Behringer DCX2496 EQ Review

[jomark911]

I have it and use it a year and a half ,as my main cross , for my active speakers.
It is a very good active cross , doing a fine job . Regardless the time that has passed.

 

[jomark911]

Also , there is a way of putting cross off ,by selecting OFF , on the corresponding filter.
I know i'm doing it on mine. Both low end , filter off , and high end filter off.

 

[kencreten]

I'm pleasantly surprised. That's good functionality for the price. 100db down is fine for anything I listen to.

 

[Tangband]

I'm pleasantly surprised. That's good functionality for the price. 100db down is fine for anything I listen to.

The jitter measurement show about 88 dB. Maybe low enough, but modern dsp crossovers like Minidsp flex has 135-140 dB.

 

[Sir Sanders Zingmore]

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

I used one of these years ago in an active setup.
The issue I found with the PEQ is that much of the available processing memory was used up in the crossovers and if I recall correctly, only maybe three PEQ filters could be applied with the remaining memory

 

[jomark911]

I used one of these years ago in an active setup.
The issue I found with the PEQ is that much of the available processing memory was used up in the crossovers and if I recall correctly, only maybe three PEQ filters could be applied with the remaining memory

Well , if you need a Ton of PEQ filters it might run short of memory , but in my set up 3 way cross , i was able of puting at least 5 filters on each way and still have a 21% of memory free.
Another thing , on my rig , i use it exclusively as active cross just prior to the power amps . So not a AES EBU use . Found it useful though, to time align the drivers bu using the mic i separately bought for that . It does the job and quite nicely i might add.

 

[jomark911]

What i now considering is the addition of caps in the tweeters amp output , just to protect them in the event of a DC .
Thought on mkp or even film cap at 20μF for each tweeter.
What do you guys think?

 

[fpitas]

I used one of these years ago in an active setup.
The issue I found with the PEQ is that much of the available processing memory was used up in the crossovers and if I recall correctly, only maybe three PEQ filters could be applied with the remaining memory

Yes; and maybe it was my imagination, but sometimes I would hear some odd sounding stuff when there was a lot of EQ in place, like the 8dB second order shelf for the SEAs drivers. Still, the thing is a bargain and I easily got my money's worth.

 

[sergeauckland]

What i now considering is the addition of caps in the tweeters amp output , just to protect them in the event of a DC .
Thought on mkp or even film cap at 20μF for each tweeter.
What do you guys think?

I think that's essential, as an amplifier fault can destroy tweeters and midrange drivers. Bass drivers can take more abuse, at least long enough for any fuses to blow in the power amps, (assuming there are some!) I use normal bipolar electrolytics for protection, as they should have very little voltage across them in normal use, so don't see the point of paying more for film caps.

 

[fpitas]

I think that's essential, as an amplifier fault can destroy tweeters and midrange drivers. Bass drivers can take more abuse, at least long enough for any fuses to blow in the power amps, (assuming there are some!) I use normal bipolar electrolytics for protection, as they should have very little voltage across them in normal use, so don't see the point of paying more for film caps.

The turn-on and turn-off thump from some amps can destroy delicate drivers, too.

 

[dasdoing]

A

I used one of these years ago in an active setup.
The issue I found with the PEQ is that much of the available processing memory was used up in the crossovers and if I recall correctly, only maybe three PEQ filters could be applied with the remaining memory

an old Motu UltraLite-mk3 is probably a better choice then. it can do anything this Behringer can do (only thing it doesn't have is a delay afaik). unfortunately the newer versions ditched the low-pass iirc

 

[jomark911]

I think that's essential, as an amplifier fault can destroy tweeters and midrange drivers. Bass drivers can take more abuse, at least long enough for any fuses to blow in the power amps, (assuming there are some!) I use normal bipolar electrolytics for protection, as they should have very little voltage across them in normal use, so don't see the point of paying more for film caps.

All the amps sansui B2301, B2302, AUX-911DG , have protection circuits , including DC leak.
I'm afraid of the moment the protector might fail and dc passes to the tweeters .
I utilize two tweeters on each speaker , CORAL HD-3's , 98db, so pretty unobtainium now.

 

[Tim Link]

I'm happy to see this review! I've been using this unit since the early 2000s on several different speakers. The results are slightly better than what I expected. I didn't expect stellar SINAD but for most applications it can do it's DSP work transparently and effectively, allowing DIY horn speaker builders like myself to get sound quality that makes us happy. My horns are sensitive enough that I can hear hiss through the tweeters coming from this unit and my pre-amps and amplifiers. So, I use a capacitor on the tweeter to knock that down below audible and also reduce the amount of digital EQ required.
One interesting thing is that it seems to noticeably change the sound if the analog inputs are used rather than digital. I've demonstrated it to others and they all agree there seems to be more fine detail when going straight digital, so I assume that for whatever reason I'm getting some high frequency roll off using analog inputs. I had no need for the analog inputs so I didn't bother to look into it further. The analog didn't sound bad at all so I wouldn't have hesitated to use it if I had an analog source.

 

[Tim Link]

What is RTV?

I have a unit that exhibits the rice krispies effect in one channel. I only use one of its channels, so I swapped the cables to the other channel. I've been too lazy to open it up and correct the problem, but I will soon.

I followed someone's suggestion years ago to unseat and reseat the ribbon cable pin connectors inside the box, as fpitas said, to get rid of the rice krispies. That simple fix worked for me and has continued to work ever since. The only unsolved issue is an occasional glitch in the hardware that causes a deep notch filter to get applied at about 5K. When that happens I just reset the digital signal going to the box and it fixes itself.

 

[hex168]

Back in the day, I used this to crossover and EQ dipole line arrays of sonogistix/Monsoon planars (MM1000). I'm still annoyed that driver is NLA.

What Makes a Speaker Sound Good

 

[Waxx]

I've used the precestor al ot in rave system in the early 00's, the DSP8024 Ultra Curve and that was a very noisy unit, but very practical and versatile for that time. Not that the ravers really cared, drugs made everything soundnig good, and those speakers and amps used were tortured anyway. For me, working for the rental company it was very good in protecting the system with the limiters with password protection. And it was reliable, it never gave up, not in squatted building full of dust and with temperatures inside (when it was crowed) over 50°C, not on hardtek raves in open air in the rain, wind and cold. It even survived a flooding on the Reggae Geel festival in 2001 when a super rainstorm broke out and flooded half the festival (no victims, and we partied on) ...

The newer one, tested here is a lot better sounding, but lost it's robustness of the DSP8024, they break down fast, also in hifi enviroments that are a lot more friendly for the gear. That is the biggest problem I have with this device. The measurments are more or less what i expected, quiet good for it's priceclass and with the many options you got, a very good deal for budget users. Because it's versatile, even if it's an almost 15 years old design. If it would be as reliable as the DSP8024 it would be a no brainer for budget pa and hifi systems. But now i would not recommend it, even if the sound and versatility is quit good for it's price.

 

[The Capstan]

As other partecipants in the discussion have said, it is a quite "old" product. It is incredible Behringer has been manufacturing this for over 15 years (same with the coeval DEQ2496 which is IMHO quite exceptional for cost/value). I wonder if Mr. Beheringer has lost his development team since it is weird he is not able to renew this part of his product line to benefit of latest advancements in electronics (one for all: new DACs and DSP chips), although I understand that product cycles in Pro market are quite different that those associated to consumer products.
I owned one during my multi-amping experiments but at the end I decided to sell it. The unit worked fine, but the overall results did not justify the additional complexity of my setup.
The only downside I can see of the DCX vs. the DEQ is internal processing sample rate which is fixed (as far as I remember to 96KHz), this means that all AES-EBU data at different sampling rate are converted (this is a major difference with DEQ which is fully transparent with no resampling up to 96KHz). Also, a pity the DCX is lacking digital outputs, so forcing to use internal converters (not that bad, but there are better options for today's standards).
Still an overall nice unit for the price.

 

[prerich]

Had one of these back in 2007-2008 around that era. It was a cool piece of kit in my old HT.

 

[The Capstan]

for those interested, the DCX is one of the few items from Behringer having full schematics available online. here is the link:
Download

Also, do you think it is possible a modding of the unit by replacing the AK4393 with a more modern DAC via I2S? I see, just as example, this product that maybe should work:

ADC Convertisseur Analogique Numérique WM8782 I2S 24Bit 192kHz - Audiophonics

www.audiophonics.fr

I see physical lines should be matchable: SDATA -> DATA, BCLK->BICK , LRCK-> LRCK , MCLK->MCLK.

Same for providing the unit with a digital output:

Interface Digitale SAA7030 vers SPDIF Optique Toslink I2S WM8804 - Audiophonics

Cette interface digitale permet de rentrer un signal DATA I2S avec MCLK et de le convertir en SPDIF 75 ohm BNC.

www.audiophonics.fr

In case, should the external converter work in parallel without removing the original chip?

thanks

 

[AnalogSteph]

Also, do you think it is possible a modding of the unit by replacing the AK4393 with a more modern DAC via I2S?

The bottleneck of these units has always been the analog stages, so there is no point in a converter swap without addressing those first. (They are riddled with crummy ceramic capacitors in the signal path and NJM2068s subjected to high levels in unbalanced circuitry.) Once those are modified, you can basically get datasheet-level performance out of the AK4393, about as good as anything remotely affordable in the mid-2000s. DAC SNR of 117.5 dB and THD of -105 dB is more than good enough for a crossover, you can clear a 110 dB system dynamic range and any human distortion audibility threshold like that.

Using a more modern DAC would require some glue logic to properly accommodate the pins used for speed setting and such.

I bet they kept using these 96 kHz parts because they were actually top-notch converters that were considered outdated within just a few years (with 192 kHz being the new hotness) and may have sold at quite a discount as a result.