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CRL SEP-800 Manual

amos

amos

Hey,

looking for a manual for a CRL SEP-800 Spectral Energy Processor...

photocopy is, of course, just fine.

and any advice... :eek:)

currently in audio chain:
Harris MSP90 Stereo AGC and Harris MSP90 Stereo FM Limiter.

application:
internet stream, mp3pro 64kbps/44khz. Current Top 40 (CHR) format.


thanks!
<P ID="signature">______________
</P>
 
> Hey,
>
> looking for a manual for a CRL SEP-800 Spectral Energy
> Processor...
>
> photocopy is, of course, just fine.
>
> and any advice... :eek:)
>
> currently in audio chain:
> Harris MSP90 Stereo AGC and Harris MSP90 Stereo FM Limiter.
>
>
> application:
> internet stream, mp3pro 64kbps/44khz. Current Top 40 (CHR)
> format.
>
>
> thanks!
>

Personally I would avoid the older CRL gear unless you like distortion and listener fatigue. I ran the CRL audio chain on an AM oldies station and while it was ok, it wasn't great. I finally used an Optimod 8000a into the STL, demod'ed it at the transmitter and then used just one piece of CRL gear for the final limiter and it sounded great.

Also, better stock up the the 074/084 opamps that the Harris boxes use - I remember replacing them almost like clockwork.
 
> Personally I would avoid the older CRL gear unless you like
> distortion and listener fatigue. I ran the CRL audio chain
> on an AM oldies station and while it was ok, it wasn't
> great. I finally used an Optimod 8000a into the STL,
> demod'ed it at the transmitter and then used just one piece
> of CRL gear for the final limiter and it sounded great.

Don't knock the SEP-800 Spectral Energy Processor until you've tried it. It, and its mono SEP-400 cousin, are among the best-sounding units CRL has ever made. Even today, there are stations who like to use an SEP in front of a modern Optimod or Omnia.
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noiboc.jpg
</P>
 
> Don't knock the SEP-800 Spectral Energy Processor until
> you've tried it. It, and its mono SEP-400 cousin, are among
> the best-sounding units CRL has ever made. Even today,
> there are stations who like to use an SEP in front of a
> modern Optimod or Omnia.
>


i admit i don't know much about what to get. but i know i need some kind of multi-band processing... my harris setup is broadband.

i've had some advice from an engineering friend, too... i probably should have asked more before i bought the SEP 800.

anyway, it hasn't come yet. waiting for the UPS man. lol

somebody must have a manual....... anyone... anyone? buehler... buehler?<P ID="signature">______________
</P>
 
> i've had some advice from an engineering friend, too... i
> probably should have asked more before i bought the SEP 800.
>
>
> anyway, it hasn't come yet. waiting for the UPS man. lol

Did you get the SEP-800 that was on eBay a few days ago? That looked like a nice one. According to the serial number, it was built in 1985.

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noiboc.jpg
</P>
 
> Did you get the SEP-800 that was on eBay a few days ago?
> That looked like a nice one. According to the serial
> number, it was built in 1985.

yep, that's the one. how do you tell by the serial number when it was built? i see the serial number starts with 85, but how did you know that's the year?

amos pigg
apigg
<P ID="signature">
</P><P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by amos on 07/28/05 06:53 PM.</FONT></P>
 
> > Personally I would avoid the older CRL gear unless you
> like
> > distortion and listener fatigue. I ran the CRL audio chain
>
> > on an AM oldies station and while it was ok, it wasn't
> > great. I finally used an Optimod 8000a into the STL,
> > demod'ed it at the transmitter and then used just one
> piece
> > of CRL gear for the final limiter and it sounded great.
>
> Don't knock the SEP-800 Spectral Energy Processor until
> you've tried it. It, and its mono SEP-400 cousin, are among
> the best-sounding units CRL has ever made. Even today,
> there are stations who like to use an SEP in front of a
> modern Optimod or Omnia.
>

Actually, I DID try it and I thought it was garbage! As I mentioned in my previous post, I ran it as part of the audio chain on an AM Stereo oldies station. If you enjoy grunge it's great, but I wanted an aggresive as well as clean sound. I ended up using only the CRL final limiter at the transmiter and used an Optimod 8000a at the studio in front of the STL.

The CRL gear may have gotten better, but I refuse to put any of the older CRL gear on anything I consult or do engineering.
 
> yep, that's the one. how do you tell by the serial number
> when it was built? i see the serial number starts with 85,
> but how did you know that's the year?

Because back in the days of CRL's "Mr. Roboto" front panel styling (circa mid-'70s to 1986), the first two digits of the serial number indicated the year in which the unit was built. When CRL introduced a new line of processors in 1987, they switched to a different serial numbering scheme which no longer directly indicates the unit's year of manufacture.

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> Actually, I DID try it and I thought it was garbage! As I
> mentioned in my previous post, I ran it as part of the audio
> chain on an AM Stereo oldies station. If you enjoy grunge
> it's great, but I wanted an aggresive as well as clean
> sound.

Then there must have been something wrong with your SEP because my SEP-400A does not produce any distortion or 'pumping' effects even when fully maxed out. The resulting audio does get very dense, but yet it remains clean and undistorted. If you follow the SEP with a CRL or Inovonics limiter, though, you have to be careful about adjusting the SEP's output level, because if the limiter is overdriven even just a little bit, clipping distortion increases rapidly. But this is entirely the fault of the limiter, not of the SEP itself.

> The CRL gear may have gotten better, but I refuse to put any
> of the older CRL gear on anything I consult or do
> engineering.

To each his own -- this just means there are more SEP's out there available for those of us who do prefer to use them!

<P ID="signature">______________
noiboc.jpg
</P>
 
> > Actually, I DID try it and I thought it was garbage! As I
> > mentioned in my previous post, I ran it as part of the
> audio
> > chain on an AM Stereo oldies station. If you enjoy grunge
> > it's great, but I wanted an aggresive as well as clean
> > sound.
>
> Then there must have been something wrong with your SEP
> because my SEP-400A does not produce any distortion or
> 'pumping' effects even when fully maxed out.

I can't say I've ever heard them "pump" but they have quite an edge when cranked up to the end stops!

> The resulting audio does get very dense, but yet it
> remains clean and undistorted. If you follow the SEP
> with a CRL or Inovonics limiter, though, you have to
> be careful about adjusting the SEP's output level,
> because if the limiter is overdriven even just a
> little bit, clipping distortion increases
> rapidly. But this is entirely the fault of the
> limiter, not of the SEP itself.

I hardly doubt it, since I engineered several facilities that used the CRL AM & FM audio chain with a similar sound. In fact, right around the time I engineered the AM Stereo station I was pulling part-time engineering duties at WEBE108 and the "magic formula" was all the setting turned to the max (with the exception of the eq controls). It was loud, for sure, but it had an edge and I have the airchecks to prove it. I also worked an AM in Mass. that used the CRLs and they couldn't believe the difference once I got them some decent processing - actually using part of their old retired processing chain (which wasn't all that old at the time).

While processing is quite subjective to many, especially programmers and engineers, I do know what distortion sounds like. Of course, removing the potted modules from the CRL boxes cleans up the signal path quite a bit and I've seen many mentions of these modifications from various engineers.


> > The CRL gear may have gotten better, but I refuse to put
> any
> > of the older CRL gear on anything I consult or do
> > engineering.
>
> To each his own -- this just means there are more SEP's out
> there available for those of us who do prefer to use them!
>

Well then, many happy returns. It beats seeing them in landfills.
 
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