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DXR12 issues??? Or operator error?


kennyhickey
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Just received a DXR12 used from GC.

 

I was looking to get a DXR10 but this was a deal I thought I couldn’t pass up. Normally these go for $499ish all the time used on GC but one night checking their website one popped up with a price drop of $200, so, $299 listed as “great condition”.

 

I first tried it out with the IPhone and it struck me as sounding “trebley”(if that’s a word)....hmmm, what’s the deal?

 

So, I hooked up the Helix(which I’m still a full on newb at)....again it seems trebley, FR setting on DXR. I’m having to really cut the high’s and add a lot of bass with the Helix(cab and amp, not global). When I did my research on the DXR line the terms boomy lows came up a lot,  especially  when the DXR12 was  discussed. So this is making me wonder if there’s some issue or just operator error?

 

It also seems to have a mean ground loop issue, loud buzzing when 1/4 cable is going from the Helix to the speaker, Helix and speaker are plugged into the same outlet, ground lift button on the Helix makes no difference ....There is buzzing even when the Helix is off and speaker is on. There is no buzz when the IPhone is connected. 

 

I have Behringer HD400 on its way from Amazon, anyone using this? I’ve used the same cables before going to my Dark Terror and had no buzz happening, though that setup is in a different room at this time. Should I be using XLR’s for better results?

 

Any help is appreciated .

 

 

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As an owner of 5 DXR12's I guess I qualify as something of an expert on them.

 

In terms of the "treble-y" sound, what setting and inputs were you using with your phone and with the Helix?  You didn't mention what settings you were using on the DSP contouring options.  If you have the speaker sitting on a stand or not in a floor wedge position and have selected the "monitor" D-contour selection, that's going to cut the bass quite a bit which is fine if it's on the floor in a floor wedge situation due to bass biasing buildup, but not so fine if standing upright.

 

What I would do to check this speaker is to select the OFF position on the D-Contour selection and turn the HPF (High Pass Filter) off as well and check the speaker on a table top or stand off the floor.  The last time I bought two used DXR12's this is the setting I used and simply plugged in a decent stage mic in the #1 input set to MIC level and made sure my voice sounded normal.  To check music I would connect the DXR channel 1 set to LINE level to the L/Mono 1/4" out on the Helix and connect the Helix to your PC via a USB cable and play music from the PC.  If wanting to play music from your phone I'd use an adapter to connect it to the RCA plugs on channel 3.  If you're standing too close to the DXR the horn can be unpleasant and accentuate high frequencies to you ear.  Back away from the speaker at least 5 feet to get a decent feel for the sound.

 

As far as hum, it's natural to get hum if your using a multi prong AC outlet and have your speaker turned on but your Helix turned off.  This is due to grounding differences and goes away as soon as you turn on your Helix.  I personally have my stage DXR and Helix in the same multi output AC outlet and turn both on at the same time from the power button on the outlet.  In this type of configuration the DXR should be completely silent unless there's some issue with dirty power or bad AC wiring.

 

If you  have your contour switches set as I specified above the DXR will tend to have more bass as it's assuming it's not working in conjunction with a sub-woofer and will take over some of those duties.  In terms of high end, as long as you have some distance between you and the speaker you should get pretty decent flat response.  A flat response however may sound like too much treble if you're used to running your Helix through a standard guitar cabinet.  I normally adjust my presets at the very end of the signal chain with a parametric EQ using a high cut between 7 khz up to 10 khz depending on the guitar, amp, cabinets/IRs, and mic usage.

 

Hope some of that helps....

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On 5/22/2018 at 1:59 AM, kennyhickey said:

Just received a DXR12 used from GC.

 

I was looking to get a DXR10 but this was a deal I thought I couldn’t pass up. Normally these go for $499ish all the time used on GC but one night checking their website one popped up with a price drop of $200, so, $299 listed as “great condition”.

 

I first tried it out with the IPhone and it struck me as sounding “trebley”(if that’s a word)....hmmm, what’s the deal?

 

So, I hooked up the Helix(which I’m still a full on newb at)....again it seems trebley, FR setting on DXR. I’m having to really cut the high’s and add a lot of bass with the Helix(cab and amp, not global). When I did my research on the DXR line the terms boomy lows came up a lot,  especially  when the DXR12 was  discussed. So this is making me wonder if there’s some issue or just operator error?

 

It also seems to have a mean ground loop issue, loud buzzing when 1/4 cable is going from the Helix to the speaker, Helix and speaker are plugged into the same outlet, ground lift button on the Helix makes no difference ....There is buzzing even when the Helix is off and speaker is on. There is no buzz when the IPhone is connected. 

 

I have Behringer HD400 on its way from Amazon, anyone using this? I’ve used the same cables before going to my Dark Terror and had no buzz happening, though that setup is in a different room at this time. Should I be using XLR’s for better results?

 

Any help is appreciated .

 

 

The DXR speakers are great.   The issues you’re describing sound like you have a faulty speaker.  My DXR10 has no noise when connected to my helix with any 1/4” or XLR connections.    It’s also very well balanced across the frequency range with every source I’ve tried.  The DXR12 I tried exhibited similar behavior. 

 

If you can still send it back to GC, I’d do so.   Otherwise check with Yamaha on getting some warranty work. 

 

But first things first, try another speaker if you have access to one. 

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On 5/22/2018 at 1:56 AM, DunedinDragon said:

As an owner of 5 DXR12's I guess I qualify as something of an expert on them.

 

In terms of the "treble-y" sound, what setting and inputs were you using with your phone and with the Helix?  You didn't mention what settings you were using on the DSP contouring options.  If you have the speaker sitting on a stand or not in a floor wedge position and have selected the "monitor" D-contour selection, that's going to cut the bass quite a bit which is fine if it's on the floor in a floor wedge situation due to bass biasing buildup, but not so fine if standing upright.

 

What I would do to check this speaker is to select the OFF position on the D-Contour selection and turn the HPF (High Pass Filter) off as well and check the speaker on a table top or stand off the floor.  The last time I bought two used DXR12's this is the setting I used and simply plugged in a decent stage mic in the #1 input set to MIC level and made sure my voice sounded normal.  To check music I would connect the DXR channel 1 set to LINE level to the L/Mono 1/4" out on the Helix and connect the Helix to your PC via a USB cable and play music from the PC.  If wanting to play music from your phone I'd use an adapter to connect it to the RCA plugs on channel 3.  If you're standing too close to the DXR the horn can be unpleasant and accentuate high frequencies to you ear.  Back away from the speaker at least 5 feet to get a decent feel for the sound.

 

As far as hum, it's natural to get hum if your using a multi prong AC outlet and have your speaker turned on but your Helix turned off.  This is due to grounding differences and goes away as soon as you turn on your Helix.  I personally have my stage DXR and Helix in the same multi output AC outlet and turn both on at the same time from the power button on the outlet.  In this type of configuration the DXR should be completely silent unless there's some issue with dirty power or bad AC wiring.

 

If you  have your contour switches set as I specified above the DXR will tend to have more bass as it's assuming it's not working in conjunction with a sub-woofer and will take over some of those duties.  In terms of high end, as long as you have some distance between you and the speaker you should get pretty decent flat response.  A flat response however may sound like too much treble if you're used to running your Helix through a standard guitar cabinet.  I normally adjust my presets at the very end of the signal chain with a parametric EQ using a high cut between 7 khz up to 10 khz depending on the guitar, amp, cabinets/IRs, and mic usage.

 

Hope some of that helps....

 

My job had me out of town for a few days. I finally had some time to play tonight,

 

I set the D-Contour and HPF as stated. Turned on the Helix and DXR12 and was surprised not to hear the buzzing, I'm not sure if I have a cable going bad and tonight it was laying in a good position, I didn't want to move it to find out(will mess with it later).

 

Good news....the speaker is sounding much better!!!

 

It has more of the bass I was expecting and this was without adding a parametric EQ.

 

I'm feeling much better about my purchase.

 

Thanks for all the responses.

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On 5/22/2018 at 8:59 AM, kennyhickey said:

It also seems to have a mean ground loop issue, loud buzzing when 1/4 cable is going from the Helix to the speaker, Helix and speaker are plugged into the same outlet, ground lift button on the Helix makes no difference ....There is buzzing even when the Helix is off and speaker is on. There is no buzz when the IPhone is connected.  

 

On 5/22/2018 at 10:56 AM, DunedinDragon said:

As far as hum, it's natural to get hum if your using a multi prong AC outlet and have your speaker turned on but your Helix turned off.  This is due to grounding differences and goes away as soon as you turn on your Helix.  I personally have my stage DXR and Helix in the same multi output AC outlet and turn both on at the same time from the power button on the outlet.  In this type of configuration the DXR should be completely silent unless there's some issue with dirty power or bad AC wiring.

 

 

I was highly interested in the Yamaha DXR series, but then I readed somewhere that using the AES/EBU digital conector the hum/electric noise were non-existent, so I bought a Stagesource L2T instead.

 

Soooooo glad I did that!! The AES way is dead silent !!! No hum, no strange noises coming from the computer or other gear!.

Then add my Variax and I'm 100% on a digital realm with absolute zero noise. Just wonderful!!

 

Still considering a pair of Yamaha MSP7 for my studio, but regarding to the Helix the Stagesource (or the new powered cabs) are the (digital silent) way to go, IMO.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Sooo....did some jamming tonight and every once and a while I was getting some weird distortion with the DXR12. Not all the time but sometimes when palm muting or playing a low note the DXR12 would put out a strange distorted sound.(brrrrr, hard to explain)..again not all the time.

 

Only experienced this with low notes. This was a used purchase from GC.

 

Maybe I should purchase a new DXR10 or 12 or the Powercab  and not jack around with this one.

 

Any other DXR12 users experience this? DunedinDragon?

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It depends on how you have the contour set, but I have all the contour options set to off and no low cut on which is certain cases with certain amp, cab and mic combinations can produce a pretty big bass sound which I have to tone down either by using a low cut in my parametric EQ or using a split block per Jason Sadites examples in his YouTube videos.  The only time I've experienced any kind of distortion is when I had enough bass going that it caused some rattling from something in the room over by the speaker.  I'd look for that first and look to see if there's something loose on the cabinet itself.  But that's the only experience I've had with any unexpected "distortion".

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Update

 

I ended up selling the DXR12 and bought the Alto TS312. 

 

So much happier with my sound now. I wonder if there was something wrong with it.....being so "trebley" and the strange distorted noise.

 

I informed the guy that bought it but he was very happy with his purchase. He's going to use it to play a flute into a microphone, lol.

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