Tannoy Reveal 5A Owner's Manual - page 3
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3.1: UNPACKING AND VISUAL CHECKS
To remove the speakers from the carton without damage open the end flaps fully and bend them right back (remember they are packed in pairs). Turn the package
upside-down on the floor and lift the carton vertically up to leave the speakers resting on their packing tray. Nothing on or in your speakers should rattle about.
Inspect each speaker for signs of transit damage. In the unlikely event of this having occurred inform the carrier and the supplier. Keep all the packaging if damage
has occurred, as this will show evidence of excessive handling forces. It is also a good idea to keep the packaging if possible for future transportation.
3.3: CONNECTING YOUR SPEAKER
The compact, integrated design of a self powered unit like the Reveal 5A makes it particularly easy to install.
Having chosen an appropriate location for your monitors and arranged them accordingly, connect the power
cord to the mains socket (location 2) and turn the power on (mains switch, location 1). The LED on the front
panel will now glow red. Push the Tannoy logo on the front panel to operate the switch to bring the amplifier
out of standby mode and into operational mode. Set the volume control on the front panel to zero (fully
anticlockwise). Connect the audio signal source (console output) to the input connector (combined XLR/jack
socket) at the back of the monitor (location 3).
As indicated on the silk screen printing, the input connector is wired to the balanced input as indicated below:
XLR INPUT
pin 2
pin 3
pin 1
JACK INPUT
Tip (T)
Ring (R)
Screen (S)
SIGNAL (+)
SIGNAL (-)
GROUND
Fig. 1.
If the source has a balanced output, use shielded twin conductor cable (microphone cable) connecting pin
2/T to pin 2/T (first inner conductor), pin 3/R to pin 3/R (second inner conductor), and pin 1/S to pin 1/S
(using the shield or drain conductor).
If the source has an unbalanced output, a single conductor shielded cable can be used, connecting pin 2/T
of the input to the "hot" signal pin of the source, while pin 3/R and pin 1/S should be linked together and
connected to the source signal ground.
2.0: INTRODUCTION
You’re thinking, "Come on, a user’s manual for speakers? That’s like a user’s manual for a toothbrush." You know you should hook them up in phase and then
you listen to them. How much more do you need to know? We know these speakers are headed for the professional or semi-professional studio market, so we
know we don’t need to tell you about putting your potted plants on top of the speakers, or to avoid putting the right one on the bookshelf, and the left one on the
floor behind the sofa. We know you are serious listeners or you wouldn’t have bought Tannoy monitors. We decided that someone needed to produce this type of
manual, and because we’re actually interested in monitoring, not just speaker sales, we figured it would have to be us. This user’s manual will tell you how to get
the absolute best performance out of your new monitors.
3.0: THE BASICS
The Reveal 5A is the smallest active playback monitor from Tannoy, a company with unrivalled experience in studio monitoring. It has an extremely detailed, dynamic
sound with a wide, flat frequency response – all of which are essential for monitoring with reliable accuracy.
The 25mm (1") soft dome HF unit is seamlessly matched to a 130mm (5") long throw bass unit. The drive units are mounted on a massive 40mm thick baffle, curved
to minimise diffraction and creating the loudspeakers distinctive styling. Both drive units are magnetically shielded to allow the system to be used close to video monitors.
Don’t put potted plants on top of your speakers, or solder your signal leads out of phase. Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s talk about some of the technical
things to keep in mind.
4.0: PLACEMENT OF THE SPEAKERS
Now here’s the truly critical stuff. Speaker placement and the listening environment can completely compromise the performance of any loudspeaker, no matter
how much it costs. It is important to understand some limitations of near-field speakers, and the operating environment, in order for you to gain the maximum
performance from the pair sitting in front of you.
3.2: PRELIMINARY RECOMMENDATION
Initially we would like to give a word of warning on high sound levels, which these speakers are capable of generating over sustained periods of time. Levels over
95 dB for 8 hours per day can eventually cause permanent hearing loss. Because Tannoy monitors have very low levels of time, amplitude and frequency distortion
it is not always obvious that the sound level is high while working with them.
For continuous exposure we recommend the occasional use of a sound level meter capable of integrating the sound level over a period of exposure according to
noise control standards. This should be used just to check that noise levels are always within safety limits.
4.1: ORIENTATION
Two-way speakers have a correct orientation for the serious listener. Two way systems use a separate woofer and tweeter mounted in a vertical line on the baffle.
There is a fixed vertical distance between the centre of the two devices on the baffle, and there is fixed distance between the apparent acoustic center of each device
and the plane of the baffle at the crossover point. By stacking the woofer and tweeter vertically, we minimise the problems caused by these physical offsets. The
near-field listening conditions magnify the effects of the driver offsets, so we really need to optimise the speaker orientation. When you are very close to a speaker
system, vertical head movements are significant because your movement represents a large change in angle of arc, and therefore the number of degrees above
and below the axis (that’s the line between the woofer and tweeter). In other words, bob your head up and down a few centimeters within a metre of the cabinet,
and your ear moves through a larger angle relative to the speaker axis than it does with the same vertical motion 4 or 5 metres away. Need proof? Put on some
music, not loud, and get really close, about 500mm (20") away. Move your head up and down now, and you can actually get the musical image to break into a
separate high frequency and low frequency source. This is a wildly exaggerated example of what we’re talking about. It isn’t that bad out here in the normal listening
position, but the variations are still there.
All two way component systems have to live with some listening position dependent compromises at the crossover point. The crossover frequency of all of these
small systems falls into the center of the midband (2.0kHz to 3.0kHz), where we are most capable of recognising frequency/phase response deviations.
In the diagrams below we have a graphical representation of the speaker systems operating at the crossover point where both high and low frequency drivers produce
the same output level. The first one shows a pair of two-way loudspeakers lying on their side. Note that each driver is producing sound, and because there is a
physical distance separating them on the baffle, there is also a time difference separating the drivers, and the result is what you see here. Around the crossover
point, the speaker will produce numerous lobes, producing changes in midrange sound character as you move across the horizontal listening plane.
HORIZONTAL
Stereo occurs from left to right, so that is the listening plane in which we try to minimise the changes in physical/time offset between the woofers and tweeters.
By stacking the woofer and tweeter vertically on the baffle we can give the mix engineer the widest range of movement in the horizontal plane. You can roll your
chair across the length of your mixing console and not change the relationship between the woofer and tweeter (just don’t bob your head up and down while you
do it).