Tannoy 66 Computer Monitor User Manual
Contents
1. 20 50 100 200 500 Tk ek ok 10k 20k 40k Frequency Hz mpedance fot TAT TE Pe ART TER PTE PTAA TE A LVI NANM TO O Tr hi 10k 20k 17 a Hz TANNOY 18 6 0 REVEAL 66 TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS LOUDSPEAKER Frequency response 1 57Hz 51kHz Recommended amplifier power 80 to 150 W rms into 82 Average 2 80W rms Programme 160W Power handling Nominal Impedance 6Q Sensitivity SPL 1 W 1 ma 92dB Distortion lt 0 6 Crossover frequency 2 7kHz Dispersion 6dB 90 degrees Drive unit LF MID 200mm 8 multi fibre paper pulp cone WideBand HF 25mm 1 titanium dome neodymium magnet system Shielded Yes CABINET Low frequency design Optimised bass reflex loaded Cabinet construction MDF cabinet and front baffle Tongue and groove front and back Cabinet finish Maroon satin texture finish front Grey vinyl sides and back Fittings 4 x M6 inserts for Omnimount 30 series bracketry Cabinet dimensions HxWxD 230mm 9 x 527mm 20 4 x 340mm 133 8 Total Cabinet weight 12 8kg 28 1 6lbs NOTES 1 3 dB measured at 1m in an anechoic chamber 2 Long term power handling capacity as defined in EIA standard RS426A 3 Averaged over specified bandwidth for half space environment Tannoy operates a policy of continuous research and development The introduction of new materials or manufacturing methods will2. To remove the speakers from the carton without damage open the end flaps fully and bend them right back 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 intorm 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 carton if possible for future transportation 2 2 PRELIMINARY RECOMMENDATION Initially we would like to give a word of warning on high sound levels which this speaker is capable of generating over sustained periods of time Levels over 95 dB for 8 hours per day will 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 2 3 CONNECTING YOUR SPEAKER The types of cable used to connect the speakers to the power amplifier will marginally affect the sound The cross section
3. each head position All two way component monitors no matter who manufactures them need to be used with the multi driver axis vertical that s just the way it has to be when you re in the near field And if you re wondering how three way near tields work with a whole bunch of speakers stuck all over the baffle well you ll quickly realise why we stopped at two way speaker systems lt W ONION INE This is the monitor equivalent of a wheel alignment Where do you aim the speakers to give you the smoothest and most consistent sound and how far apart do you place them to give you a good stereo image The basic rule is to follow the layout of an equilateral triangle The distance between the two monitors should be roughly the same as the distance between one monitor and your nose in the listening position where you are leaning forward on the console armrest See the following diagram ok ee SX at anes re i a Equal F distance He FA t A gern 4 The furthest La _ Speaker axis forward you lean Ne of to the furthest o gt back you sit C The speaker axis shown on the diagram should be aimed at the halfway point between your furthest forward and the furthest back listening positions as indicated by the two heads on the diagram This is typically a range of about 24 600mm If you can you should line your ears up with the vertical speaker axis half way between the woofer and the twee
4. finger tight and then progressively tighten them down with the appropriate Allen key Repeat the same procedure for the HF driver g INS ASe3 11 TANNOY 12 7 3 CROSSOVER The crossover is mounted on the rear of the terminal panel To inspect it remove the panel by releasing the hexagonal screws Take care to avoid undue stress on the cables and components To remove the crossover completely the cables must be disconnected from the drive unit Please proceed as above to remove the drive unit 7 4 LIST OF SPARE PARTS PART NUMBER DESCRIPTION Type 1603 7900 0747 Driver Kit Type 0294 7900 0891B High Frequency Unit Type 1464 7300 0937 Passive Crossover Further spare part details and factory part numbers can be found at www tannoy com 8 0 WARRANTY NO MAINTENANCE OF THE REVEAL 6 MONITOR IS NECESSARY All components are guaranteed for a period of five years trom the date of manufacture subject to the absence of or evidence of misuse overload or accidental damage For further information please contact your dealer or the distributor in your country If you cannot locate your distributor please contact Customer Services Tannoy Ltd Coatbridge Strathclyde ML5 4TF Scotland Telephone 01236 420199 UK 44 1236 420199 International Fax 01236 428230 UK 44 1236 428230 International Internet http www tannoy com DO NOT SHIP ANY PRODUCT TO TANNOY WITHOUT PREVIOUS AUTHO
5. for one of the drivers in the diagram and you ve got a pretty good picture of what happens when the original wavefront and the reflected wavefront meet The big problem with this comb filtering is that you can t fix it with any terrestrial equaliser once the waves cancel there is nothing left to boost You may also notice that as you move your head the filtering changes so any equalisation you attempted to apply for one position would be detrimental to all the other listening positions We mentioned that there are two things happening here The second thing is a change in directivity caused by the addition of a boundary the console top When you want to shout at someone outdoors you cup your hands around your mouth to increase the directivity of your voice By placing the monitor on the meter bridge you ve done the equivalent of putting one hand to your mouth In the lower midrange 200 800Hz where the wavelength is long enough at 400mm 1400mm 16 55 that you don t get cancellation you get the wavefronts adding together This causes an increment in the level over the lower midrange area at the same time that holes appear in the midrange trom comb filtering effects Now that you ve begun to believe it is impossible to use near fields on a console top we ll talk about what you can do to help alleviate these problems The first thing you need to do is be able to identity the surfaces that are close enough to do serious harm You can do this at great exp
6. placement But we realise that equalisation is sometimes a necessary evil If you have a choice of equalisers for monitor applications less is more The fewer the number of filters the better the equaliser will sound A stereo five band parametric is better than a stereo 15 band that is better than a stereo 1 3 octave You may not realise that in all but one or two brands of 1 3 octave equalisers all 30 filters are in series There is a minimum transit time through each filter of some 25 microseconds plus just a bit of decay time for each filter Even with the equaliser set flat it does not behave like a straight piece of wire in the time domain If you don t need to equalise your monitors then don t hook an equaliser up to them at all A subtle bit of reduction in the mid bass where the console or table top will give you a rise perhaps a bit of tailoring to taste here or there As a general rule for this application you should never need more than 6dB of control range and you should never see two adjacent filters with more than 6dB of difference between them Over equalisation can reduce system headroom and introduce phase distortion resulting in greater problems than cures Always check out the result of equalisation by listening to well recorded vocals or speech 4 0 REVEAL 66 DIMENSIONS 527 0mm 340 0mm i 20 3 4 13 3 ae 230 0mm 9 g9 INS AS
7. 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 2 0 THE BASICS The Reveal 6 is the latest 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 titanium WideBand high frequency unit is seamlessly matched to a 165mm 6 5 long throw low distortion bass unit by a precision low loss crossover network How have we reduced the distortion in this new monitor By introducing flux control rings and copper caps into the magnet system to linearise the voice coil inductance as it moves in and out of the magnetic air gap otherwise a source of nasty third harmonic distortion What does WideBand mean Although trequencies higher than 20kHz are inaudible in all but a few human beings by e
8. ENTATION 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 centre 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 magnity 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
9. NG amp POSITIONING 3 1 5 1 Surround Monitoring 3 2 Bass Ports 3 3 Equalisation 4 0 REVEAL 66 DIMENSIONS 5 0 PERFORMANCE DATA 6 0 TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS 7 0 SERVICING 6 1 Cabinet finish 6 2 Driver removal 6 3 Crossover 6 4 List of spare parts 8 0 WARRANTY 9 0 DECLARATION OF CONFORMITY 1 0 INTRODUCTION Thank you for purchasing the Tannoy Reveal 66 Monitor Primarily designed as a centre channel to complement the Reveal 6 monitor in a 5 1 studio set up it is equally suitable as a low profile stereo desktop near field monitor The design compatibility within the Reveal range ensures all models share the same acoustical balance and dispersion characteristics During mixing and playback this benefit provides a very natural soundstage retaining natural voicing and ensuring that aural effects and speech localisation pan from left to right and front to rear seamlessly The 5 1 format allows the mix engineer in the recording studio to assign audio information to one or more discrete channels of playback providing very vivid and exacting localisation for the apparent sound sources in the listening environment The Reveal 66 is fully magnetically shielded permitting use in close proximity to TV monitors without colour fringing effects This manual is intended to provide the user with some useful advice on how to install and use the loudspeaker as well as more technical information about how the system is de
10. OK dig out your pink noise generator it s time for an experiment You ll need an assistant from the audience for this Have your assistant hold your monitor up in the air about 600mm 24 from the top of the console while feeding pink noise through it Make sure you re listening right on the speaker axis that line between the woofer and tweeter and have your assistant slowly lower the monitor onto its perch on the meter bridge Hear that change in midrange character as it gets within the last foot of the console How different did it sound when it was up in the air There s two significant things happening here The first problem is comb filtering interference caused by the reflection from the console top taking a fraction of a second and a tiny fraction longer to get to your ear than the sound directly from the speaker And you thought you couldn t afford a Flanger for your studio You may have noticed that in the last foot prior to touchdown on the console the main sonic change was in the midband area There is a real cruelty associated with laws of physics the speed of sound in air gives us wavelengths in the midrange area that just seem to coincide with the dimensions of everything we mount speakers on maximising the problems created by these reflections The previous diagrams horizontal and vertical that show the interaction between a separate woofer and tweeter also demonstrate the problem generated by the reflection Substitute the reflection
11. RISATION This warranty in no way affects your statutory rights 9 0 DECLARATION OF CONFORMITY The following apparatus is are manufactured in China for Tannoy Ltd of Rosehall Industrial estate Coatbridge Scotland ML5 ATF and conform s to the protection requirements of the European Electromagnetic Compatibility Standards and Directives relevant to Domestic Electrical Equipment The apparatus is designed and constructed such that electromagnetic disturbances generated do not exceed levels allowing radio and telecommunications equipment and other apparatus to operate as intended and the apparatus has an adequate level of intrinsic immunity to electromagnetic disturbance to enable operation as specified and intended This equipment conforms to the requirements of the EMC Directive 89 336 EEC amended by 92 31 EEC and 93 68 EEC and the requirements of the Low Voltage Directive 73 23 EEC amended by 93 68 EEC Details of the Apparatus Tannoy Monitor Loudspeaker Model Number Reveal 6 Applicable Standards EN55103 1 1996 Emission EN55103 2 1996 Immunity Electrical Satety EN60065 1993 Signed A r Y Position Technical Director Date 1 March 2005 For Tannoy Ltd g INS ASe3 13 TANNOY 14 1 0 INTRODUCTION 2 0 THE BASICS 2 1 Unpacking and visual checks 2 2 Preliminary recommendation 2 3 Connecting your speakers 2 4 Observing polarity Y H Z LLJ Z O O 2 5 Power Amplifiers 3 0 INSTALLI
12. a dg NR on gt TECHNOLOGY Tannoy United Kingdom T 44 0 1236 420199 F 44 0 1236 428230 E enquiries tannoy com Tannoy North America T 519 745 1158 F 519 745 2364 E inquiries tannoyna com Tannoy Deutschland T 04102 888 393 F 04102 888 959 E info tannoy com Tannoy adopts a policy of continuous improvement and product specification is subject to change tannoyecom ELVO L879 I ai 4 iN 6 amp 66 PASSIVE STUDIO MONITORS OWNERS MANUAL TANNOY 1 0 INTRODUCTION 2 0 THE BASICS 2 1 Unpacking and visual checks 2 2 Preliminary recommendation 2 3 Connecting your speakers 2 4 Observing polarity Y H Z LLJ Z O O 2 5 Power Amplifiers 3 0 PLACEMENT OF THE SPEAKERS 3 1 Orientation 3 2 Positioning 3 3 Console Reflections 3 4 Speaker Mounting 3 5 Bass Ports 3 6 Equalisation 4 0 PERFORMANCE DATA 5 0 REVEAL 6 DIMENSIONS 6 0 REVEAL 6 TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS 7 0 SERVICING 7 1 Cabinet finish 7 2 Driver removal 7 3 Crossover 7 4 List of spare parts 8 0 WARRANTY 9 0 DECLARATION OF CONFORMITY 2 2 PRELIMINARY RECOMMENDATION 1 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 enough not to plug your speakers into an AC outlet and 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
13. al area of the cable should be large enough so as not to affect the damping factor generally a cable with a cross sectional area of 2 5 mm or greater is recommended The lower the resistance of the cable between the amplifier and the speakers the better the damping tactor acting on the speaker This has been covered in every audio magazine that has ever been written about speakers so we won t beat it to death here You don t need to buy speaker wire that costs as much as your speakers to get some benefit from wire size select a finely stranded speaker cable and dress the cable ends to prevent hairs or stray conductors from shorting across the terminals If your amplifier will not directly accept that size of cable you can trim down the cable size at the amplitier end Ensure that the binding post retaining nuts are screwed down firmly without stripping or over tightening them 2 4 OBSERVING POLARITY You already know about connecting the positive terminal on the amplitier to the positive terminal on the speakers and ensuring that both channels are in phase by checking to ensure that there s more bass with both speakers on and not less bass Absolute polarity is a bit trickier to confirm Absolute polarity is the maintenance of a positive pressure wave from the microphone capsule to the listening room A kick drum for instance has the drum skin whacked by the toot pedal and it pushes the air which pushes the microphone diaphragm w
14. always equal or exceed the published specifications which Tannoy reserve the right to alter without prior notice Please verify the latest specifications when dealing with critical applications 7 0 SERVICING i 7 1 CABINET FINISH To remove marks and scuffs use a soft brush If necessary a little warm water and detergent can be used but under no circumstances use a solvent or abrasive cleaner 7 2 DRIVER REMOVAL Lay the cabinet on its back Remove the ten hexagonal screws and set aside Ease the driver from the front of the cabinet taking care not to mark the front surface Remove the driver note the polarity of the internal connections and disconnect the internal wiring Take care not to damage the moving parts of the LF driver To refit the driver connect the cables from the crossover to the LF terminals Fit the driver into the mounting hole making sure that the internal connecting cables are not trapped or able to touch the LF cone Fasten the screws finger tight and then progressively tighten them down with the appropriate Allen key Repeat the same procedure for the HF driver 7 3 CROSSOVER The crossover is mounted on the rear of the terminal panel To inspect it remove the panel by releasing the hexagonal screws Take care to avoid undue stress on the cables and components To remove the crossover completely the cables must be disconnected from the drive unit Please proceed as above to remove the drive u
15. amplifiers are not overdriven 3 0 INSTALLING AND POSITIONING When choosing a suitable location for the monitors bear in mind that the physical mounting of loudspeakers can have a large influence on performance For best results the monitors should be mounted on a rigid structure supported on four pads making contacts with the laminated panel The use of soft pads rubber Sorbothane or Blu Tak is recommended Ensure that the console position does not obscure the direct sound radiation from the loudspeakers when sitting down The engineer and producer should have a clear uninterrupted view of the monitor loudspeakers 3 1 5 1 SURROUND MONITORING In order to ensure a uniform acoustical environment the room should be symmetrical about the centre loudspeaker axis room treatments should be applied symmetrically throughout the room Mixed Live end Dead end environments should be avoided It the lateral speakers are positioned close to walls then the constitution of the wall surfaces should be identical As the main effects speaker for the front soundstage the Reveal 66 s placement is a critical factor in its performance In all cases the centre channel speaker should be placed as close to the TV screen as possible The viewing position when seated determines the ideal mounting height but in all cases this should be as close as possible to ear height if this is not possible the monitor should be tilted towards ear height
16. binet weight 7 8kg 17 16lbs Shipping dimensions HxWxD 622mm 24 2 x 287mm 11 4 x 440mm 17 8 Shipping weight 16 kg NOTES 1 3 dB measured at 1m in an anechoic chamber 2 Long term power handling capacity as defined in EIA standard RS426A 3 Averaged over specified bandwidth for half space environment Tannoy operates a policy of continuous research and development The introduction of new materials or manufacturing methods will always equal or exceed the published specifications which Tannoy reserve the right to alter without prior notice Please verify the latest specifications when dealing with critical applications 7 0 SERVICING 7 1 CABINET FINISH To remove marks and scuffs use a soft brush If necessary a little warm water and detergent can be used but under no circumstances use a solvent or abrasive cleaner 7 2 DRIVER REMOVAL Lay the cabinet on its back Remove the ten hexagonal screws and set aside Ease the driver from the front of the cabinet taking care not to mark the front surface Remove the driver note the polarity of the internal connections and disconnect the internal wiring Take care not to damage the moving parts of the LF driver To refit the driver connect the cables from the crossover to the LF terminals Fit the driver into the mounting hole making sure that the internal connecting cables are not trapped or able to touch the LF cone Fasten the screws
17. cable size at the amplifier end Ensure that the binding post retaining nuts are screwed down firmly without stripping or over tightening them 2 4 OBSERVING POLARITY You already know about connecting the positive terminal on the amplifier to the positive terminal on the speakers and ensuring that both channels are in phase by checking to ensure that there s more bass with both speakers on and not less bass Absolute polarity is a bit trickier to confirm Absolute polarity is the maintenance of a positive pressure wave from the microphone capsule to the listening room A kick drum for instance has the drum skin whacked by the toot pedal and it pushes the air which pushes the microphone diaphragm which goes through the electronics and should eventually come out of the speakers as a positive pressure wave which should have the speaker cones moving towards you just like the drum skin It turns out that you can t trust a conventional recorded source to test this because there is no way to confirm that absolute polarity was maintained it can even change from track to track This isn t a trivial thing especially when you re using a true stereo microphone setup or trying to accurately place things in your mix This is something that should be rigorously checked with every microphone and every signal line in a studio but the first step would be to use the kickdrum test described above with a few microphones If you don t believe it can make a
18. d Hear a difference Which one sounds more like the recording should Does one get tubby or muddy Depending on the type of mounting surface you may find it beneficial to use a thin layer of flexible material eg Blu tak beneath the enclosure This not only absorbs some vibration but will help prevent the monitor from vibrating off of its mounting surface 3 5 BASS PORTS The Reveal monitors bass port is located on the back panel You should keep the back panels at least 150mm 6 away from the nearest wall surface to avoid an overblown bass sound If you cannot avoid being close to the wall or if you re using a separate subwoofer you may want to consider plugging the port tubes on your near tields with a closed cell foam rubber plug friction fit for a full seal Because the ports aren t needed if the monitor speakers are being used with a high pass filter you won t be losing any bass performance and you can improve the mid bass response by plugging the ports 3 6 EQUALisATION Our feeling is that you shouldn t equalise monitors at all to compensate tor inadequate room design Variations in the monitor response should be fixed through placement after all that s what this manual s about But we realise that equalisation is sometimes a necessary evil If you have a choice of equalisers for monitor applications less is more The fewer the number of filters the better the equaliser will sound A stereo five band parame
19. difference set up a little test using a mix you know and flip the polarity of both channels at the same time while listening to the same program imaging vague Imaging imaging vague imaging Hear Believe g INS ASe3 TANNOY 2 5 POWER AMPLIFIERS The power amplifier should be reasonably well matched in power to the power rating of the speakers see specifications The use of a powerful amplifier i e in excess of the recommended figure provides headroom which is useful especially for highly dynamic programme materials Due of the high peak power handling of Tannoy monitors responsible use of even more powerful amplifiers should not represent a danger to the speakers if the amplifiers are not overdriven Now just because you have a Ferrari it doesn t mean to say you can drive it at the red line all of the time it will eventually blow up Same thing goes here just because the speakers will handle a large amplitier it doesn t mean that you can run them flat out constantly without eventually blowing something up 3 0 PLACEMENT OF THE SPEAKERS Now here s the truly critical stuff Soeaker 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 1 ORI
20. dio and telecommunications equipment and other apparatus to operate as intended and the apparatus has an adequate level of intrinsic immunity to electromagnetic disturbance to enable operation as specified and intended This equipment conforms to the requirements of the EMC Directive 89 336 EEC amended by 92 31 EEC and 93 68 EEC and the requirements of the Low Voltage Directive 73 23 EEC amended by 93 68 EEC Details of the Apparatus Tannoy Monitor Loudspeaker Model Number Reveal 66 Applicable Standards EN55103 1 1996 Emission EN55103 2 1996 Immunity Electrical Satety EN60065 1993 Signed pv Position Technical Director Date 1 March 2005 For Tannoy Ltd g9 INS AS 19
21. enerating over sustained periods of time Levels over 95 dB for 8 hours per day will 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 2 3 CONNECTING YOUR SPEAKER The types of cable used to connect the speakers to the power amplifier will marginally affect the sound The cross sectional area of the cable should be large enough so as not to affect the damping factor generally a cable with a cross sectional area of 2 5 mm or greater is recommended The lower the resistance of the cable between the amplifier and the speakers the better the damping factor acting on the speaker This has been covered in every audio magazine that has ever been written about speakers so we won t beat it to death here You don t need to buy speaker wire that costs as much as your speakers to get some benefit from wire size select a finely stranded speaker cable and dress the cable ends to prevent hairs or stray conductors from shorting across the terminals If your amplifier will not directly accept that size of cable you can trim down the
22. ense by using a real time analyser and spend a few months learning to use it OR you can grab a length of string some gaffer tape and a mic stand and get set for another experiment First the theory For unblemished stereo imaging and frequency response you would want to listen in a completely reflection free environment like an anechoic chamber where all you would hear is the image and the direct sound produced by the speakers no nasty reflections anywhere For most people this is impractical Next best thing if you can establish a listening position free of reflections arriving within 2 milliseconds after the direct sound that s the time it takes sound to travel about 24 or 600mm or less which represents all frequencies from 500 Hz and up and minimise reflections arriving within 10 milliseconds of the direct sound you can maintain a remarkably stable stereo image and uniform response throughout the mix area The direct sound is just that it is the shortest straight line path that sound can take from the speaker to your ear no bounces no reflections The 2 millisecond reflection window really affects the character of the sound at the mix position drastically altering the response of the speaker in the critical audio bands of 500Hz and above The 10 millisecond reflection window does some more subtle things to the speaker s response because the ear brain reads reflections arriving within 10 milliseconds of the direct sound as being part of
23. hich goes through the electronics and should eventually come out of the speakers as a positive pressure wave which should have the speaker cones moving towards you just like the drum skin It turns out that you can t trust a conventional recorded source to test this because there is no way to confirm that absolute polarity was maintained it can even change from track to track This isn t a trivial thing especially when you re using a true stereo microphone setup or trying to accurately place things in your mix This is something that should be rigorously checked with every microphone and every signal line in a studio but the first step would be to use the kick drum test described above with a few microphones If you don t believe it can make a difference set up a little test using a mix you know and flip the polarity of both channels at the same time while listening to the same program imaging vague imaging imaging vague imaging Hear Believe g9 INS AS 15 TANNOY 16 2 5 POWER AMPLIFIERS The power amplifier should be reasonably well matched in power to the power rating of the speakers see specifications The use of a powerful amplifier i e in excess of the recommended figure provides headroom which is useful especially for highly dynamic programme materials Due of the high peak power handling of Tannoy monitors responsible use of even more powertul amplifiers should not represent a danger to the speakers if the
24. in the mix position The centre speaker should be positioned along the centre axis of the picture and the left right monitors just outside the picture ideally the three front effects speakers would be placed with the front baffles in line with the screen surface If an acoustically transparent screen is used the left right monitors should be placed just inside the edges of the picture The surround speakers should be positioned at the same distance to the mix position as the main front speakers As the subwoofer LFE channel only produces low frequencies it is difficult to localise its position by ear As a result it could effectively be situated anywhere in the room though optimum performance will be gained by placing the subwoofer in the same plane as the main front speakers The LFE channel is set at a level 10dB higher than the other channels when mixing therefore it is important to apply the same in any playback situation 3 2 BASS PORTS The Reveal 66 monitors bass port is located on the back panel You should keep the back panels at least 150mm 6 away from the nearest wall surface to avoid an overblown bass sound If you cannot avoid being close to the wall you may want to consider plugging the port tubes on your loudspeaker with a closed cell foam rubber plug friction fit for a full seal 3 3 EQUALISATION Our feeling is that you shouldn t equalise monitors at all variations in the monitor response should be fixed through
25. nit 7 4 LIST OF SPARE PARTS PART NUMBER DESCRIPTION Type 1603 7900 0747 Driver Kit Type 0294 7900 0891B High Frequency Unit Type 1465 7300 0938 Passive Crossover Further spare part details and factory part numbers can be found at www tannoy com 8 0 WARRANTY NO MAINTENANCE OF THE REVEAL 66 MONITOR IS NECESSARY All components are guaranteed for a period of five years from the date of manufacture subject to the absence of or evidence of misuse overload or accidental damage For further information please contact your dealer or the distributor in your country If you cannot locate your distributor please contact Customer Services Tannoy Ltd Coatbridge Strathclyde ML5 4TF Scotland Telephone 01236 420199 UK 44 1236 420199 International Fax 01236 428230 UK 44 1236 428230 International Internet http www tannoy com DO NOT SHIP ANY PRODUCT TO TANNOY WITHOUT PREVIOUS AUTHORISATION This warranty in no way affects your statutory rights 9 0 DECLARATION OF CONFORMITY The following apparatus is are manufactured in China for Tannoy Ltd of Rosehall Industrial estate Coatbridge Scotland ML5 ATF and conform s to the protection requirements of the European Electromagnetic Compatibility Standards and Directives relevant to Domestic Electrical Equipment The apparatus is designed and constructed such that electromagnetic disturbances generated do not exceed levels allowing ra
26. r problems than cures Always check out the result of equalisation by listening to well recorded vocals or speech 4 0 REVEAL 6 DIMENSIONS k 319 0mm 50 8mm 121 2 P 210 0mm 81 4 pmnan N 340 0mm 139 38 g INS ASe3 5 0 REVEAL 6 PERFORMANCE DATA dB dB Wa Tin on axis frequency response TANNOY 10 20 30 40 Frequency Hz mpedance UT Pt PAn r Y wor M 5 10 AL 100 FOO Tk Ak 10k Ok Frequency Hz 10 10 6 0 REVEAL 6 TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS LOUDSPEAKER Frequency response 1 63Hz 51kHz Recommended amplifier power 50 to 100 W rms into 8Q Power handling Average 2 50 W rms Programme 100 W Nominal Impedance 6Q Sensitivity SPL 1 W 1 ms 90 dB Distortion lt 0 6 Crossover frequency 2 9kHz Dispersion 6dB 90 degrees Drive unit LF MID 165mm 6 multi fibre paper pulp cone WideBand HF 25mm 1 titanium dome neodymium magnet system Shielded Yes CABINET Low frequency design Optimised bass reflex loaded Cabinet construction MDF cabinet and front baffle Tongue and groove front and back Cabinet finish Maroon satin texture finish front Grey vinyl sides and back Fittings 4 x MG inserts for Omnimount 30 series bracketry Cabinet dimensions HxWxD 340mm 133 2 x 210mm 8 4 x 319mm 12 2 Total Ca
27. s not perfect the driver offset is still there but 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 VERTICAL With the woofer and tweeter stacked vertically you experience the least variation as you move across the horizontal plane of the console work surface g INS AS TANNOY Another interesting note the Tannoy true point source Dual Concentric monitors are free from the physical offsets previously described which means that the behavior of the Dual Concentric monitors will not change in the horizontal vertical or any other plane you can pick The other neat thing about Dual Concentric monitors is that no matter how close you get to them you can t get the image to fragment into separate high and low frequency sources Now if you were to follow the all too common practice of lying your two way monitors on their side to give you better sight lines over your meter bridge you can see and hear what will happen With the monitor on its side moving your head horizontally means you are now moving through all those rays or lobes where the wavefronts from the woofers and tweeters interfere with each other The midrange frequency response will be different for
28. signed and its detailed specifications The goal being that it will help you get the best results from this monitoring system 2 0 THE BASICS The Reveal 66 is designed and built by Tannoy a company with unrivalled experience in studio monitoring It has an extremely detailed dynamic sound with a wide flat frequency response essential ingredients for monitoring with reliable accuracy The 25mm 1 titanium dome WideBand high frequency unit is seamlessly matched to two 165mm 6 5 long throw low distortion bass units by a precision low loss crossover network Distortion has been reduced in this new monitor by introducing flux control rings and copper caps into the magnet system to linearise the voice coil inductance as it moves in and out of the magnetic air gap a source of third and higher order harmonic distortion in speakers Although trequencies higher than 20kHz are inaudible in all but a few human beings by extending the high frequency response to 35kHz and beyond with a WideBand high frequency unit we can correct the phase response within the audible band up to 20kHz Go to www tannoy com for our white paper on this subject The drive units are mounted on a massive 40mm thick baffle curved to minimise diffraction and creating the loudspeakers distinctive styling The drive units are fully magnetically shielded allowing the system to be used close to video monitors if required 2 1 UNPACKING AND VISUAL CHECKS
29. tely dead What this process will show you is which surfaces you should try to angle to redirect reflections away trom your mix position If there are surfaces that you cannot move or shift you can apply a small amount of absorbent material to specific surfaces rather than covering the entire room in absorbers You may want to consider a speaker placement other than the console meter bridge perhaps on an elevated mounting arm attached to the wall or on a mid field monitor stand just behind the console These positions can help clean up that 2 millisecond window Keep your ears open for other problem reflections like between the sloped connector panel on the back of the console and the baffle of the speaker which will find its way back to the mix position a bit too late to be useful The string trick works just fine for locating these reflecting surtaces It s important that you listen to the effect of speaker placement on the sound character of your speakers and understand what those changes are going to do to your mix To make the point here s are some more things to consider 3 4 SPEAKER MOUNTING You ve probably got your monitors delicately balanced on your console meter bridge or sitting on a counter top beside your hard disc editor Find some music with some real solid low end that you know well Try listening to this music with the speaker sitting directly on the mounting surface and then with it sitting on a thin piece of rubber pa
30. ter Remember the earlier drawings showing your ears and the speaker these were to get your normal listening position lined up in the best spot possible If this would have you resting your chin on the console you could tilt the monitor back slightly This keeps your head in the sweet spot whether you re leaning forward adjusting level or EQ or leaning back and listening to the mix Don t go crazy trying to get this exact to three decimal places within a few inches will suffice Your Tannoy monitors have a wide sweet spot both horizontally and vertically to reduce the variations in sound quality as you move around doing your recording engineer stuff Turning the monitors in like this has an added benefit of keeping the high frequencies trom reflecting off the walls and outboard gear g INS AS 3 3 CONSOLE REFLECTIONS The number one killer of smooth near field monitor response is the mixing console Most people park their near field monitors on top of the meter bridge which makes the console top the most influential reflecting surface for the sound you hear when you re mixing How important ts that reflection If it were such a big deal wouldn t people have done something different by now Let s face it this industry is not exactly quick to acknowledge a situation that makes it apparent we ve ignored a problem for the ten years or so since near fields became popular So you still have reservations as to the significance of this reflection
31. the speaker s response these reflections can pull the stereo image around in different directions at different frequencies Enough theory now to the lab Here s where we have fun with science Take the microphone stand and place it at the mix position Attach one end of the string to the top of the mic stand and stretch the string out to the front of one of the monitors This is the direct sound path trom the speaker to your mix position To locate all the surfaces that will contribute reflections within that magic 2 millisecond window add 600mm 24 to the string you have stretched out Take a small piece of gaffer tape and attach the string to the baffle NOT the drivers Now every surface you can touch with any part of that string can contribute a reflection to your mix position TANNOY The STRING analyser This same concern about reflecting surfaces applies to all nearby widgets such as computer monitors outboard gear coffee cups rolls of tape the producer s wooden leg and all the other usual paraphernalia found in a studio environment Cleaning up this short sound path between the speaker and your listening position is like using a cotton bud on your ear You can repeat the process with an extra 3000mm 10 feet of string to see which surfaces will influence the timbre and imaging of your mix This exercise is not just about finding places to stick fuzzy or foamy absorbers to the last thing you want to do is make your room comple
32. tric is better than a stereo 15 band that is better than a stereo 1 3 octave You may not realise that in all but one or two brands of 1 3 octave equalisers all 30 filters are in series There is a minimum transit time through each filter of some 25 microseconds plus just a bit of decay time for each filter Even with the equaliser set flat it does not behave like a straight piece of wire in the time domain If you don t need to equalise your monitors then don t hook an equaliser up to them at all An important thing to keep in mind if you are equalising these compact monitors is that they are not intended to substitute for really large loudspeaker systems you might use for tracking synth lines or drum samples Don t try to equalise them to sound the same as the 15 monitors you were listening to in the in the music store The equalisation of your near fields should be undertaken with great subtlety With only the best intentions of correcting some of the placement related characteristics we ve talked about here a subtle bit of reduction in the lower mid area 100Hz to 500Hz where the console or table top will give you a rise perhaps a bit of tailoring to taste here or there As a general rule for this application you should never need more than 6cB of control range and you should never see two adjacent filters with more than 6dB of difference between them Over equalisation can reduce system headroom and introduce phase distortion resulting in greate
33. variations are still there 18cm 7 10 1 metre 3 feet 25 1 2 5 4 metres 12 feet 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 baftle 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 With the monitors laying horizontally you will move through the largest number of variations caused by the physical time offsets between the drivers if you think this is hard to look at imagine listening to it 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 And we have to be honest it
34. xtending the high frequency response to 35kHz and beyond we can correct the phase response within the audible band up to 20kHz Go to www tannoy com for our white paper on this subject Both drive units are mounted on a massive 40mm thick baffle curved to minimise diffraction and creating the loudspeakers distinctive styling The drive units are magnetically shielded to reduce stray magnetic fields and allow the system to be used close to video monitors Don t put potted plants on top of your speakers don t plug them into AC outlets or hook them up 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 2 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 carton if possible for future transportation Initially we would like to give a word of warning on high sound levels which these speakers are capable of g
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