Subharmonic Synthesizers, USED~ what should I look for? (1 Viewer)

[Geoff L]

For some time now I have been considering picking up a used Sub-harmonic processor.

Well have reached the deciesion that Im going to make this a reality.

Can anyone shed some light on what brands and models I might like to look into. I've never used one, and from the few post here and differant reads around the net, conclusion leads me to belive they can do wonders (when properly set up and incorperated) into your LEF channel.This especially with older and less than perfect recorded bass material. And of course for the Bass head a must I would assume.

Any input on where to look and what to look for would be greatly apreciated. Im looking to by used for the saveings and if not for me as one mght say, just will unload on Ebay or Audiogon hopefully at not much of a $ loss.

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

I have the Audio Control Phase Coupled Activator which has this feature. I primarily bought it for its excellent electronic crossover and considered the bass processing a bonus.

I’ve found the processing to be as much a curse as a blessing. It will definitely help bass-challenged programming such as TV shows. However, much programming has poorly-EQ voices with too much bass in them, so they activate the processor just like music does. The result is a lot of low-frequency “grumbling” under the dialog, which is annoying and distracting. It does this even with the “Soundtrack Mode” feature engaged which supposed to minimize this problem.

So, I usually don’t use the bass processor. The best use I’ve found for it is with those bass-depleted rock CD that sound they were recorded with a 125Hz high pass filter.

Regards,

Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[Geoff L]

Hi Wayne,

I figured you might shed some light on the subject.

A number of these pass thru ebay, allot of DBX 120's, 120DS, and the Newest I belive, 120A with a built in selectable crosserover.

Another brand I see allot is RG-Dynamics. You know anything about these processors Wayne??

Doing a quick Google search finds me with lttle to nothing as far a info on any of these Subharmonic processors. DBX only showing info on the (I belive) current model DBX 120A, and the info posted is limited at best. An overview of the product is more what I drew from it. Reaching to only 28hz was kinda supriseing.

Now I do know nothing of serious use of these, so my conculisions from the read could be extremly off.

I think I will pick a used 120ds (has the selectable crossover to) up and experiment with it. I belive with my older music recordings, they might benifit greatly from one of these. A push of the button and you have complete pass thru. Also has a tape loop built in along with main in, could be set up to run both the .1 and stereo with a flip of the switch. When not in use, just pass thru. Haveing 3 sealed subs that are flat to 20hz in my room and running DVD DTS I would think that it would see LITTLE use. But in stereo with my many OLDER recordings I might find it to be of great Bass help with-out messing with my sub level and pari eq's settings that I spent hours getting they way I wanted.... Been there done that. LOL

I belive I will pick one up for sure threw Ebay more than likely, but are there other ~{models or brands}~ that I might want to keep an eye out for???

Dose BBE build subharmonic processors?

And before DBX and BSR went defunct as a team did they build an of these?

Thanks again Wayne for you quick take and looking forward to anything you or anyone else might have to say on the subject.

Geoff

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

I’ve never heard of RG Dynamics, but judging from I see on e-bay they made dynamic range expanders, which I expect are similar to the 1BX, 2BX et. al. that dbx made.
I don’t know of BBE makes one of these or not.
Regarding BSR and dbx, I think you may mean BSR and ADC. I don’t know that there was a merger or collaberation between the dbx and BSR. But I could be wrong.
If you’re looking for other bass processors, I know that Behringer and Furman make them. The Furman is pretty pricey, probably because it has fully balanced ins and outs.
Both models appear to be somewhat more flexible than the Audio Control PCA, possibly to the point of shifting the processor’s operation low enough to eliminate the “grumbling” problem for TV or movies. In any event, either should work fine for bass-shy CDs.
Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[PaulG]

I own a DBX 120XP unit. It has a crossover of 120 or 80hz, being the receiver crosses at 80 hz, I set it at 120. I go into the left in and out the subwoofer output. You do get processing out of the L/R outputs, but it is more pronounced from the subwoofer out. You can adjust subwoofer level, subharmonics level, bass boost, two bands of bass eq (for the synthesized signal). It has 1/4 inch TRS I/O.

I have it on the LFE channel between the EQ and the power amp for the subwoofer. Before I had the EQ in the chain, I used it alot. Now that I have the base response flattened out, I have it in bypass almost all the time. It does some interesting (not natural at all) things to low voices. I am going to be removing it from the HT when I setup up my music system. Although it does add some bass to movies and such, music is where it shines. I like to use it to add bass to music I record for the car.

I have the current issue of the AMS catalog, and they have a Behringer EX1200 Ultrabass Pro for $99. I have never heard this unit, so I can't comment on it.