RR2160
MkII Owner’s Manual
Outlaw Audio
RR2160 MkII Stereo RetroReceiver
16
Bare Wire or Pin Terminations
Unscrew the outer barrel of the speaker connector
until you see the hole in its center post. Insert the
conductor or pin into the hole and screw the outer
barrel tightly.
•
Spade Lugs: These look like small two-
pronged forks. Unscrew the barrel enough to
place the lug’s prongs around the inner post
and then retighten the barrel.
•
Banana Plugs: Insert them into the holes in the
end of each post/barrel assembly. Just push
them in carefully and you’re done.
CAUTION: DO NOT over tighten the barrels. This
isn’t a contest of strength. Just hand tighten the
barrel enough to insure good contact so that it is
snug to the wire or termination device and the
speaker terminal.
Whichever type of termination you use, it is
important to make sure that the individual wire
strands that make up each conductor bundle are
tightly wrapped together and that there are no
frayed ends that protrude past the speaker
terminal or the wire termination for that conductor.
This will prevent short circuits and possible
amplifier failure.
Remember these three points:
•
Make sure to observe proper continuity and
polarity.
•
For continuity, make sure you connect your
main Left speaker to System A’s Left terminals
and your main Right speaker to the System A
Right terminals. Then connect your secondary
speakers to System B terminals, making sure
to connect the Left speaker to the Left
terminals and the Right speaker to the Right
terminals. Care here will save a lot of time
later.
•
The RR2160
MkII’s speaker connections are
color-coded. Red terminals are “+” or “hot” while
black terminals are “–” or “ground.” For proper
polarity, make sure that you’ve connected the
proper speaker’s “+” terminal (the one with the
red barrel) to your speaker’s “+” terminal. Then
connect the “–“ terminal (it has a black barrel)
to the same speaker’s “–“ terminal. It’s that
simple.
A Note On Polarity/Phase
When speakers are connected correctly, they are
said to be “in phase.” This is critical to proper
sound reproduction as it means that the drivers in
each speaker work together, with the cones in
each speaker moving in the same direction at the
same time. When speakers are hooked up “out of
phase,” the drivers in each speaker respond
differently to the amplifier’s signal. For example,
the drivers of the left speaker will push out when
the drivers of the right speaker pull in, producing a
very imprecise, almost “ghostly,” stereo image or
poor bass performance. No, there’s nothing
dangerous about hooking speakers up “out of
phase.” You won’t damage anything, it just won’t
sound good.
Subwoofers and Bass Management Settings
The RR2160
MkII is unique among stereo receivers
in that it has built-in bass management, a feature
common, if not required, for multi-channel
products, but not found in the two-channel world.
While traditional two-channel systems have long
used full-range speakers, modern audio systems
– even those designed for two-channel music –
may use frequency limited bookshelf speakers.
Bass Management
Rather than provide a simple subwoofer output
that places the burden of bass management on
the subwoofer, the RR2160
MkII includes a custom
designed analog bass management system. The
internal crossover is a symmetrical 2nd order (12
dB/octave) Butterworth filter set. BP (Bypass)
duplicates the full range signal sent to your
speakers at the subwoofer output. This enables
you to utilize the crossover in your subwoofer.
If your system includes a subwoofer, read on for
the configuration steps. If you are not using a
subwoofer, skip to the next section.
Subwoofers come in two varieties, powered and
passive. Powered subwoofers include their own
built-in amplifier and are by far the most popular,
while passive subwoofers require the use of a
separate, external amplifier. You can use either
type with your RR2160
MkII.