I have nothing against Dave's work, in fact I believe he's the best. His wiring is like is like artwork! No hard feelings, and no flame war either..
However, I will definitely rattle the cage, but only to point out a statement that flies in the face of thousands of well educated audio professionals. What's next? Dave telling us that 800pf per foot guitar cable is actually great stuff? Worst part is, you can bet your ass there'd be a handful of guys immediately ordering that shit.
When your following is as big as Dave's, there's a responsibility that comes with that. Being a technician and not an artist bears a responsibility to accuracy & clarity. Facts and your opinion are two different things. Dave does NOT 'lay it out very nicely'. He's rather vague, elusive, and in this case, inaccurate with the facts. I can understand though, he's a mega busy guy.
To try and get the thread back on track:
One thing that many overlook, is the quality of AC. From reading just about every one of Dave's sweet picture posts, his clients are touring professionals. Professionals who's AC requirements are detailed and documented in there rider, and usually signed off on as part of there contract. That being said, 9 outta 10 times, there's a decent production company hired who's tapping into a well proven 3-phase disconnect that is certainly stable and safe. So..
With guys like Eric & Brad, they're not touring guys. Which means they'll be playing clubs, county fairs, and weddings, all places that are infamous for horrible power. I can name 7 or 8 well known clubs & ballrooms in Chicago alone that are still operating with 3phase Delta, or hi-leg as some call it. The voltage imbalance alone will cause audio issues, let alone the capacitance & inductance issues. One club still uses there old hard-wired 1980's split snake because whenever a fancy tour rolls in with a transformer isolated snake, it makes everything worse. I don't care if your rig is built buy Dave, Bob, or Jesus himself, it's gonna be problematic. Even the mega expensive
Furman AR-PRO's don't stand a chance, the buzz gets so bad with those you can practically see it!
Another horrible common problem is using a Single-phase distro when tied into a 3-phase panel. The only option is to double load one of the legs, forcing the neutral to handle twice the current it's supposed to be offloading. It's extremely illegal, but done ALL THE TIME. It's almost never a problem with stuff like fry pots, motors, and that type of shit, but holy shit does it suck for audio gear, especially when the lighting company starts floading the stage with light and the neutrel starts getting warm.
One final note, if transformer isos are so great, and so inexpensive, then why doesn't Fractal, or any other company just put them in from the start? It doesn't take someone with a degree or even road experience to learn this stuff. All it takes is few minutes on the internet, or even a couple calls to
Klark Teknik or
BSS. Those two companies alone are well known for being about the best you can buy. Every piece of gear they sell does NOT come transformer isolated as standard, but rather as an option. Why? Because only in extreme cases do they ever want you to opt for the isos.
Anyway, no hard feelings or flaming necessary. Brad is right, there's many ways to do things. For the sake of the guys that don't understand, I just wanted to share real world tour experiences that prove the audio world is not always as cut & dry as a few posts on the internet can make it seem.
Boy this got ugly
Eric,it's all your fault man!!!!
The dude knows tone and rigs, cant dispute that. Can things be done different ways, sure but I will and have thrown my lot in with Racksystems and I am swimming in good company (Eric included).
.gif "dj :m4:")