[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

My main concern is that the drivers still had alot more to give but the BFD didn't. I could probably go a bit further but I doubt much. Would changing it to the out position give me more input on the BFD or am I missing something.

How are the gain knobs on your Europower amplifier? Are they maxed out, or is there more room?

Regards,
Wayne

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

The situation is that Behringer amps are a bit "insensitive," which means it takes a lot of signal to drive them. This is why the amp's gain settings are pretty well maxed out instead of sitting at say, 1 or 2 o'clock. In turn, the high signal levels required from the receiver's sub output means that it's easier to drive the BFD into clipping when its -10 dBu gain setting is used. So, your only options are what's been recommended: Either lose the 20 Hz filter (which I'm sure you don't want to do), or switch to the +4 dBu setting.

(My thanks to brucek for the information on the amplifier's sensitivity. )

Regards,
Wayne

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

In a manner of speaking, that is correct. Both operating ranges can be thought of as an internal gain structure. There is a 20+ dB difference in nominal levels between the +4 dBu and -10 dBV operating ranges, so one internal gain structure cannot be optimized for both. In other words it’s impossible to deliver, at the same time, the best headroom and the lowest noise floor from a single gain structure. The higher-level +4 dBu range will deliver the best headroom, while the lower -10 dBV range delivers the quietest noise floor, hence the switchable ranges. So if you’re topping out the -10 dBV setting, that means you need more headroom. So at that point the +4 dBu setting should be used.

Regards,
Wayne