[mastermaybe]

Hi all,

I thought I'd put a thread in here for this product for those that may be interested. It certainly isn't the most powerful choice out there, but for $300 (less, used) it does offer RTA, some parametric EQ, a pretty easy wizard, and a HPF down to ~15hz (which I know will set the single digit hz club members hair on fire, but let's face it: 99.99% of music/movie content is 15hz on up) and a bit more elegant than some other options.

ipad/android app to boot for on the fly adjustment. Unit connects via ethernet. Mine's waiting for me at home so I'm going to see what's what this evening.

http://dbxpro.com/en-US/products/driverack-pa2

best,
James

 

[Scott Simonian]

Hmm. I swear I've never seen this version before. Pretty neat!

Love that iOS/Android control. Calling @Archaea

$399 ain't bad either. Might... consider putting this on my upgrade path "wishlist" for DCX replacement. Can't justify the cost of 3x of these right now though.

 

[gworrel]

I have the original DBX Driverack PA. I was just recently thinking about selling it and upgrading to the PA2 version. Looks like some nice improvements. If you got it for $300 then you got it for a good price. The Behringer DCX2496LE is significantly cheaper, but I haven't had the best luck with Behringer lately. I'll be interested in your impressions.

 

[Archaea]

Subbed for feedback.

 

[mastermaybe]

Hola all:

Re price: just get sweetwater or guitar center on the phone and tell them you'll pay $299 for it and they'll do it without thinking twice, trust me.

Onward, I did get it into the rig yesterday but I didn't have a lot of time to mess around with it. One thing I did notice- or, let's say not notice- was the ability to adjust the gain of each "sub channel".

Let me explain:

There's two inputs. There's six outputs (L/R): HIGH x2 MID x2 LOW x2 .

When you run the wizard you are "forced" to select "main" speakers. Now, they have a TON of mainstream models (JBL, QSC ((I have K10's )) , Yorkville, Yamaha, etc) or you can select "not listed". Then you either select "PASSIVE" or "TWO WAY" for them. Once you grab either option, you move onto selecting subs, then stereo or mono subs. If you select "TWO WAY" you then (apparently) have the mids outputting, if just "PASSIVE", just the HIGH and LOW XLRs are outputting. As far as I can tell, there's no way of simply "saying" I'm running subs.

The problem- at least as I see it right now:

The crossover and gains- and most else for that matter that I can tell- are not adjustable for EACH LOW or HIGH channel (left or right), but for BOTH, simultaneously. Even though I selected "STEREO" input and STEREO sub output.

Now for me and my rather symmetrical room and system, my gains are pretty close and I just run Audyssey XT32 which of course offers some other level adjustment, but for others with less straightforward scenarios I think this could be an issue.

Do you suppose the "idea" is that you're simply adjusting the gain on the amplifier to level things out??? But then you could potentially run into pre-mature clipping issues, correct, with the gain being set too low/high for one of the channels ?

It's early for me so perhaps I'm not thinking clearly and/or creating a problem that doesn't exist, as surely this is either not a big deal or my dumba$$ has yet to figure out how to access individual channels.

Other than that, the ipad app is pretty slick and it's nice to make adjustments right from the couch. It's very responsive and pretty well laid-out. The unit itself is alright looking too- although it would be nice to be able to dim the unnecessary RED WIZARD light and a few others. Oh well.

I'll dig into more tonight and see if I can't sort some of this out.

Thanks
James

 

[mastermaybe]

Update from dbx...

Well, I wasn't crazy or just dumb...you cannot adjust the gains independently. They're locked in as a stereo pair on each of the HIGH MID and LOW pairs. The tech thinks you need to jump to the 260 for independent control.

BUT, you CAN run all three outputs full range and have the identical range of adjustments on all three so basically: crisis averted.

I suppose you could even run two subs off the L (or R) using the "HIGH and MID" and a third off the R (or L) using "LOW" and make adjustments individually-- although that would be "interesting" if you had Audyssey or another room EQ system in front of it like I do as it would "see/hear" the output of both subs when calibrating. I really don't know what kind of effects to expect in that scenario, I guess.

Long story short, certainly two subs can be dialed in without restriction, here.

James

 

[Scott Simonian]

Good news!

JK. That is good to hear. I guess that means I can get away with just two of these. One for stereo three way left and right and another doing a 3-way center and three separate LFE outputs. Nice.