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Installation Manual

Model M4840

THE DIRECTOR

®

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Important Safety Instructions

  . . . . . . . 2

Introduction

  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Getting Started

  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Installation Examples   . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Front Panel Features

  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Rear Panel Features

  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Speaker Connections

  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

12 Volt Trigger Ins and Outs

  . . . . . . . . . 19

Ventilation   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 21
Internet Connectivity and Control

  . . . .22

Operation Tab    .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 25

Device Configuration Tab

   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 27

Zone Configuration Tab

   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 28

Home Owner  Tab    .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 32
Acoustics    .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 33
Equalization

  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Advanced Discussions

  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Troubleshooting

  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Block Diagram

  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Specifications

  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Service

  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

The Warranty

  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Installation Notes

    . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

The Linkwitz-Riley Two Step

  . . . . . . . . 48

©2017 AudioControl Inc., all rights reserved.
Based on a true story of bold and daring adventure, dBs, and audio destiny.

Network Settings
Default IP Address

192.168.0.249

Summary of Contents for The Director M4840

Page 1: ...The Director Model M4840 8 CHANNEL SHALLOW MOUNT MULTI ZONE NETWORK MATRIX AMPLIFIER Installation Manual ...

Page 2: ...he literature accompanying the appliance Caution to reduce the risk of electric shock do not remove the top cover There are no user serviceable parts inside Refer servicing to qualified personnel This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital device pursuant to part 15 of the FCC Rules These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harm...

Page 3: ...tion 21 Internet Connectivity and Control 22 OperationTab 25 Device ConfigurationTab 27 Zone ConfigurationTab 28 Home Owner Tab 32 Acoustics 33 Equalization 34 Advanced Discussions 37 Troubleshooting 39 Block Diagram 41 Specifications 42 Service 43 The Warranty 44 Installation Notes 46 The Linkwitz RileyTwo Step 48 2017 AudioControl Inc all rights reserved Based on a true story of bold and daring ...

Page 4: ...lexible matrix input switching plus a number of installation friendly features that makes them the perfect product for performance oriented audio systems The Director is an American designed and built set and forget component which will provide a lifetime of trouble free ser vice for your multi room audio system Introduction The Director is designed and manufac tured by AudioControl the only elect...

Page 5: ...operation and equally impres sive during standby Signal Processing You have at your command graphic equalization parametric equal ization tweeter protection filters and low frequency cutoff filters In addition you can set up any zone with low pass and high pass channels for a two way setup The equalizer settings are ganged with left and right channels together or separate ly Plus there are six EQ ...

Page 6: ... out in no time 8 channels of AudioControl amplification 4 stereo digital loop outputs 4 stereo analog loop outputs Any zone can play any input source Efficient power amplifiers and power supplies Power consumption is less than 2Watts in standby Rack mountable 2U form factor Shallow Depth Removable rack ears Light weight Stackable with other Director or Archi tect Models Signal sense independent f...

Page 7: ...ne Level Inputs 15 Analog Signal Present LEDs 16 Speaker Outputs 17 Digital Loop outputs 18 Analog Loop Outputs Rear Panel 1 AC Input 2 AC Power Switch 3 AC Fuse 4 Ground Isolation Switch 5 Disable front LED Ladders 6 12V MasterTrigger In Out 7 Ethernet Port 8 Master Reset Button 9 Digital Coaxial Outputs A and B 1 Power LED 2 Protection LED 3 Ethernet Status LEDs 8 Channel DSP Matrix Amplifier Mo...

Page 8: ... balanced line driver for the signals This will provide better noise rejection against nasty things like hum spikes local talk radio and metaphysical paranormal phenomena etc The AudioControl balanced line driver components BLD 10 BLR 10 and BLX 10 are an excellent way to send audio over long distances with standard Cat 5 wiring Check them out at audiocontrol com 6 If you are using the digital inp...

Page 9: ...woofer Really Nice Speakers Living Room Kitchen Dining Room Family Room Sonos 4 Sonos 3 Sonos 2 CD HD Tuner Receiver Zone 2 Digital out Digital Out Analog Out Analog Out Analog Out Digital Out Digital Out Digital Out Sonos 1 Bijou 600 in Bridged Mono Bijou 600 in Stereo Input 1 Receiver Input 3 Sonos 4 Input 2 The Director ...

Page 10: ...ds Highs Master Bedroom Bedroom Office Living Room Dining Room Hall Bath Patio Sonos 2 Sonos 1 CD Front Door Service Entrance HD Tuner TV AVR Zone 2 Digital Out Digital Out Analog Out Analog Out Analog Out Analog Out Digital Out Digital Out Digital Out Bus A Digital Input All inputs set to Bus A ...

Page 11: ...th two M4840 Sub Mids Highs Master Bedroom Digital Loop Outputs Analog Loop Outputs Bedroom Office Studio Hall Bath Bat Cave Sonos 2 Sonos 1 CD Front Door Service Entrance HD Tuner TV AVR Zone 2 Digital Out Digital Out Analog Out Analog Out Analog Out Analog Out Digital Out Digital Out ...

Page 12: ...D indicates when the zone is in fault mode active or in standby Red The zone has detected a fault such as a DC offset or a load short circuit Blue The zone is active OFF The zone is in standby 5 Zone Level LEDs These three LEDs light from the bottom to the top depending on the zone s output level 33 20 10 dBFS These LEDs can be turned off using the rear panel switch 6 Rack Mount Ears The unit come...

Page 13: ...ected a fault and is in protect mode Off The unit is operating normally or it is powered off ZONE LEDs Color Description Blue 10 dBFS zone output level Blue 20 dBFS zone output level Blue 33 dBFS zone output level Blue Red Blue or Red flash shows technical writer s heartbeat this is normal except when the Seahawks are playing Red The zone has detected a fault or a smooth jazz saxo phone solo and i...

Page 14: ... lightning storms wind storms with frequent power outages or when a giant asteroid is heading for the power station again 3 AC Fuse The main power supply fuse may be checked or replaced Make sure that the power cord is unplugged from the AC mains first Then use a flat headed screwdriver to undo the fuse carrier from the fuse holder Inspect the fuse and replace with the exact same type indicated on...

Page 15: ... external software is required to runThe Director See the section on Internet Connectivity and Control for detailed information 8 Master Reset If things are not going well for example you are unable to communicate withThe Director press and hold down this button for more than 3 seconds This will reset the in ternal Ethernet settings and other odd things and hopefully lead you along the pathway to ...

Page 16: ...he Director s web server interface menus Almost DoneWithThe Rear Panel 15 Signal Present LED These will light whenever an analog input signal is present 16 Speaker Outputs This 4 pin connector allows easy connection of two speakers for stereo operation or one speaker for bridged mono operation 17 Digital Loop Outputs These optical and coaxial digital outputs are copies of the digital input signals...

Page 17: ...ration menu the first page that shows up and click on the Mono box for this zone Speaker Wiring Establish a standard connection color code and stick with it One conductor of the speaker wire is normally marked by a different color silver versus copper or there is a ribbing on one side Typically this marked conductor is used for the positive speaker leads Some wires have pos itive and negative prin...

Page 18: ... gauge This can be a benefit if you are paralleling lots of speakers The wire itself acts as an impedance limiter since the amplifier cannot see a speaker load lower than the resistance of the wire The downside of this wire resistance is that you waste some part of the total power available to the speakers Speakers like other resistors when wired in parallel show lower values than the individual c...

Page 19: ...D terminals The 12V output is not designed to power other pieces of equipment or jump start your car Pinout GND Ground 12V Output 12VTrigger Input 1 8 TS mono jacks These are wired in parallel to each other and work in con junction with the 3 pin connector Either input can receive a 12V trigger which will turn on the unit This will then allow the unused jack to output 12V that can be used to turn ...

Page 20: ...pplies will be still energized If the master trigger Inputs remain at ZeroVolts for 2 seconds the main power supplies will shut off the front panel Pow er LED will change from blue to red The Protection LED will flash red once during the power down process The trigger input is biased towards ground This keeps the unit in standby when nothing is connected If you are not using master triggering or t...

Page 21: ...fier will reactivate If this occurs often identify the cause of the problem and take corrective action for example Provide additional ventilation Do not install in a sealed location with limited or no airflow Install a fan in the rack Make sure that the amplifiers are not overloaded with speaker impedances below the recommended minimum Check that there are no short circuits in the speaker cables o...

Page 22: ...ocal address from the DHCP server If no DHCP server has been enabled in your network or you would like to directly connect toThe Director use an Ethernet cable and connect the two devices togeth er The default IP address ofThe Director is 192 168 0 249 when a DHCP server is unavailable so in order to connect toThe Director you will need to give your com puter a static IP address In yourWindows bas...

Page 23: ...nsult the Interwebs Be sure not to use a static IP address for your computer that is in use by another device an IP address should be unique across the local network if it is not you re going to have another bad time Communications Options The Director s web server Device Config uration page has lots of communications options you can play about with to your own delight or at your peril If you know...

Page 24: ...off the network then pinging it in the early AM every day is probably a good practice Control Command Examples Increment volume by 1 in Zone 3 where volume before the command is 51 Command Z3vol CR Response Z3vol CR 01Z3vol52 CR LF To turn on main power Command power1 CR Response power1 CR 01power1 CR LF To mute or turn Zone 5 off Command Z5off CR Response Z5off CR 01Z5off CR LF Note The query ZON...

Page 25: ...tion from accidental or not so accidental adjustments of the unit configurations FirmwareVersion This shows the version number of the currently installed firmware Global Settings This section shows the AC line voltage status the overall tem perature of the unit and allows you to turn the power on or off and the signal sensing on or off The log count is also a link to a pop up page which will descr...

Page 26: ...ll both play the same This can be ideal where stereo sound is not really needed OperationTab continued Standby The standby on off buttons control the state of each individual channel whether the channel is on or not Input Source Allows you to choose where each channel pair is getting its input source The small drop down menu shows the available input sources Trim Trim the levels of the zone output...

Page 27: ...ort previously exported settings even from another Director amplifier in the system or pre designed EQ curve templates Be sure to select Save Settings after you have completed your changes on this page otherwise your changes will disap pear and you will be snookered The renamed zones and input source names will appear in the other menu tabs and drop down menus Device ConfigurationTab If you enable...

Page 28: ...in each zone Vital Signs This line displays a quick view of the device name input source group zone status temperature and protection status Speaker Calibration Profile Each Speaker Profile contains equalization and high pass lowpass that have been carefully chosen by certain speaker manufactur ers as the best curve for that particular speaker model when used with the Director amplifier The speake...

Page 29: ...ng in an old folk s home a narrow width filter can be tried at the teacup rattling onset frequency with a cut in the level Shelving EQ Just when you would be forgiven for thinking wow that s a lot of EQ flexibility wait there s more At no extra charge two sliders offer bass and treble EQ adjustment of the shelving kind Shelving EQ used in combination with the graphic EQ and parametric EQ gives you...

Page 30: ...frequency filter Similarly to save the tweeters be conservative with the setting of the tweeter protection filter It could save you a service call As there is a plethora of power available do not be fooled byThe Director s lightweight appearance you can set up a 2 way crossover with a subwoofer playing the lows and a pair of speakers paying the mids and highs Enable the Low Pass Mode filter and br...

Page 31: ...Processing Once these are saved you can export these set tings from the configuration page for back up purposes or for making a template that can be repeatedly used You may save all of the information on this page by selecting SaveTo Memory All the graphic and parametric equalizer settings as well as any crossover setting will be retained in that number memory The information saved in the memory i...

Page 32: ...32 Home OwnerTab The home owner tab allows the customer to operate the system once the other tabs have been locked to prevent access Home OwnerTab ...

Page 33: ...s Different frequencies of sound have differ ent wave lengths a function of frequency and the speed of sound Each frequency s wavelength contributes differently to the Free and Reverberant Fields because they are different sizes For example a 32 Hz bass note has a wavelength of 35 feet while a 16 000 Hz note has a wavelength just under a tenth of an inch Tiny treble waves can be caught and neutral...

Page 34: ... such as theAudioControl Industrial SA 4100i Visit www audiocontrolindus trial comformore analysisproducts Equalizing the System Before proceeding with equalizing the sys tem it is a good idea to make sure every thing is connected and working properly You know how to check connections and here are some reminders specific toThe Director as well as the steps to equalize 1 Turn on the system The Powe...

Page 35: ...m floor toms timpani and double bass viols 150 Hz High bass There s a lot of bass information at this frequency In fact most modern music is mixed to en hance this area of the frequency spec trum 150Hz also determines the depth of male vocals and contains reverber ant information which contributes to the spaciousness of sound Boosting 150Hz can add POW and impact to bass or it can make the sound b...

Page 36: ...he speakers are stressed and in some cases heat up shortening its life In other words both the tweeter protec tion and subsonic filter are very important tools Experiment with higher subsonic filters and lower tweeter protection settings than you might think from the published specifications of the speaker If you do these experiments with higher lower settings most likely you will find the system ...

Page 37: ...t output use a relay to prevent over loadingThe Director The Direc tor itself only takes 1 milliamp to turn on What are the power requirements and BTU outputs ofThe Director More detailed information is shown in the specifications section In general we feel a conservative real life design criteria is 1 8th power This will be a quite loud listening level for most rooms and assumes all zones driven ...

Page 38: ...se So if the client wants to rock out in the bathroom and particularly the shower you need to have speakers very near to them Modern day larger bathrooms need more than two speakers for these reasons What about large rooms as well as rooms where the listener is far from the speakers Typical in wall speakers are designed to be near the listener In common rooms with eight foot ceilings and other usu...

Page 39: ...ig nal sense is engaged or just going steady 3 Channel Status LED is Red a Check speaker leads for a short Swap speaker connectors on rear to see if the problem moves with the wires b If the unit is excessively hot turn down the volume and allow it to cool off The protection LED should turn off after a short while Verify that any ventilation holes have not become blocked c The speaker impedance ma...

Page 40: ...delay helps prevent prematurely muting during quiet passages or song changes 8 The unit is on but you cannot trigger it off The unit will stay on if either the 12v master trigger is on or jum pered on 9 Is an in wall volume control rated at 100 Watts continuous adequate Just barely is the simple answer Go for one with a higher rating if you want a reliable long lasting system Though the Director i...

Page 41: ...THE DIRECTOR Block Diagram Block Diagrams Time Align Delay Analog Inputs 1 4 DAC ADC Parametric Graphic EQ High Pass Low Pass Filters Volume Gain Digital Inputs 1 4 Limiter Amplifiers Speaker Outputs 1 4 S PDIF Outputs A B Stereo Matrix ...

Page 42: ...te 16 24 bit depth AC Power Requirements Standby 1 9 Watts Idle main power on all channels off 41Watts All channels 1 8th power normal listening level 186Watts Full Power 20 A residential service limited 1800Watts BTU hr Output Standby 6 5 BTU hr Idle main power on all channels off 140 BTU hr All channels 1 8th power 270 BTU hr Full Power 20 A residential service limited 1560 BTU hr Dimensions Hei...

Page 43: ...er components you are using Is it an intermittent problem that only occurs on the first full moon of Spring 3 A return street address No PO Boxes please 4 A daytime phone number in case our technicians have a question about the problem you are having or if they are just feeling lonely 5 Package the unit in the original packaging if you still have it and if the cat hasn t had three litters of kitte...

Page 44: ...ice requires original sales receipt documentation The warranty only applies to the original purchaser from an authorized AudioControl dealer Note Products purchased from unauthorized dealers are not covered under warranty 3 If an authorized AudioControl dealer installs your AudioControl product the warranty is five years otherwise the warranty is limited to one year 4 Our warranty covers AudioCont...

Page 45: ...y we have no obligation express or implied We make no warranty of mer chantability or fitness for any particular purpose Also neither we nor anyone else who has been involved in the develop ment or manufacture of the unit will have any liability of any incidental consequen tial special or punitive damages includ ing but not limited to any lost profits or damage to other parts of your system by hoo...

Page 46: ...46 Installation Notes Installation Installer Zone Room Source 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Notes Poems Sagas Odes Installation Notes ...

Page 47: ...47 Installation Manual Model M4840 THE DIRECTOR ...

Page 48: ...48 Hurrah you are done Manual PN 913 154 0 Rev A The Linkwitz RileyTwo Step 2 1 1 2 3 3 4 4 5 5 7 7 6 6 ...

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