Setting up mains, powering Electro-voice ELX215's

[maelstrom99]

Beware that there are Chinese knock off QSC RMX amps on the market (as well as knock off QSC K series & QSC VRX series), just something to keep in mind.

I discovered the issue was XLR cables running from processor to the amp were faulty. I should have known not to use cheap cables, it was my fault.I'm just happy it wasn't the amp.

Although, it IS made in china...

-edit Bought some gotham 1' xlr's to route my rack wit

[Incognito]

I discovered the issue was XLR cables running from processor to the amp were faulty. I should have known not to use cheap cables, it was my fault.I'm just happy it wasn't the amp.

Although, it IS made in china...

-edit Bought some gotham 1' xlr's to route my rack wit

Glad to hear you found the problem. There's no issue with products being made in China as long as they are built to build quality & spec, the issue is when you have the knock offs not living up to these same standards.

[maelstrom99]

Glad to hear you found the problem. There's no issue with products being made in China as long as they are built to build quality & spec, the issue is when you have the knock offs not living up to these same standards.

I agree completely. I have a number of products made in china that have superior manufacturing, and I don't have the usual aversion to china-made products, which is a common sentiment held here in America by the same folks who are more likely to be buying plastic crap or things they don't need and then hark on China for meeting the demand.

[DJGearhead]

I have used my elx215's with a crown xls many times. I have ran a speaker per channel on the amp with no problem running stereo. I have also ran these speakers on the same amp bridged in stereo mode if I remember correctly, and they scream if I turn the amp volume all the way up keeping in mind to make sure I am not hitting the peak/limiter red light on the amp. Ran them for at least 6 hours with various genres of edm being played no issue's at all sounded superb. Now, I also have an xti 4002 that I normally run in bridged mode to some yamaha sw218v's. I pounded those subs easily. I have since sold those subs so I am going to plan on hooking up the elx215's to the xti 4002 amp running in bridged mode which is 3200 watt's @ 4ohm. The xti 4002 is a very nice amp. I can connect it via usb to my pc running windows 7, and have full control over crossover's etc. So, I should be able to take almost full potential to the elx 215's. I will update with my experience, but I can tell you now don't be afraid to push those speakers they can take what they are rated at, and above and still sound great-very loud.

[conanski]

I have also ran these speakers on the same amp bridged in stereo mode if I remember correctly,

There is no stereo bridged mode, when a 2 channel amp is configured for bridged mode it becomes a 1 channel amp and all speakers are to be connected to the red speaker binding posts only. If you still had the speakers connected to the L and R outputs then you weren't getting the increased output power of bridged mode

I also have an xti 4002 that I normally run in bridged mode to some yamaha sw218v's. I pounded those subs easily. I have since sold those subs so I am going to plan on hooking up the elx215's to the xti 4002 amp running in bridged mode which is 3200 watt's @ 4ohm.

Problem is.. a pair of 218 subs or a pair of elx215's connected together is a 2ohm load and that amp is not rated for 2 ohm bridged operation.

[maelstrom99]

I have used my elx215's with a crown xls many times. I have ran a speaker per channel on the amp with no problem running stereo. I have also ran these speakers on the same amp bridged in stereo mode if I remember correctly, and they scream if I turn the amp volume all the way up keeping in mind to make sure I am not hitting the peak/limiter red light on the amp. Ran them for at least 6 hours with various genres of edm being played no issue's at all sounded superb.

I agree, they get VERY loud and still sound clear! Not at all muddy. Were you using the xls2500? I run it in stereo bypass mode and configure the low/high pass on my Driverack PA+. I high pass at ~35 hz, and apply some light EQ with my processor. The xls sounds terrible on subs (in my opinion) but sounds quite great with the dual 15's, I even prefer it to my QSC for that application, otherwise I would sell the amp. So far amp/speaker match making is hit or miss for me.

[Audio309]

The ELX is an entry level speaker and you're a beginner, so I would be looking for an amp that's 600-800W at 4 ohms. The difference between 600W and 1200W is 3dB, and that little increase in output is not worth the potential to damage your speakers. A QSC GX5 would be great.

A bridged XLS1500 would be way too much power. Bridging into four ohms isn't exactly in the amp's comfort zone, either. It is rated for that, but you'll work the amp harder than if you go with a single larger amplifier.

The ELX215 is NOT entry level. What is your experience with anything EV? I use a full EV rig in my $250,000 sound company INCLUDING TOUR X and LIVE X. With the proper DSP and power handling these dual 15's would kick your a$$ at any gig. Now if you are playing a techno version of Britney Spears then I can't help you with that. We have done MANY shows (Metal, hip hop, pop, punk, etc) with NO issues. Someone who truly KNOWS about sound knows its NOT about WATTS but SPL and X-OVER settings. I have SX500+ EV speakers that are almost 15 years old will sound better at the rated 400w than almost anything you have now that is "modern"... re ember to add a sub and cross it over PROPERLY (use EV spec sheet). We use EV SB180 18" FOLDED HORN SUBS

[Audio309]

The knobs on the amp are NOT volume knobs. They are VOLTAGE knobs or attenuators. The proper way to set GAIN in a signal chain on a drive rack for example...
1. You will need to send a pink noise signal through the entire system to perform this calibration procedure. Some mixers
have a built-in pink noise generator, which will work. You can also check your smartphone’s app store, as there are many
audio apps now available which have a built-in pink noise generator, or search online for a pink noise sample and burn it
to a CD or load it into your portable music player or smartphone.
2. Once you have your pink noise signal, power down the sound system, disconnect all the loudspeakers from the amplifiers,
and turn all your amplifier attenuators all the way down.
3. Set the +4dBu/-10dBV switch on the back panel of the PA2 to match the nominal operating level of your mixer. See
‘Rear Panel’ on page 6 for more information on this switch.
4. Now, turn the mixer, DriveRack PA2, and amplifiers back on. Go into the PA2’s output limiters and ensure they are all
turned OFF, OVEREASY is turned to OFF, and their THRESHOLD’s are set all the way up to 0.0 dB.
5. Set your mixer’s main output faders to unity gain (0). Play or enable the pink noise. If the pink noise signal is being fed to
a mixer channel, set the mixer channel’s fader to unity gain (0). Adjust the gain/trim control of the channel (or pink noise
level if using the mixer’s built-in noise generator) until the mixer’s main meters read 0 VU. 6� Raise the mixer’s main output faders until the INPUT CLIP LEDs on the PA2 just begin lighting.
7� Now, go to each amp channel and slowly raise its attenuator until the amp channel’s clip LED just begins to light.
8� Go into one of the PA2’s limiter modules. Turn the limiter on and slowly lower the THRESHOLD parameter until the corresponding amp channel’s clip LEDs just stop lighting. Don’t lower the limiter THRESHOLD parameter too far, just far enough to hold the signal level just below the clip point of the connected amplifier. Do this for each active pair of DriveRack outputs (i.e., High, Mid, and Low).
9� Turn down the pink noise and main output faders on the mixer then power down the system.
10� Reconnect your speakers to your amps.
11� Power up the system, ensuring to power up your amps last.
The system is now optimized to provide the loudest levels possible, with adequate headroom between devices, and with the least amount of noise. Now, sit back, play your favorite music through the system, and slowly raise your mixer’s main output faders. When the mixer’s main faders are set to unity gain (0), the system will now provide the highest sound pressure level
it is capable of. If the system is not loud enough when the mixer is set to unity gain, this is an indication that the system is inadequate for the application, so you may want to consider amplifiers with greater output power – but still within the power rating of your loudspeakers – or additional speakers and amplifiers. Most loudspeaker manufacturers recommend an amplifier which provides 1.5 to 2 times the rated RMS power of the speaker. If the sound system is too loud when the mixer’s main faders are set to unity, this indicates that you have more power than is required for the application and you can simply turn down your mixer’s main output faders until the desired “performance level” is achieved.

[light-o-matic]

You're not wrong.. but this whole "watts don't matter" thing is overdramatic and gets pretty old. If watts didn't matter then why don't we all use 1 watt amplifiers? You're new here so you might not understand that the matter's been beaten until it's dead and then beaten some more.



And.. the ELX is from all reports a decent box and with the right handling should give very good results, but it is MI level. Hat's off to EV for making their MI-priced boxes of very respectable quality.. they have always done that. I had a pair of Eliminator i's for years as well as two pairs of S152's (even better) and managed to consistently impress people with the results. But now I have better speakers and impress more people, more, with less effort And having bigger and better amps to properly power things, to run 3 or 4 way active.. that is part of it.. so yea, watts. Oversimplifying the issue doesn't help anybody.