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Sound Reinforcement - Forums for Live Sound Professionals - Your Displayed Name Must Be Your Real Full Name To Post In The Live Sound Forums => LAB: The Classic Live Audio Board => Topic started by: toddpatterson on September 07, 2018, 02:01:17 PM
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Hi guys,
I'm considering the DBX Driverack PA2 vs the Peavey VSX-48e for my portable rig. Have any of you had experience on both and have a preference? I will use it mostly in a public school setting, as I am the resident sound engineer. We have at most 8 mains and 2 subs - I've been using a rack-mounted crossover and EQ but want to go to one of these units to assist with setting up more quickly in the different rooms/environments we do live reinforcement. I will likely also get the RTA mic that is same brand as the rack unit I purchase. Thanks in advance for your time and advice!
edit: There are no capital letters in the name "dbx"
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Todd,
This is just my opinion, but you are probably going to waste your money. I definitely would not use the " automatic eq" feature on the DBX; it sucks! I don't think I've ever used the Peavey unit so I can not comment on that particular unit. What is it you are trying to accomplish? If you already have an outboard eq and crossover, why do you need either one of these? Are you using different speakers and outboard in other rooms? I am a little confused, but either way I don't think it is a good use of your money.
Scott
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The RTA feature is really not great like Scott said. You're much better off using a true RTA/FFT setup to calibrate your system to a room.
What is your use case here? Are you using it purely as a crossover between your tops and subs and to add small delay adjustments for alignment? You have a lot of mains compared to the number of subs you have, what cabinets do you have and how do you currently deploy your equipment?
There may be a better solution that can be recommended for how you're wanting to accomplish.
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Hi guys,
I'm considering the DBX Driverack PA2 vs the Peavey VSX-48e for my portable rig. Have any of you had experience on both and have a preference?
The DRPA2 midrange output is reversed polarity, and has no polarity reverse function.
The Peavey VSX-48e feature set is much more versatile than the DRPA2:
Every input features Gain, Mute, HP and LP filters, 8 bands of PEQ, polarity and Delay (680 mS)
Every output features: 9 bands of PEQ, gain, compressor/limiter, polarity, Delay (680 mS), mute, and crossover/band-pass filters
EQ filter types include: PEQ, Low-Shelf, Hi-Shelf, Low-Pass, High-Pass, All-Pass1 and All-Pass2.
Crossover/Band-pass filters feature Butterworth, Bessel or Linkwitz-Riley alignments from 1st order (6 dB/Oct) to 8th order (48 dB/Oct).
I have not used the Peavey, but have used the original DRPA extensively. It reverses polarity of all the outputs from the inputs...
As others have said, forget about "automatic eq" functions, even at the "Lounge Level", they are near useless.
Art
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Hi guys,
I'm considering the DBX Driverack PA2 vs the Peavey VSX-48e for my portable rig. Have any of you had experience on both and have a preference? I will use it mostly in a public school setting, as I am the resident sound engineer. We have at most 8 mains and 2 subs - I've been using a rack-mounted crossover and EQ but want to go to one of these units to assist with setting up more quickly in the different rooms/environments we do live reinforcement. I will likely also get the RTA mic that is same brand as the rack unit I purchase. Thanks in advance for your time and advice!
What speakers do you use? Unless you are using active loudspeakers with built-in DSP (most have it now), it makes sense to match your DSP to your speakers (DBX if you have JBL speakers, etc...).
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The DBX Venue 360 is a much more versatile unit.
You can put the DRPA2 and the 360 on wireless networks and use their apps to set up and control the system.
Do not use the the auto EQ functions.
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I have a guess. It sounds to me like he has to move a sound system, all or part of what he has described, into different rooms at different times and do an event in there. For this kind of use if you have standards of how and where you put the same speakers each time then a DSP of some sort that has the ability to store and recall different setting can help, once you have the settings for each room. You just go in and set it up the same way you did when the DSP was tweaked for that setup and recall that setting and you should be set. Depending on how much DSP processing you need to do there are a lot of digital consoles out there that can basically do the same thing without the need for the external DSP.
I do a bunch of outdoor concerts in the summer time and we set the system up the same way each time. We even measure and put the speakers in exactly the same place every time.
I have to preface this with I dont have direct experience doing shows with the 2 DSPs that you asked about. But I have used some of the other DBX drive racks and they may work fine for what you need to do, but I prefer the much more expensive models of the DBX like the DR4800 series. The Peavey seemed a bit noisy to me in the one place I played with it a little, but that could have been the way the gain stages of the system were setup.
I would really lean towards seeing if it may in the long run be cheaper to get a relatively small digital mixer that internally does everything that you want out of the DSP. And just save a scene and recall it for each setup.
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Ditch the auto-EQ.
How about a Xilica or Symetrix Jupiter DSP? You can save presets for different systems, just recall presets via controller, iPad, etc.
Sent from my VS980 4G using Tapatalk
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I like the Peavey VSX48 because of the routing flexibility. You can run 4 2way systems (great for bi amping monitors), 2 4way systems (line arrays), 2 3way systems with aux sub abilities. The dbx driveracks I've used i in the past never had that flexibility, they were always limited to only 2 3way systems. Even the Peavey VSX 26 (which is similar to a lot of the driveracks in the 2 in (3rd in on the front) 6 out has routing flexibility that the dbx units do not.
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I like the Peavey VSX48 because of the routing flexibility. You can run 4 2way systems (great for bi amping monitors), 2 4way systems (line arrays), 2 3way systems with aux sub abilities. The dbx driveracks I've used i in the past never had that flexibility, they were always limited to only 2 3way systems. Even the Peavey VSX 26 (which is similar to a lot of the driveracks in the 2 in (3rd in on the front) 6 out has routing flexibility that the dbx units do not.
The DBX 360 is a fully configurable 3 in 6 out DSP, inputs 1 & 2 can be AES digital as well.
The now discontinued DBX 4800 is a 4 in 8 out with AES as well.
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The DBX 360 is a fully configurable 3 in 6 out DSP, inputs 1 & 2 can be AES digital as well.
The now discontinued DBX 4800 is a 4 in 8 out with AES as well.
The DBX 4800 is discontinued but not the DBX 4820 which is the same except for the screen. But I assume is totally out of the OP price range. If he doesn't already have a digital mixer that could do all of what he is looking for he should look into getting one.
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The DBX 360 is a fully configurable 3 in 6 out DSP, inputs 1 & 2 can be AES digital as well.
The now discontinued DBX 4800 is a 4 in 8 out with AES as well.
The DBX 4800 is discontinued but not the DBX 4820 which is the same except for the screen. But I assume is totally out of the OP price range. If he doesn't already have a digital mixer that could do all of what he is looking for he should look into getting one.
Since you both seem pretty familiar with the product, are you aware there are no capital letters in the trademark dbx (https://dbxpro.com/en)? DBX (https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=NASDAQ:DBX&stick=H4sIAAAAAAAAAONgecRowS3w8sc9YSn9SWtOXmPU5OIKzsgvd80rySypFJLmYoOyBKX4uXj10_UNDdNMTcwM08wMeQCXvpzmPQAAAA&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjmmpmJia_dAhUOvVkKHRmMCpkQlDMwFXoECAUQBA&biw=1311&bih=782) is the stock symbol for Dropbox.
Mac
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Since you both seem pretty familiar with the product, are you aware there are no capital letters in the trademark dbx (https://dbxpro.com/en)? DBX (https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=NASDAQ:DBX&stick=H4sIAAAAAAAAAONgecRowS3w8sc9YSn9SWtOXmPU5OIKzsgvd80rySypFJLmYoOyBKX4uXj10_UNDdNMTcwM08wMeQCXvpzmPQAAAA&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjmmpmJia_dAhUOvVkKHRmMCpkQlDMwFXoECAUQBA&biw=1311&bih=782) is the stock symbol for Dropbox.
Mac
I guess it's one of those things you look at but never really look at!
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The DBX 360 is a fully configurable 3 in 6 out DSP, inputs 1 & 2 can be AES digital as well.
The now discontinued DBX 4800 is a 4 in 8 out with AES as well.
I looked, the one i used before was the dbx driverack+ and it only had low, mid and high outputs on the back. The OP listed the dbx driverack pa2, which i believe also had preconfigured outputs.
The driverack 360 does appear, when looking at the back panel, to have the the same configuration ability as the VSX for assigning outputs. I've never used it, but that would be a large improvement over the driverack+.
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Since you both seem pretty familiar with the product, are you aware there are no capital letters in the trademark dbx (https://dbxpro.com/en)? DBX (https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=NASDAQ:DBX&stick=H4sIAAAAAAAAAONgecRowS3w8sc9YSn9SWtOXmPU5OIKzsgvd80rySypFJLmYoOyBKX4uXj10_UNDdNMTcwM08wMeQCXvpzmPQAAAA&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjmmpmJia_dAhUOvVkKHRmMCpkQlDMwFXoECAUQBA&biw=1311&bih=782) is the stock symbol for Dropbox.
Mac
I was not aware of that. I have a tendency to capitalize company names that are made up of letters. I will try to remember that in the future. In my life time I have used so many different dbx products and I have my favorites and most of them seem to be the most expensive ones. I started to capitalize dbx just as I wrote this, some habits are hard to break.
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dbx is David Blackmer Xray.
In early 70's my office was at my dads space..Mr Blackmer returned my call..spoke to dad..their shared military experience led to discussion..X stood for experimental.
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I used the dbx pa2 for a while, and I found it to be a good starting point. It's a big step up from not using any processor at all, and a good way to learn. The auto eq function is interesting, and I have used it often to get some ideas about the system and the space, but it only gives you a rough idea of what's going on, and always gives an eq that you would not want to actually use. It invariably gives huge scoops and boosts all over the place. I used the wireless function to really learn about eq, standing right in front and adjusting the eq can really help you learn how to pin point frequencies, and let's you hear immediate feedback of every change you make, instead of running back and forth from the rack to the foh.
I would absolutely recommend the pa2 to beginners with a small system, it is an excellent learning platform and you can certainly improve your sound a great deal. I would say that it's not suited for the serious professional, and certainly not for large systems.
If you have the budget, the dbx VENU360 is much more versatile and will probably last you longer in your career before you hit limitations.
Edit: just an additional note, the outputs come as low mid high, but you can set them as full range outputs and use your external crossover if you prefer, or use them to set up multiple systems in multiple rooms.
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The DRPA2 midrange output is reversed polarity, and has no polarity reverse function.
Art, that's the most bizarre glitch imaginable in a "pro" product. How did you manage to stumble on to it? Does DBX know about this? Seems like it would be fixable in later iterations.
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Art, that's the most bizarre glitch imaginable in a "pro" product. How did you manage to stumble on to it? Does DBX know about this? Seems like it would be fixable in later iterations.
The reversed midrange problem may have been on the DRPA+, not the DRPA2 as I previously wrote in this thread.
Back around 2011 there were some measurements done on the DRPA+, the only thread I found was this:
https://soundforums.net/community/threads/well-thats-not-gonna-fucking-work.2632/
I measured the polarity inversion from input to output on the DRPA, but have not measured the DRPA+ or the DRPA2.
Art
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The reversed midrange problem may have been on the DRPA+, not the DRPA2 as I previously wrote in this thread.
I can confirm that the PA+ had this issue. I owned one at the time the update came out.
It's listed at the very bottom of the v1.100 release notes:
https://dbxpro.com/en-US/softwares/driverack-pa-updater-windows