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Post by thehightenor on Jan 17, 2023 2:21:46 GMT -6
I’m in paralysis mode now. I don’t want to add to that but …. One my writing set up I have an RME Arc that controls my RME multiface by alerting the digital output of the RME interface and personality I wouldn’t use that method on my studio rig. I think (if possible) one should try to use a controller that acts on the actual signal using a properly designed active (usually relay switched) resistor ladder like the Grace, Avocet and I think the Dangerous ST works that way. As someone pointed out, these controllers can literally last a lifetime and in your case John where you have a love of all things of quality and also have a great ear I think you’ll really appreciate the difference a professional monitor controller will make to your rig. It might only be a volume knob (they do have other useful features) but I was very surprised at the difference it made to the quality of my monitoring. I previously had a Mackie Big Knob and when I first got the Avocet I toggled between the two units and the difference was truly “night and day” to use an old cliche. Worth the money imvho. |
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Post by teejay on Jan 17, 2023 12:24:51 GMT -6
I'm embarrassed and humiliated to admit I've got one of these and I like it fine. It's VCA I believe. I went through two TC Level Pilots before getting it. Great features, and to my 5 decade Marshall ravaged ears, sounds crisp and clean. Better than the passive TC. It does monitor volume duties only, and switching between three analog inputs and two sets of powered monitors and two headphone outputs. I take Dan's point about Behringer stuff. I can clearly hear the inferior sound of a Behringer X32 console compared any other stage monitor console. But this piece sounds fine to me. A big plus is the compact form and the volume pot and the relay switches on the front side instead of the top of the chassis. I don't want to lean over a controller to ride the monitor pot or inputs. Jacks and cables are on the back almost out of sight. It's hefty, if that's important. Maybe there's a brick inside. For a pro studio, it might not inspire client confidence, but for me it works. Me and THE Buck Dharma. All others...  |
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Post by RealNoob on Jan 17, 2023 18:17:19 GMT -6
I just ordered the Audient Nero. Found a demo model.
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Post by RealNoob on Feb 4, 2023 18:50:15 GMT -6
ok, reporting back on the Nero.
so far, so good. I like the ability to pair the sub with any of the 3 outputs AND still be able to disable it at will. this means if you switch from set 1 to set 2, the sub stays engaged if originally set up that way and... you can then toggle on and off. this makes 2 full range rigs doable with ease.
I also like being able to adjust the volume of the outputs to balance between the three. I got this one due to being able to handle 3 sets of monitors AND a sub, all separately. The only problem is when powering down, turn the volume down or suffer the pop.
Compared to my switch witch - the SW has flawless switching, never a pop, even when powering down. But to do it quickly going form mains with sub to avantones, requires two hands. Also, it has no volume control.
The Nero seems to be making things easier with no observable sound degradation.
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Post by RealNoob on Feb 10, 2023 17:11:00 GMT -6
Ok, Avoid the Nero. It is pretty much crap - pops when powering up and on my 2nd unit, still does it and at times, crackle/pops and one side goes out. also, I hear the Drawmer pots go out yearly or more frequent. Just ordered the Heritage Ram 20000. This may be the best budget unit. Arriving monday
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Feb 10, 2023 17:23:51 GMT -6
Ok, Avoid the Nero. It is pretty much crap - pops when powering up and on my 2nd unit, still does it and at times, crackle/pops and one side goes out. also, I hear the Drawmer pots go out yearly or more frequent. Just ordered the Heritage Ram 20000. This may be the best budget unit. Arriving monday The Drawmer slimline one is good but has a slight tiny warmth. The main problem is you have to replace the quad pot (better stereo) and the board mounted jacks could be a point of failure. the non slim ones have case mounted jacks so you avoid that point of failue but the pot issue still is there but it's not cheap like the slim one. |
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Post by Quint on Feb 10, 2023 18:43:35 GMT -6
I had to replace the pot on my Drawmer MC2.1 recently, but that was after about five years of use.
It's mildly annoying that this is something that had to be done, and that apparently is a common issue with these particular units. However, I do recognize that pots are just something that will eventually give out, even if higher quality pots would probably last longer than this.
The reason I only consider it to be annoying, and not something worse, is because the replacement part was like $15 or $20, shipped directly from Drawmer. It's a plug and play part, and took me about 15 min to replace. Drawmer apparently anticipated this and built the PCB with a header on it, so it's just a simple little Molex pin where you unplug the old one and plug in the new one. No soldering.
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Post by stratboy on Feb 11, 2023 0:00:13 GMT -6
Ok, Avoid the Nero. It is pretty much crap - pops when powering up and on my 2nd unit, still does it and at times, crackle/pops and one side goes out. also, I hear the Drawmer pots go out yearly or more frequent. Just ordered the Heritage Ram 20000. This may be the best budget unit. Arriving monday I’ll be interested to hear what you think of the Heritage controller. It’s on my radar. |
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Post by bentley on Feb 11, 2023 0:25:14 GMT -6
Ok, Avoid the Nero. It is pretty much crap - pops when powering up and on my 2nd unit, still does it and at times, crackle/pops and one side goes out. also, I hear the Drawmer pots go out yearly or more frequent. Just ordered the Heritage Ram 20000. This may be the best budget unit. Arriving monday Really hate to hear that. Was going to get one based on the feature set but couldn't get past all the bad reviews. Let us know how the Heritage is. Almost pulled the trigger on one of those but wound up with a ridiculous deal on a Monitor ST that I couldn't pass up. |
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Post by RealNoob on Feb 13, 2023 23:07:35 GMT -6
Got it setup except for power today. Will power up tomorrow and see how it sounds. The jacks are tighter, I assume better. The volume knob is fricking huge. I thought it was going to be stepped but it isn't. Not an issue, just a curiosity
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Post by the other mark williams on Feb 14, 2023 13:21:59 GMT -6
Got it setup except for power today. Will power up tomorrow and see how it sounds. The jacks are tighter, I assume better. The volume knob is fricking huge. I thought it was going to be stepped but it isn't. Not an issue, just a curiosity Hmmm, I also thought it was supposed to be stepped. Weird. Is it maybe a digital controller of the analog circuit? If so, maybe then it's just the least expensive RAM that is a series of switched resisters? EDIT: actually, it's starting to come back to me now - I think that's what it is, which is why there's a digital readout on its little screen as to what volume level you're at. |
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Post by RealNoob on Feb 14, 2023 13:41:32 GMT -6
OK, weird. the knob IS actually stepped, very finely so. Can't hear when off and turning knob but with power, you can. Also, there is very slight extra clicking or popping when adjusting. Will check on this some.
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Post by Blackdawg on Feb 14, 2023 14:08:39 GMT -6
Heritage tends to put those stepped potentiometers in their stuff. They are pretty cheap and very very fine steps so it's pretty hard to recall it exactly to where it was. That and its a potentiometer not a switch so recall is kind of impossible anyways.
also can't remember if this came up in here. But Sound Skulptor has a kit for a monitor controller that is a digital controlled device. It's supposed to be great.
I've seen some folks on GroupDIY make desktop controllers for it too.
Worth checking out I'd think.
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Post by raddistribution on Feb 14, 2023 16:00:58 GMT -6
It is not a switch. It’s a digital encoder that controls a micro controller. Each click you are hearing is one set of relays opening and one closing per position. This allows the digital recall that the unit provides and also allows a lot of the gain controls per channel and presets
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hoot
Junior Member
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Post by hoot on Feb 14, 2023 16:19:15 GMT -6
Anyone bring up the Kush Main Gain?
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Post by RealNoob on Feb 14, 2023 16:53:46 GMT -6
It is not a switch. It’s a digital encoder that controls a micro controller. Each click you are hearing is one set of relays opening and one closing per position. This allows the digital recall that the unit provides and also allows a lot of the gain controls per channel and presets Makes sense as it only happens when powered. I WAS "hearing in the speakers" some slight popping/clicking at different places along the travel. However, I have been running it for a few hours now and it doesn't happen any more. |
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Post by stratboy on Feb 15, 2023 13:05:14 GMT -6
It is not a switch. It’s a digital encoder that controls a micro controller. Each click you are hearing is one set of relays opening and one closing per position. This allows the digital recall that the unit provides and also allows a lot of the gain controls per channel and presets Makes sense as it only happens when powered. I WAS "hearing in the speakers" some slight popping/clicking at different places along the travel. However, I have been running it for a few hours now and it doesn't happen any more. Glad to hear it’s working well for you. Are you using it as your DAC? If so, how does it sound? |
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Post by RealNoob on Feb 15, 2023 14:08:49 GMT -6
Makes sense as it only happens when powered. I WAS "hearing in the speakers" some slight popping/clicking at different places along the travel. However, I have been running it for a few hours now and it doesn't happen any more. Glad to hear it’s working well for you. Are you using it as your DAC? If so, how does it sound? It doesn't have DAC in it - that I know of. Sound wise, all is well. I'm rerouting my power cables as I didn't originally take advantage of the capabilities of my BLA power conditioner. It features phased switching to turn speakers on last and off first. Will really dig in this weekend. also haven't done anything with the bluetooth. |
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Post by sirthought on Feb 15, 2023 14:13:05 GMT -6
I've never understood how with these units with DAC how do you bypass that? I know this is a total newbie question. But I see most of the mid to upper end models have a DAC. And if you use the Burl option there are four DAC options.
This just is confusing to me, because shopping higher end interfaces, you are looking at the conversion. Shopping many monitor speakers will have DSP with conversion. And things like the Trinov will have it.
How do you choose what's being used?
I'm ITB so not going in and out a bunch.
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Post by sirthought on Feb 15, 2023 14:16:36 GMT -6
Glad to hear it’s working well for you. Are you using it as your DAC? If so, how does it sound? It doesn't have DAC in it - that I know of. Sound wise, all is well. I'm rerouting my power cables as I didn't originally take advantage of the capabilities of my BLA power conditioner. It features phased switching to turn speakers on last and off first. Will really dig in this weekend. also haven't done anything with the bluetooth. Which model did you buy? I see the 5000 has a DAC. Not sure about the 2000. |
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Post by RealNoob on Feb 15, 2023 20:35:20 GMT -6
Ram 2000
it does have digital inputs. hmmmm. Will have to experiment with those later. Thanks for the heads up.
So, this unit is awesome.It is beefy and built like a tank. The connections are solid. I love the huge knob and being able to bump the protrusions for slight adjustments up or down. The knob feels solid and is kind of stepped. It clicks from relay to relay in 1db increments and the digital readout tells you where you are. The headphone amps are stepped. All the switching is solid.
The blue tooth is cool and easy. The quality is good - no perceivable loss and LEDs tell you what codec is being used.
It has presets but I haven't figured out how to balance the output with the presets. Maybe that's not what the presets are for. Any understand this and can help? Didn't find any easy answers on google.
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Post by Blackdawg on Feb 16, 2023 10:54:40 GMT -6
Ram 2000 it does have digital inputs. hmmmm. Will have to experiment with those later. Thanks for the heads up. So, this unit is awesome.It is beefy and built like a tank. The connections are solid. I love the huge knob and being able to bump the protrusions for slight adjustments up or down. The knob feels solid and is kind of stepped. It clicks from relay to relay in 1db increments and the digital readout tells you where you are. The headphone amps are stepped. All the switching is solid. The blue tooth is cool and easy. The quality is good - no perceivable loss and LEDs tell you what codec is being used. It has presets but I haven't figured out how to balance the output with the presets. Maybe that's not what the presets are for. Any understand this and can help? Didn't find any easy answers on google. typically, presets are just for volume. So you can calibrate your room for say 85dB playback level and save that as a preset then you can just tap that to check at that level. Then have a quieter one. So you don't have to dial the knob every time. I would think if you recalibrated the output trims it would just retain that per output no matter what the volume is set to. |
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Post by the other mark williams on Feb 16, 2023 12:19:41 GMT -6
RealNoob I always forget: on the RAM 2000, can you have more than one input/source active at a time? Or does arming one input/source automatically disarm the others?
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Post by RealNoob on Feb 16, 2023 13:42:14 GMT -6
RealNoob I always forget: on the RAM 2000, can you have more than one input/source active at a time? Or does arming one input/source automatically disarm the others? Seems like no. I could be wrong but I can't make it do more than one, myself. |
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