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[Nathan Riddle]

I would much rather have the loudspeaker continue working thoughout the night and the next day, than to have the music stop and get a phone call the next day.

Keeping it making music is more important than a couple of extra dB that only a couple of people will notice.

EVERYBODY will notice if the loudspeaker dies.  It kinda kills the party pretty quick ya know.

Yes, I will agree that some of my settings are conservative.  I don't like living on the edge.

It also depends on how the system is operated, is it being monitored? or just "left up to the DJ" to have at it as he pleases?  It makes a difference.

I completely agree and do the same when applying what you taught me when commissioning systems that I am unsure who will use it.

In Debbie's case, I'm doubtful she's going to push her system (especially the SM80's) to where conservative limiters are needed. Especially for the first time setup.

All this techno talk is boring. Go listen to your new speakers Debbie!!

[Debbie Dunkley]

Seriously, though. Go out and have fun. Forget trying to set perfect limiters and all that other stuff. Play music and enjoy it

When I first joined this forum I was so nervous about setting my DSP (hpf, xover, limiter, compression, eq, delay, etc) 'correctly' to the point that it can ruin just enjoying yourself and the music.

While everything I've learned from PSW has been invaluable and extremely helpful for designing and installing passive/active it can needlessly complicate things that are easy to get 90% of the way there (hpf, xover, basic EQ) [provided good source material, speakers, and amps]. That last 5% takes SMAART and a day. That very last 5% is a series of compromises and advanced tuning techniques that I don't think many can manage.

From my perspective, the good-natured intent of the forum is precluding you from having fun Go out and throw some sound and shake the neighbors. You're not going to hurt anything.

If I were you here's what I'd do.
1) obtain favorite FLAC/WAV music & player
2) SQ6 > amps > speakers
3) set hpf (30hz, 24BW)
4) set xover (whatever DSL recommends [90/120])
5) turn on clip limiter
6) RMS limiter 82v
7) turn it up and enjoy musics
join DSLUG on FB and post pretty pics for us to see

Yeah, no EQ to start. Try the DSL EQ in/out pick whichever you prefer.
When I worked on a friend's SM80/TH115 system with QSC PLD 4.5's I had much less EQ on the SM80's than the DSL presets suggest.
IIRC there's a peak at 3k or 4k thats annoying, beyond that they're pretty good out of the box.

Just did a couple of screenshots.....TH118 SM80 limiter settings.
I don't have Clip set - what should I use there?
Other than that if these look OK then I'll keep them. If not, unless anyone has 'better' numbers, then I'm going to disable all limiter settings and use the amps relying on my judgement until I can get better values. Or just use clip values ...

Yeah I just want to try my new speakers out but feel I don't have all the info I need and yes- it is starting to become frustrating...

[Tim McCulloch]

Debbie, Debbie, Debbie.  You're overthinking this for first time use.  Set it up in the garage and torture the rig with some of your raw 'virtual soundcheck' files.  You'll soon find out that at most any tolerable listening level you're unlikely be into any of the limiters.

[Nathan Riddle]

^^ What Tim said.

Whatever settings you have RIGHT now is fine.

Play music, be happy

[Ed Hall]

Yeah I just want to try my new speakers out but feel I don't have all the info I need and yes- it is starting to become frustrating...

Debbie,
Take a deep breath and have some fun with it. Like Tim said you'll likely feel it's loud enough long before you get to limiting.  If you feel too frustrated, just get up and walk away from it for a few minutes, send me a message and I'll gladly trade some JBL 812 and 828 for it!
 

[Ivan Beaver]

Thanks Ivan.

I am unable to set Peak to 162v - it is 'over the amplifier  threshold' and will only allow up to 140v.

I would set Clipping- but again I am unsure what to punch in there.

I messing with it right now and I am changing some values ....

Then I would go with 140V.  That is just the limit of the amplifier.

Think of it this way-if you set it to 140V "peak", then the actual voltage (as read on an RMS meter) will be 99V.  That is only 1.6dB over the 82V continuous.

So basically you will have a hard time damaging the sub, because you will "run out of amplifier", before you run out of speaker.

Go have some FUN listening, and don't worry about the limiters, unless you get into stupid loud territory.  That is when the limiters will be an issue anyway.

Let's just say that with a single TH118 per SM80, you will run out of sub before you run out of top.  And the amp is the limiting factor there is the amp.  So just don't let the amp limit itself to much and don't worry about it.

Personally I feel you are worrying WAY to much about this.  Most people don't even run limiters (at least properly set anyway).

Music is about fun, go have some.

[Debbie Dunkley]

I'm happy now - I just listened to the rig for the first time.......oh yes, oh yes, oh yes. That was using an iPod and it sounded amazing. I have some recordings on my thumb drives so I'll be mixing the rest of the evening....
BTW - I removed ALL limiters and the EQ I had set for the tops. Hard to believe it could sound that much better to be honest but now I'm up and running I can tweak as I go to improve on what I have.
I appreciate all the help - I really do. I'm just so crazy about getting the numbers right and yes - I do overthink EVERYTHING.. just ask Chris.

BTW.... at one point whilst playing the music, I hit the gain button on the amp to bring up one side and didn't realize just how quickly it scrolled. Oh boy - good job the mixer level was down a touch and I was bending down below the speaker level. That blew the cobwebs away for sure!

[Nathan Riddle]

I'm happy now - I just listened to the rig for the first time.......oh yes, oh yes, oh yes. That was using an iPod and it sounded amazing. I have some recordings on my thumb drives so I'll be mixing the rest of the evening....
BTW - I removed ALL limiters and the EQ I had set for the tops. Hard to believe it could sound that much better to be honest but now I'm up and running I can tweak as I go to improve on what I have.
I appreciate all the help - I really do. I'm just so crazy about getting the numbers right and yes - I do overthink EVERYTHING.. just ask Chris.

BTW.... at one point whilst playing the music, I hit the gain button on the amp to bring up one side and didn't realize just how quickly it scrolled. Oh boy - good job the mixer level was down a touch and I was bending down below the speaker level. That blew the cobwebs away for sure!

This is what us DSL users love to hear

Seriously, pics or it didn't happen

[Uwe Riemer2]

Just did a couple of screenshots.....TH118 SM80 limiter settings.
I don't have Clip set - what should I use there?
Other than that if these look OK then I'll keep them. If not, unless anyone has 'better' numbers, then I'm going to disable all limiter settings and use the amps relying on my judgement until I can get better values. Or just use clip values ...

Yeah I just want to try my new speakers out but feel I don't have all the info I need and yes- it is starting to become frustrating...

The way you set the limiters, the attack/release time for the SM80 is longer than for the TH118, but should be shorter actually.
this comes from a small conversion mistake: 8ms are 0.008 seconds, not 0.08 seconds

[Debbie Dunkley]

This is what us DSL users love to hear

Seriously, pics or it didn't happen

Well, I did post the pic when they first arrived and here is another set up. I need to get more though ...

[ProSoundWeb Community]