Central Station, Big Knob, or direct?

YouTube · Post by **James Steele** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 1:24 pm

Okay... so my money is now burning a hole through my pocket *before* it gets INTO my pocket. I'm pouring over music gear sites and thinking perhaps I want to ditch my little Behringer mixer I've been using for volume control. I'm going out my main XLR outputs on my HD192, into a small Behringer, and then to may Event ASP8 monitors. The Behringer is, as I said, a glorified volume control.

Looking at both units they seem sort of like overkill as I have one set of monitors and only really one source... one main stereo pair on my HD192. I have a "2-track"... but get real... it's a SV3700 DAT machine that I hardly ever turn on any more. So one source, one set of speakers, and I don't need talkback. Still it's been suggested (Brad!) that my little mixer is "coloring" the sound, so I'm considering something else.

Is there a way to just hook outputs from the HD192 directly to my powered monitors? This seems kind of risky. Just wondering what to do about this. Oh... also considering the Lucid Genx192 clock... any feedback on that unit would be appreciated too.

Buckage · Post by **Buckage** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 1:51 pm

I have the Central Station unit and really I dig it. I remember reading a review comparing the Big Knob and the Central Station and it seemed that the Big Knob colored the sound more than the CS. Wish I could remember where I read that. I run my Adam P22s through it and an Adam sub on the sub output (which is easily toggled on and off). I don't have a second set of speakers but that wouldn't be a bad thing to get in the future and I know I'm set up for it. The talkdown button is great for knocking singers off their pedestals.

mixo · Post by **mixo** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 1:54 pm

I have Central Station too and i like it!

YouTube · Post by **James Steele** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 1:56 pm

Well, I like the idea that with the Central Station the cabling is in the back of the unit and there shouldn't be a bunch of cables on my desk like with a Big Knob. Does Central Station have independent control of phones... meaning, I can turn speakers off but still have program in phones and control the level? (I could look this up... sorry if I'm being lazy)

YouTube · Post by **James Steele** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 2:01 pm

Oh the reason for the timing of this is that Presonus is having the deal with the free remote (you mail in for it) when you purchase the Central Station. Of course their coupon says you have to pay at least $499 for the Central Station to qualify.

Interesting aside... I just discovered that American Music Supply let's you do 3 payments. I guess the way it works is they bill your credit card (or VISA debit card in my case) three equal payments each month. Hmmmm... more temptation... more rationalization!

stephentayler · Post by **stephentayler** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 2:13 pm

James, check this out....

http://www.soundperformancelab.com/volu ... ort_E.html

It is very basic with no frills....

I have one of their more comprehensive units for surround monitoring, but I am overall impressed with their products.

kind regards

Stephen

Buckage · Post by **Buckage** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 2:21 pm

Yes it does have independnt control for each headphone output. I often turn down my monitors while tracking with headphones on.

homebilly · Post by **homebilly** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 2:22 pm

big knob.

i love it!

chrispick · Post by **chrispick** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 2:28 pm

A-Designs ATTY. Passive attenuation. Clean.

mattfort · Post by **mattfort** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 2:57 pm

My vote for the Big Knob!!!! i couldn't hear a difference between that and the Prosonus unit at all....

Resonant Alien · Post by **Resonant Alien** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 3:21 pm

Unless you gotta have it now, wait a little bit. Universal Audio is coming out with a monitor control system that has a remote (with VU meters!!) and a separate unit for all the connections. Supposed to come out in Q3. Central Station or BK may still be better, but it would be good to see what this thing is going to be.

YouTube · Post by **James Steele** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 3:25 pm

Resonant Alien wrote:Unless you gotta have it now, wait a little bit. Universal Audio is coming out with a monitor control system that has a remote (with VU meters!!) and a separate unit for all the connections. Supposed to come out in Q3. Central Station or BK may still be better, but it would be good to see what this thing is going to be.

Hmmm... sounds intriguing. Yeah, I might just hang back for a while, although Q3 is a while... any rumor sites about this? Thanks!

RCory · Post by **RCory** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 5:12 pm

I'm diggin' the Central Station... two headphone jacks. three sets of speakers, talkback mic and a SPDIF in for monitoring digital outs from the MOTU... super great.. and oh, huge level meters...

C

YouTube · Post by **James Steele** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 5:27 pm

RCory wrote:I'm diggin' the Central Station... two headphone jacks. three sets of speakers, talkback mic and a SPDIF in for monitoring digital outs from the MOTU... super great.. and oh, huge level meters...

C

That's cool. I have an HD192, 1224, and 24 I/O so I'm fresh out of S/PDIF outs.

mongoose · Post by **mongoose** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 6:04 pm

chrispick wrote:A-Designs ATTY. Passive attenuation. Clean.

So, you really find this unit to be transparent? No coloration of the sound when used on the mains? I've considered it a couple of times, but at $99 street it seems almost too good to be true. I'd love to hear that I'm just being paranoid. It can happen, of course--I was just being paranoid about the RNC and now I can't live without it.

-m