So I've been trying to track down why JRiver is clipping with my DSP settings for my active crossover, and I think I found why. It is a bug on how the subwoofer limit operates.
I am using a large amount of bass boost in DSP studio, but I use a subwoofer limiter to prevent the bass from exceeding -13dB (in order to protect my speakers). The subwoofer limiter audibly works to prevent that level from being exceeded, but it doesn't actually reduce the level of the signal within the DSP chain, and that causes clipping.
To see this, copy the left channel to the rear left channel, then set a -50dB subwoofer limiter on the rear left channel, then blast a strong 50Hz sine wave into the left channel. Audibly, you'll hear the speaker stop getting louder as you turn up the volume. However, if you look under analyzer, you see that the rear left signal will go past the -50dB threshold as if no limiter was placed at all. Because of this, the peak level meter will reach 100% x dB quicker than it should, where x is the amount of bass boost that is applied in the DSP chain.
The proper behaviour should be that the signal should be attenuated by the limiter when the limiter is engaged. This way, an arbitrary amount of bass boost can be used on the LFE channel without clipping as long as a limiter is placed to prevent the total signal on the LFE channel from exceeding the threshold.
This is a really important issue for me, could a developer please confirm that this problem is reproducible? As a developer myself I know how long it'll take to get to fixing this bug, but it'll at least comfort me knowing this is on the bucket list.
Thank you