• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Optimod 5300

D

dannyscott101

Anyone have any experience with this box?

Just put one on the air, and quite disappointed. I've used three presets and variations thereof, including ROCK LOUD, URBAN LOUD, and BASS PUNCH.

It seems like every preset on this unit has a very noticeably gritty and hashy distortion on upper mids, particularly on cold vocals. It seems very difficult to tune it out, even when EQing enough to dull the sound. There also seems to be IM distortion in heavier bass material.

Since we are in an area prone to multipath, I have dialed out all 'Stereo Enhance' (aka Orban '222') as well as 'HF Enhance' I have also dialed out all composite clipping, (and removed the CP-803 previously in place)

Unfortunately, our playlist consists of today's crappy clipped source material, but I expected a much better sound right of out of the box... I am not a believer in using presets, but at the very least they should produce sound that is somewhat acceptable, and I should be able to tweak to get the kind of sound that I want... Not banging my head in frustration just trying to get something that is acceptable.

I have not screwed with things like the slopes and the bandlink percentages yet, but again, I doubt that adjusting these settings is a magic key to cleanliness.

My previous chain of an 8282 (Optimod TV) into a 2200, then into a CP-803 actually sounded cleaner than this unit, even with aggressive settings.

And NOTHING else has changed as far as audio quality in the chain, other than changing the processor.
 
I love mine... Great value. Even have a Nautel with the processing built in.

What is your format? HF Enhance will help you. It does not affect multipath. It is adjusting balance based on the 4.1 Khz band.

Sounds like you may have made too many adjustments too fast.
 
chriscollins said:
Sounds like you may have made too many adjustments too fast.
Click to expand...

Negative... I know better than to do that. I kept nearly all the parameters the same at first, only speeding up the AGC release time somewhat. Any other adjustments were attempts to clean up the sound, first by removing stereo enhance, then tweaking EQ.

Our format is Hot AC.
 
dannyscott101 said:
chriscollins said:
Sounds like you may have made too many adjustments too fast.
Click to expand...

Negative... I know better than to do that. I kept nearly all the parameters the same at first, only speeding up the AGC release time somewhat. Any other adjustments were attempts to clean up the sound, first by removing stereo enhance, then tweaking EQ.

Our format is Hot AC.
Click to expand...

I run a CHR on mine. I put a lot of work into the preset. PM me your email and I will send it to you.
 
Some questions:

What's feeding it? Linear audio? Is the source material linear?

To get some brightness without the synthetic sound of the HF Enhance, try lowering the B4>B5 coupling to around 60%. That can get you some consistency. Out of the box on a lot of presets, it's more of a 4 band box with extra GR available on B5 if needed.

What exciter is it going in to? Obviously you're using the composite input because you had a CP-803 in line.

Don't overdo the release time on the AGC, you're better off speeding up the MB section.

Where do you have the MB clipping and final clip set?
 
chriscollins said:
Wait... Do you have a 5300 or 5500? I have 5500. I am not familiar with 5300.
Click to expand...

It is a 5300. Exterior appearance is identical, but the 5500 is the newer unit. I have not seen a 5500 in person, so I don't know how much the units differ.
 
WNTIRadio said:
Some questions:

What's feeding it? Linear audio? Is the source material linear?

To get some brightness without the synthetic sound of the HF Enhance, try lowering the B4>B5 coupling to around 60%. That can get you some consistency. Out of the box on a lot of presets, it's more of a 4 band box with extra GR available on B5 if needed.

What exciter is it going in to? Obviously you're using the composite input because you had a CP-803 in line.

Don't overdo the release time on the AGC, you're better off speeding up the MB section.

Where do you have the MB clipping and final clip set?
Click to expand...

The source material is linear. Exciter/transmitter is a newer Nautel. STL is T1 lines through a Harris unit.

The slow AGC/fast mutliband is more how I had the 8282 set up, but I remember the distortion getting nasty when I had the MB on "fast". I always had to back off to "med-fast".

The final clip is set at +0.5. I can't remember the scale of the MB clip on this unit right now, but I think it's about in the center range. "0" maybe?
 
My preset won't work with that one. My 5500 is the current model. I have an 8300 and I think the 5300 was quite below that unit. I see why you are having some troubles now. This is an older, budget unit.
 
I read the pdf on the 5300 for you... Looks a lot like my 8300. I agree about lowering the Band 4-5 coupling. I keep mine at 80% on the 8300. It is more natural and less 'shrill' sounding.

Also, backing the AGC from 3db to 2db will greatly enhance your sound at a minimal loss of loudness. All the Orban presets are basically designed for 5db on the Composite Clipper section. I run mine at 3db. It cleans it up a bit, but if you back off to 0, you have to really make a lot more adjustments, as it can hollow out your sound, since they made the multiband settings based on the Clipper being active.
 
Turn the final clip down to 0, and turn the MB clipping up.

The final clippers in those Orban units are not distortion canceling. The MB clippers are. Generate your loudness/density in the MB section and use the final clipper to chop off the overshoots.

I've never run an 8300/8400/8500 past "medium" release on the MB compressor/limiters, no matter the format. They get real grungy, real fast on the fast settings. If you're daring and want to use fast, don't get too far into the gain reduction. Keep it light, -9dB max.

Chris, are you referring to the final clip or the half-cosine composite processing? No box runs 5dB of composite clipping, that would sound like a broken speaker cone and be a multipath generator. They max out at 3, but you never, ever want to get above .5dB even in the most favorable conditions. Usually run it at .1-.2dB just to get rid of any small overshoots.

With that CP-803 out of the way, have you noticed less multipath?
 
My bad, WNTI. I was referencing the Composite Clipping, since that affects the mid-range in relation to low and high. I meant .3... I find that at 0, I have to adjust the attack/release of the bands and alter the eq.

I also run my final clip a little below 0... It really cleans it up and I totally agree about using the MB to get the loudness.
 
Wow... You guys are talking about about VERY low composite clipping settings. I didn't know it was that sensitive.

And no... It did NOT alter multipath effects with the CP-803 out of line. In fact the multipath issues are much worse than when I had the other units in and I was pushing the CP pretty good.

Now I have more distortion and multipath issues, and complaints that the release time sounds "too slow" on some program material! Now I find that I can't speed up the multiband any more than medium, and I already have the AGC running pretty fast! I'm really ready to give up on this unit...

I will still try to reduce the final clip and increase the multiband clip, as well as cut the band 4-5 coupling and see where we get.
 
Does the Red flashing led on the cp-803 really stand for operating level? (lol)

Never played with a 5300,but was not a fan of the 2200 either.I still prefer analog over some of the digital boxes in the field.Especially a Bill Sacks 8100 with an Ariane..Nice audio...
 
oldiesstation said:
Does the Red flashing led on the cp-803 really stand for operating level? (lol)

Never played with a 5300,but was not a fan of the 2200 either.I still prefer analog over some of the digital boxes in the field.Especially a Bill Sacks 8100 with an Ariane..Nice audio...
Click to expand...

Yeah, I can remember being about to lock the door and leave and catching a glimpse of that red light coming on!

The 2200 was the entry level digital box at the time the 8200 came out. It was designed to be a digi version of the 8100. Only dual band, and not too many features.

I expected a lot more ability out of this 5300, but Breakaway might still be an option.
 
How hard are you pushing the multiband? You can go above medium if you reduce the drive to it. The output should remain the same, with more of a limiting than a compressing action.

Is there a compellor or any other device back at the studio to protect the STL? I've had AGC's "fight" each other before.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom