Question

Has anyone used a 2-way crossover as an "effect" on a Series III for live sound?

Right now I'm sending the "mains" output of an NSB into a 2-way crossover and then to the power amps. I'm having trouble controlling the volume on the subs from the board using an EQ on the mains. What I might try is to send the stereo mix to the Series III analog outputs into the x-over and then return the 4 signals back into the board and then route those 4 signals with a digital patch to 4 of the AVB outputs on the NSB. I think I could link the 2 sub signals together and the 2 mid/high signals together so that I could control this new "mains" with 2 faders.  Since I use the Series III for live sound I don't think I really need a stereo crossover. Please comment if anyone has any experience using a 2-way crossover as an outboard effect so as to control the subs and mid/highs from the board.

Answer 1

So, I found one way to do this (not necessarily optimal).

Took the left and right main from the back of my 16 Series III into a stereo xover and returned 4 signals to analog line inputs on 29 (L/MID-HIGH), 30 (R/MID-HIGH), 31 (L/SUB) and 32 (R/SUB).

I then routed each, 29/30 into AUX MIX 13/14 and linked and then 31/32 into AUX MIX 15/16 and linked. I then routed these AUX MIXES to AVB 45, 46, 47, 48 on the NSB for the MID-HIGHS and SUBS respectively.

It took a little "tuning" to set the line input levels, Master level on the board, the analog Master output level on the back of the board and the linked MID-HIGH/SUBS AUX MIX outputs that now drive the stereo amps for FOH. I tried to keep all the meters in the green so that I had all the headroom on the AUX MIX faders to the FOH amps. I also needed to "tune" the xover for the FOH subs and mid/highs. Worked well enough for my 18" subs, 15"/horn fullrange speakers and Crown K2 old-school gear.

I could have used the mono output on the back of the mixer and just one channel of the xover for a single MID-HIGH and SUB signal, one AUX MIX per signal and routed them to the same AVB connections (45/46 for mid/high and 47/48 for sub). I might try this on the next gig.

Answer 2

Assuming you are using a 32R stage box with your desk. You can use your aux outputs as your xovers. select the Aux ie Aux 11 and link it to 12 if you want stereo. You then need to click on the little cog icon. Select Matrix and Post (so the mix comes out after the faders). Tap on the little cog icon again to go back to the page for that aux. With the PEQ you can set up your xover frequenies. Now for the monitors, you need to come out of the Aux outputs for that xover to the amps. On the desk, you need to scroll across to the the MAIN M1 fader and turn that up to the desired level. The MAIN M1 channel is routed to the Main output fader. You don't need to turn any other fader up just the MAIN M1 fader.

Repeat same for another set of monitors ie SUBS

This is also useful for a delay stack or centre fill monitor.

Hope all this makes sense.

Terry