20
Installation
Connection of HELIX DSP MINI MK2 to the head
unit / car radio:
Caution:
Carrying out the following steps will re-
quire special tools and technical knowledge. In or-
der to avoid connection mistakes and / or damage,
ask your dealer for assistance if you have any ques-
tions and follow all instructions in this manual (see
page 16). It is recommended that the device will be
installed by an authorized HELIX dealer.
1. Connecting the pre-amplifier inputs
Use the correct cable (RCA / cinch cable) to
connect these inputs to the pre-amplifier /
lowlev el / cinch outputs of your head unit / car
radio. Each input can be assigned to any output
using the DSP PC-Tool software. The automat-
ic turn-on circuit does not work when using the
pre-amplifier inputs. In this case the remote in
-
put has to be connected to activate the HELIX
DSP MINI MK2.
Important:
It is strictly forbidden to use the
Highlevel
and lowlevel
Line Input
of an indi-
vidual channel at the same time as this may
cause severe damage to the lowlevel line out-
puts of your head unit / car radio. Nevertheless
it is possible to use the
Highlevel Input
of one
channel and the lowlevel
Line Input
of another
channel simultaneously.
2. Connecting the highlevel speaker inputs
The highlevel loudspeaker inputs can be con-
nected directly to the loudspeaker outputs of an
OEM or aftermarket radio using appropriate ca-
bles (loudspeaker cables with 1 mm² / AWG 18
max.).
We recommend the following channel assign-
ment if a common car radio will be connected to
the signal processor:
Channel A = Front left
Channel B = Front right
Channel C = Rear left
Channel D = Rear right
Actually it is not mandatory to use all high level
speaker inputs. If only two channels will be con-
nected we recommend to use the channels A
and B. Make sure that the polarity is correct. If
one or more connections have reversed polar-
ity it may affect the performance of the signal
processor. If this input is used the remote input
does not need to be connected as the signal
processor will automatically turn on once a
loudspeaker signal is received.
3. Connecting a digital signal source
If you have a signal source with an optical digi-
tal output you can connect it to the signal pro-
cessor using the appropriate input. In standard
configuration the manual activation via an op
-
tional remote control is configured. Alternatively
you can activate the automatic turn-on feature
in the DCM menu of the DSP PC-Tool software.
The feature activates the digital input as soon
as a digital audio signal is detected. The auto-
matic turn-on circuit does not work when the
digital input is used. Therefore it is mandatory
to connect the remote input of the
Power Input
.
Important:
The signal of a digital audio source
normally does not contain any information
about the volume level. Keep in mind that
this will lead to full level on the outputs of the
HELIX DSP MINI MK2 and your connected
amplifiers. This may cause severe damage to
your speakers. We strongly recommend to use
an optional remote control for adjusting the vol-
ume level of the digital signal input!
Information:
The HELIX DSP MINI MK2
can only handle uncompressed digital stereo
signals in PCM format with a sample rate be-
tween 12 kHz and 96 kHz and no MP3- or Dol-
by-coded digital audio stream!
4. Adjustment of the input sensitivity
Attention:
It is mandatory to properly adapt
the input sensitivity of the DSP MINI MK2 to
the signal source in order to avoid damage
to the signal processor.
The input sensitivity can be optimally adapted to
the signal source using the DSP PC-Tool soft-
ware. Input sensitivity is factory set to 11 Volts
for the
Highlevel
and 4 Volts for the
Line Input
.
This is definitely the best setting for most appli
-
cations. Only if the head unit / car radio doesn ́t
deliver enough output level, the input sensitivity
should be increased.
The setting affects both the lowlevel and the
highlevel inputs!
