Sabine Navigator Speaker Management

[cedd]

Hi all

 

I'm in need of a new speaker management system. My trusty Behringer DCX is still doing well, but it's time for something a little more sophisticated.

 

Ideally I'd like at least 4 inputs and 8 outputs. All the usual features - input and output delay, EQ, limiters, matrixing. All that jazz.

I'm very open to buying ex hire if it gets me something a little more able. So far I've come across a KT DN9848e which is ex hire, but there seems to be very little out there when it comes to support or even a website anymore, I'm guessing since their incorporation in to Behringer. I'd be quite wary of this especially considering it's a significant investment. There's also an ex hire DBX 4800 on SSE's site, but with VAT it's more than I want to be spending.

 

However, I have found a Sabine Navigator as B stock with a local firm who I have a good relationship with. There's some info on their site, but it seems to be an old and quite basic page. Still, I've downloaded the software and it looks like an excellent piece of kit. Not only is there a matrix, but it has level control as well, so it's a matrix mixer rather than just a routing matrix. Looks very able indeed. It's also an 8 in, 8 out model (on multi pin connectors, but it'll be racked so this doesn't matter as I'll just stick XLR's on the back panel).

 

But I'm very aware that Sabine aren't known for their LSM, and I've not come across any being used out in the wild. That kind of scares me!

 

So I guess my questions are, have any of you used them and did they do what they said on the tin, or were they a nightmare?

Cheers

 

Chris

[J Pearce]

If you are going beyond a simple crossover with limiting, my preference is a soundweb or similar, as they are incredibly flexible boxes that can solve a lot of problems.

Having matrix mixing/routing onboard is very useful in theatre setups where you may be running several different rigs but need full mix for show relay/delays etc.

[stu00c]

Hi Cedd,

 

I'll chime in with some info in my role working for Sabine's UK distributor.

 

The Navigator range of processors have been discontinued recently, not because of anything with the products but rather a refocussing of of Sabine's engineering and design efforts on their SACOM radio microphone brand.

 

In the years that we sold Navigators, we found them to be very reliable and very rarely would we see one in the repair shop. The Navigators are based on a Xilica platform (also used by other OEMs such as Ashly and a number of loudspeaker manufacturers) with Sabine's own firmware and software.

 

The processors sound good and if you've used the software, you will see that the interface is friendly and easy to get your head round. If you have the version with front panel controls you can do tweaks and changes without a PC but doing a lot settings looking at that little screen can get tiresome after a while.

 

If you need any support with the products we will be happy to assist.

 

Regards,

Stuart

[cedd]

Thanks Stuart, that's really helpful to hear and it's really nice to know there's still support out there. It's also interesting to know it's running on a Xilica platform. I'd been looking at the Xilica units as an alternative option and it'll be interesting to see how pricing for this unit as B stock compares with a new Xilica.

 

The software is indeed very nice and it was very easy to get my head around, so I'd no problems with the functionality, just the unknown reliabilty, but your post is reassuring.

 

Thanks Jon for the Soundweb suggestion. Again I'd looked in to them but only second hand older ones which hadn't really got the feature set and ease of setup that I'd wanted. I'll take a look at the newer ones.