Behringer DCX2496 EQ Review

[fpitas]

It's already been revised many times, chips changed from AKM to Cirrus, the cheaper LE-version etc. I'm sure it will be kept alive for another 20 years..

Oh, didn't know that. Sure sounds like they'll keep nursing it along.

 

[hege]

I have 4 of them laying around at home and studio.. the early 15 years old one did the common "frying egg" thingy, other than that they are simply unmatchable value for their intended purpose. Did many many parties, the limiter works great, never blown a speaker even DJs cranking mixer to glowing red and bass to max. The interface is super easy to use and tweak even live..

Now if only someone sent amir the common modded versions, it would be interesting..

 

[roog]

Oh wow, I had one of these running my DIY 3 way speaker system a while back and I thought the unit had been around a fair while up until then. I am surprised that Behinger haven't updated it since. I found it easy to use to set up 3 way crossovers and mess with time alignment, not that I could hear any difference, despite the change being, 'clear as day' on a scope, probably really useful with large outdoor PA speaker arrays. I did try its PC interface which was frustratingly old hat, the software was from another time, but it did work once you had managed to find a laptop with a real RS232 interface.

I always felt that my system lacked clarity and blamed the Behringer, but having read this it is quite likely that my amps were probably at fault.

I would be happy to give this another go if they updated it. One thing that I did find was that its processor would easily run out of headroom if I strayed outside of the fairly basic task I was asking of it, but it did the job and once I had mastered its quirky ways I was happy to edit profiles from the front panel and store them away for retrieval. I chose it in preference to the Mini DSP offering of the day and found it less intimidating , I also liked the option of the direct hands on control of the Behringer without a PC hooked up.

I found it great fun for tinkering with settings. <rolls eyes)> dismay.

 

[DerRoland]

One thing I discovered: the input channel C is hard wired with the mic input circuit and has therefore higher noise levels. Solution for me was to remove the coupling resistor R7 completely ( don’t need the mic function).

Edit: found now on avsforum a nice documentation about this mod.

 

[roog]

Yes I noted that there was a fair bit of interest in DIY 'upgrading' of this unit.

 

[sergeauckland]

Many years ago, I had the outputs of mine 'upgraded' by Behringermods.com, as they offered to do it free as a trial, as I think they were testing a new pcb. It certainly made a significant difference to the measurements, something like a 20dB reduction in distortion, but made no audible difference. I then bought another (of course unmodified) when the original unit failed. I subsequently found the problem was the internal ribbon cable, so remaking the IDC, it was fine. I've kept the modified unit as a spare, but never needed it.

I can't fault the unit, it does exactly what I need from a crossover, including the limiters which protect my unobtainium tweeters and midrange. I've used the time-alignment function, but domestically, it made b-all difference but it's there, so might as well use it.

I don't use the parametric equaliser as I use an external DEQ2495 to equalise my 'speakers, but I can see it's useful to have.
Overall a great product at a sensible price. It uses the Analog Devices SHARC DSP, (as does the DEQ2496) which is/was used in many top-end mixing desks, and has a huge library of processing algorithms available. This makes development easy, which no doubt helps maintain a low cost for the finished product.

S.

 

[EXIF68]

Hello Folks,

several years ago I was "playing" with a Behringer DCX2496 in order to optimize the analog crossover for my older scanspeak-monitors "AOS Studio 24 XL" with the famous tweeter-system Scanspeak R 2904/700000 (price per unit: €420.--). I was using the DCX as an active crossover in front of the Class-D-Amp from HifiAkademie P6. So far so good, the problem in this combination was that I have modified the Class-D-Amp some years before and was used without a coupling capacitor in the input path. This capacitor was in the output stage of the tube pre-amp.. but this is another story.
So I wired the Class-D-Amp directly to the chassis (15W8530, R2904) and switched on the power-amp and then the Behringer. Some parts of a second later, the Tweeter was burned, the voice coil completely damaged and in smoke drained and I was shocked a little bit. What was the reason for this behavior? Now, after a few minutes of searching the problem I measured a DC-Offset on the output stage of the Behringer DCX2496 for about 0,5VDC. The Class-D-Amp without an input capacitor is able to ampify DC and was supporting the Ringradiator with several Volts of DC-Current. The result was the damage of the voice coil within parts of a second.
So if you want to use this device be sure to use an amplifier with input capacitor to avoid such problems ;-)

P.s. I have had to buy an new R2904. The burned one is now used as a paper weight ;-)

Greetings, Walter

 

[Alexium]

I’ve been using this unit for years to sort out DYI crossovers on custom built loudspeakers. It has performance as good as or usually much better than the passive crossovers that I build to mimic optimized transfer characteristics.

What exactly do you mean by "performance"? Why wouldn't a passive crossover be just as good, assuming you can match the desired parameters, which can be tricky?

 

[sarumbear]

What exactly do you mean by "performance"? Why wouldn't a passive crossover be just as good, assuming you can match the desired parameters, which can be tricky?

It is almost impossible to create text book filter responses with a passive filter due to the varying driver impedance against frequency.

 

[mdsimon2]

I almost put one of these in my car back in 2005, there was a guy on the carsound forum that was selling 12 V power supplies for these. Kind of amazing that other than miniDSP there really aren't many competitors to the pro audio offerings in this price range.

Michael

 

[sarumbear]

Kind of amazing that other than miniDSP there really aren't many competitors to the pro audio offerings in this price range.

Possibly because almost all pro power amplifiers now integrate this functionality.

 

[vkhong]

What kind of EQ are we looking at? flexible enough for room correction?

The owner's manual is available under "Documentation" at:
https://www.behringer.com/product.html?modelCode=P0B6H

The EQ features are listed beginning on page 12 in the owner's manual, shown as follows:

 

[vkhong]

Now if only someone sent amir the common modded versions, it would be interesting..

Amir is already in possession of a modded DCX

 

[DerRoland]

Please tell us more about your modded DCX2496 (coupling capacitors, PSU, clock)?

 

[Tangband]

Possibly because almost all pro power amplifiers now integrate this functionality.

True, but maybe not as advanced as Behringer and minidsp . Often its just a variable dsp LP crossover in those power amps.

 

[vkhong]

I am one who enjoys dabbling with older hi-fi loudspeakers. Common issues I run into deteriorating crossover networks, surround rot, left/right mismatched replacement drivers, etc. Of course, that's what make those initially out-of-reach items affordable now.

With a quality multichannel amplifier, properly matched replacement drivers where needed, crossover frequency matching, gain matching, bi/tri-amping, and tweeter DC protection, the DCX could help bring those older loudspeakers back to life again. This could be fun for a loudspeaker enthusiast.

 

[sarumbear]

True, but maybe not as advanced as Behringer and minidsp . Often its just a variable dsp LP crossover in those power amps.

As far as their specs on their website shows there’s nothing their amplifier range can’t do that this Behringer unit can do. Not to mention they are Ethernet controlled. Correct me if I’m wrong.

Here is a random power amplifier I looked at: CDi 2|300

DSP – On-board Digital Signal Processor in each amplifier allows for custom configuration

• Input Router
• Input Delay – Up to 1000ms
• Input Parametric EQ – 8 band
• Crossover
• Output Parametric EQ – 8 band
• Output Delay – Up to 100ms
• LevelMAX™ Limiter

 

[Ron Texas]

Lack of USB and Toslink inputs makes this unit a difficult choice for home systems. It's pretty decent for pro audio.

 

[Rja4000]

Lack of USB and Toslink inputs makes this unit a difficult choice for home systems. It's pretty decent for pro audio.

Well... Semi pro, maybe.
"Pro" usually focuses on reliability. And this thing is not known for its reliability, I'm afraid.

 

[dtaylo1066]

Old product that had a bit of a audiophile cult following in the day. I think that MiniDSP pretty much put the hammer down on that.