Linking Crown XTI's

[djtecthreat]

Am I missing something? I see on the back they have USB ports, Is there some hidden cat-5 or something that I'm missing. Let's say I wanted to put 8 of these at the stage. Am I going to need to put a USB hub in the rack in order to get control all the way up at mix position?

[BrentEvans]

There are several ways to handle this. You could use the USB hub and a CAT5 Balun set to extend that to a PC at FOH. With 8 amps, it could get tricky if the Crown software doesn't have a very good way of identifying which amp is which, which could have some nasty side effects.

A better way to do it would be to set the amps to a more or less "permanent" setup which is predefined for their usage in your rig. Set up dynamics, crossovers and Eqs per channel, and then keep a master EQ for each channel at FOH for tweaking. If you don't want to carry a rack full of EQs, try something like the Alesis DEQ830, which does up to 8 channels of 30 band EQ in 1RU for around $500.

[Greg Plouvier]

http://crownaudio.com/amp_htm/amp_info/network.htm

[subharmonic]

Am I missing something? I see on the back they have USB ports, Is there some hidden cat-5 or something that I'm missing. Let's say I wanted to put 8 of these at the stage. Am I going to need to put a USB hub in the rack in order to get control all the way up at mix position?

Jon Barnhardt and I were talking about this last night during a little listending session we did. Sinve I always carry a backup laptop to gigs I am going to try to Remote Desktop into the backup, and keep that one plugged into the xtis. That way I can tweak the EQ from the dancefloor before the show starts.

Maybe there is an app to use my phone too?

[djtecthreat]

Brent, I could set and forget them, but that's not really the point. I want to see if theres a way to do this and have it be useful. I will probably just use a hub to do it, I believe you can label each amp, and set them in order in the software so it shouldn't be a problem identifying them.

Greg, that is for I-Techs, not XTI's.

Sub, let me know how that works for ya. I could dedicate a microPC in the amp rack for this and take control with my Android tablet.

[Gregory East]

Bandmanager can keep track of your rack. The other Harmon programme, I forgot the name but it's for XTi etc, keeps the amps in the opposite order, top becomes bottom. If you save a stack in one it will be inverted in the other. So not entirely bulletproof.

Bandmanger gives you a master parametric EQ. The other programme gives you multiple room zone control.

I think it would be better doing EQ to groups of amps with FOH units as mentioned. Set up delays before you play. There shouldn't be any need to tweek crossovers. I wouldn't want to be zipping through 8 amps, left and right making adjustments on the fly while performing anyway.

[Greg Plouvier]

Greg, that is for I-Techs, not XTI's.

The link is to illustrate how it's done. It's not just for IT's. Why don't you buy a switch, they're cheap enough, use system architect, and see if it works. What Brent and I have told you is the way to do it. See if your amps will update through system arch first, one by one, before you attempt to network. If you're a one man show the last thing you'll want to be doing is dicking with amp dsp's while mixing

[djtecthreat]

Greg, are you not familiar with the XTI series?

They do not have Cat-5 connectors on the back to link the amps together, so a switch would be useless to me. (which I have plenty of, so cost is not an issue there) Seems to me like you may have missed the question. See below the back of an XTI (without Cat-5 connectors to link amps together) and a I-Tech (with Cat-5 connectors). As you can see they're (once again) not linkable. That means all the XTI's must be connected to a USB hub, or to the ports of a PC via USB (totally different setup).

What I am basically asking is- does this work well with a USB hub in the rack and a long USB cable (or amplified extended) back to mix position. It's not so much a problem of poking around with settings during a show as I want to be able to program the amps while at mix position where I need things to sound best- not up at the rack next to the stage, or in a control room somewhere.


XTI Rear - http://www.crownaudio.com/images/xti_back.jpg

I-Tech Rear - http://mockup.churchsoundstore.com/imag ... ar_600.jpg

[Greg Plouvier]

My bad - I think my brain is scrambled from last week plus I was in a pissy mood this morning.

[djtecthreat]

hahaha! No worries brother. I had the same morning.

[SirNickity]

I would just use the hub and USB-over-Cat5 extenders like you were talking about. Hopefully, you would hardly ever need to touch it, but I see your point about wanting to be able to adjust from the sweet spot.

Obviously the implementation details of the extenders is not something that is usually published for all to see, so the only way to know whether there would be a problem with multiple USB devices through a hub is to try it. It's likely to depend on the design of the particular extenders as well, so one might work and another not.

However, as Cat5 should have no trouble with the bandwidth of USB in raw form (especially USB 1.1, which is all the amps are likely to be anyway), it seems to me it would be technically easier to balance and transmit the serial data verbatim than to meddle with it and potentially break compatibility. So, chances are good the extenders would appear to be an ordinary cable to the device at either end.

[kkesler]

I use a "BlackBox" USB hub/extender, then run cat 5 beside the snake. Works ok but the amps will drop out of the Bandmanager software if you aren't actively using it, at which point you have to rescan for devices.