RTA/EQ failures need suggestions

EQ guys are using on their cabs/systems. A good starting place if you don't have your own RTA.
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djbamm1
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RTA/EQ failures need suggestions

#1 Post by djbamm1 »

Hello guys I have two count em yes two Behringer Ultracurve 2496's that are dead the screen just sits there and pulses no read out or anything the lcd just pulses from dark to light. I have replaced them with DBX 2231 I got used from a guy here locally as I figure they can be used for mons. or front of house. Now I am without RTA and my DR's are sounding funny in some rooms and I need to see whats going on as I can get close by ear but some events i am forced to mix from the side of the stack and I cannot listen and adjust. These are DJ gigs I feel i am closer with the live setups. Option 1- I currently own a Macbook and I was looking at a previous post about software options. I have a Rane TTM 57 that I could use as a soundcard but would have to find 48v for the reference Mic. Option-2 I have been looking at the DBX Driverack PA+. Option-3 I have downloaded the 30 day trial of smaart but have not used it yet and really dont want to pay 700+ for the real version. Option-4 the Phonic PAA2 handheld. I did not list Behringer as an option because now that I have two Ultracurves down now my DCX 2496 unit is making the frying egg noise again after I slid insulating paper under the circuit boards and reset the ribbon cables. Guys any suggestions as these rigs are rolling 2-4 times a week and I need equipment that works not that gets worked on.

Nate Rouslin
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Re: RTA/EQ failures need suggestions

#2 Post by Nate Rouslin »

Phil Lewandowski wrote:[
The answer unfortunately isn't an auto-RTA like the dbx PA or 2496 has.

Take Care! Good Luck!
Phil

P.S. Makes me super glad I went with the BBE DS series as a starting off bang-to-buck DSP several years back.
I will have to disagree here. I own 2 DBX Driverack 260s on 2 seperate systems. Both are dj based and they work great in any room. Especially for dj playback. I have had my 260s for a year now and have not had to change any of the eq settings for any of the shows I have done in the past year. Unless you are doing a major FOH show just set the driverack up and let it run and have fun with your system.

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thijs666
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Re: RTA/EQ failures need suggestions

#3 Post by thijs666 »

djbamm1 wrote:...my DCX 2496 unit is making the frying egg noise again after I slid insulating paper under the circuit boards and reset the ribbon cables. Guys any suggestions as these rigs are rolling 2-4 times a week and I need equipment that works not that gets worked on.
Just paper? I wonder if the sharp component pens and/or tin points have pried through the paper... You're using the unit quite a lot, as I understand. I had the frying egg sound too and got rid of it by sliding a pice of overhead projector sheet between the pcb and the housing. Could be worth a try :wink: .

Edit: Are those DEQ's going back under warranty or are you getting rid of them? I'm looking for one :broke: , maybe I can fix it :wink: (though I am in Europe and shipping will be quite expensive, I guess :(
BF cabs built to date:
2x T48 21" 3015LF; 1x T48 24" 2xBP102; 1x DR250 2510 loaded, cross firing; 4x DR200 Beta 8, melded array; 1x TT HL-10c; 2x WH Beta 8, melded 'array'; 3x AT 15" Tang Band W8-740P; 1x AT 15" JBL GTO1014

bgavin
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Re: RTA/EQ failures need suggestions

#4 Post by bgavin »

djbamm1 wrote:Guys any suggestions as these rigs are rolling 2-4 times a week and I need equipment that works not that gets worked on.
Why are you using Behringer???

If your equipment is used 2-4 times weekly, it must be professional grade.
IMO, leave the Behringer to the college kiddie who entertains Britney Spears in his dorm room.
My biggest worry is that when I'm dead and gone, my wife will sell my toys for what I said I paid for them.

gdougherty
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Re: RTA/EQ failures need suggestions

#5 Post by gdougherty »

bgavin wrote:
djbamm1 wrote:Guys any suggestions as these rigs are rolling 2-4 times a week and I need equipment that works not that gets worked on.
Why are you using Behringer???

If your equipment is used 2-4 times weekly, it must be professional grade.
IMO, leave the Behringer to the college kiddie who entertains Britney Spears in his dorm room.
Hey now. My DCX2496 has been running faithfully for a years worth of road gigs and does what it does better than the DBX products I can dream of affording. Of course, all of that is moot now that I'm moving to SAC. I don't need any of it. RTA, multi-band parametric, crossover filters, delay, phase adjustment are all available as free plugins.

djbamm1
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Re: RTA/EQ failures need suggestions

#6 Post by djbamm1 »

Why are you using Behringer???

If your equipment is used 2-4 times weekly, it must be professional grade.
IMO, leave the Behringer to the college kiddie who entertains Britney Spears in his dorm room.
It just kind of happened that way when I first started this crazy idea about going into production for myself it was just CNC some BFM cabs and take them out for personal use. A lot of people here were using Behringer and I had no problems with them. But now my demand is sort of running away from me as I never expected it would take off this fast. Now its coming down to me starting to look at rider friendly equipment for some shows but the BFM system is still bringing home the jack for the box trucks, Genie lifts, QSC PL's, Soundcrafts etc. if you know what I mean. I am seriously looking at Smaart but want to try my Rane mixer as a sound card first. I had not allocated the funds because I had just made a large purchase of some QSC PL 6.0II's but that is nothing that cant be solved after this weekend and oh after all that sorry for being so long winded I totally agree do not buy this stuff (Behringer) if you are on the move a lot or depend on your equipment for your livelihood as these were in shock ATA cases and still had failures and were the only thing in the rack that failed.

bgavin
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Re: RTA/EQ failures need suggestions

#7 Post by bgavin »

gdougherty wrote:Hey now. My DCX2496 has been running faithfully for a years worth of road gigs and does what it does better than the DBX products I can dream of affording.
And some Corvairs never broke down, either. :mrgreen:

My point to the OP is, if he is gigging 2~4 times weekly, he should be using dependable, professional gear.
In my area, 2~4 gigs every week generates a LOT of cash. Certainly enough to buy reliable gear.
My biggest worry is that when I'm dead and gone, my wife will sell my toys for what I said I paid for them.

slyslam
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Re: RTA/EQ failures need suggestions

#8 Post by slyslam »

djbamm1 wrote:Hello guys I have two count em yes two Behringer Ultracurve 2496's that are dead the screen just sits there and pulses no read out or anything the lcd just pulses from dark to light. I have replaced them with DBX 2231 I got used from a guy here locally as I figure they can be used for mons. or front of house. Now I am without RTA and my DR's are sounding funny in some rooms and I need to see whats going on as I can get close by ear but some events i am forced to mix from the side of the stack and I cannot listen and adjust. These are DJ gigs I feel i am closer with the live setups. Option 1- I currently own a Macbook and I was looking at a previous post about software options. I have a Rane TTM 57 that I could use as a soundcard but would have to find 48v for the reference Mic. Option-2 I have been looking at the DBX Driverack PA+. Option-3 I have downloaded the 30 day trial of smaart but have not used it yet and really dont want to pay 700+ for the real version. Option-4 the Phonic PAA2 handheld. I did not list Behringer as an option because now that I have two Ultracurves down now my DCX 2496 unit is making the frying egg noise again after I slid insulating paper under the circuit boards and reset the ribbon cables. Guys any suggestions as these rigs are rolling 2-4 times a week and I need equipment that works not that gets worked on.
Just bought a DEQ (used) last week an the same thing happened. I just opened it to see what was the problem and found that the wires that energize two small solid state relay was loose and that after securing it, it worked. Could be the same with yours.

I will see how it goes for the next gig but I thing I solve the issue. :fingers:

bgavin
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Re: RTA/EQ failures need suggestions

#9 Post by bgavin »

If anybody has a Behringer opened up, please take some high-resolution photos with a camera on a tripod.
I'd like to get a close look at the board(s) to see if they suffer the same maladies as computer planar boards.

I see no reason why cheap Chinese capacitors should be confined just to computer and networking gear.
More than likely, they are in the audio gear also. I found them in Radial products at NAMM... a real pity, there.

If you have craps on your board, a recap might be all that is required to cure its ills.
My biggest worry is that when I'm dead and gone, my wife will sell my toys for what I said I paid for them.

marstedt
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Re: RTA/EQ failures need suggestions

#10 Post by marstedt »

Just popped the top on a DCX 2496, Rev 1.14, Date Code 1003.

Most of the caps are from TEC rated at -40 to 85C, 25V and either 10 or 4.7uF (47?). There are a couple of 4.7uF, 50V ones from Samxon (blue). I can't make out the brand of the bigger 470uF, 16V caps in the switching power supply but they're the only ones rated at 105C.

I'll see if I can post pics somewhere.

There are pics here, but they are not the same caps that I have (the TEC are all black).
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthre ... adid=15943

gdougherty
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Re: RTA/EQ failures need suggestions

#11 Post by gdougherty »

bgavin wrote:If anybody has a Behringer opened up, please take some high-resolution photos with a camera on a tripod.
I'd like to get a close look at the board(s) to see if they suffer the same maladies as computer planar boards.

I see no reason why cheap Chinese capacitors should be confined just to computer and networking gear.
More than likely, they are in the audio gear also. I found them in Radial products at NAMM... a real pity, there.

If you have craps on your board, a recap might be all that is required to cure its ills.
Can't recall what was in them last time I looked, but given all the other stuff I've seen about modding them, you're probably right about cheap Chinese electronics on the inside. The converters are supposedly pretty good, replacing the clock along with some of the op-amps supposedly makes them into an "audiophile grade" piece of gear.

marstedt
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Re: RTA/EQ failures need suggestions

#12 Post by marstedt »

markus76 over on diyAudio says that the issue (frying egg sound) is a bug in one of the chips as detailed on this page:

http://www.dcx2496.fr/en/src1_en.php (scroll down to 'The DCX2496 hidden flaw')

Some have said that re-seating the ribbon connectors provides a temporary fix, while other suggest leaving it on all the time (noise is likely to happen within 24hrs of turning on) and someone else said it was a shield connection issue on one of their XLR jacks.

There is a poll about the issue here:
http://www.speakerplans.com/forum/topic21794_page1.html

If it is a connection issue, then it would be wise to get some Caig DeoxIT and treat all the connectors.

marstedt
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Re: RTA/EQ failures need suggestions

#13 Post by marstedt »

I just pulled out the processor board to have a look. At least two of the three ribbon connectors were not fully seated. I could see almost a mm of exposed pin through the side of one connector.

I recommend that you give the connectors a shot of DeoxIT and make sure they are properly seated. Obviously the hot-glue that they gobbed in there to hold the connectors down wasn't serving any purpose (although I haven't heard anything unusual from this unit).

Ron K
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Re: RTA/EQ failures need suggestions

#14 Post by Ron K »

What I have noticed inside B-ringers cases are the PCB mount connectors and other components suffer from cold / cracked solder joints after prolonged use especially if they get the old rough ride.

They may also have some inferior components as after SMAARTing a few pieces I've noticed things like +/- 12 db to actually be 9 db etc.It's decent budget gear and some components are hit or miss as far as reliability. I suppose when you buy a piece you just keep using it until it causes problems. Hopefully a show doesn't go down because of it.

Dont misunderstand Pro Shows can go down with all "Pro" gear as well but most of us around long enough to suffer from a bad component blues also carry spares!

If I were gigging 4 times a week no doubt I would be racking nothing short of DBX, Ashley etc! Expecting B-ringer stuff to hold up under those circumstances is an unfair expectation IMHO!
Ever since I replaced sex with food I cant even get into my own pants!

bgavin
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Re: RTA/EQ failures need suggestions

#15 Post by bgavin »

marstedt wrote:Most of the caps are from TEC
Junk.

http://www.trec-con.com/

If you have physical access, post the uF capacity, voltage, and diameter. This is usually 10mm.
If there is a height restriction, that would be nice to know.

If the board is removeable without too much grief, it should be an easy recap job.
My biggest worry is that when I'm dead and gone, my wife will sell my toys for what I said I paid for them.

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