Amp Clipping- Due to different length speaker wires?

[DiscoMagic]

Had a great day on Saturday. Toast Master from 1pm thru to 7pm. Great guests lovely venue and all was going well.

That was until I started the Disco at 7pm, and found the music kept cutting out for one or two seconds almost as if it were clipping (which it couldn't have been because the volume was quite low - thanks to the impending threat of one of those awful sound limiters).

Luckily the B&G had booked a band as well who took the pressure off me, and becuase I had created such a rapport with the guests, they were very forgiving.

However why did this happen???

The only thing different to my setup was I used for the first time a 15 meter speaker lead, on left and a standard 5 meter lead on right - but would this have an impact, or would you suggest that there is a problem with the amp (which is booked in for its annual checkover at the end of this month)???

Thoughts and advice please??? :confused:

[katman]

Shouldnt be a problem. Have you checked that all connections are properly soldered or screws tightened in the lead you were using ?

As it was the first time you had used this lead I would suspect the lead rathr than anything else. Try setting the gear up with the lead on the right channel and see if the same thing happens.

[deltic]

a quick swap round with the speaker cables would a been a good initial step to trying to find the fault.would have proved speaker and cable in one go.

ie if after swapping them over the speaker with the short cable was doing the same thing,then you have managed to eliminate the the other speaker and cable.
you could have swapped the signal leads round as well,really is just trial and error till you find which part of the system is failing.
really you just have to go through things in a logical order one at a time.

[DiscoMagic]

Thats all good - but would this affect both speakers???

I mean I had the deathly silence for 2 seconds at time coz both speakers cut out!!!

[katman]

Shouldnt do. Did any red lights come on at all (or whatever your amp has to show protection).

What was the music source ? If it was a computer, was something running that was taking up so much processing time that the music got interrupted.

[DiscoMagic]

no! I also recent the laptop... and nothing was running but traktor Pro and Itunes!... I was also looking at the laptop during one of the silent moments and the track kept playing!

Has anyone else had simular instances when using Traktor?

I had a situation about 5 years when the program completely crashed and the only way of resolving it was uninstall Traktor and reinstall it afterwards???

[katman]

Do you have antivirus software on it ?
Is it possible it decided to run a scheduled scan ?

[DiscoMagic]

Dunno - good point - I will check it out, but surely this would stop the track in its entirety? When the sound returned the track was in the place that it should be - I know this because the audience was singing along and when the sound returned the words on the track, was the same and the words the audience was singing!

[DJ_Wulfman]

Have you set your rig up at home and tried to backtrack? From what you describe I can't see amplification issues or the cable being the cause. I would be suspecting some sort of software conflict or alteration?

Was your computer doing something you were unaware of i.e. a scheduled defrag / update or something of that nature? Have you checked the condition of the link cable from your laptop to controller or mixer?

I would definitely suggest setting up your playout rig at home to assess the problem. It will probably (and hopefully) be something simple. Good luck with it anyway :).

[DiscoMagic]

Have you set your rig up at home and tried to backtrack? From what you describe I can't see amplification issues or the cable being the cause. I would be suspecting some sort of software conflict or alteration?

Was your computer doing something you were unaware of i.e. a scheduled defrag / update or something of that nature? Have you checked the condition of the link cable from your laptop to controller or mixer?

I would definitely suggest setting up your playout rig at home to assess the problem. It will probably (and hopefully) be something simple. Good luck with it anyway :).

I plan to be doing this at some point this week - hopefully I sus the problem!!!
Thanks for all your help guys - hope you have a great day!

[katman]

Make sure Wifi is turned OFF if you arent using it otherwise it will constantly be scanning for networks to connect to.This can use up considerable system resources particularly if it finds an open network.

[DiscoMagic]

Make sure Wifi is turned OFF if you arent using it otherwise it will constantly be scanning for networks to connect to.This can use up considerable system resources particularly if it finds an open network.

Good tip - thanks for this :)

[Shakermaker Promotions]

I had a problem like this 2 weeks ago and I couldn't work it out.
I was at my local doing a set and using the Cerwin Vega CV2800 amp with my JBL's (it's 10 months old). At one point during the night I noticed that just one channel on the amp was lighting up with the LED indicators so I checked the speaker and there was nothing coming out. As it was a pub gig and I could get away with it, I had a fiddle about with the speak on cables and the speaker that had nothing coming out of it now had sound and the other speaker was quiet.

So, that suggested to me that it was the amp that was playing up. I carried on regardless (no'one noticed just sound out of one speaker) and strangely, in the last hour of the gig, I noticed that the sound came back on both channels and out of both speakers. This was very confusing to me. The next day I tested the amp and speakers again and although it was not an ideal way of testing (a gig scenario is the best way), everything seemed ok.

I did notice however that the XLR lead to one of the channels on the mixer was slightly loose. They are supposed to click into place and whilst one did, the other didn't and you could almost pull it out using hardly any force. I went straight to my lock up and got some new ones out that I purchased and they both clicked in.

This weekend just gone was the first time I was able to test it all again with the new XLR leads etc as I had gigs where I was using the same sound set up. I took my Mackies with me and had them coming out of the booth output on the mixer just to make sure that if the worst happened and one channel went on the amp, no'one would notice (it actually sounded really good with both going at the same time). Anyway, 4.5hrs of testing in a proper gig scenario and everything was fine so that told me that it WAS the XLR leads.

The perfect way to test it all out is to start from the very beginning. Test each channel at a time. One speaker lead from the amp to speaker, then the other one. Test the XLR connections etc etc...It could be something really simple.

[DiscoMagic]

Hey

Thanks for this Gary - glad it doesn't only happen to me! - Will follow your advice :)

[DAVESOUNDS SERVICES]

Did your microphone continue to work during the silent periods?
if so its probably pc/pc sound cables / mixer in that order
good luck
by the way SOME pcs /latops lie to you saying theres music leaving the pc when there isnt! dont believe your laptop
did you have a spare laptop or cd player ?
Dave

[Digital Jack]

If the cutting out only happens at the peak output moments of the audio (you know what I mean) it could be due to insufficient voltage / amperage supply at some point.
Check all fuses , power cords , electrical installation at the venue too ...
These types of faults can be a right pain as the fault can be almost anywhere....

[DiscoMagic]

If the cutting out only happens at the peak output moments of the audio (you know what I mean) it could be due to insufficient voltage / amperage supply at some point.
Check all fuses , power cords , electrical installation at the venue too ...
These types of faults can be a right pain as the fault can be almost anywhere....

mmm i suspect this might be the case, as i was going through their sound limiter electrical supply? I hope not as the venue manager is quite difficult and I have another 2 weddings there this year!!!


I also noticed there was some lights coming on when I switch the amp off??? Any ideas people? its a numark dimension 4 :confused:

[Digital Jack]

What the latest on this problem ?
Did you solve it ?
Has it disappeared ?

[STEVE HANLEY]

Had a great day on Saturday. Toast Master from 1pm thru to 7pm. Great guests lovely venue and all was going well.

That was until I started the Disco at 7pm, and found the music kept cutting out for one or two seconds almost as if it were clipping (which it couldn't have been because the volume was quite low - thanks to the impending threat of one of those awful sound limiters).

Luckily the B&G had booked a band as well who took the pressure off me, and becuase I had created such a rapport with the guests, they were very forgiving.

However why did this happen???

The only thing different to my setup was I used for the first time a 15 meter speaker lead, on left and a standard 5 meter lead on right - but would this have an impact, or would you suggest that there is a problem with the amp (which is booked in for its annual checkover at the end of this month)???

Thoughts and advice please??? :confused:

Meant to ask you earlier in this thread. Did you finish the gig that night? Or did you have to call it a night? Or have I not read this thread properly?:daft: