Sabine Navigator NAV240, 360, 480

[bgavin]

Comments made here about hum issues with the DR260 got me to Googling... evidently hum is a long running (decade) problem with DriveRacks.

The next price point up is the Sabine Navigator series.
I spent the afternoon reading the user manual, etc, and have a question:
Does the 240,360,480 allow summing In1 and In2 to achieve a mono subwoofer output?

My thoughts are for stereo DJ, mono PA work. Both with mono subs.

[Conway Jennings]

I'll be curious to see what the answer is for this. I was looking at buying a 260 til I heard about the hum problem. How noticeable is the hum?

[David Carter]

I'll be curious to see what the answer is for this. I was looking at buying a 260 til I heard about the hum problem. How noticeable is the hum?

I've got a 260, and although I haven't had a chance to use it very much since I got it, I haven't noticed any hum at all.

[bgavin]

The DSP thing certainly does get murky in a hurry,
For example, the Sabine units are rebranded and made by Xilica.

Using NSL pricing, it is hard to imagine the Sabine unit being 4x 'better' than the DCX-2496.
I added a DSP page to my spread sheet that compares chips, features and opamps.
The lowly DCX is using all premium ADC, DAC, DSP and opamps.
Dunno about the Sabine/Xilica, but the DriveRacks are using the same parts.

[Ron K]

I'm not a big Behringer fan but not for the same reasons as a lot of others. I just dont care for their willingness to reverse engineer for profit, but hey in this day even if you invent something and make the first prototype from scratch I'm sure there are some parts and components similar to what has already been done.

Now that Behringer has acquired Midas and KT I would expect they tap the valuable quality resources that both brands are famous for and Midas and KT tap the production advantages of Behringer. This could very well lend itself to a very competitively priced components line with high quality and rider acceptability. If I were the other big guys I'd be wondering what Uli has up his sleeve.

I'm willing to bet he will take a stab at the major touring market and possibly force some real changes that are long overdue.

There's a reason guys like Clairs still make their own rigs! It's all about having the gear that works for you at the price point that keeps you solvent in what has proven to be a feast or famine type marketplace!

I do own some behringer gear.Some has proved well and other was complete shit.At the throw away pricing it's hard to ignore it if it works! Of course you dont flaunt it and do your best to hide them in the rack.

The other company I'd look out for is Peavey. The new IPR has already turned many heads. Who knows whats up Hartley's sleeve but it's starting to look as if he is searching for ways to stay one up on all the competition. If he overcomes the production demand shortfalls he is now seeing he will undoubtedly make waves amongst the MI line users. I mean a 300.00, 8 lb power amp that delivers and sounds really good! I can see club and small shed guys loading up rack already. I know I can pass a Peavey off on a rider long before a Behringer!

Showdown between Peavey and Uli!
Both are using quality components in their products and still keeping the prices down. That's a win for us who buy those products.

Were I EV,JBL, Crown,QSC,EAW etc. I'd keep one eye firmly aimed at Peavey and the other at Uli!

[bgavin]

I've been mulling over various needs, mostly in monitor mixes.
Two DCX provide 6 inputs to support 4 monitors, 1 mono main Hi, and 1 mono main Lo.

I've shunned Behringer forever, but only for quality purposes.
Somebody else's intellectual property theft practices is not my business.

Two DCX would provide redundancy and do the job at half the cost of the Sabine.
There may/may not be an audible difference in sound quality between the two.
However, in my loud live environment, this is a non-issue.

[bgavin]

I took the plunge and ordered a new DCX2496 from NSL.
The Xilica / Sabine are nice but not 4x price as nice.

Ordering a pair of DCX2496 would have saved me some shipping costs, but I'm not yet ready for 4 monitor mixes.

[David Carter]

Please keep us posted on your experience with the DCX. I'm still tempted to sell my Driverack 260 and give the DCX another try. I've not had any problems from the 260, but I just can't help being more comfortable with the DCX user interface, and it would save me some $$$.

[bgavin]

Pardon the pun, but the frying bacon sound was "cured" by the factory some time back.

I'm in the computer business and know all the companies use COTS (commercial off the shelf) components.
This includes Xilia who OEMs to Sabine, etc, etc.
The ADC, DAC, DSP, and opamps in the DCX are shared by the DBX boxes and others.
These components are highly jitter tolerant, meaning they work OK with sloppy digital clocks.

Any difference is the quality of the collective 'glue' components that tie the COTS parts together.
They can go cheap on power supplies, cable connections, soldering and so forth.

Everything made in Asia suffers from the use of cheap caps.
I have done a lot of recapping, so installing all Rubycon caps on the boards after the warranty expires is a non-problem for me.
I'm concerned less with the quality of sound, than I am about it crapping out in the middle of a show.
However, the failure rate for disk drives is 15% or higher, same as the rate for the older DCX.
If one remains in the upper 85%, it is a worthwhile purchase.
I eventually require two DCX anyway, once I find a 2nd PLX-1202 for two more monitor mixes.