBX processing is going to be running on top of the Yamaha or EV FIR processing. You want to run the DSR115's fullrange, spin them around and turn off the high pass filter, want a little smiley face EQ, engage the D-contour switch. The EV DSP has even more options and it does take more button presses to access it but.. what you will find is YOU DON'T NEED IT, select one of the presets and you are done, these things never fail to impress with nothing but cable connecting them to mixers mains outs.

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