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[Chris Grimshaw]

So wait a minute here. What am I missing? You bought the T604 less than a year and a half ago and now it's out for repair?
Not certain this a good sign.
Tell us what went wrong please and maybe a little bit more clarity on "the servicing side needs work would be an understatement" comment.

Looks like you missed the part where a T604 was bricked during a firmware update.
It sat at the UK authorised service centre for a few weeks, and then went to Italy. A while later, it returned with a new DSP board. The post you've quoted was from the end of September last year.

You can read the whole saga here: https://forums.prosoundweb.com/index.php/topic,171574.msg1580060.html

I have been assured that Powersoft was over-hauling the servicing side when I had the problems, which resulted in people not implementing the new processes etc. These days, the repair work should be a lot faster and more reliable.

I've had a couple of firmware updates since, and no problems. Nobody else reported the problem I had with that firmware update, so I'm pretty sure it was a one-off.

Chris

[Scott Hofmann]

Looks like you missed the part where a T604 was bricked during a firmware update.
It sat at the UK authorised service centre for a few weeks, and then went to Italy. A while later, it returned with a new DSP board. The post you've quoted was from the end of September last year.

You can read the whole saga here: https://forums.prosoundweb.com/index.php/topic,171574.msg1580060.html

I have been assured that Powersoft was over-hauling the servicing side when I had the problems, which resulted in people not implementing the new processes etc. These days, the repair work should be a lot faster and more reliable.

I've had a couple of firmware updates since, and no problems. Nobody else reported the problem I had with that firmware update, so I'm pretty sure it was a one-off.

Chris

Thanks for the link to the saga..... I indeed had missed it. Made for interesting reading. Hope the amp has continued working after repair.

[Chris Grimshaw]

Touch wood, flawless ever since.
I'm pleased with these amps whenever I use them.

Chris

[Nathan Riddle]

Further updates.

I'd finished a new set of speakers earlier this year, and had been waiting on accessing a nice big outdoor space to do some testing. Since we're in lockdown, that's not an option any more. So, I took everything out to my back garden instead.

The speakers are a pair of compact FOH boxes, featuring a Faital Pro 10HX230 coaxial driver, in a medium-sized box tuned to 70Hz. I've rolled a passive crossover for them, since it's a fairly high crossover point (2kHz) and component losses are minimal. I also made a fairly meaty 12" sub to go with them. This setup will be used in smaller venues - rock 'n' roll with minimal drum kit micing, as an example.

Here's what I did:
- Set up the speakers in typical position (on stands etc), one channel per cabinet.
- Using REW, take some measurements. The 10HX230 is very well-behaved - the mid-high range follows the on-axis response, but drops smoothly as you get to 45-degrees off-axis.
- Imported the REW measurements into RePhase, which can be used to make FIR files. You can use a parametric EQ for both frequency and phase response, tell it how many taps you'd like it to use. The maximum allowed on each channel of the T-series amps is 2048, with the expected delay penalty.
- Once RePhase has made the FIR file, import into Armonia+.
- Re-measuring confirmed that the whole thing was working, and then I enjoyed some music.

At one point, I had essentially flat phase and frequency responses from 100Hz upwards, requiring all of the 2048 taps. It sounded the most "correct" I've ever heard a speaker sound, and I spent a while just sitting on the grass enjoying the experience. Background vocals in Fleetwood Mac's Dreams were the most clear I've known, nice sharp transients etc. There wasn't any hint that the amplifiers were operating "down in the noise", despite the power levels being a fraction of a watt most of the time.
Of course, the overall delay was unacceptable for live sound, so I settled for using the custom FIR processing to linearise >600Hz (2.2ms delay IIRC), and an IIR parametric filter to shape the low end and apply a protective highpass filter.

It took a little while to figure out the work-flow to save new speakers in Armonia+, but with that nailed down I can tell the amps which speakers they're connected to, and they organise themselves accordingly.

I'm planning on another T304 to fill the last space, but that'll be some time next year at the earliest. The virus has killed my calendar for this year, but I'm hopeful that things will pick up again.

In conclusion, I'm still pleased with them. They're excellent amplifiers in every way I can think of, and if the fans were a bit quieter they'd work well for HiFi or home-theatre purposes, too.

Here's the current rack:


Cheers, all.
Chris

So...Chris, do you have a thread on the build for the speakers anywhere?
To me, THAT sounds awesome

[Chris Grimshaw]

So...Chris, do you have a thread on the build for the speakers anywhere?
To me, THAT sounds awesome

Thanks for the interest!

I'm not sure I do have a build thread anywhere, but I'm happy to give some details. Here's a shot from a gig:



It's a Faital Pro 10HX230. Ported box, tuned to 70Hz. Low enough for a bit of "punch" in smaller venues if the low end is EQ'd into shape.
During testing, I put one on the T602 (not bridged) and gave the speaker some pain. It put up 125dB continuous sine tones (sweep) above a couple of hundred Hz before it started showing any compression. Distortion was pretty high, but hey, it was a 70v RMS sine tone - a little over 600w into the nominal 8ohm impedance (and we all know it'll drop lower than 8ohm - power delivery probably approached 1KW in some regions).
The drivers are pretty easy to work with - I got the crossover done with just 4x components per cabinet, which was very pleasing.

I took them out for a gig just before the lockdown. Pair of these coaxials, 2x 15" subs, and a couple of monitors. The acts were genuine 1980s disco divas, featuring Artists You've Heard Of If You're Into That Sort Of Music. Lots of positive comments from the acts and organisers about the sound from the main PA - they often came out into the audience to put on more of a show, so I had to make sure my FOH mix was spot-on. Venue was good for a couple of hundred, and the sound was clean and clear throughout, even when I put the pedal down. I think we hit -3dB on the T604 that was running the mains, but since that's a short-term peak, it certainly didn't bother the drivers.

Very pleased with these little boxes. Planning on more of those drivers, or maybe the 8"s, for stage monitors when audio-life gets a bit more normal.

Chris

[Scott Holtzman]

Thanks for the interest!

I'm not sure I do have a build thread anywhere, but I'm happy to give some details. Here's a shot from a gig:



It's a Faital Pro 10HX230. Ported box, tuned to 70Hz. Low enough for a bit of "punch" in smaller venues if the low end is EQ'd into shape.
During testing, I put one on the T602 (not bridged) and gave the speaker some pain. It put up 125dB continuous sine tones (sweep) above a couple of hundred Hz before it started showing any compression. Distortion was pretty high, but hey, it was a 70v RMS sine tone - a little over 600w into the nominal 8ohm impedance (and we all know it'll drop lower than 8ohm - power delivery probably approached 1KW in some regions).
The drivers are pretty easy to work with - I got the crossover done with just 4x components per cabinet, which was very pleasing.

I took them out for a gig just before the lockdown. Pair of these coaxials, 2x 15" subs, and a couple of monitors. The acts were genuine 1980s disco divas, featuring Artists You've Heard Of If You're Into That Sort Of Music. Lots of positive comments from the acts and organisers about the sound from the main PA - they often came out into the audience to put on more of a show, so I had to make sure my FOH mix was spot-on. Venue was good for a couple of hundred, and the sound was clean and clear throughout, even when I put the pedal down. I think we hit -3dB on the T604 that was running the mains, but since that's a short-term peak, it certainly didn't bother the drivers.

Very pleased with these little boxes. Planning on more of those drivers, or maybe the 8"s, for stage monitors when audio-life gets a bit more normal.

Chris

Really hard to tell, is that a King Air 350?


That sure looks like duct tape on the hangar floor, lol.


Nice design on the speakers.

[Chris Grimshaw]

Good eye, Scott. I believe it is.
Yeah, it was a corporate gig and they wanted everything taped down as the guests would be walking around afterwards. Talking heads is a nice easy way to break in some new gear.

Chris

[Scott Holtzman]

Good eye, Scott. I believe it is.
Yeah, it was a corporate gig and they wanted everything taped down as the guests would be walking around afterwards. Talking heads is a nice easy way to break in some new gear.

Chris

Corporate gigs use to pay the bills, before that task was relegated to my savings.  Sorry, little bitter today the zoo just cancelled our annual gig all the way out in August, very hard to get my arms around.  This was our largest gig every year and a great way to finish summer.  It's not so much me, the our 30 member crew, plus the lighting guys, lot of folks look forward to this 2 day, 16 stage madhouse. 


Anyway, I am sure you know but duct tape leaves a mess on your cables and trashes the clients floor.  You should always have gaff tape with you.  I would have put a skirt on that stand for a corporate gig.  Something in a black pleated number :-)


You didn't answer the question, do you know was that a King Air 350?

[Jeff Lelko]

Sorry, little bitter today the zoo just cancelled our annual gig all the way out in August, very hard to get my arms around.  This was our largest gig every year and a great way to finish summer.  It's not so much me, the our 30 member crew, plus the lighting guys, lot of folks look forward to this 2 day, 16 stage madhouse. 

Bummer Scott, sorry to hear about that.  I know that's one of your flagship gigs too.  I'm still holding out hope for the Fourth of July - which is generally my biggest of the year - but I'm not optimistic.  Hopefully something will work out but I think the massive productions will be off the table for the foreseeable future...especially considering how much upfront work and cost can be involved with producing them. 

[Scott Holtzman]

Bummer Scott, sorry to hear about that.  I know that's one of your flagship gigs too.  I'm still holding out hope for the Fourth of July - which is generally my biggest of the year - but I'm not optimistic.  Hopefully something will work out but I think the massive productions will be off the table for the foreseeable future...especially considering how much upfront work and cost can be involved with producing them.

Thanks Jeff it is, and lots of fun.  small stages all throughout the zoo where the guests do a pub crawl from stage to stage.  We have two bands on main stage that alternate all night and by the last set all 6-8000 attendees are at mainstage and it is a ton of fun.  It is also a huge event for our zoo, and we love being part of it. 


I should be crying in a bunch of random posts, the parks department deciding to cancel all the summer events was just not a great way to start Monday....my apologies.

[ProSoundWeb Community]