BBE 882i Sonic Maximizer

First I would like to say that this device does make a difference in how you sound. That said, it is not going to enhance live performances of very loud music, and will work against musicians who depend on distortion and some effects. Put another way, Hendrix would have hated this device, while Charlie Christian may have sounded even better.It works by correcting the time shifting of frequency and amplitude that results in envelope distortion. This correction is wonderful for music that depends on vocals, mic-ed acoustic instruments or low volume electronic ones. For studio use this is another tool in the engineer's box. Also, it works exceptionally well as part of the sound system for roots/Americana, traditional blues or jazz ensembles on small stages.The documentation is concise to the point of being terse. However, in the hands of someone who has some knowledge of sound systems and studio components the highly visual nature of the slim user guide is perfect. And it does convey solid information about various configurations and how this component fits into a signal chain.Overall, it has wider ranging uses in a studio, and is inexpensive enough to be affordable to hobbyists or folks on a budget. The sound enhancement is real, but not as wide ranging for live playing. If you play loud rock or metal and are looking for something to enhance your sound on stage (other than vocals) you may be disappointed. On the other hand, for lower volume music and certainly lightly amplified acoustic instruments, this may make a significant improvement in live performances as well as in the studio.

Just received this a few minutes ago. Seeing that the box was damaged (our front desk person accepted it and I went to retrieve it), I gingerly opened it, only to hear something rattling in the box, which turned out to be one of the screws holding the back panel together. Was also missing one side of the packing that should have kept it securely in the box (instead of banging around inside the box, which it apparently had been doing). Upon trying the knobs, they were insanely stiff and had a scraping feel as I turned them. Definitely not how they should have felt. Only one knob turned smoothly. I'm returning this for a replacement. I almost get the feeling that this might have been a used or reconditioned unit, but I can't be sure as I bought what I thought was a new unit. Was really looking forward to hooking this up tonight and trying it out, now I have to wait until Monday for the replacement, which, if it gets here in new condition, I will re-review when I get it hooked up.UPDATE: I have changed my 1 star rating to a five star rating. The replacement came in a timely manner in perfect condition. The reviews that say to use this sparingly are absolutely correct, at least as far as I'm concerned. I'm using a TLM 103 inside my sound booth, into my preamp, into my eq, then into the sonic maximizer and out to my A&H board. This has turned out to be my secret sauce. As soon as I started putting out commercials with this installed, my peers commented about how the sound was tighter, more pronounced more "focused" as out production director put it. I had wondered it this would live up the the hype and man, does it do that! I'm still tweaking it slightly here and there, but as I prefer to do as much as I can pre-DAW with my voice, I couldn't be happier with this purchase. Kudo's BBE.

Being now retired I only do parties and weddings for friends and family. The reason I retired is health issues and age nearly 69 years old. I didn't want to lug around my old heavy Yamaha club speakers anymore since they weigh over 60 pounds each. I have gone to lighter cheaper Yamaha BR 15's. I setup the maximizer between my mixer and my amph and it improves the performance of the cheaper speakers, to where they are on a par with the more expensive heavier one's. At the list price of 500.00 this unit would be overpriced. At less than 200.00 it is in the right price range. It is much easier to use than a more complicated equalizer as far as adjusting is concerned. All I do is set it at 12 o'clock play music as I walk around the room and then adjust the knobs. Other reviewers are right a little of this unit goes a long way especially in the low end of the sound range. With a 5 year limited warranty thrown in it is a good value. If you are just starting out and can't afford expensive speakers this unit will help. Of course if you can afford top of the line speakers this unit will not help as much since the more expensive speakers already have something similar built into them.

The voice coil of loudspeakers delay the high frequencies more than the low ones. It's only a few milliseconds but that makes a big difference.The result is a dulling of the sound because the low frequencies reach your ears first.The controls on this allow you to pre-delay the low frequencies a few milliseconds to compensate.Before the Sonic Maximizer, we all had to crank up the treble to try to compensate. Often that overdrives the circuits, adding distortion. The Maximizer works without over-cranking the highs.I have been playing music live for decades. Since I tried the first Maximizer, probably in the late 1980s, I have never run a PA system without one.