Motown wrote on Thu, 22 April 2004 22:27 |
Thanks again everyone, as always your answers just give me more questions;
What is a UPS exactly?
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UninteruptiblePowerSupply. Basically an invertor powered by a battery so that if you lose AC power to the rack, the Drive Rack PA stays powered up.
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Unfortunately yes, another power amp is on our agenda and it will have the power to push our cabs. Thanks for the tip. We will rent a few amps to see the difference in sound compared to the Nady.
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Just keep in mind that the important thing is getting enough power to properly powere your speakers. I'm no big fan of Nady (my experience has been mostly with their wireless mics--and they have been just slightly less dependable and sound slightly worse than a "Mr. Microphone"), but chances are that as long as the amp is used well within its ratings, you probably won't hear any real difference between it and any other modern power amp. Under extreme conditions like low voltage, high temperature, low impedance loads, etc. it is probably more likely to start sounding bad. And it probably will be much less dependable than a QSC, Crown, Crest (or even Peavey for that matter.)
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Piezo tweeters why? The PeavySP2's that are made to be Bi-amped have a horn not a tweeter?
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Piezo-electric as opposed to voice coil. And to confuse things a bit more, a piezo element is sometimes attached to a horn. Basically it is a type of crystal [yes guys, I know I'm oversimplifying] that vibrates when an AC signal is applied to it. They are inexpensive, and can be used with nothing more than a resistor and capacitor for a crossover. They are often used in cheap speaker systems and have a reputation for sounding very harsh and metallic. (They have been used in some expensive systems too, but with proper crossovers and a lot more care in design to make them sound good--in the price range you are looking at, avoid them like the plague.)
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Also researching the YamahaS115IV's they come with Emenence speakers (Yummy) and a 500RMS rating. They look very appealing for the price and performance without getting into the very expensive high end stuff like EV's. But they aren't made to be Bi-amped. Can you run an active X over into a passive cab? How would one modify an passive cab into a bi ampable cab, maybe remove the x over and just wire in speakon connections (wild guess)?
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Your Carvins may very well have Eminence drivers. The Yamahas are far from horrible, but you may not be gaining a whole lot from them [I'm not overly enthralled by the vocal clarity from them-your mileage may vary]. As far as bi-amping them goes, Yamaha designed them to work as a system as they are. You could remove the crossover and wire direct to the speakers, but you would be totally on your own when it came to figuring out proper crossover points, and when you got done they might sound worse than they did to begin with. If I was looking at that price range, I still think I'd go with Peavey's. But I think you would be a lot happier spending a little more (assuming you have enough power to make any of them sound good). Since you have subs, you might also want to look at 12" and horn boxes rather than 15". EAW FR129Z for example. Yorkville and Community make some good boxes as long as you avoid their extreme low ends. There are also some good buys in used stuff out there if you know what you are looking for.
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Another thing our old Carvin Pa system is going up for sale. A 12 channel board, 15's, 12 monitors, and a horribly underpowered Carvin amp won't be doing us much good. I'd rather have the cash to upgrade.
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Don't get in too much of a hurry. You don't want to have to do it again next year. You didn't mention [or I missed it] where you are located. You might want to consider consulting with a local regional or larger provider. They might be able to steer you in the best direction. (Even asking what they would supply for one of your typical gigs would probably tell you a lot.)
-ray