Volume going up and down. Comments please?

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I had a problem with exactly the same problem Friday night Volume going up and down.

using..........

Tascam 2488 for mixer

4 wireless mics

HP EVO computer with USB sound card

Peavey GPS 3500 Sub amp

Peavey GPS 1500 mains amp

Volume dropped and then came back up, dropped again and returned. I switched out of the USB sound card to the line out on the laptop and still had the same problem. Checked the mixer inputs no change, checked the levels on the mixer for the input signals everything appeared consistant even when the volume dropped.

Then I noticed the protection light was coming lighting up on the 1500, also noticed the bass wasn't dropping out only the mids and highs. Did a quick cable check and discovered that there was a single strand of wire loose on the banana plug and was shorting across. This caused the amp to go into protection and thus the volume drop!

Problem fixed!
 
Abbey Lane said:
It only happens when the music is pumping after a few hours.
Click to expand...

My guess is that either your amp or your woofers are getting too hot. Do you have a brickwall limiter in your system? If so, what is the peak voltage that is being set to the speakers? If not, you might want to get one.

Is the amp running stereo or bridged mono? What is the impedance load of the speakers that are plugged into the amp?

Most woofers stop making SPL at around 50% of their rated wattage. Everything above that turns into heat. Are you putting too much power into the subs?

Try measuring the air temp coming out of the amp over time. If the amp exhaust is more than 20F-ish above ambient...that might be causing the problem. You can try aiming a small fan at the amps intake and see if that helps.

Overall, it sounds like you are pushing your system too hard and expecting too much output from the amps and cabinets you have. If adding cabinets is an option, that is likely the fastest way to "solve" this problem.
 
Abbey Lane said:
It only happens when the music is pumping after a few hours.
Click to expand...

My guess is that either your amp or your woofers are getting too hot. Do you have a brickwall limiter in your system? If so, what is the peak voltage that is being set to the speakers? If not, you might want to get one.

Is the amp running stereo or bridged mono? What is the impedance load of the speakers that are plugged into the amp?

Most woofers stop making SPL at around 50% of their rated wattage. Everything above that turns into heat. Are you putting too much power into the subs?

Try measuring the air temp coming out of the amp over time. If the amp exhaust is more than 20F-ish above ambient...that might be causing the problem. You can try aiming a small fan at the amps intake and see if that helps.

Overall, it sounds like you are pushing your system too hard and expecting too much output from the amps and cabinets you have. If adding cabinets is an option, that is likely the fastest way to "solve" this problem.
 
Played a new hall Saturday night and had the same volume problem.

Since the last post I've changed all the wires, checked the mixer and amp, etc.

Here's a new point ...

The volume changed when I was doing my sound check, at setup, for the very first song. The amp hadn't been playing for hours. (The volume changed during the verse of the first song.)

I'm using software I've had for just over a year now and this problem started the fall of this year (a few months ago). (We'll call it software #1.)

On Saturday after this problem started at sound check, I decided to go back to my old software (call this #2) and there was no volume problems. Plus, the volume in the output of #2 was even louder (about twice the volume of software #1). I had to turn my mixer down.

I contacted the software/tech people for #1 and they said it couldn't be their software.

Still looking for the volume problem solution?

Comments please?

Those using software, could you send me a "PM" and tell me what software you're using?
 
Have you pulled the amp cover and blown out any dust? If the cooling fan is dirty or the heat sink vents are blocked that could be your culprit. Get a can of the computer cleaner and hose out the inside of the amp.

What is the impedance load you have on the amp channel?
 
Possibly the power supply in the power amp is going out, could be a regulator or some other component.
 
The hardest thing to understand is why the volume goes up and down in one software program and not the other.

DougF, I'm going to use my back up amp tonight and see what goes down (or up lol).
 
If you believe you have it narrowed down to "it only does it.while using this certin software....

My first question, (i assume from your other thread) that your using PCDJ.

Does your computer, or is your computer spec'ed to properly run this program??

Please post your computers spec's....This would be a good start.
 
Abbey I would also suggest downloading the Virtual DJ demo, run it at home and see how it behaves.
 
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