ROSTEC Station 6 Manual Download Page 3

 

                         Station 6 Preamplifier and Monitor Controller    

 

 

 

 
Features 
 

 

2 microphone/line inputs at the back panel 

 

2 auxiliary line inputs at the back panel 

 

2 auxiliary cue inputs at the back panel 

 

2 high impedance instrument inputs at the front 

 

Automatic switching between instrument input 
and mic/line input 

 

Balanced insert points for microphone channels 

 

Insert points bypass function at the front panel  

 

Signal switching by sealed gold contact relays 

 

True balanced architecture throughout the unit 

 

Ultra low noise and distortion 

 

+30 dBu microphone preamp input headroom 

 

Exceptionally open and transparent sound 

 

Input circuits have vacuum tube characteristics 

 

Smooth mic gain adjustment from +10 to +70 dB 
by potentiometer, no clicks. 

 

Built-in +48 Volts Phantom Power 

 

Linear low noise power supply. No Switchmode! 

 

Slot for optional USB/AES/LAN digital interface.  

 

Inputs and outputs are ESD protected to 23 kV 
IEC 61000-4-2 and 15 A surge IEC 61000-4-5. 

 

Sturdy steel metal casing, electrically and 
magnetically screened. 

 

Stand-alone desktop or with mountable 19” rack 
mount flanges 

 
 
General description 
 
Station 6 is an ultra low noise and ultra low distortion 
mic/line preamplifier and monitor controller designed 
with the professional sound engineer in mind. 
Station 6 is constructed by using modern day's cutting 
edge technology, but the basic design philosophy is 
inspired by the very best sounding audio equipment that 
have been manufactured over the past 50 years.  
 
Station 6 uses the same highly acclaimed preamplifiers 
as the LMA8 mic/line preamp, which gives the unit a 
basic sound quality of extraordinary high class. 
The unit is extremely versatile. It can operate in analog 
mode as a personal audio center for the performing 
artist, or it can operate in digital mode as a control center 
for a recording studio or a video dubbing facility. 
It has two high performance Class-A microphone/line 
preamps, two auxiliary line inputs, two monitor line 
outputs to speakers and a powerful headphone amplifier 
with talk-back facility. 
It also features zero latency feed forward controls from 
the mic/line inputs to the headphones.  
Two cue direct line inputs are available for zero latency 
monitoring of external signals. 

 
 
 
With the USB module installed, Station 6 communicates 
with the DAW via USB full-speed. The USB connection 
is compatible with USB 2.0, USB 3.0 and USB-C. 
 
With the AES module installed, Station 6 communicates 
with the DAW via a standard AES3 110 ohm transformer 
balanced interface. 
 
With the LAN module installed, Station 6 communicates 
with the DAW via standard Gigabit Ethernet. 
  
Station 6 features an unusual large input headroom on 
all inputs, enabling it to handle fast transient and large 
dynamic level changes. At the same time it reproduces 
micro-details and environmental depth perspective with 
a natural openness and an impressive accuracy. 
The microphone input circuits are designed so input 
clipping cannot be experienced. 
The input circuits have a 
clipping limit (headroom) at +30 dBu, and because there 
is always at least +10 dB of gain in the signal path, the 
output (or the connected equipment) will simply always 
clip before the input. 
The line inputs also have +30 dBu clipping limit and 
communicates with the DAW at the standard level of  
+20 dBu as Digital Full Scale.  
Again, under normal circumstances, input clipping 
cannot be experienced. 
 
Station 6 is a purist's dream come true. The design is 
based on a very stringent philosophy, meaning the 
shortest possible signal path and the highest possible 
quality components. The microphone input circuit is a 
true class A differential gain stage, and it has a transfer 
characteristic that resembles that of a vacuum tube, 
giving the unit a natural, relaxed and open sound, yet it 
maintains high-speed and precise response. 
 
The architecture is fully balanced throughout the unit, 
which means that the signals between the various 
circuits are routed as a positive and a negative signal, 
not using ground to transfer audio signals at all. 
This architecture keeps the audio path free from non-
linear distortion from currents running in the ground 
mesh or from  “non musical” signals from external 
electrical fields, power supply noise, crosstalk from other 
channels etc. 
 
All signal routing and gain regulations are performed by 
analog components. There are no digital switching and 
no digital gain regulation to compromise the sound 
quality. High grade conductive plastic potentiometers 
and hermetically sealed relays with gold contacts are 
used throughout the unit. No compromise! 

Summary of Contents for Station 6

Page 1: ...Station 6 Preamplifier and Monitor Controller 1 ROSTEC Station 6 Mic Line Preamplifier and Monitor Controller Revision 7 September 15 2017...

Page 2: ...tudio set up with DAW 8 Using external A D and D A converters 9 Personal set up for guitar player 10 Operational description Quick guide front and back panels 11 Front panel controls 12 Back panel con...

Page 3: ...ero latency monitoring of external signals With the USB module installed Station 6 communicates with the DAW via USB full speed The USB connection is compatible with USB 2 0 USB 3 0 and USB C With the...

Page 4: ...s and the like An unusual feature of the instrument inputs is that they are fully balanced They work equally well with standard unbalanced instrument cables as well as balanced cables However using a...

Page 5: ...nalog equipment is inserted in the signal chain the direct output is sourced from the output of the equipment When the insert point is bypassed i e the inserted analog equipment is not inserted in the...

Page 6: ...er in ear headphones and for semi pro headphones typically with impedances ranging from 32 to 100 ohms HI is for professional headphones with impedances from 100 to 600 ohms Observe that these are onl...

Page 7: ...by and all clocks and digital processing is halted In the OFF position the unit operates in digital mode if a digital module is present If no digital module is present the unit automatically selects a...

Page 8: ...rt Point for use with analog equipment like Equalizers compressors filters what not Note that the inserted analog equipment is placed in the signal chain before the A D and the DAW The Line3 and Line3...

Page 9: ...ent is placed in the signal chain before the external A D and the DAW The monitor master outputs from the DAW and the external D A are connected to the AUX Line 3 and AUX line 4 inputs and directly ro...

Page 10: ...onnect the Auxiliary Line 3 and 4 inputs in analog mode In digital mode the inputs are still connected to the A D The guitar is plugged into Mic1 Jack input high Z at the front The signal it then rout...

Page 11: ...Station 6 Preamplifier and Monitor Controller 11 Operational description Quick guide front and back controls and connections...

Page 12: ...e bypass function of the insert point The insert point exists electrically between the output of the preamp and the input to the digital module When the LED is ON the signal chain between the preamp a...

Page 13: ...he output level range is from 80 dBu to 8 dBu to 20 dBu if DIP switch 5 is set Monitor speaker select Two different sets of speaker sets can be connected The toggle switch controls which speaker set i...

Page 14: ...corresponding routing functions is activated The NORM LED lights up when none of the routing functions are activated Zero Latency Monitoring Direct signal feed from the 2 microphone channels to the he...

Page 15: ...will easily burn semi pro and budget headphones Hence a low setting is provided so you can use your in ear headphone from you mobile phone or use other low wattage headphones from unknown origins The...

Page 16: ...in digital mode 4 ANALOG The LED lights up when the unit is operating in analog mode Monitor dim during talk back The dim level of the monitor output signal during talk back can be programmed 4 dim le...

Page 17: ...ack panel and the 1 4 Jack connector at the front panel The output signals at the two headphone Jacks front and back are identical Talk Back input The talk back microphone input can be found at the 3...

Page 18: ...the mic line input from accidentally getting 48 V phantom voltage Switch 4 Controls monitor signal source Default is OFF OFF position In digital mode the signal to the monitor is sourced from the DAW...

Page 19: ...ons follow the Tascam Standard for analog signals The list of signals and their corresponding pin connections is listed below Analog inputs The analog inputs can be found at the back panel at the 25 p...

Page 20: ...ectrical interference Using a balanced cable instead of a single core cable introduces one additional wire to receive the environmental noise This additional noise signal is fed into the balanced inpu...

Page 21: ...onse 5 Hz 200 kHz 0 1 dB Crosstalk 120 dB 20 Hz 20 kHz input terminated by 150 ohm THD N classical analysis 0 00035 1 kHz 10 dB gain THD N classical analysis 0 00075 1 kHz 30 dB gain THD FFT analysis...

Page 22: ...lways masked by the output clipping Input clipping cannot be transferred to the output Impulse response input preamp The above snapshots show the ideal step impulse response of the preamp When subject...

Page 23: ...ed or 131 dBu unweighted The upper graph shows crosstalk between adjacent channels A 16 dBu signal was sent to channel 1 gain setting 10 dB The output level of channel 1 was 26 dBu The input of channe...

Page 24: ...technology can offer and the distortion of the unique input amplifier circuit is so low that it can only be quantified by classical analysis at lower gain settings At higher gain settings a FFT analys...

Page 25: ...very close to linear from 20 Hz 20 kHz The input noise contribution at 30 dB gain corresponds to a level of approx 0 0007 The distortion of the circuit is still below 0 0004 Thus it can be seen that t...

Page 26: ...ow 0 0004 in the whole audio range The measured THD N result is very close to linear from 20 Hz 20 kHz The noise contribution of the circuit at 20 dBu output level can be ignored The circuit noise cor...

Page 27: ...HD N is below 0 0015 in the whole audio range The measured THD N result is very close to linear from 20 Hz 20 kHz The noise contribution of the circuit at 45 V PP output level can be ignored The circu...

Page 28: ...the FFT analysis reduces the noise to its average value thus revealing the distortion components otherwise buried in the noise Below are plots of the distortion characteristics at various gain setting...

Page 29: ...Station 6 Preamplifier and Monitor Controller 29 Input preamp gain 30 dB frequency 1 kHz The RMS sum of all distortion components THD is 0 00015...

Page 30: ...Station 6 Preamplifier and Monitor Controller 30 Input preamp gain 60 dB frequency 1 kHz The RMS sum of all distortion components THD is 0 00118...

Page 31: ...Station 6 Preamplifier and Monitor Controller 31 Monitor output output 20 dBu frequency 1 kHz The RMS sum of all distortion components THD is 0 00016...

Reviews: