User manual M-AUDIO EX66

[. . . ] Active Loudspeaker Monitor User Guide English EX66 · User Guide Introduction Congratulations on your purchase of M-Audio's EX66 reference monitor. Recording engineers and music producers around the world rely on M-Audio reference monitors to ensure their mixes are accurate. The EX series active monitors from M-Audio improve upon that reputation as a top-of-the-line solution for the most demanding applications. Engineered to the highest sonic standards, the new EX66 monitor addresses the needs of the most critical professional users. [. . . ] As you may know, a room affects the sound of a speaker by the reflections it causes. Some frequencies of sound get reinforced and others get suppressed, the result of which alters the overall character of the sound. In any listening environment, what you hear is a mixture of both the direct and reflected sounds. Direct sound arrives at your ears straight from the speaker diaphragms while reflected sounds can bounce off of any hard surface to reach your ears after the direct sound. In general, the direct sound from the speakers is primarily responsible for the image, while reflected sounds contribute mostly to the tonality and timbre of the speakers (richness, leanness, etc. ). Any boundary surface (back wall, side wall, ceiling, etc. ) can cause a reflection, so you should think about reflective surfaces when placing your speakers. To complicate matters, there are so-called "early" reflections (where sound bounces off of nearby surfaces, as opposed to far-away ones) which tend to smear the image because the sound from them reaches your ears very soon after the direct sound. We usually consider early reflections to be those occurring within the first 100 milliseconds or so. As discussed earlier, the vertical array of the EX66's MTM configuration greatly minimizes early reflections above and below the listening position--but you only get this benefit if you position them correctly in a vertical orientation. So, unlike with traditional 2-way designs, you shouldn't have to worry about reflections from the ceiling or mixing console (if your monitors are sitting on top of a large-format mixing desk). In deciding where to place the EX66 monitors, the goal is to excite as few standing waves as possible--but the exact way to do this depends on the specific geometry and setup of your listening environment. Here are a few rules of thumb to get you started: (1) The further away you place your EX66 monitors from horizontal reflecting surfaces (like untreated side walls), the better. Try to achieve symmetry within the room; if the left speaker is 1. 5 meters from the back wall and 2 meters from the side wall, place the right speaker the same way (if possible) in order to give each speaker a similar acoustic environment. We recommend that you place your EX66 monitors a different distance from the back wall than from the side walls. In other words, if your EX66s are 0. 5 meters from the back wall, make sure they're not also 0. 5 meters from the side walls. As discussed earlier, the EX66 contains a bass-reflex port located on the rear panel. We suggest you leave at least 150 mm (about 6 inches) of space between the back wall and the monitor in order to minimize obstructions to air flow. (2) (3) (4) Also, remember that the EX66's narrow vertical cardioid radiation pattern makes it important for you place them so that the tweeters are at the same height as your ears. Figure 5: Optimal Listening Height 5 English Setting up your EX66 Monitors Finally, because of the EX66's wide horizontal radiation pattern, you do not need to "toe in" the speakers. * Unbalanced 1/4" wiring can involve either a two- or threeconductor (TS or TRS) plug. A two-conductor (TS) plug automatically grounds the signal negative input, whereas a three-conductor (TRS) plug, wired to be unbalanced, provides the option of leaving the negative input open or grounded. If you choose to use an unbalanced line, we recommend that you ground the unused negative input (wiring the ring and sleeve of the TRS plug together) 6 EX66 · User Guide If you're using a digital source with a S/PDIF interface, you can feed it directly into the S/PDIF input on the back of one of your EX66 monitors using a high-quality 75 S/PDIF cable. You must set the Input Select switch to either S/PDIF L or S/PDIF R depending on whether that speaker will be reproducing the left or right half of the digital bitstream. Next, run a high-quality 75 S/PDIF cable from the S/PDIF Out jack of that speaker to the S/PDIF In jack of your second EX66 monitor, and make sure the Input Select switch is set to the appropriate setting for that speaker. Now that you've connected your audio signal input, you can power on your EX66 monitors using the following procedure: 1) Connect the supplied AC power cord to the IEC connector . 2) Plug the other end of theAC power cord into a grounded outlet that is configured to correspond with the Voltage Selector switch . 3) Turn the Volume knob all the way down. 4) Flip the Power switch to the On position. [. . . ] But we believe it's critical to protect your hearing because good hearing is so essential to communication, socialization, responsiveness to the environment, and--perhaps most importantly--the enjoyment of music. Please be aware that the EX66 monitors are capable of generating very high SPLs over sustained periods of time; but because these monitors have very low levels of distortion (even at high volumes), you may not always notice that the sound level is high while working with them. Health experts say that levels over 90dB for 8 hours per day can eventually cause permanent hearing loss. According to the US Government's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the National Institute on Deafness (NIDCD), you should limit your exposure using the following guidelines, lest you risk losing your hearing: < Overload Protection The EX66 can react to two types of electrical issues: "over-current" and "over-voltage. " In the case of the former, when the system is driven so hard that it approaches the upper limit of the drivers' piston range, the output waveform will soft clip (at 11 amps) in order to protect the drivers. [. . . ]