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The Bass Pig's Lair is now active. This site has moved to it's own domain name, www.BassPig.com, and the content is being regularly updated. Some breaking news on the woofer front is coming shortly....

 

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[December 2004, revised June 2006]

I just installed a Behringer DCX2496 Loudspeaker Management System, a phenomenal piece of gear that replaces two EQs, an optical limiter and a Linkwitz-Riley crossover that I designed in 1982. It packs more functions than anything I can think of. Well, BSS Audio makes an similar product, but with the following differences and it lists at over $3,000:

"...the DCX2496 has a lot more processing power than the BSS as it uses very powerful Sharc DSPs. This is the reason why the unit even runs on 96 kHz (does the BSS?). Check out also the AD and DA converters which are high-quality Crystal/AKMs. The unit even offers digital inputs and a memory card slot which BSS does not. We have around 12 DCX in our fixed installations and they run flawlessly for more than 3 years. Honestly I believe the value of the DCX amazing."

In the DCX2496, are sophisticated crossovers, multiple EQ filters, LP, HP & BP with adjustable Q and center frequency, dynamic EQs, limiters and delay lines. That last item is a nice feature.

 

With a large array of speakers, it's all but impossible to have all sound wavefronts arrive at the same instant in time, because of the varying physical distances to the speakers from the listener. The delay line allows for this inequality to be corrected.

Not only can one tune the delays for more impact at the listener, but one can move nulls around--I managed to reduce a severe problem with my CD player skipping when the lowest notes of the pipe organ were played on some recordings. All of these settings can be stored on flash media cards for backup, transfer between units and unlimited configuration storage.

Overall, the system sounds considerably better than ever before, has more punch, better clarity of transients and a more natural, uncolored sound with better imaging.

 

 

 

evx180b_cabinet.jpg (67046 bytes)

UPDATE October 2005:
Electro-Voice EVX180B subwoofer driver appears in Bass Pig's sound system.

The new EVX180B driver offers an unprecedented 2" peak to peak excursion (unprecedented when compared to competing mass-produced commercial sound reinforcement drivers). Four of these drivers were purchased in October 2005 and two more in January 2006. Test results are impressive. A whole new level of BASS.

Here are a couple of photos of the new beast (note huge voice coil dust covers).

Copyright 2006 MW Communications Systems, LLC

 

Here is the back of the magnet:

evx180b_magnet_housing.jpg (91992 bytes)

 


SPEAKER SYSTEM
This system has been radically updated: Two new types of 18" woofers are utilized in the system, each specifically designed to work over a specific range of frequencies. Upper and mid bass, where most of the "kick" or "punch" is perceived are the domain of the very fast Electro-Voice EVX-180B woofers. Bass below 50 hertz is handled by the long-throw Bassmaxx ZR-18's customized with dual-layer honeycomb-reinforced fiberglass cones with butyl rubber surrounds. The last range of frequencies, those below 25 hertz, are handled by the Bassmaxx sub-woofers. Everything you see here is from their respective manufacturer's Industrial/Professional lines, plus four custom specialized woofers built to the Bass Pig's specifications. When you're pushing close to 15,000 watts, you need speakers that are very unusual. Midrange and treble frequencies required a careful balance of high-performance drivers and an "in-line" approach to driver alignment. This was necessary to achieve a phase-coherent sound-field which would allow the cross-fed interference pattern of the Carver C4000 Sonic Hologram Generator to cancel unwanted sound arrivals perfectly, resulting in a 360-degree sound-field when such material was present in the recording. Each cabinet was hand-tuned for precisely-matched phase and frequency response. The JBL E120 was chosen for its 4-inch voice coil on an ultra-light aluminum former for incredible power capacity, efficiency and transient response. Finally, the high frequencies are output by JBL 2403 Elliptical drivers connected to a phase/time matching network of my design.

SYSTEM CONTROL COMPONENT FEATURES:

Behringer DCX2496 Ultradrive Pro Loudspeaker Management System

3 analog inputs (one suitable as digital stereo AES/EBU input) and 6 analog outputs for maximum flexibility

High-end AKM® 24-bit/96 kHz A/D and D/A converters for ultimate signal integrity and wide dynamic range (113 dB)

Integrated sample rate converter for easy connection of external digital signals with sampling rates from 32 to 96 kHz

Precise dynamic EQs for level-dependent equalization and extremely musical parametric EQs, selectable for all inputs and outputs

Several types of EQs (LP/BP/HP) for each input and output

"Zero"-attack limiters on all output channels for optimal speaker protection

Four different mono and stereo output operating modes

Individual crossover filter types (Butterworth, Bessel and Linkwitz-Riley) with selectable roll-off characteristics from 6 to 48 dB/octave

Adjustable delays for all inputs and outputs-allow manual or automatic correction for room temperature, phase and arrival time differences

Additional sum signal derived from the A/B/C inputs offers a fourth internal input signal

Future-proof ULTRADRIVE PRO software enables single or multi remote control via PC through RS-232 and RS-485 interfaces (www.behringer.com)

Link option via RS-485 network interface enables cascading of several ULTRADRIVE PROs

60 user-defined internal presets storable via PC software or on PCMCIA card

Open architecture assures easy software updates

Ultra low-noise 4580 operational amplifiers for outstanding audio performance

Servo-balanced, gold-plated XLR connectors for all inputs and outputs

High-quality components and exceptionally rugged construction for long life and durability

Internal switch-mode power supply for maximum flexibility (100 - 240 V~), noise-free audio, superior transient response plus lowest possible power consumption

Conceived and designed by BEHRINGER Germany

 

 

Drawing of Midrange & Bass Cabinets


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And that's all for now, folks!

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