User manual ALESIS MONITOR ONE MK2

[. . . ] TM Owner's Reference Manual the re· evolution of music Alesis Monitor One Mk2 Reference Manual © Copyright 2001, Alesis Studio Electronics, Inc. "Monitor One", "Monitor One Mk2" and "Superport" are trademarks of Alesis Studio Electronics, Inc. ALESIS CONTACT INFORMATION Alesis Studio Electronics, Inc. www. alesis. com E-Mail: Website: info@alesis. com http://www. alesis. com table of contents Thank you! for purchasing the Alesis Monitor One Mk2TM Studio Reference Monitors. To take full advantage of the Monitor One's operation, and to enjoy long and trouble-free use, please read this user's manual carefully. [. . . ] Near-field monitors, by their definition, are intended for mounting close to the listener. The idea here is to improve the direct acoustic path between the speaker and the listener by making it shorter, thereby giving less opportunity for the always-present indirect (reflected) sounds to get back in and muddle things up. With near-field monitoring, the surrounding acoustic environment becomes a much less significant factor in establishing the monitor system's sound character. A good set of small monitors properly placed in a reasonably nonreverberant room and powered by a 150-watt amplifier will yield surprisingly accurate results at budget prices. The Monitor One has become a standard used in thousands of studios worldwide because, unlike other "bookshelf" speakers, it's designed to be listened to for hours at a time without causing ear fatigue and can handle loud low-frequency transients. Carried to another studio, the Monitor Ones should also provide repeatable results. In fact, some recording engineers carry their own Monitor Ones around because they know how they will sound in almost any room. Now, even the big studios use Monitor Ones to augment their big monitoring systems, and near-field monitors have become proven tools in the recording business. Monitor One Mk2 Reference Manual 7 about the Monitor One · chapter 1 8 Monitor One Mk2 Reference Manual chapter 2 Installation Like any speaker system, your Monitor Ones will work best when properly positioned in a suitable acoustic environment. Achieving proper speaker placement is usually straightforward, but even with near-field monitors, speaker placement and the acoustics of the listening room itself are too often overlooked and can become significant contributors to an inaccurate and uninspiring monitoring environment. It will help you to get the most use and enjoyment from your new Alesis monitors. Speaker placement Avoid reflections While near-field monitors are fairly forgiving of the surrounding room acoustics, it is always prudent to optimize the listening environment whenever possible. First, the user should be aware of the effect that the size of the listening room can have on low frequency response. In general, the smaller the room, the stronger the bottom end will be, although within a larger room placement can also make a difference. This has to do with the way low-frequency waves travel in closed spaces. Alesis recommends that the distance between the speakers equal the distance between the listener and either speaker. In other words, the listener and the two speakers are at the three corners of an equilateral triangle. Note that both speakers are turned in somewhat, so that the prime listening position is directly out in front of each speaker. Applications that require monitoring by more than one engineer are accommodated by a smaller rotation of the cabinets. This will widen the prime listening position somewhat. Figure 3 ft M Le r ito on Ri gh tM on ito r The speakers and listener should be at the three corners of a triangle having equal length sides Prime Listening Position Monitor One Mk2 Reference Manual 11 installation · chapter 2 Symmetry Alesis has designed the Monitor One Mk2 for horizontal or vertical mounting. Horizontal mounting, however, keeps their height profile as low as possible to minimize the recording engineer's visual obstructions. Proper horizontal placement of speaker systems slightly behind (not on) a meter bridge accomplishes two purposes: it allows both woofer and tweeter to be at ear level, and many times, it permits the recording engineer to see over the speakers and into the studio. Of course, the traditional vertical method of mounting the speakers with the high frequency drivers at the top is perfectly acceptable too. NOTE: We recommend that the M1 Active Mk2 speakers be placed with the tweeters to the inside, not the outside, of the listening triangle. [. . . ] If one speaker's polarity is out of phase with the other, the result will be loss of low frequency response and stereo imaging when the system is played. To help you do this, most speaker cable has a way to tell one conductor from another. Some use different-colored wires or insulation; others mold a small line or marker into one insulator to mark it. In most cases, the speaker outputs of the amplifier will have a red terminal and a black terminal; these should be connected to the same-colored terminals of the Monitor One. [. . . ]