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Powersoft Digam K3, K20, M50Q
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<blockquote data-quote="Bennett Prescott" data-source="post: 41460" data-attributes="member: 4"><p>Re: Powersoft Digam K3, K20, M50Q</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH]150081[/ATTACH]All right, here's the story of my Saturday night and the Powersoft K3.</p><p></p><p>Latin event at a local college, DJs starting at 9, big band I've never heard of on whenever they feel like, and then DJs on until the event closes at 2 a.m. I'm working for a local company that hires me for maybe a dozen events a year, and the PA is 4 <a href="http://www.jblpro.com/catalog/general/ProductFamily.aspx?FId=21&MID=4#Subcompact" target="_blank">VerTec 4886</a> per side over some double 18" subs from another company. Normally this is all run off some <a href="http://www.crownaudio.com/amp_htm/itechhd.htm" target="_blank">iTech 12000 HDs</a>, using JBL's program for the 86s and a preset I built up for the subs. This is a great PA that will surprise you with how much it gets up and goes, and I'm pretty happy with not only the crossover and EQs in my preset but also the limiters.</p><p></p><p>This particular night the sound company had three shows, which was stretching their gear a little thin, so I only got two iTech HDs. That means my tops will be a 4 ohm load and my subs a 2 ohm load, no problem, it's not a big room, there's plenty of cone, and the iTech ought to be able to do that all day. However, when setup was done and I was ready to fire up the amps and make noise, one of the iTechs returned "fault" and wouldn't get up. This prompted a lengthy discussion with the company owner and another tech about how best to split up the remaining available amplifiers (fortunately the shop is only 15 minutes away) to solve this problem. In the end, we decided that another gig could do without one of their iTech HDs but it wouldn't be great, the only spare amp with DSP inside is the Powersoft K3. Now, I've been wanting to really pound on a K3, but it's almost half the power of an iTech HD and while it will do 2 ohms I wasn't sure if it would be super happy about it since the 2 ohm numbers are only a few hundred watts bigger than the 4 ohm numbers. That said, the K3 is still a pretty beefy amp, and I figured worst case the subs would just stop getting louder, so I suggested we get both the K3 and an iTech HD from the shop and I'd build a preset in the K3 and see how it did.</p><p></p><p>I didn't want to just blindly copy my iTech settings into the K3, first of all it's a Q device where the iTech is octaves bandwidth (or maybe the other way around, but whatever), and secondly I know for a fact their filter behavior is totally different. I had a good idea of where I'd need EQ anyway, so it was only a 15 minute process to get the subs measured, equalized, crossed over, and aligned to the mains. Then I set my limiters, which was where I figured it might be interesting.</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH]150082[/ATTACH]These subs are rated for big power, like 1200w continuous per 8 ohm driver, 4800w per cabinet "program". That's about what the K3 can deliver, less in fact into a 2 ohm load which is what it was going to have to drive all night. I set the TruePower™©® limiter to 600 watts, 1 second attack, 4 second release, and listened. Sounded pretty good, and the subs got loud enough, but I kind of expected more. I could push the volume up and peg the front panel signal lights on the K3 about halfway up and then it just didn't get any louder, which was fine by me, but it also started to sound a little flat. I wasn't expecting that, so I took a closer look in the amp's settings. Turns out the output voltage limiter, which is a very hard voltage limiter designed to keep the amp from... something... deliver too many volts, I guess, was set to 69v. Peak. No wonder the subs were sounding a little flat! Considering I'd just spent the last 5 minutes railing against that voltage limiter while listening and all the while thinking "not bad, I guess that will work", I'd say those are surprisingly good limiters in terms of both effectiveness and sound quality.</p><p></p><p>Naturally, I then turned the limiter up to 140v... Considering the subs are supposed to be able to handle more continuous power than that, and considering I'd already determined that slamming up against the output limiter isn't a big deal, that should keep us high and dry and out of any risk of tossing drivers even if this company decides to use my preset in the K20s later. Time to listen again...</p><p></p><p>I was immediately impressed. The subs and the amp in combination sounded great, and delivered eyeball blurring level at FOH (admittedly only 70' away, in a maybe 500 cap room!) without sounding strained. I was seeing about 1dB of GR on the power limiter during really heavy periods of bass, which is just about what I wanted to see. Much more level than we'd need for a latin band, and waay more than I was going to give the DJs all night, so I told them I'd keep the K3 and they could stick the iTech on the other gig (where its DSP math was needed on some JBL brand speakers).</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH]150083[/ATTACH]This kind of performance would be impressive out of a more traditional 2U amplifier at the top of a manufacturer's line. Getting it out of the little, light K3 while loading it down to 2 ohms a side and then beating the crap out of it all night without having to worry about lunching drivers is nothing short of incredible to me. For something you could practically tuck in your back pocket it sure acts like big iron. I'm totally thrilled and will admit to having a big smile on my face while I walked the room. That smile disappeared after the first DJ went on, but that's not the amp's fault!</p><p></p><p>In any case, my verdict on the new K series stuff is a big thumbs up. Sounds fantastic, performs hard, and the DSP will let you get every ounce of performance from your boxes. I hope to see more of them soon, meanwhile the company that I was working for on this gig has had them for a few weeks and has some photos and other experiences. The amps have just moved on to another shop in MA where they're going to be running some EAW rigs, using EAW greyboxes which can be loaded into the internal DSP natively. I'm really looking forward to doing some listening tests with that setup, this could be the start of some very small amp racks...</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Bennett Prescott, post: 41460, member: 4"] Re: Powersoft Digam K3, K20, M50Q [ATTACH=CONFIG]150081.vB5-legacyid=2549[/ATTACH]All right, here's the story of my Saturday night and the Powersoft K3. Latin event at a local college, DJs starting at 9, big band I've never heard of on whenever they feel like, and then DJs on until the event closes at 2 a.m. I'm working for a local company that hires me for maybe a dozen events a year, and the PA is 4 [URL="http://www.jblpro.com/catalog/general/ProductFamily.aspx?FId=21&MID=4#Subcompact"]VerTec 4886[/URL] per side over some double 18" subs from another company. Normally this is all run off some [URL="http://www.crownaudio.com/amp_htm/itechhd.htm"]iTech 12000 HDs[/URL], using JBL's program for the 86s and a preset I built up for the subs. This is a great PA that will surprise you with how much it gets up and goes, and I'm pretty happy with not only the crossover and EQs in my preset but also the limiters. This particular night the sound company had three shows, which was stretching their gear a little thin, so I only got two iTech HDs. That means my tops will be a 4 ohm load and my subs a 2 ohm load, no problem, it's not a big room, there's plenty of cone, and the iTech ought to be able to do that all day. However, when setup was done and I was ready to fire up the amps and make noise, one of the iTechs returned "fault" and wouldn't get up. This prompted a lengthy discussion with the company owner and another tech about how best to split up the remaining available amplifiers (fortunately the shop is only 15 minutes away) to solve this problem. In the end, we decided that another gig could do without one of their iTech HDs but it wouldn't be great, the only spare amp with DSP inside is the Powersoft K3. Now, I've been wanting to really pound on a K3, but it's almost half the power of an iTech HD and while it will do 2 ohms I wasn't sure if it would be super happy about it since the 2 ohm numbers are only a few hundred watts bigger than the 4 ohm numbers. That said, the K3 is still a pretty beefy amp, and I figured worst case the subs would just stop getting louder, so I suggested we get both the K3 and an iTech HD from the shop and I'd build a preset in the K3 and see how it did. I didn't want to just blindly copy my iTech settings into the K3, first of all it's a Q device where the iTech is octaves bandwidth (or maybe the other way around, but whatever), and secondly I know for a fact their filter behavior is totally different. I had a good idea of where I'd need EQ anyway, so it was only a 15 minute process to get the subs measured, equalized, crossed over, and aligned to the mains. Then I set my limiters, which was where I figured it might be interesting. [ATTACH=CONFIG]150082.vB5-legacyid=2550[/ATTACH]These subs are rated for big power, like 1200w continuous per 8 ohm driver, 4800w per cabinet "program". That's about what the K3 can deliver, less in fact into a 2 ohm load which is what it was going to have to drive all night. I set the TruePower™©® limiter to 600 watts, 1 second attack, 4 second release, and listened. Sounded pretty good, and the subs got loud enough, but I kind of expected more. I could push the volume up and peg the front panel signal lights on the K3 about halfway up and then it just didn't get any louder, which was fine by me, but it also started to sound a little flat. I wasn't expecting that, so I took a closer look in the amp's settings. Turns out the output voltage limiter, which is a very hard voltage limiter designed to keep the amp from... something... deliver too many volts, I guess, was set to 69v. Peak. No wonder the subs were sounding a little flat! Considering I'd just spent the last 5 minutes railing against that voltage limiter while listening and all the while thinking "not bad, I guess that will work", I'd say those are surprisingly good limiters in terms of both effectiveness and sound quality. Naturally, I then turned the limiter up to 140v... Considering the subs are supposed to be able to handle more continuous power than that, and considering I'd already determined that slamming up against the output limiter isn't a big deal, that should keep us high and dry and out of any risk of tossing drivers even if this company decides to use my preset in the K20s later. Time to listen again... I was immediately impressed. The subs and the amp in combination sounded great, and delivered eyeball blurring level at FOH (admittedly only 70' away, in a maybe 500 cap room!) without sounding strained. I was seeing about 1dB of GR on the power limiter during really heavy periods of bass, which is just about what I wanted to see. Much more level than we'd need for a latin band, and waay more than I was going to give the DJs all night, so I told them I'd keep the K3 and they could stick the iTech on the other gig (where its DSP math was needed on some JBL brand speakers). [ATTACH=CONFIG]150083.vB5-legacyid=2551[/ATTACH]This kind of performance would be impressive out of a more traditional 2U amplifier at the top of a manufacturer's line. Getting it out of the little, light K3 while loading it down to 2 ohms a side and then beating the crap out of it all night without having to worry about lunching drivers is nothing short of incredible to me. For something you could practically tuck in your back pocket it sure acts like big iron. I'm totally thrilled and will admit to having a big smile on my face while I walked the room. That smile disappeared after the first DJ went on, but that's not the amp's fault! In any case, my verdict on the new K series stuff is a big thumbs up. Sounds fantastic, performs hard, and the DSP will let you get every ounce of performance from your boxes. I hope to see more of them soon, meanwhile the company that I was working for on this gig has had them for a few weeks and has some photos and other experiences. The amps have just moved on to another shop in MA where they're going to be running some EAW rigs, using EAW greyboxes which can be loaded into the internal DSP natively. I'm really looking forward to doing some listening tests with that setup, this could be the start of some very small amp racks... [/QUOTE]
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