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Bi-Amplified Studio Reference Monitor
Quick Start Owner’s Manual
BOX CONTENTS
• TWO M1ACTIVE 520 OR 620 MONITORS
• TWO POWER CABLES
• THIS QUICK START GUIDE
• IMPORTANT SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS
Manual de inicio rápido para el usuario
CONTENIDO DE LA CAJA
• DOS MONITORES M1ACTIVE 520 Ó 620
• DOS CABLES DE ALIMENTACIÓN
• ESTA GUÍA DE INICIO RÁPIDO
• INSTRUCCIONES IMPORTANTES DE SEGURIDAD
Manuel d’utilisation du propriétaire
CONTENUE DE LA BOÎTE
•
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M1Active 520/620 Quick Start User’s Guide (English) 1
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Introduction Thanks for choosing the Alesis M1Active 520/620 studio monitor. Alesis has a long history of making best-selling, high performance studio monitors and the M1Active 520/620 series builds upon everything we’ve learned from the past. Our M1Active line of speakers (including the M1Active 520 and its “bigger brother,” the M1Active 620) were engineered from the ground up to be the perfect studio monitor. The biamplified design, active crossover, and carefully matched woofer/t
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Key Features M1Active 520 Monitors feature the following: • 75-watt biamplified design with active crossover • 5” Low Frequency woofer for punchy bass and clear midrange • ¾” Silk dome tweeter for smooth highs without ear-fatiguing harshness • Top mounted power switch/clip light • Acoustical waveguide for superior imaging and minimal diffraction • Rear port for deep bass extension and increased loudness • Acoustic Space switch allows speaker placement in any location • Magnetic shie
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Product Registration Please go to http://www.alesis.com and register your M1Active 520/620 speakers. Registering helps us to keep you up-to-date on any last minute product issues. If you would like, we can also send you information on other products that might interest you. By registering with us, you let us know what products you use (or dream about) and this helps us bring you better products in the future. 4
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Front Panel 1. Power Switch/Clip Light- This bar turns blue when the M1Active 520/620 is powered up (the power switch is found on the top of the speaker) and the bar turns red when the speaker is being overloaded. 2. Acoustic Waveguide- Besides giving the speaker its devilishly good looks, our distinctive silver acoustical waveguide helps spread the tweeter’s high frequency sound evenly across your control room. 3. Tweeter- Our silk dome tweeter is designed to handle all frequenc
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Back Panel 1. TRS Input – This ¼” input accepts balanced “TRS” or unbalanced “TS” cables from your mixer, computer, or any other line level source. Both types of cabling will work, but we recommend balanced TRS (or XLR) cables since they give you better performance and lower noise (especially if you’re using longer cables). 2. XLR Input – This jack functions exactly the same way as the TRS input (see above), but it uses balanced XLR cabling. 3. Gain – This knob sets the input
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8. Lo – This high-pass filter switch lets you pick the point at which the speaker will roll off low frequencies. Many subwoofers roll off frequencies above 80 Hz, so if you want to use your M1Active 520/620 speakers with a subwoofer, set this switch to “80.” If you do not have a subwoofer, leave this set to the lowest number to let the M1Active 520/620 play its full range of sound. Alternatively, you may want to hear how your mix will translate on smaller speakers (such as a TV, or rad
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About the Acoustic Space Switch The bass response of a speaker is greatly affected by the Unlike bass frequencies, midrange speaker’s proximity to walls. You’ll notice a buildup in and high frequency sounds are bass frequencies as a speaker moves closer to a wall and much more “directional” and only even more buildup as the speaker moves closer to a radiate forward. Because of this, corner. This happens because low frequencies radiate in the Acoustic Space Switch only all dir
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About the Hi-Boost Switch This switch engages a 2dB shelving filter starting at 3 kHz that will boost when set to “+”, cut when set to “-”, and will be bypassed when set to “0.” If your mixing environment has many acoustically reflective surfaces and sounds overly “bright,” you can compensate for this by reducing the high frequency output of the M1Active 520/620. Conversely, if you are mixing in an acoustically “dead” room with lots of sound absorption and little reflection, you can b
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Speaker Placement The placement of your speakers has a huge impact on how well they will perform in your studio. Although nearfield studio monitors (such as these M1Active 520/620s) are designed to be more forgiving when it comes to placement, you should do your best to make sure they form an equilateral triangle relative to your head. In other words, make sure that each speaker is equally distant from both your head as well as the other speaker. Once each speaker has been placed, rot
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Speaker Height: The ideal height for M1Active 520/620 speakers is so that the speaker is parallel to the ground and that the midpoint of the woofer and tweeter is at ear-height. The diagram below demonstrates the ideal placement height of the speakers relative to the engineer. Notice that the engineer’s ears are directly between the woofer and tweeter. Woofer/tweeter midpoint If possible, use speaker stands and move the monitors off of your desk (or meter bridge, if
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Speaker Orientation: The M1Active 520/620 has been designed for maximum flexibility when it comes to speaker orientation (i.e., whether the speaker is upright or laying down on its side). For best performance, place the speakers vertically with the tweeter on top. If this is not practical in your control room, go ahead and lay each speaker on its side, but make sure the tweeters are on the “inside” and are closer to the engineer. This will give you the best possible soundstaging for th
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Hookup Diagrams The following two hookup diagrams should give you an idea of how your M1Active speakers can fit into your recording rig. If you are using a mixer in your studio, your setup will probably be similar to the one below. All audio is routed through the mixer into your M1Active monitors. If you wish to record the output of your mixer, you can take the output of the mixer and send it back to your computer (the diagram below is configured this way). The M1Active has both XLR a
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For a more portable recording setup without a mixer, you may want to use a portable USB or Firewire interface. The diagram below illustrates how a portable setup might look. The interface to the computer via USB and sends audio out to the speakers through ¼” or XLR cables. Remember that the M1Active will accept both balanced and unbalanced signals, but we recommend balanced cabling for best performance. Note that the M1Active 520/620 is an “activ
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M1Active 520 Technical Specifications Woofer: 5” lightweight, magnetically-shielded, ultra-stiff polypropylene cone with rubber surround and high power handling voice coil. Tweeter: ¾” silk dome with magnetic shielding Frequency Response: 56 Hz – 20 kHz Crossover Frequency: 2.8 kHz Signal-to-Noise Ratio: >100 dB below full output, unweighted Inputs: XLR and ¼” supporting both balanced and unbalanced cabling. Polarity: Positive signal on “+” pin creates forward cone displacement I
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M1Active 620 Technical Specifications Woofer: 6 ½” lightweight, magnetically-shielded, ultra-stiff polypropylene cone with rubber surround and high power handling voice coil. Tweeter: 1” silk dome with magnetic shielding Frequency Response: 49 Hz – 20 kHz Crossover Frequency: 2.8 kHz Signal-to-Noise Ratio: >100 dB below full output, unweighted Inputs: XLR and ¼” supporting both balanced and unbalanced cabling. Polarity: Positive signal on “+” pin creates forward cone displacement
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M1Active 520/620 Guía de inicio rápido del usuario (Español) 17
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Introducción Gracias por elegir el monitor de estudio Alesis M1Active 520/620. Alesis se enorgullece de contar con una larga historia de fabricación de los monitores de estudio de alta performance más vendidos y la serie M1Active 520/620 está cimentada en todo lo que aprendimos de esta historia. Nuestra línea de altavoces M1Active (que incluye al M1Active 520 y a su “hermano mayor”, el M1Active 620) fue diseñada desde la base a fin de lograr el monitor de estudio perfecto. El diseño
