Alec

No-one's yet actually referenced what Behringer say:

• Shielded Cat-5e cables only
  
  
• Ethercon terminated cable ends
  
  
• Maximum cable length 100 meters (300 feet)
  
  

It's not Cat 5, it's Cat 5e - too many people think that the two are equivalent, but they're not!

Nothing about Ethercon shell to shell continuity - I think that's something that's become "truth" by urban myth. That said, with shielded terminations and properly applied Ethercon shells, you should end up with connectivity.

As ever, I'm sure that plenty of unshielded and/or Cat5 cables will work just fine all/most of the time - especially for shorter lengths.

And, for reference, my Tourcat/Ethercon cable from VDC has shell to shell continuity.

There are loads of products around like the Fuel Tank range for guitar pedal boards, covering 9/12/18v. Nothing much with USB outputs, which is surprising these days. I did spot this with one USB output. Also, your current rating may take you beyond that these will produce - but it's not quite clear whether your 2A was for one device or all of them put together.

While not a single box solution, you could move to a pedal board PSU plus separate USB PSU - that could neaten things up quite a bit.

Before you spend that sort of money you really need to check the drivers out.

 

Do you have a multimeter? If not, go and buy one.

All of this!

The other simple check I'd be doing is to disconnect both speakers and pass a low level signal through them. That should tell you very quickly if there's a problem with each. If you're looking at driver replacements, you should be capable of doing this?

And definitely, don't go replacing drivers until/unless you've identified that you have a failed driver. For goodness sake, you never know, your problem could be as simple as a connector that's become loose (unlikely, but could be).

Hi Alec. Yeah all the other mid/tops and subs work perfectly. The light is on constant red, as soon as it is powered, even when there is no signal being sent to the speaker. I was wondering if it was the driver that was faulty but I was just trying to isolate the problem before I go spending money on something that doesn't fix it. Its a pretty old system and from what I gather has been all over the world and worked pretty hard. Judging by some of the other gear I bought from the same guy it could well have been been pushed too hard, he seemed like the kind of guy that had all the gear and no idea. Do you know if there is a way of manually deactivating the HF limiter or is it just something that kicks in automatically?

I'm no technician.

I would, however, check that the two drivers in the cabinet are functional - if you're competent to do that, I'd suggest you do.

After that, I'd be seeking the services of someone more capable than me - the indicator light could be a symptom of any number of root cause faults.

Presumably the other top works OK?

What colour does the HF limit light show? (Green = signal present, yellow = soft limit, red = full limit - from the manual) I'm guessing red?

This info just might help someone make more sense of what could be any number of failure options.

Or just put in a big-ass PA?

Interesting that the barriers to FM transmission for this kind of event appear to be easing. One sanity check question, however, does every car still have an FM radio? I know that most/all now come with DAB units - do all of these also do FM? (Mine is too old to count, by the way)

Google hasn't given me any results and reaching out to SoundTech haven't been able to help yet.

SoundTech probably wouldn't be able to help, but Soundcraft just might...

Hi Alec, Thanks for your input.

 

Any recommendations of the t.amps to avoid or that meet the spec above and have good user experience appreciated.

Again, it's more really to avoid cheap lightweight amps. I've had a t.amp TSA 4-300 for a few years on monitor duty - it just keepts going on, and is hardly pricey. I've come across a few others happily using this range of 4 channel amps.

And, back on the Behringer amps, I've a couple of the older EP2500s that have been going for around 15 years, no problems. Obviously a small sample size, but I do wonder if you've been unlucky?

Budget is GBP400 (GPB500 abs max if we really have to).

 

In the past, I've used Behringer EPQ2000 and EPX2000 as "good budget" amps. However the time has come where the venue has proven itself (financially) and usage has grown and I'm looking for a more reliable amplifier for this key position (the initial install was in 2009 and we've had two of the Behringer's in this slot over time).

 

I'm looking at amps that can deliver around 500W RMS into 8 ohms as a good match for the current RS15HDs. 19" rack mount, 2U. Fan cooling is fine as long as they are not noisy fans (the amp rack is in a side room next to - but open to - the main hall so nothing noisy!). Balanced XLR inputs and Speakon outputs. Don't need any fancy screens or EQ/DSP/USB-anything on the amp.

I'm surprised at your poor results with those Behringer amps (assuming you were saying that 2 had failed in 10 years - it wasn't clear) as I've seen many of these and their predecessors take a pounding year after year and just keep going.

There's nothing magic about QSC and Crown's budget amps - don't be sucked in by the hype. In this price range, if you must buy new, Thomann's t.amp range does well. With all of these, try and avoid the lightweight amps, as they'll tend to have less resilient power supplies, especially at this budget.

Moderation: quote of a spam article that has now been deleted has been removed

What I would try before you spend any money is to run the cable to where it has to go, and connect pin 2 of the XLR balanced cable to the jack tip and pin 3 to the sleeve. Ignore the shield, and keep it floating and unconnected. I've been running an amp like that for years down a multicore.

If the amp was local (which you've already said it's not) I'd also do this. Another option would be to route via the Aux 5/6 outputs and use the already unbalanced phono outs.

As it's remote, the *correct* answer is to run the signal balanced and then unbalance it at the other end. While not the perfect tool for the job, I've used a passive DI in reverse successfully for this (you'll need a gender bender to get the XLR into it. I'd also suspect that Paul's solution above is likely to work, depending on the length of your multicore and the things it's running by - I've often run much longer unbalanced lines than we like to without problems.

Blimey, talk about a load of hard work just to avoid spending the money to get a matching pair of Tx & Rx!

Interestingly, the user manuals for JTS kit does say "Adjustable Pilot tone squelch control can effectively reduce the noise", but this is misleading, as there's nowhere in the interface (unless it's very well hidden), so I believe it's all preset and not defeatable. Works a treat when you use the right Tx & Rx together, though.

Actually its transmitting on 863.5MHz , I just rounded it off for the post. its not a mic, its a headphone transmitter which feeds audio from a radio or whatever is plugged in to it. which so happens works on the same freqs as the JTS. there is no mute option, only a switch to switch between the frequencies 863MHz and 865.MHz

And, while we're at it, why on earth would you round off a frequency for posting??? Detail matters!

I have a picture but don't know how to upload it. If I did it would show a Scart plug that fits into the back of the last TV I had. This had a female access into which a two pronged plug from the end of a cable from the Induction Loop cushion would fit.

Agreed, it's not obvious how to post a picture if you've never done it before, and I sense that you're not the most techi of folk.

Does this look like your loop system? (taken from p158 of This Bellman brochure):

It does sound like everyone's gone for some very complex solutions!

Did you plug your loop system into one of these SCART adapters, using the red and white phono connectors?

If so, then this twin phono socket to 3.5mm plug adapter would let you plug your loop into the headphone socket in your TV.

The question remaining is whether you watch TV alone? As pointed out above, using the headphone socket will by default mute the sound in the room, which may or may not be OK for you. If you want the output to the loop to be independent of the TV's speaker output then, according to page 19 of the user manual, you can go into the audio menu and change the headphone socket to be "Lineout".

Or have you already tried this. If my assumptions about how you were connecting were correct, then an adapter well under £5 should provide an easy fix. If I'm wrong, though, a photo of your loop amp and its connectors would be very useful, as without that we're just guessing!

To get a quality of connector similar to the ones I have sat here for free, it'd be nearer £8 per lead, so £32 to make up all 4. Maybe not a significant sum of money for some, but it is for me.

In the other mode that Blue Room does well, if you'd like 8 x Neutrik NP2C (their old style connectors), I'll happily send you 8 previously used (and soldered) ones if you cover postage. I've standardised on the newer NP2X, and have a few older plugs that "will come in useful". PM me if interested.

Well it's a classic blue room thread really. The question was answered by the first reply, the rest of the thread is people arguing about whether you should do it or not.

Yes and now, a chunk of the thread was about the risks that the first reply would open up - and I didn't see arguing, only good discussion.

I'll just chip in that my silent muting jacks have never caused any problem*, and my - gigging 5 nights a week - friend, who I made a couple of leads for, says the same.

I happily use mine on my instrument, but did have to straighten it out once after it got slightly deformed and the collar couldn't move freely, so even my good experience hasn't been perfect.

After the system is installed and working the common fault, during the course of the 12 hours, is faulty guitar leads (and guitars and their amps!). As I see it these leads are generally treated with contempt whereas the mic lead is handled better.I think, but I stress it is not by any means proven, that the problem with the muting plug is they get bent, only very slightly but enough to prevent the sleeve sliding properly. Either that or they get full of crud.

Indeed, it's amazing how few guitarists bring their own leads. And those that do, clearly treat them like crap.

My worst nightmare with the silent plugs was the opposite, where it would pop out of a loose socket. I ended up standing behind the guitarist holding the lead in, after it had popped out a few times, as I'd come complete with only silent leads that night. The received wisdom at the time was that Monster cables used slightly oversized heads on their jacks to "make a better connection", but which only served to loosen the grip of the socket for regular connectors. That guitarist did say they used Monster cables - I never knew if this theory was urban myth or not, but my experience was enough to return to regular jack leads for open mic setups.

I’d like to invest in some silent jack plugs in the future as for this kind of ad-hoc setup they seem ideal, but I’ve read some poor reviews (albeit older ones) about them sticking or pushing themselves out. It’s put me off a little.

Indeed, a mixed blessing - especially for open mic nights.

On the positive side, you should suffer far less from pops when leads are inserted/removed without being first muted.

On the negative side, yes, they can stick in the muted position, and the spring-loaded collar on them can indeed push them out of a loose socket - and it takes a while to realise what's happening, as it's not visually obvious.

I've settled for using a silent plug on my own instruments, which are looked after and where I know they mate well. I've reverted to generic NP2X for instrument leads for others.

And it really is no more than around £4 per pair to put the right plugs on - makes you wonder why we're even discussing it, really!

Yes, what you're proposing will generally work But Sunray's example of sockets that might not play ball, along with the confusion about what kind of lead it really is, would make me question whether it's worth the saving...

In the end, the wrong cable at a bargain price is still the wrong cable.

Make it with a pair of Neutrik NP2X plugs (~ £4 for the pair) and it will always be the right cable for the job, and not get confused.

When loading a show into the desk, which was created using X32 edit, there is an apparent loading error and error message on screen stating "file not found" just before the show loading is complete.

Just a quick check, was this a show created using X32 Edit v3.x or v4?

If it was in v3.x, does it help top open it (off-line) in X32 Edit v4, and then resave.

Alternatively, was this a show that was working on the v3x firmware? In which case, why not re-install the v3.x firmware, and then you should be back up and running with that show for the panto season. This gets you back and working, and you might then wait for the v4.1 firmware when it comes.

All the above is not based on any particular X32 experience, but just looking at the possible different versions across both platforms (X32 Edit and Firmware).

Has anyone booted up their X32 with the new firmware and had a play around with it yet? I'm going to be updating mine over the weekend, but be glad to hear anyones findings so far.

I've been happy enough so far.

Remember, with the ubiquity of the X32, there's a *huge* community of users out there. So far, the only reports have been of occaisional display glitches when switching to FX views, some desk preferences being reset on completing the firmware upgrade, and that's about it. I'd suggest that by next week, if no nasties have been publicised, then it can be considered as reasonably tested in the wild. At that point, I'd assess the risk from the firmware as being much lower than many other risk components in the signal chain.

Of course. Looks potentially brilliant, but may well launch at a price quite a bit higher than the X32, which might disappoint people. That said, that strategy would make sense - the X32 can continue to sell for a while, while commanding a premium price for the newer product - and don't forget how much more the X32 was when it first launched...

Anouncement date next Fri (22 Nov), apparently.

Have you seen the teasers for the "Wing"?

Of course. Looks potentially brilliant, but may well launch at a price quite a bit higher than the X32, which might disappoint people. That said, that strategy would make sense - the X32 can continue to sell for a while, while commanding a premium price for the newer product - and don't forget how much more the X32 was when it first launched...

If you're itching for v4 of the X32/M32 firmware and related software utilities, Music Tribe have just released it:

After the dog's dinner of the last few days on their website, this is very welcome, and the new firmware looks good. Obviously, the big win is the routing flexibility. But I'm already enjoying the UI update, with quite a few handy little tweaks - everything's just that bit more useable.

I'm incredibly impressed with this significant firmware update for a product that's been out for over seven years. I always said that the ubiquity of the X32 is one of its major assets - and that's what's driven this update, in my view, as the user base is large enough to justify the resource.

While not familiar with your subs, but as a happy RCF ART 7 series user (2 x 722, 4 x 710, 2x 705) I'd expect one 702 sub to run out of steam well before your (excellent) 710 tops.

Your tops should be OK - I've covered some decent sized events with just my 710s. The better 12" RCF tops (the previous ART 722 and the current ART 732) would give you more headroom, and do sound better with the larger voice coild HF driver, which enables the internal crossover frequency to be lower. But that's quite some cost if the current 710s will do the job.

Consider one or two decent 15" subs. But there's no point scaling up the subbage too much, as you end up crossing over into the territory where you'd normally contract out production.

As others have said, you're probably best off taking your current 710 & 702 system on the road to test it. Start with smaller venues and scale up until it runs out of steam. That way you'll know where you're short of headroom for your material and the venues, and you'll only be spending the money you actually need to. Practical experimentation is much more effective than sucking of teeth... Also, this helps keep your touring kit as compact as possible - while I love my 722s, I'll often take out the 710s as they're that much smaller/lighter.

Another +1 for what Mark suggests.

Multipin connectors are lovely but, from what you've said, anything reliable and robust will be out of your budget.

And yes, don't stint on the loom you put together, it'll take some use!

I'm firmly in the clips with mics camp. I might be different if I was working with the same act every night, but not convinced.

Next question when storing (which others have mentioned) - end up or end down? For me, it's always end up.

And, back to the original question, I like everything 3/8, so adapters live in mic clips. US folk are mystified at those "European adapters" that come with every mic, and which they have to keep throwing away. Yes, wouldn't it be easier if we had a single standard, with no adapters...

If we're not careful, it'll be velcro vs LX tape next...

Get the underlay felt from Joels or Whaleys or McDougals, make screens out of cheap 12mm or maybe 18mm ply, cover them with underlay felt overlaid with something prettier / black depending on your aesthetic.

We've made our own out of those hessian covered exhibition boards that were very popular in the 70's. Quite heavy and work quite well, but opaque, of course.

And, obviously, ensure appropriate fire-retardant materials/treatment. Spill is bad, but burning down the house is worse.