philipbarrett

The biggest lie in pro audio is the opamp + four 1% resistors used to make a balanced input. It costs virtually nothing, and that's whay you find it on every cheap EQ, amp, crossover, etc. Cheap! I wish it was only that way, the list of pro gear incorporating a true transformer balanced input or output stage gets shorter daily. Shame too, there's nothing like a Jensen between you & the goods.

Without sounding elitist here (hopefully some of the other full time mixers on the forum will back me up) putting all "Pro Gear" in one category is about as accurate as putting all "Home Gear" in a single column. There are hugely varying levels in professional audio and I'm afraid that your typical bin/horn systems, manufacturer's like Behringer & amps from Samson are viewed in the low end in most touring mixer's eyes. The Klipsch level equivalents in live sound are mostly line arrays from predominately Meyer Sound, L'Acoustics, Clair Bros. & JBL (there are many more but these are the big 4 in the US). And actually all use some combination of double 12"s, 10"s or 8"s. The Meyers are self-powered, LA now insists you buy their amps with their speakers and most JBL systems are Crown powered being all part of the same Harman borg. Other popular amp brands include QSC and Lab Gruppen. Crossovers, equalizing & processing (considered mandatory with even an active PA box) is increasingly tablet driven with products from Meyer, Dolby (developed by Clair) and XTA being highly popular. As for subs, the general move (as amplifier power & driver power handling has increased) has been away from horn loaded to more compact, flyable, front loaded boxes although designers like Funktion One still make some incredible traditional subs. It's increasingly rare to see a mix/match of mains & subs between manufacturers and the dreaded "proprietary" box (read home made) is generally verbotten on every band's riders these days. Now I'm not nessercerily panning these other brands it's just that when it has to work night after night, bumnping in and out of trucks everyday, in front of paying fans, reliability takes on a whole new meaning. Much of what is described as "Pro" does not pass that test. The equipment that does is certainly NOT more affordable than most of the equipment discussed on this forum. Generally PA gear is not really suitable for home use, the cheap units are just that & nothing else, the high end units are expensive overkill & if you think WAF falls down at carpet covered cabinets wait until you roll a 3-phase power distro into the den! But I do have La Scalas because after a lifetime of horns I can't come home & listen to soft-dome tweeters!

http://home.comcast.net/~thomasw_2/CheapskateBP1.html Try a cut & paste into the URL of your browser, I checked the source & it's good. Maybe Comcast doesn't allow redirects? I sourced my parts from Parts Express, Mouser & Lowes.

I built a design based on one of these - http://home.comcast.net/~thomasw_2/CheapskateBP1.html Fun & simple if you're not spooked by line voltages, parts are easily available in Canada too. I guarentee it will outperform anything below the likes of the high end Furman balanced PSU or the Transcendent. IMHO, most of the Monster & similar power solutions are comprised of nice packages containing literally pennies worth of electronic parts (generally a current inrush limiter and some caps). Here's mine -

Good for Ken. When the needle drops on a cranked up NIN album all the cables, interconnects, 300Bs & other fluff in the world become totally irrelevent! Isn't this why we're here in the 1st place?

Just don't take a leaf out of my book - http://forums.klipsch.com/forums/p/113934/1147220.aspx#1147220

Not a bad deal - http://www.woot.com/

So which DAC do you use? What speed does the AE system actually transmit at? Thanks, PB

I've been very happy with my AE set up, very convenient plus the addition of Airtunes allows you to stream any audio from your computer (internet radio, you tube...). http://www.rogueamoeba.com/airfoil/

djk you're right, I believe the HF protection was in the (also excellent) 5/7/8000 models. These amps were made back in the day when Crest was a highy respected niche manufacturer of serious pro-touring amps. I had a very large Turbosound rig out for some years that was all 8000 powered, very nice it was too. 24" driver in the subs no less!

By all means have fun with your "pro" amp but remember, the design criteria used in amplifiers built for heavy duty use do not always put audio fidelity first! Extreme reliability, road worthiness & heat dissapation will rate as high if not higher on the designers' mind. In addition, many early Crest models had HF limiting circuits built in to help control the amplifier when used as the high end drive in an actively crossed system. On the up side - have you looked at the transformer in that thing? Now that's some iron.

For full disclosure here's a set I made today. No fancy marketing shots like Pear but they work just fine.

Yamaha's Sound Reinforcement Handbook - required text for all entering the field :-) If you have specific questions feel free to PM me, it's what I do most days.

800VA - http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=122-720 More than enough for the lil' Darling amp.

Almost without a doubt the audio at the events today was provided by ATK Audiotek. They specialize in extremely high end events including both political conventions, the Super Bowl & the odd Presidential funeral just for starters. Which means that the system was almost certainly based around JBL's VerTec line arrays with Crown amplification. An L-Acoustics V-Dosc system would also have been a nice choice but it's always a risk specifying a French sound system on a US political event. I'm sure the spinsters at Fox would have a field day with that one!

Project finally finished, based on the excellent design here - http://home.comcast.net/~thomasw_2/CheapskateBP1.html. I'm no woodworker as you can see. it's hard to make before & after comparisons but I think I'm feeling some more low end & more punch down there too. For more info on the ways & wheres of balancing your power - http://www.equitech.com/faq/faq.html

None of us are claiming that nothing is happening, what we're discussing is the pseudo or non-existant science around most of the maker's claims. Do I believe you can differences between cables - Yes. Do we understand why - No. So for the record; I make my own cables per various web sources including TNT Audio. My power cables are braided 12G from the inside of Wal-Mart Yardmaster extension cord mated to hospital grade Edison & IEC from Grainger. My speaker cables are the same cable but not braided. My interconects are either braided Cat-5e with a shoelace cover or straight Cat-5e core wrapped around aquarium tubing with a Tech-Flex cover. All connectors are Canare. Actually I made a new power cabler for my amp yesterday & I do believe the noise floor on the LS's is slightly lower. Today I am finishing out my balanced PSU which I hope will garner more results than any cable could! PB

+1 for a recomendation of Bruce's book Audio Reality, he's a very smart & cool guy. A real engineer & scientist. Could save you a lot of money too!

I am not disagreeing that cables, as with any other component in the signal chain, can have an effect on the audio passing through them. That is not BS. Capacitance, inductance & resistance will alter the flow of electrons & hence the perceived sound at the other end. Oftentimes these changes are microscopically small at the frequencies we are dealing with but every action will have an impact. What I am saying is that for a cable manufacturer to bodly claim that they understand the science behind these perceived changes is foolhardy, bordering on dellusional (or dare I say fraudelent).

We have very little actual understanding of the energy transmission that we refer to as eectricity. Certainly electrons do not flow through a conductor as water does a pipe. Research on the subject requires some of the sharpest minds in physics and the most powerful super-computers. Yet some guy at a cable & interconnect company believes he's found the answers (generally by extrapolating therotical research into real-world situations). Amazing isn't it? I really wish the FTC would get involved & make some of these operations prove their marketing claims.

So he claims that resitance effects the speed of electron flow? And people believe this crap?

Great album from the Stranglers - check out "Nice & Sleazy"

The liquidating works like this. Liquidating operations bid on all remaining inventory & fixtures. It's then up to them to make as much profit as possible on these items. Since they have no need to foster customer loyalty or maintain good business practices they can play every game in the book (mark-up to mark-down and the like). They already have deals in place with companies that buy distressed inventory (ends up at Tuesday Morning and similar places) so the liquidator already has an "out" as it were.

Since the Showco name has been officially retired by Clair I think I can divulge all! Only the upper mids in the Prism are horn loaded, everything else is front mounted except of course the bullet tweeters. Not a critiscm, still one of the most fun systems to mix on I agree.

I think you answered your own questions. I actually like a live room (helps when you have an "awesome" 3/4 watt per channel) but yours sounds more like a studio echo chamber.