Turbosound IQ Ultranet first gig

T

Tim Tyler

Sophomore
Oct 24, 2011
110
0
16
Richmond, Va USA
Simple report on my first show with the X32/Turbo IQ powered speaker system, using Ultranet/cat5 instead of xlr...

I've downsized my rig, now going with powered mains. I'm using a pair each of the IQ12 or IQ15 and 4 IQ18b subs. The first job - outdoors, 2 subs & 1 IQ15 per side plus 1 IQ12 as a side fill for the band. Soul music, old r&b, classic rock, moderate volume.

An attractive aspect to the IQ system is the ability to link the speakers in series with Cat5 cable in any order via the Ultranet port (NOTE:maximum of 7 devices per series), the signal stays in the digital domain from the mixer (X32 Rack) to the speakers. -There is also XLR I/O. The speakers have Powercon I/O built in, so linking the power from speaker to speaker is tidy, if you choose to do this.

Each speaker is given an address, ie. "L" or "R" for each IQ15, "M"(ono) for the 4 subs, mixbus #13 (or whichever mixbus...) for the side fill IQ12. There can be more than one speaker per address. The P16 tab on the x32 routing page is used to assign speaker positions, which are sent from the Ultranet port - in this case side fill is #13, Mono is #14, L is #15, R is #16. After the assignments are made, mixing is as normal. There are also voicing options, eq, xover, etc. in each speaker, I set the speakers to the "live" setting, the xover for IQ15 with IQ18b.

I'm not too concerned with how loud the system gets vs the competition, it was easily loud enough for this gig, probably one sub per side would have been OK. The system was not straining, still don't know what the limit light looks like...

I was very impressed with the sound quality, very hi-fi and smooth, not the typical rock and roll edgy 2k blast, nicely detailed sound. I have not heard the current crop of powered boxes - JBL, EV, Yamaha, so I can't comment on them.

Bottom line for me... These boxes are very solid, well made, sound very nice, can connect with cat5 from x32 Ultranet, great price. I really like the Ultranet setup.

I'm going to stick with my srx712m's for wedges, but I feel the IQs are worth a look for anyone needing a powered system, especially if you have an x32/m32.

-Tim T


 
Worth noting is that the tops have dual pole cups where one has a tilt so you can angle your speakers downwards.

I got my iq12 and iq15b about one week ago and they sounded really good at their first virgin (outside) gig. I got a really nice and punchy bass guitar sound. My rcf712 was demoted to monitor duty.

What I like about the ultranet is that I don't have to bother with gainstaging between the speakers and mixer as it is all in the digital domain.

When I got my speakers I connected a bass guitar directly to one iq12/iq15b stack via a tech21. It sounded like having an ampeg svt behind you :)

What I didn't like was that I need to get better ethernet cables that are more like mic cables when I throw them on the ground. I need to get another p16-d as well. And, while I have like a million of those pig-nose power cables I only have a few powercons.
 
Tim, Did you use the edit iq setup page part at all or just the straight P16 routing menu? Also 2200 watts should be way loud enough, no? I have only 2 IQ speakers at the moment but really like them. I want 2 18 subs but need to make some budget adjustments first!
 
Robert -

I made up a few powercon jumpers for each stack, bought the connectors and chopped up an old 14 ga. ac cord. Nice and tidy!

Cary -

I used the settings on the boxes and in the P16 menu. On the speaker you can select the speaker model and the xover point, in this case, telling the IQ15 it is used with the IQ18b and telling the IQ18b it is used with the IQ15. I think everything in the edit is also on the speaker itself. Set it and forget it...

-Tim T
 
I was speaking of the sub menu part of the ultranet routing page where you can select IQ specifics, 6th encoder on the desk when in the "Ultranet" routing menu. Is this where you did the desk setup part or did you just use a p16 ch and source and then use the speaker menu itself for the rest?
 
Cary -

My procedure was this:

On the X32:

-routing screen, ("Edit output assignment" PAGE), "P16 Output" column...
-14, 15 and 16 are Main M/C, Main L and Main R, respectively, from the "Output Signal" column.
- On the "tap" column - all set to "post fader".

- Switching to the "Turbosound series IQ speaker control" PAGE...
-I made 14, 15 and 16 to be IQ18b, IQ15 and IQ15 - from the "IQ speaker" column.
-On the "EQ" column I set all three to "live".
-On the "Model" column I set each speaker to itself, ie. IQ18b, IQ15, IQ15.

I performed the xover settings on the speakers, and also made sure the EQ, Model etc. matched the X32.

I didn't check to make sure that changes on the X32 automatically show up on the speaker, I'm pretty anal so I'm going to check that in the next day or so when I pull out one of the 12s. I'll take a listen to the modeling & eq settings too.

-Tim T
 
Tim Tyler said:
Cary -

My procedure was this:

On the X32:

-routing screen, ("Edit output assignment" PAGE), "P16 Output" column...
-14, 15 and 16 are Main M/C, Main L and Main R, respectively, from the "Output Signal" column.
- On the "tap" column - all set to "post fader".

- Switching to the "Turbosound series IQ speaker control" PAGE...
-I made 14, 15 and 16 to be IQ18b, IQ15 and IQ15 - from the "IQ speaker" column.
-On the "EQ" column I set all three to "live".
-On the "Model" column I set each speaker to itself, ie. IQ18b, IQ15, IQ15.

I performed the xover settings on the speakers, and also made sure the EQ, Model etc. matched the X32.

I didn't check to make sure that changes on the X32 automatically show up on the speaker, I'm pretty anal so I'm going to check that in the next day or so when I pull out one of the 12s. I'll take a listen to the modeling & eq settings too.

-Tim T
Click to expand...

Thanks Tim, I have been confused on what the speaker group does exactly, Do you use it? If 2 or more speakers are designated as say "A" what happens? I wonder why just 2 groups A and B and not more?
 
cary begans said:
Thanks Tim, I have been confused on what the speaker group does exactly, Do you use it? If 2 or more speakers are designated as say "A" what happens? I wonder why just 2 groups A and B and not more?
Click to expand...
when you assign speakers to a group all of the speakers belonging to that group will take on the iq-settings. I set A to be the tops and B to be the subs. This obviously is mostly for speakers of the same type bit can be used to recall user settings for a single setup.

 
Robert Lofgren said:
when you assign speakers to a group all of the speakers belonging to that group will take on the iq-settings. I set A to be the tops and B to be the subs. This obviously is mostly for speakers of the same type bit can be used to recall user settings for a single setup.
Click to expand...

Thanks Robert.
 
Cary -

I was unclear about this early on. Speakers of the SAME TYPE that are assigned to a speaker group will be the same assigned "MODEL". If you use IQ12, group A, and assign it to be PRX612 for instance, all IQ12 in that group A will be PRX612, but no other IQ designation (IQ8, 18 15, 15b or 18b) that are in group A will be changed unless you assign it its own model. In other words, if you assign an IQ12 in group A to model "NuQ-12" it doesn't mean than any IQ15 in group A will automatically model "NuQ-15" - you must first make the assignment...

I doubt I'll ever use this feature

-Tim T
 
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