AudioControl Richter Scale Series III Owner'S Enjoyment Manual Download Page 3

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Owner’s Enjoyment Manual

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Making Everything Equal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Speaker placement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Acoustic environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Equalization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Analyzing your system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Appendices

A. Why Equalize? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

B. Room Acoustics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

C. Building Crossover Modules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

D. Bridging your Amplifier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Limited Warranty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

What To Do If You Need Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Block Diagram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Congratulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

A Guided Tour Of The Richter Scale

Front Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Rear Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Installation

Placement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Connection tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Getting It All Hooked Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Basic Hookup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Surround Separates System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

A/V Receiver System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Electronic Crossover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Summary of Contents for Richter Scale Series III

Page 1: ...Series Three Owners Enjoyment Manual tm for those who consider perfection possibletm TM ...

Page 2: ...Owner s Enjoyment Manual Dealer ____________________________________ Date Purchased ______________________________ Serial Number ______________________________ ...

Page 3: ... C Building Crossover Modules 20 D Bridging your Amplifier 21 Limited Warranty 23 What To Do If You Need Service 24 Block Diagram 25 Specifications 27 Congratulations 1 Features 2 A Guided Tour Of The Richter Scale Front Panel 4 Rear Panel 6 Installation Placement 8 Power 8 Connection tips 8 Getting It All Hooked Up 9 Basic Hookup 9 Surround Separates System 9 A V Receiver System 9 Electronic Cros...

Page 4: ...Owner s Enjoyment Manual ...

Page 5: ...iculous attention to detail and professional sound heritage shows itself in the dozens of awards we have won for our designs products and service This manual is designed to help you get the most from your new component So even though you re dying to try it out please take a few minutes to glance over this rhetoric and learn about the Richter Scale crossover Anything that has this many functions de...

Page 6: ...ass than you thought possible from your stereo system Audiophile Quality Electronic Crossover What good is it having a subwoofer to rattle the room if you have a second rate crossover driving it Subwoofer manufacturers are very good at designing speakers but most of them are fish out of water when it comes to creating an electronic crossover The Richter Scale Series Three includes one of the best ...

Page 7: ...dio components since 1977 These products are backed up by a comprehensive FIVE year warranty THE MOST IMPORTANT INSTRUCTION OF ALL Fill out the warranty card and mail it to us Also record the serial number and put your sales receipt in a safe place This is very important in the unlikely event that your new unit gets a sudden virus or for proof of ownership if somebody takes a liking to your theate...

Page 8: ...Receiver Preamp inputs over to the internal warble tone source 1 Relative SPL Meter A precision sound level meter to use along with the warble test tone to accurately measure your speaker and room acoustics The meter is damped in order to average out variations in the warble tone and decrease extraneous transient sounds during testing 2 Warble Tone Generator The other half of the audio analysis sy...

Page 9: ...7 Rumble Reduction Filter Switch This button is dedicated to the good old days of analog vinyl sound and the turntable One press and say good bye to turntable rumble and acoustic feedback It even reduces the thump you hear if you lower the cartridge too quickly onto a record 8 External Processor Loop Switch Since the equalizer section of the Richter Scale is usually connected into the tape monitor...

Page 10: ...simple means of getting more amplifier power for your subwoofer It combines the two channels of a stereo amplifier into a single 1 Power Cord Plug this into the switched outlet of your receiver or preamp 2 Unswitched Convenience Outlet What You ve run out of places to plug in your turntable or CD player We try to make things convenient This outlet provides a simple place to plug in your low power ...

Page 11: ...nd warble tone generator to the outside world The signal processing EQs filters etc are independent of the electronic crossover in the Richter Scale so both sections need to be connected to get the full benefits of the Richter Scale 7 Calibrated Microphone Input Jack The Richter Scale is supplied with a laboratory grade phantom power electret condenser measurement microphone This mic is flat withi...

Page 12: ...re a hi fi veteran this part may seem repetitive but some things can never be repeated too many times just ask our Customer Support Department Turn off all components before making any connections and don t stand in a bucket of water When making connections make sure that Left goes to Left and Right goes to Right The obvious and time honored way to assure this is to assign RED plugs to Right and W...

Page 13: ...Owner s Enjoyment Manual TM System examples Surround Sound Separates System Using the Crossover Connect Main Output to the Crossover Input Basic Hookup of Equalizer 9 Surround Preamp ...

Page 14: ...Owner s Enjoyment Manual A V Receiver System with mono subwoofer output 10 A V Receiver ...

Page 15: ... electronic crossover in the Richter Scale Series Three is a very flexible means of getting to your goal of audio nirvana The ultra accurate 24db per octave Linkwitz Riley cross over is generally regarded as one of the best crossover designs available It was first publicized by Siegfried Linkwitz and Russell Riley two Hewlett Packard engineers in a 1976 Journal of the Audio Engineering Society art...

Page 16: ... compo nent going out of tolerance and misaligning the crossover frequencies The crossover frequency of the Richter Scale Series Three is programmed with a simple plug in resistor module The module installed from our factory is 90 Hz Additional modules are available from your dealer or from AudioCon trol directly There are further instructions in the appendix about building your own resistor modul...

Page 17: ...rt The variation in imaging and response that different placement can make is astonishing Especially with the subwoofer The Acoustic Environment Every room affects speakers differently Reflective and absorbent surfaces room shape and volume even placement of furniture can significantly change a speaker s sound It is very helpful while investigating various possibilities to use the warble tone anal...

Page 18: ...subwoofers can realistically only put out solid bass down to 40Hz Large bass equalization boosts and a good digital source may overheat or damage your subwoofer Analysis Adjusting the speaker response in the last three octaves is nearly impossible to do with just your naked ears That s why we built a half octave warble tone analyzer into the Richter Scale The warble tone center frequency is adjust...

Page 19: ...he frequency response of a room Unlike the bouncing lightshow seen on some inexpensive components an RTA gives you some very useful informa tion The real time audio analyzer consists of four main parts 1 The test signal generator pink noise to play through the speakers 2 A reference microphone to listen to the sound coming back from the speakers 3 Bandpass filters to break up the audio spectrum in...

Page 20: ...lizer sliders on the Richter Scale to the center 0 position 2 Plug the measurement microphone into the mic jack on the rear of the Richter Scale 3 Press In the Equalize and the Analyze buttons 4 Set the Warble Tone Frequency knob to 250 Hz 5 Adjust your system s volume control until the Relative Sound Level Meter on the Richter Scale reads 0dB 6 Adjust the Warble Tone Frequency knob to 60 Hz 7 IMP...

Page 21: ...ceiver is insulting your intelligence Manufacturers think that more than two knobs Bass Treble will confuse you so they deny you the ability to bring out the best in your system 2 Your room is special Everyone s is Speakers have to be designed to compromise for a wide range of listening environments An equalizer can compensate for overly reflective or absorptive surfaces and help speakers perform ...

Page 22: ...ations of the air and pressure waves produced by sound waves We response to the vibrations detect it as frequency and then respond to the pressure and detect it as level or intensity All sound producing devices produce a series of waves in the air water steel or anything but a vacuum Remember in space no one can hear you scream A Rooms Effect On Sound Waves As shown here sound waves react with eve...

Page 23: ...nd loudspeaker spectral presentation These reso nances are caused by reflected energy bouncing around the room from the various surfaces walls floor ceiling Every room will have length width and height standing wave modes The question we need to answer is How bad and where will the problems produced by these reflections be Let s Do A Little Math No groaning please it s just simple division f Speed...

Page 24: ...changed by removing the top of your unit and replacing the existing resistor module in the socket New modules are available either from your authorized AudioControl dealer or directly from our factory If you are feeling adventurous and are handy with a solder ing iron you can easily make your own resistor modules Here s how To calculate the proper resistor value for the custom module use the follo...

Page 25: ...ed mode each channel of the amplifier sees half of the load impedance i e 2 ohms versus 4 ohms The amp outputs one channel in phase with the system and the other channel 180 degrees out of phase This allows one channel to provide the positive half of the signal and the other channel to provide the negative The voltages are summed at the subwoofer for a theatrical fourfold increase in power as demo...

Page 26: ...r in the bridged mode for a noticeable increase in bass performance CAUTION Limitations in the amplifier power supply and heatsink dissipation will always reduce the available power Therefore the realized power output increases will generally be less than four times the amplifier s power output Although bridging is the best way to maximize bass output check the amplifiers manual to make sure if it...

Page 27: ...ve 5 years from the date you bought it and we will fix or replace it at our option during that time Here are the conditional conditions 1 You have to fill out the warranty card and send it to us within 15 days after purchasing the Richter Scale 2 You must keep your sales receipt for proof of purchase showing when and from whom the unit was bought We re not the only ones who require this so it s a ...

Page 28: ...sed by hooking up the AudioControl Richter Scale Failure to send in a properly completed warranty card negates any service claims What to do if you need service First contact AudioControl either by phone 425 775 8461 email at service audiocontrol com or FAX 425 778 3166 We ll verify if there is anything wrong that you can fix yourself or arrange to have it sent back to our factory for repair Pleas...

Page 29: ...Owner s Enjoyment Manual Block diagram 25 ...

Page 30: ...Owner s Enjoyment Manual Response Graphs Equalizer Full Boost and Cut Crossover Factory 90 Hz Module Installed 26 ...

Page 31: ...tory setting Additional frequency modules are available Subsonic Filter 18 Hz 18dB Octave Tchebychev Alignment Size 2 5 H x 17 W x 8 25 D Power draw 12 Watts Weight 9 lbs Options 19 Rack mounting brackets 1 5U Height 1986 2001 AudioControl All Rights Reserved AudioControl is a division of Electronic Engineering and Manufacturing Inc AudioControl and Making Good Stereo Sound Better are registered t...

Page 32: ...joyment Manual tm For Those Who Consider Perfection Possibletm 22410 70th Avenue West Mountlake Terrace W A 98043 USA Phone 425 775 8461 Fax 425 778 3166 Email info audiocontrol com Internet www audiocontrol com ...

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