BillFitzmaurice.info

I was getting ready to pull the trigger on a Driverack PA or PA+ until, after a bunch of research, I found that neither have a brickwall limiter. Both have "soft knee" limiting. Can this still be adequate if you dial it in right?

I just can't justify $1000 for the Driverack 260 (which seems to have a brickwall limiter). Will the above two, or even the PX work?

Anybody have a suggestion about the limiters in the DriveRack PA or PA+. Are they good enough?

Better than nothing, less than optimal.

Bruce Weldy wrote:Anybody have a suggestion about the limiters in the DriveRack PA or PA+. Are they good enough?

Although I have a behringer compressor/limiter, I never bother with and just use the limiting from the DRPA. And that's driving the bp102 with an crown 802(behr ep2500/4000 equivalent) beyond the recommended.

Bruce Weldy wrote:I was getting ready to pull the trigger on a Driverack PA or PA+ until, after a bunch of research, I found that neither have a brickwall limiter. Both have "soft knee" limiting. Can this still be adequate if you dial it in right?

Infinity:1 is "brickwall"....but 100:1 will certainly work as an effective limiter...especially if the signal chain will begin to clip everywhere at about the same point.

I would not consider 20:1 to be adequate for speaker protection.

--Stan Graves

I am using a DRPA+ and it seems to be doing to job
Pay close attention to setting your gain structure.
It seems that I am getting huge SPL's at low voltages so I have no reason to really push my equipment but so hard
Thats what makes these designs so sweet!

Do you use the EQ wizard with an RTA mic? If so, how long does it take and how loud do you have to crank it for it to function?

The problem isn't the ratio so much as the finite attack time of the limiter. Having said that, I've been running fullbfd system with a driverack pa for a couple of years now with no failures. The seem very unobtrusive soundwise.

I use the RTA to eq the system to the room, but I find the "perfomance" setting sounds better to my ears than a flat eq. In addition to using the limiter, I set the compression threshold at 12 db below the limiter threshold at a 2:1 ratio, soft knee comression (set at 1 or 2). Sometimes our singer really belts it out and this helps keep it from clipping.

Hmmm, vocal compression and limiting, now you've got me thinking how best to employ two analog channels of comp/limiter. Vocal comp sure worked wonders recording our rock band. Methinking the tops can do without.

I use the PA+ drive rack. I dont use any of the compression with this unit. Im not much on compressing the entire mix. I run singer, drumms ect in groups and use a stand alone compressor vis the inserts to control these. You can use inserts on your bass guitar to obtain more pumping/breathing as you like the sound. I do use the Auto Eq function for rooms as we travel and location to location. It really doesn't take long. There are multi settings you can use and I have found that if you change speakers you may find using different settings give you the sound you desire.