Sony DPS-R7 digital reverberator


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High end stereo reverb

[ Sony DPS-R7 front panel ]

[ Sony DPS-R7 rear panel ]

The Sony R7 really is quite the special box I'd read reports about. It just makes you smile at the awesomeness of sound :-) Whereas my TC M-OneXL makes you smile with the pure realism of sound, albeit somehow not quite so lovely.

The Sony DPS-R7 is a digital reverberator unit equipped entirely with Sony's digital and audio technology at its highest level of sophistication which was released before with the Digital Reverberator, DRE-2000 and MU-R201 and has received much praise.

Quality-conscious design A/D and D/A high performance converter
The Sony DPS-R7 converts the incoming analog signal to a digital signal, passes it through various effects, then re-converts it to an analog signal before output. The determinant to the sound quality is the conversion mechanism that adopts the 18-bit oversampling stereo A/D converter and the pulse D/A converter of 40.96 MHz. These account for highly accurate, less deteriorated effects.

Sony's DPS-*7 range started with the R7 Reverberator and D7 Delay, and then came the F7 Dynamic Filter and the M7 Sonic Modulator, which both have a front panel Meter select knob (instead of Effect level on the R7+D7), and all the internal chips on one board. The R7 has more RAM than the others, and the D7 is closer in specs to the F7/M7. A very cool VSE thread tells how the F7 and M7 actually share the same identical hardware, just running different firmware, which can even be modded so you can change device at the flick of a switch! I hope to do this mod to my F7 one day...

Here is the DPS-R7 Owners Manual and Service Manual (and others). My R7 is running software Version 1.2, whereas my F7 is running software Version 1.03 (these are the latest versions I've seen mentioned online). Let's compare the specs of the various units from their manuals:

Specifications DPS-R7 DPS-D7 DPS-F7/M7
A/D converter 18 bit oversampling stereo A/D converter
Sampling Frequency 40 kHz 48 kHz
D/A converter 40.96 MHz clock pulse D/A converter ? 49.152 MHz clock advanced pulse D/A converter
A/D, D/A delay time ? Approx. 2.3 msec ?
Frequency response 10 Hz to 18 kHz +0dB/-1.0dB 10 Hz to 22 kHz +0dB/-1.0dB
Signal-to-noise ratio > 90dB > 94dB > 97dB
Dynamic range > 90dB > 94dB > 97dB
Total harmonic distortion < 0.004% (at 1 kHz) < 0.0035% (at 1 kHz)
Preset memory 100 effects
User memory maximum of 256 effects
Power requirement USA and Canadian model: 120 V AC, 60 Hz
UK model: 240 V AC, 50/60 Hz (adjustable with a voltage selector)
Continental European model: 230 V AC, 50/60 Hz (adjustable with a voltage selector)
Power consumption 28 W 27 W
Dimensions Approx. 482 x 44 320 mm (19 x 1.75 x 12.625 inches) (excluding projections) (w/h/d)
Weight 4.8 kg (10 lb 10 oz) 5.0 kg (11 lb 1 oz)

Since the DPS-*7 units were very similar to each other, these R7 battery upgrade howto's should be useful for D7 and F7/M7 owners too.

Sony also made an optional remote commander called the Sony RM-DPS7 which could operate a whole distant rack of DPS-*7 units over a long 9-pin D-Sub cable, and remotely switch between them; please let me know if you have this remote control for sale.

[ Sony reverbs on Casio VZ1 synth | Magic silicon beads | Fizzy green magic (fizz edited with The GIMP) ]

[ Sony MU-R201 + DPS-R7 reverbs outdoors | Sony MU-R201 + DPS-R7 in good company with Lexicon M97 | Shiny Sonys MU-R201 + DPS-R7 with Lexicon M97 | Sony MU-R201 + DPS-R7 with Lexicon M97 and little fluffy clouds | Sony MU-R201 + DPS-R7 buttonscape ]


© copyright Malcolm Smith 2010-10-30 - last updated 2018-02-10 - links verified 2018-02-10