it with your speakers and see if they sound better with it or without it.
Below these switches is a¥nine‡band graphic equaliser with bands set at 125Hz, 250Hz, 500Hz, 1kHz, 2kHz, 4kHz, 8kHz and 16kHz, all with a¥+/‡12dB range. The equaliser affects the main stereo output and the stereo line output, and because the controls are stereo there’s no way to use different EQ settings on the main and monitor outputs when the mixer is used in ‘mono plus monitor’ mode. The graphic EQ can be bypassed when not needed, and though nine bands is far too few to use for accurate feedback suppression, it is useful for compensating for room or speaker characteristics in a¥fairly general way.
A stereo bargraph meter in the master section monitors the two master channels, and directly below this is the headphone level control and the stereo Sub Out level control, which also has both PFL and AFL switches. This output essentially duplicates the main stereo output but has independent level control, so if you were to drive an additional power amp and speakers from it, you could control the level independently of the other speakers driven directly from the EMX5000’s amplifier.
Test driving
With a¥mixer like this, I¥look for clarity of interface, quiet mic amps and good‡sounding EQ, as well as bomb‡proof construction. On all counts the EMX5000
comes out well, and the mid‡band EQ is particularly adept at tuning out honky mid‡range artifacts, though I’d still have liked more low range on the sweep control. A¥small gripe is that the headphones always monitor the PFL/AFL buss, rather than being switchable to various useful sources, though in live‡sound situations the former is usually enough to manage with.
I’ve tested several other mixers with built‡in effects, and it comes as a¥pleasant surprise to find one with such good‡sounding effects — including reverbs whose decay time can be tamed to a¥useful degree, using the Parameter knob. Also, having two sets of effects makes it easy to combine different effects, to allocate different effects to different mixer channels, or to set up two different vocal treatments and then switch between them very easily. Another very nice feature which the manual rather underplays is that any change you make to the parameter knob for an effect is remembered when you change patches. I¥also checked what happened when the mixer was powered down — and it came back up with my modified effects settings still intact! In other words, you get a¥degree of programmability without having to go through any save or load routines. I’d have felt happier with a¥clip LED at the input to the effects processors but, despite piling on a¥lot of send level, I¥never actually managed to coax any audible distortion from the effects.
The graphic equaliser works as well as any nine‡band equaliser can be expected to and is certainly better than nothing when struggling with feedback problems, though it is really of more use for general room‡sound tailoring. However, I¥think Yamaha have missed a¥trick by not providing two sets of mono controls, so that one equaliser could
Part of the master section, showing the clearly laid‡out dual effects processors (far left). One parameter of each selected effect is available for tweaking via the Parameter knobs. At the top right you can see the power amp controls, with limiters. Below them is the nine‡band graphic equaliser section.
Jargon explained
Active crossover: A¥crossover is an electronic circuit designed to separate high‡ and low‡frequency signals from each other so that each can be fed to speakers optimised for the role — ie. large and robust for bass, small and light (and therefore fast) for high frequencies. If a¥crossover is placed between the power amps and the speakers (usually built into the speakers), it is said to be ‘passive’ An ‘active’ crossover is used to divide signals before the power amps, so separate amps are then used for each band, further adding to efficiency. Crossovers can be two‡way, simply splitting highs and lows; three‡way, adding a¥mid band; and ocasionally four‡way.
PFL/AFL: Pre‡Fade Listen/After‡Fade Listen. On a¥live sound desk, pressing the PFL switch on a¥channel will allow its signal to be heard in the engineer’s headphone mix in isolation. The channel fader position has no effect on this, as the signal is picked up from before the fader in the circuit, allowing a¥source to be identified and checked for quality before introducing it into the mix. AFL does the same thing, but derives its signal after the fader.
Bridging: A¥method of achieving more output from a¥power amp. If the same signal is applied to two channels of an amplifier, one of them with opposite polarity, a¥speaker ouput can be derived between the positive output of one channel and the negative of the other, allowing the amp to apply twice the voltage across the load.
be used in the monitor path and one in the main when operating in ‘main plus monitor’ mode. Some users may also bemoan the fact that not all the line outputs are balanced, but that’s rarely a¥problem in the kind of rigs this type of mixer is typically used in.
Aside from these fairly minor observations, I¥have to say that I¥really enjoyed trying out this mixer. It has oodles of clean power, made all the more useful by the
November 2004 SOUND ON SOUND LIVE