Gains at difent power amplifiers and diferent sinsivity at speakers

[Eduardocastrejo]

HI,
Please help me

this will be my first attempt to biamp this speakers

dbx electronic crossover 223s
hafler dh110 preamp
bgw 750 amp (230rms 8 ohm) gain knobs at amp
hafler dh220 (100-120rms 8ohm) external volume control to change gain if needed buy dbx crossover have gain input and ouput

4530 clone baffle
18"electro voice evm18b series 2 woofer ,repaired hand made coil 16ohm no idea on sensivity
2446j driver 16ohm original diapragm- 2350 horn
3105 crossover 075 tweeter new not original diapragms 16 ohm

electronic crossover frecuency cross - I supose 500hz but I open to any advice

2446j
Sensitivity: 111 dB SPL, 1 W @ 1 m on-axis on horn²118 dB SPL, 1 mW on plane-wave tube³

evm18b original sensivity at 8 ohm was EVM-18B was 8ohm with a sensitivity of 99db(1w/1m) rated @ 400/800/1600 (im not sure)

im lost here, I need help , a baseline ?

I want to buy an usb micophone to use the rew program for some tools to help with this task.

I supose with unknown info this is difficult
only info that I have is for the driver 2446j 16ohm with 100rms 8ohm amplifier,

thanks in advance for your help

[RMC]

Eduardo,

Quickly.

Your amps are 8 ohm and drivers 16 ohm so the amps will deliver half the power rated (number of watts).

The DBX223s already has Individual level controls on all outputs this helps in adjusting levels, experiment.

I already suggested to you a crossover frequency of 700-800hz so you can have a compression driver protection capacitor for a 400hz roll-off.

The power rating of the EVM 18B series 2 is 200 watts.

Calculating all the gains and sensitivities could get complicated and be time consuming.

I think you make it too complicated on you. The simplest way is to adjust the sound level of each driver by ear, listening and adjusting for acceptable balance between the drivers, meaning the sound levels blend well together (one not too loud vs others).

In case you're not sure about your hearing then you can purchase a Sound Level Meter which will give you more objective db levels coming out of each driver, as long as you keep the same distance from each driver when measuring (e.g. 1meter).

Sound Level Meters at say $100.+ should be enough for this, below this amount they rarely meet some standards and are more like kids toys.

[johnmgoss]

Thanks for this post mortron! The content is very valuable.

[macsic]

Hi,
Difficult doesn't mean impossible, you want to buy a micro USB with Rew so go ahead, it's not really expensive. In my case this way helped me a lot with the possibilities offered by a DSP for corrections but without any correction tool what is the use of having REW ... Anyway, listening will always be the confirmation of success or not.

[Riley Casey]

Are there measurement microphone versions of USB mics? I've only seen cardioid mics targeted at podcasting and Zoom meetings rather than the flat response omni capsules needed for acoustic measurements. That said a very serviceable mic and mic pre/amp audio interface combo can easily be found on eBay for under $200.

Hi,
Difficult doesn't mean impossible, you want to buy a micro USB with Rew so go ahead, it's not really expensive. ...

[Eduardocastrejo]

Are there measurement microphone versions of USB mics? I've only seen cardioid mics targeted at podcasting and Zoom meetings rather than the flat response omni capsules needed for acoustic measurements. That said a very serviceable mic and mic pre/amp audio interface combo can easily be found on eBay for under $200.

at budget https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...0e894f38f2fbd7

[Eduardocastrejo]

THANKS

for your answers
yes I will try, I already have de db meter, a I want to experiment with rew too

what I need to do with db meter, I supose that with pink noise adjust de db of each driver, bass and misd needs to have same db ?

[Eduardocastrejo]

This is the dbmeter that I have

[Eduardocastrejo]

I need to try to check this but, the 2446j driver is 100w at 500hz , 150w at 1000 hz
if the hafler amplifier is 100w at 8 ohm, is like 50w at 16ohm, porbably is not enough ro handle the driver plus passive crossover plus 20w tweeter ?

[Riley Casey]

An SPL Meter will tell you how loud the loudest sound is not the overall level of the passband in question. The most cost effective way to get useful level information about the passband would be an RTA app for a smart phone. Not a substitute for real measurement software but much more useful than an SPL meter.

This is the dbmeter that I have

[macsic]

An SPL Meter will tell you how loud the loudest sound is not the overall level of the passband in question. The most cost effective way to get useful level information about the passband would be an RTA app for a smart phone. Not a substitute for real measurement software but much more useful than an SPL meter.

Good idea, I have Decibel X and Spectrum (all free) in my iPhone, you may know better ones but they will always be less precise than a calibrated microphone.

[RMC]

Eduardo,

Looks like a plan to me.

However i would use the 18" to 600hz since it remains or so within the 6db directivity index of the woofer. Then 2446 from 600hz to 5-6 khz so that you can have some overlap on each side of the latter crossover frequency with the tweeter. Therefore the 075 would cover 5-6khz and up.

This is based on 2446 response seen, as well as assuming crossover slopes of at least 12db/oct.

[Mike Caldwell]

Actually you may want to try under lapping the crossover frequencies some, that will help with the phase response and frequency response around the crossover point.

Keep in mind the crossover frequency and acoustic crossover frequency are rarely the same.
Depending on how you balance the levels say between the woofer and the 2446 with a electronic
crossover frequency of 600hz the acoustic crossover point could be upwards to 1000hz.

[Mike Caldwell]

Here's a link to a post I made about acoustic crossovers.

http://www.audioheritage.org/vbullet...45-Clone/page4

[RMC]

Eduardo,

RE what I need to do with db meter, I supose that with pink noise adjust de db of each driver, bass and misd needs to have same db ?

Yes about the same, can be small differences, but if you don't have pink noise you can still use music to get an idea, make it easy on you since you're starting at this. As you get more proficient with this and biamping you will refine your techniques (Rome was not built in a day as they say...).

That db meter should be ok, follow the instructions and maybe use wider DBC scale instead of DBA if you have it. Its not really the absolute db numbers that matter here but more the relative levels, i.e. difference between each driver if any, e.g. one is 4 db louder or softer than another for gain correction purpose. Later you can use EQ to refine some things.

RE if the hafler amplifier is 100w at 8 ohm, is like 50w at 16ohm, porbably is not enough ro handle the driver plus passive crossover plus 20w tweeter ?

I wouldn't worry too much about this, you should have enough with 50W. Just remember a high sensitivity woofer has about 5-6% efficiency, but the 2446 has 30% efficiency!! A lot more, there's no contest, in normal use one would likely have to turn down the HF section gain if it was wide open. Usually need less watts for HF than for LF.

Richard

I wrote the following last morning for you, didn't have time to post it, had to go, so i'm adding it here now:

After my initial post i realized you may need more help than i thought, that's fine, since you never biamped and asked for a baseline. In your situation and having an initial startup to do i would proceed carefully by bringing up the sounds progressively (in steps) one section only at a time. Better be safe than sorry.

When everything is connected properly and turned off make sure all gain/volume controls are way down. With all level controls still down, now turn on your gear (amps last), including your music source. Next bring up preamp level to say 1/3+ of the way, crossover LF output levels around middle (or zero or unity depending what its called on unit), and bass amp gain about half way for now. Hear anything from LF cabs?

Too loud or too soft adjust gain/level along the way for comfortable listening level, no need to be loud now. Next bring up slowly MF/HF section on crossover output levels to a perceived level that about matches the LF cabs level. Horn works?

That gain structure isn't great nor final, its just to get you started with precaution. Now the real work starts in balancing the gain/levels (some more here maybe less there). Since bass amp gain was only half way its likely you'll need to increase it due to high horn sensitivity requiring less.

The burden of providing gain/level should be shared logically among the gear in a system (usually not one item full gain while another is barely up). You need to adjust and experiment in fine tuning the gain load each component has to provide (preamp, amps, crossover). Sometimes when level is wrong you can either increase one or reduce an other (or a mix of both). Some require more than others, like big amps.

So you play with this until its properly balanced and sounds good to your ears. You'll find the trick pretty fast. Try to remember or note the settings that provide the best outcome for you at this time.

To keep things simple i didn't get into the amplifier rule of "on last and off first" which is good practice, specially with amps not having turn-on delay and instant off, that could cause noise or damage to speakers.

Richard