DBX Driverack 260 As Crossover for Studio Mains

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Siegfried Meier

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 2, 2004
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1,606
Location
Ontario, Canada
I have some older BSS crossovers on a mains rig in the control room that seem to be failing.  I've been told by a few techs that I should look into getting a Driverack 260 to replace the old crossovers.  Does anyone have any experience with them?  I've not read too much stuff about using these in the studio, but I imagine they'd work great.

Would love to hear any opinions.

Thanks!
Sig
 
Thanks.  I had looked at the Studio, but it looked a little semi-pro to me (and the fact that they had discontinued it), which was why I was looking at the 260.

I guess my question is more regarding whether I'd be happy using the driveracks in general as just the crossover for my mains rig compared to the old BSS crossovers.  I have the frequency points as well as the dB/octave, so I should in theory be able to dial this in, correct?

Thanks,
Sig
 
Are you talking about the analog BSS cross-overs ? Wow the last one died in your studio  ;D... I saw so many of them out of order when I was a FOH repairman 15 years ago...
I don't know the sound of the Driverack 260 but I'm really familliarized with this kind of stuff as I'm a FOH installer now.
The 260 seam to be semi-pro indeed (only 48kHz sampling frequency, max 3 eq poins per output, unnecessary fonctions like the Sub synth...) but it's maybe enough for what you want to do. BSS make the FDS-355/336/366 series, XTA make the DPA224/226, Lake have the Contour... There's a lot of offers in that domain but at a price.

First you have to know exactly what you want to do with the processor :
1° - How many inputs / outputs ?
2° - Do you want to fine time allign the speakers ? Are you able to ?
3° - Do you want to eq the crossover outputs ? Are you able to ?

It's sometimes really surprising how the monitors we use are not really well aligned into sound propagation time and a really well aligned monitor sounds really different and better compared to unaligned. Some eq points sometime become totally unjustified to have a flat response. If you're able to do that (or if you know someone who can) do it you won't regret it.
 
Yes, I'm talking about the analog FDS360 - this one is actually custom modified for this Quested Q412 vintage rig I'm installing in the studio.  I guess I'm not really asking much of the DBX Driverack - I really just want to be able to use it as a crossover.  I like the idea of a digitally controlled unit, as I can easily adjust left to right then. 

Those old BSS units had that much of a bad reputation eh?  Well, one of the units sounds "good".  The other...not so much.  So, my dilemma is if I should just look for another analog crossover (I can get another pair of these, but I'm not sure that that's a wise choice, considering my experience here) or if getting the Driverack 260 would do what I needed.

Thanks,
Sig
 
the production company I work for uses a 260 & a 4800 for
2 of our systems and they sound pretty fantastic!  I cant
really give a technical description but it makes a difference
to my ears.

-Casey
 
Siegfried Meier said:
Yes, I'm talking about the analog FDS360 -

Those old BSS units had that much of a bad reputation eh?  Well, one of the units sounds "good".  The other...not so much.
Well, the FDS-360 was a great cross-over but it has got a lot of problems of "cold" solder when it gets old... As the society where I was repairman had a lot of them, I remember that they drive me mad with difficult to find problems. But the use was PA :eek:utdoor, indoor, vibrations, moisture, sand and dust, temperature too cold or too hot, too muscular roadies... All the kind of thing you don't find in a studio use...

I'm looking around too for an active crossover for my studio custom cabs without spending too much... I also thinked about the DBX 260 as it has got some interresting features. I bet it is quite simple to use according to the manual. Maybe there's somewhere around your place where you can pick one and test it. It can be a good exchange if the converters are good. 48kHz isn't that bad to drive monitors where the higher frequency is for sure 20kHz.
BTW, maybe you could give a try to the Behringer DCX2496... Oups, I named it  :-[ ! Audiophiles seam to like that unit and there's lot of DIY improvements on the web. The DSP used in it is a good and serious one, the ADC and DAC too so this is an option but, shut up, you must hide it to the customers eyes  ;) !!! But seriously, Behringer never prove me their stuff was build to rest, so if you choose this option, you'd better buy a spare one just in case... As it isn't expensive this is a real option too.
BSS FDS-336 are the pro one, reliable, but they maybe have the same problem than the FDS-366 which have a fan becoming noisy when it gets old.
XTA 226 are superb crossovers, really expensive (around the BBS FDS-366 price) but I don't know if they build some for the US market (I can't say they have some with a 110 volt PSU  :-\.)
LAKE Contour are top crossovers but price is killing and they are really too much everything for your use.
 
Hey Sig-those driveracks are mainstay pieces in the amp racks at the production place I used to work at - you could probaby rent one from there - go in and talk to Will and say you are thinking about buying one, can you borrow or rent one.  They might sell some of the older ones at the big sale in February...When I was there they had 10-20 driveracks, from 260's to 4800's...
 
Ok, well I gave the Behringer a try....and man, I hate to say it but it's actually quite great.  I mean, this is compared to the original BSS's.  Before, my imaging was all messed up, left/right levels didn't match, and the big boys didn't match to my NS10's and auratones.  Now, all that is gone.  Everything just sounds fantastic.  I'm gonna give the Behringer a few days to sort of "break in", but I feel this was a great purchase (provided it doesn't die...).

Thanks guys!
Sig
 
Siegfried Meier said:
I hate to say it but it's actually quite great.
I do understand  ;D... When I was working for an african world music band, I remember the eyes of the venue technician when I asked him to put an Autocom on the percussion sub-group... The audience was about 20000 poeple... The racks were full or BSS, Drawmer, DBX...
Behringer don't do really bad stuff, they do good stuff for the money you pay... Not really great, not really bad. Cheap, impossible to repair, no or bad after sale service... Some of their products are working well, some don't. Some are sometimes better or good enough for the thing you have to do but their stuff isn't really reliable and for sure isn't expensive enough for professionals to trust it can work... But sometimes, it does.

Here is one link about the Behringer cross-over :
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/multi-way/15943-behringer-dcx2496-digital-x-over.html
There's a few mods/links you can find on it if you want to make it sound better.

But you could try to rent a Driverack 260 to Tungstengruvsten place, just to see if it can be a better choice...

Going from analog filtering to digital filtering is always an improvement. It's a lot more simple to make a 18 or 24dB/oct filter with a DSP than with resistors (1% error possible) and caps (5% error possible)... Add the fact digital domain gives a little more hash on the highs due to sampling (but at 96KHz it's no so evident) and the sound through speakers become most of the time "clearer" and certainly filtering is more stable in term of noise and cut frequencies...
 

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