Behringer Feedback Destroyer question (1 Viewer)

[Owen Bartley]

I'm on the virge of picking up a BFD, but have noticed that some stores carry different models. There's the DSP1124P and the FBQ2496. The FBQ looks more complex, and is about $100.00 more than the DSP. I believe its the DSP that most people are using for sub equalization in their HT, but I wanted to check before I buy, and see if the FBQ had any advantages, if it just adds stereo capability, or if it's just plain wrong for this application. Any insight here would be helpful.

e: Also, has anyone found that certain RCA adapters work better or worse than others?

Thanks!

 

[ThomasW]

Save your money and get the 1124P.

You'll need mono RCA to 1/4" adapters. There's no SQ difference for these thing when used with a sub.

 

[Stuart.C]

I found that Long & Mcquade music stores had great selection of 1/4 RCA's and cabling at very good prices. Quality seemed to be very good as well.

 

[Owen Bartley]

Thanks Thomas and Stuart. Much appreciated. I wonder if making some custom cables would be a better plan. I've kind of been looking for a cable project for myself too. Would an RCA to XLR and then XLR to RCA cable be feasible? I haven't seen anyone do one, but if it has been done successfully, I might like to try it to get some nice custom lengths.

e: Hmmm, OK, I don't know if a balanced XLR can be mixed with an RCA, but I'd make Mono RCA to Mono 1/4" too.

 

[John Wes]

Sure you can do an RCA to an XLR. Just make sure you get the right XLR end.

If your using mic cable, just use the two colored wires.

If your using a coax, then use the center for your hot and the shield for the signal ground or the negative.

 

[Owen Bartley]

Thanks John. I'm leaning more towards building my own cables now, and I've found some really nice looking connectors that I'll probably use.

http://www.zaolla.com/zaolla_product_connectors.html

I think I would probably source the cable locally. If I go ahead with the project I'll start a new thread for my cables. As a last question, would there be any real benefits/drawbacks of making an RCA - XLR or an RCA - 1/4"... would one be better than the other?

 

[John Wes]

I suppose you'll get arguments on one over the other but with as little bandwidth as your using in a sub cable, probably not anything you can hear.

Just make sure to route it away from any power cords.

 

[Owen Bartley]

Thanks again for the advice everyone, looks like I'm going to go ahead and pick one up. I've found a local shop that has them for about $145 CDN, and it's on my way home from work. I graphed my current sub response in-room today, and although it still sounds good, I can see I'm missing a lot of low end, and I can't wait to make it sound better.



I only had test tones up to 99Hz, but that's good enough for me. If I remember correctly, my AVA250 has a rumble filter at around 18Hz, so that may be the reason for a lot of my dropoff, but surely I can boost in some low end with a BFD. I'll also try to tame the peaks at 36 and 56Hz.

Now for the exciting part, I get to make some DIY cables as well. I'll be starting a new thread for those once I get a little closer. This week's paycheck has to cover a new suit and a few other bills, so the BFD is still a few weeks off.

 

[Sonnie Parker]

Owen... how'd the BFD work out for ya?

Your original response doesn't look so bad really. Hopefully you were able to get a good fix with the BFD. If you need test tones just check out the BFD Guide in my sig. We've got all the tones you could need.

I use caution in boosting 20hz... not that you can't do it, just use caution.

 

[Owen Bartley]

Hey Sonnie, I actually don't have it yet. The shop I ordered it from was supposed to have it in by Thursday, but when I called on Friday they still didn't have it. Looks like it will have to wait till next week. Which, as it turns out, is alright, since my RCAs and XLRs still haven't arrived, nor has my techflex. So, no cables, no assembly project for Sunday, no BFD, and no tweaking. But I will update as things progress.

Although, I am a little worried now about what you said concerning boosting 20hz... is that for fear of damage to the driver?

I had planned to do a cut around 36, a cut around 56, and then a boost or two on the low end, maybe 19 and 22hz or something, would that be a bad idea? I might be better off either disabling or lowering the corner freq. of the rumble filter, but I can't seem to find instructions on how to do it anymore. (Adire AVA250)

 

[Sonnie Parker]

I'll be waiting to see you progress.

As far as boosting that low of a frequency, it really depends on the headroom capabilities of your amp. Lower frequencies tax your amp more than higher frequencies and will eat up your headroom in a hurry. There is a better technical explaination for it than I can provide. You can try it, just make sure your amp is handling it okay and not showing any signs of straining. If it's only a few db then you may be okay. That's why I stated to simply use caution.

You could probably post a thread in the DIY section or SUB section asking about disabling or lowering the corner frequency of the rumble filter on your Adire. I'm not familiar with this.

 

[Owen Bartley]

Just as a quick update, I have tne BFD, the cable, and the techflex, but I spoke with my seller for the connectors on the weekend and he is still waiting for some to come in, hopefully they will be shipped this week.

 

[Sonnie Parker]

How's it coming?

 

[Owen Bartley]

Hey Sonnie, thanks for remembering me. I wish I could say I've made some progress, but I'm still waiting for my connectors to ship. I just emailed the guy again, so hopefully I'll have at least an idea of when they're coming today.

I did email back and forth with Adire's tech support a bit about removing the 19Hz rumble filter, but they confirmed what I suspected was the case, and since my box is tuned to ~19Hz, I don't want to remove it after all for fear of unloading the driver. That's alright, I'll just dial in a bit of boost in the 20-25Hz range, cut the 2 small peaks, and be happy with that.

 

[Sonnie Parker]

Lookin' forward to it!

 

[Owen Bartley]

Alright, apparently they shipped on Friday, so next week we should have some progress.

 

[GrahamT]

Good luck Owen, I also have the BFD, Tempest and AVA250 combo. As Sonnie said, you can boost the low end a little. It depends on how much you push the sub. You'll get the hang of it. The Tempest can take a beating too. Have fun with it!

 

[Owen Bartley]

Thanks Graham, good to know I'm going with a winning combo. I am going to try a little low end boost, and if I hear the sub distort I'll tweak it back out, but I don't think I'm pushing it to the max in my regular listening. I guess we'll soon see!

 

[Owen Bartley]

Alright, my connectors are in. Just some quick shots before I get started on the build (hopefully this weekend). I'm really happy with the look and feel of them, so I hope they work/sound good too. They're nice and heavy, and certainly don't feel cheap.


The actual solder connections look a bit different than what I've seen before, but I assume they work like so...


If I'm way wrong, or if anyone has a good method for these, I'd love to hear it. I'll post more updates with pics as I get started.

EDIT: It looks like it's going to be tough to solder that signal connection without melting the insulator, I think I'm going to look for a very small, low wattage iron that might do the trick.

 

[Sonnie Parker]

Very nice lookin' Owen... not sure on the soldering... I'd mess'em up big time... lol