Genelec 2029A Operating Manual Download Page 2

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1. General description

Genelec 2029A Digital near field mon-
itor has a digital audio interface allow-
ing you to input the digital audio straight
into the loudspeaker. This has several
significant advantages.

When you are working with a digital
audio workstation or you are process-
ing audio in a modern studio, your sig-
nal is digital. The 2029A Digital allows
you to listen to what you have in your
digital format.

The 2029A Digital supports all the
same modes of operation as the ana-
log 1029A. You can use it with a sub-
woofer. You can use it in surround au-
dio systems. You can even use the
2029A Digital as an analog speaker.

Due to its compact size, integrated
construction, excellent dispersion and
precise stereo imaging, this speaker
system is ideal for near field monitor-
ing, mobile vans, digital audio work-
stations, broadcast and TV control
rooms, surround sound systems, home
studios, multimedia applications and
also computer soundcards. As an ac-
tive speaker this unit contains all you
need- drivers, power amplifiers, active
crossover filters and protection circuit-
ry. The Directivity Control Waveguide
(DCW™) technology provides excel-
lent frequency balance even in diffi-
cult acoustic environments.

2. Digital Audio

The quality of a digital audio signal is
defined by the two parameters: word
length and sampling rate.

The word length defines how precise-
ly the audio signal is represented.
Longer word length leads to smaller
noise and distortion level. The typical
word length in CD records is 16 bits.
Studio recording systems use word
lengths of 20 bits and above.

The sampling rate determines what fre-
quencies can be represented in the

digital audio signal. A higher sampling
rate allows higher frequencies to be
recorded. Studio recording systems
use sampling rates of 44 kHz and
above.

Turning the digital presentation to an
analog signal using a DA converter
involves significant sources of error.
Your digital-to-analog converter may
have inferior performance. It may be
misaligned with your amplifiers. The
interface between the converter and
the amplifier may distort the signal or it
may change the frequency balance.
Your monitoring volume level may
need to be adjusted in the digital do-
main instead of analog.

Genelec 2029A Digital allows you to
solve all of these problems. The align-
ment of the whole system right from the
digital input connector is carefully
balanced, to make sure that you hear
the whole digital truth, and nothing but
the truth. All you have to do is to supply
the digital signal, and adjust for the
volume you desire.

The IEC958 or EIAJ CP-340 standards
define one of the most popular digital
audio interfaces in use today, often
called S/P-DIF. It uses the same RCA
connector and interface cables that
most consumer audio equipment use
today. The standard is versatile
enough to be suitable for consumer
use as well as studio audio signal pro-
cessing. You typically find it on pro-
fessional digital audio workstations
and high quality sound cards.

3. Integrated Constr

3. Integrated Construction

uction

As the digital interface and amplifiers
are built into the speaker enclosure,
the only connections required are the
mains supply and the digital input sig-
nal, making the 2029A Digital very easy
to set up and use.

Digital interface

The digital audio interface comprises
a digital audio receiver and a digital-
to-analog converter (DA converter).

2029A Digital Monitoring Speaker

The digital input accepts an S/P-DIF
digital audio signal having a word
length up to 24 bits and sampling rate
up to 55 kHz.

The DA converter has an interpolator
increasing the internal sampling rate
to four times the original, before inter-
polation to 128 times the original sam-
pling frequency in a fourth order delta-
sigma modulator, and digital-to-ana-
log conversion in a switched capaci-
tor integrator and an analog low-pass
filter. This conversion process has high
resilience to clock jitter and excellent
linearity.

Drivers

The bass frequencies are reproduced
by a 130 mm (5") bass driver mounted
in a 4.5 litre vented cabinet. The -3 dB
point lies at 68 Hz and the frequency
response extends down to 65 Hz
(-6 dB).

The high frequency driver is a 19 mm
(3/4") metal dome. Uniform dispersion
is achieved with the revolutionary
DCW™ Technology pioneered by
Genelec.

Magnetic shielding is standard on
Genelec 2029A Digital. Shielding is
vital for applications such as video post
production, where stray magnetic
fields must be minimized.

Crossover

The active crossover network is acous-
tically complementary and the slopes
are 24 - 32 dB/octave. The crossover
frequency is 3.3 kHz. The room re-
sponse controls ('treble tilt', 'bass tilt'
and 'bass roll-off') allow perfect repro-
duction in any room installation.

Amplifiers

The amplifier unit is built inside the
speaker enclosure. The bass and tre-
ble amplifiers both produce 40 W of
output power. The fast, low distortion
amplifiers are capable of driving a ster-
eo pair to peak output sound pressure
levels in excess of 110 dB at 1 m. The
unit incorporates special circuitry for
driver overload protection.