BSS FDS 360

[oligoon]

I've been getting progressively more & more fed up with the performance of my FDS 360 crossovers.

 

They just seem so flaky - I've got 2, 1 develops noise on one of the channels occassionally - and yes they are rack mounted but supported at the back. I then have to retouch the solder joints on the base of the channel pots to cure this.

 

the other when I was setting up suddenly lost power - I wiggled all the power leads, but it made no difference. Was ok after I powered it off and on again - but it was worrying to say the least.

 

so should I get rid of the 360 and go with a new BSS 388 - or are these just as flaky?

 

any other suggestions for a 4 way stereo xover?

 

cheers

 

oli

[dosxuk]

4-band mini-drive (FDS-334)?

 

http://www.bssaudio.com/productpg.php?product_id=4

 

Quite expensive, but nice bits of kit. We've had one (and three of the larger versions) being used almost daily for the last 4 years without any problems. The 4 band one is currently sat on our stage driving our DJ wedges, with our subs below it, so lots of vibration, but working fine.

[Stan Hope-Streeter]

Well, they must be at least 20 years old.

 

I don't know if you have had them from new, but I would expect most electronics of that age to be in need of a good service.

 

Take them to bits, replace all the electrolytics (with 105 degree types), carefully resolder all the pots and connectors, reseat any scketed chips, and replace anything that looks worn or dodgy. Then they will be good for another 20 years, or until the metalwork falls apart.

 

If you replace them with something modern and / or digital, don't expect more than a 5 to 10 year working life, or a cat in hell's chance of fixing it when it goes wrong.

 

Having said that, I can recommend the XTA range of system controllers.

[Dynamite Audio]

Yeah sounds like your 360's might want a long holiday, allthough if the right bit's were replaced it probably would do another twenty years as said...bss388's are great and would be a good replacement, but again are not new..so a couple of bss 334's would be good as suggested (added redundancy as if one goes down you can always split the outputs of the working unit and run mono) or a go for a couple of xta dp424 or one dp448...

 

It's a very good idea to have a spare xover in the rack either way whether on tour or at a venue, maybe you could use the 360 as backup unit..

[The Magus]

The BSS Omnidrive 388 is a wonderful unit, and was quite possibly the best for many years. It is very old, and if the display fails (which it will eventually) you can expect a truly stonking bill to replace it, and possibly some horrendous pops from the audio outputs as it goes. I had a display fail on a BSS Varicurve (which uses the same display) a few years ago, and was very surprised that no damage was caused to any of my speakers.

 

I would be inclined to look for the Omnidrive 380 slave install version, which does not have the display. They're generally cheaper, and (being programmed from a PC) virtually tamper-proof.

 

I used to use these units, but changed to the excellent EAW MX8750 crossovers about 4 years ago for no reason other than that they were a much newer product than the BSS omnidrives.

[Rob_Beech]

The 388's are good units, but there are better units out there that exceed sound quality for less than a second hand one. I still have 388's and I'm happy. I know about the cost of the screens, but when you have a few, the cost of that is cheaper than replacing the lot to keep all things uniform.

 

The 388's cost under £30 to manufacture, the 366's less. Little known fact for you there.

 

The larger retailing over £2000.