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S C l a s s S i g n a l P r o c e s s o r s
4 INPUT 4 ZONE STEREO MIXER
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Safety Instructions/Consignes de sécurité/Sicherheitsvorkehrungen/Instrucciones de seguridad WARNING: To reduce the risk of fire or electric shock, do not expose this unit to rain ATTENTION: Pour éviter tout risque d’électrocution ou d’incendie, ne pas exposer or moisture. To reduce the hazard of electrical shock, do not remove cover or back. cet appareil à la pluie ou à l’humidité. Pour éviter tout risque d’électrocution, ne pas No user serviceable parts inside. Please refer all servicing to
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Table of Contents Introduction 2 S zone Features 3 Controls and Functions Front Panel Layout 4 Rear Panel Layout 5 Designing an Installation Plan 6-7 Connecting the S zone Connecting the S zone Inputs 8-10 Connecting the S zone Zone Outputs 11 Operating the S zone Using the S zone Input Section 12 Set the Input for Stereo or Mono operation 12 Using the Zone Assignment switches 12 Using the VOLUME Control 12 Using the Monitor Section 13 Using the headphone 13 Controlling the Zone Outputs 14 Set
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Introduction Congratulations on purchasing the Samson S zone, four With proper care and adequate air circulation, your S channel, stereo zone mixer! Although this product is zone will operate trouble free for many years. We recom- designed for easy operation, we suggest you take some mend you record your serial number in the space pro- time out first to go through these pages so you can fully vided below for future reference. understand how we’ve implemented a number of unique features. S
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S zone Features The Samson S zone four-channel stereo zone mixer utilizes state-of-the-art, high quality audio circuit technol- ogy for precise tonal and level control. Here are some of the S zone’s main features: • T he S zone has four stereo Input Channels with a • Ultr a-low noise circuitry with high quality op-amps Volume control, Stereo/Mono switch and our dedi- ensure superb audio fidelity. cated Zone assignment switches. • Elec tronically balanced and unbalanced input • Channel 1 and C
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Controls and Functions Front Panel Layout � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � INPUT SECTION 1 1 13 3 3 Z Z ONE SELECT swit ONE SELECT switch ch – This four-position switch is 1 VOLUME – Rotary control used to adjust the level of used to assign any of the four Zones to play in the signal source connected to channel 1. MONITOR SPEAKER or HEADPHONE JACK. 2 ZONE 1 – When the LED Backlit switch is pressed 1 1 14 4 4 HEADPHONE JA HEADPH
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Controls and Functions Rear Panel Layout I MIC TRIM – The rotary control is used to adjust A A C INPUT FUSE HOLDER – Connect the supplied 3- the input sensitivity of the microphone pre pin IEC power cable here. amplifier on channel 2. B ZONE 1 OUTPUT – This connector includes the Zone J MIC/LINE 1 – This connector includes the con- 1 Left and Right balanced output connections, along nection for a stereo line level and mono micro- with the connections for the REMOTE volume con-
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Designing an Installation Plan Designing an Installation Plan Now, take some time to consider where you need to If you are a professional installer, you’ll probably want to have sound in your particular installation. After you have skip over this section, however if you are setting up your decided where you need to create sound zones, you can system for the first time this section can help make your consider your speaker selection, but first decide where you installation a little bit easier.
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Designing an Installation Plan Using Passive Speakers If you are using passive (un-powered) speakers you need to first decide where you will place your power amplifier. If the speakers in a particular sound zone are less than 100 feet away you can locate your power amplifier in the same rack as the S zone and wire the speaker wires from the amplifier to your sound zone. NOTE: This type of wiring is known as "home-run wiring" since you are making direct connection from the amplifiers in the
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Setting up the S zone Quick Start • On the fr ont panel of the S zone, set all the VOLUME We recommend that you take the time to read through control knobs to their bottom-most “OFF” setting. this manual, and then, use it as a reference guide. If you are installing your first system you should read through the • S et all ZONE OUTPUT LOW and HIGH Equalizer control section “Designing an Installation Plan” on page 6 before Knobs to their flat (“0”) center detented position. you start connecti
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Setting up the S zone Quick Start - continued Note: The MIC TRIM level control allows you to set the best sig- • Once you get a good level reading on the ZONE nal to noise level. Very simply put, this means the hottest mic OUTPUT VU meter, you can begin to slowly raise the level with the least amount of distortion. If the MIC TRIM is too volume control on your active speakers or power amp. low, the mic level may not be loud enough. If the MIC TRIM is set too high, the channel will distort
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Connecting the S zone Get Connected ! Next connect your line inputs to channels 2 using the wir- The S zone’s rear panel is where you will find all (except the ing guide below. headphone jack) of the input and output connections. The S zone provides four input channels that can accept up These inputs are set to accept –10 dBV levels, which is the to four line level sources and two microphones and four standard for devices like most CD and DVD players. output channels to feed the sound zones.
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Connecting the S zone Connecting the S zone Zone Inputs - continued Connecting the S zone Zone Outputs If you need to connect one or two microphones, along After you have designed a plan for your installation you with more than two line level input sources, you can use will need to connect the S zone’s Zone Outputs to your the mic and line inputs for channel 1 and 2 at the same power amplifiers or powered speakers. You can wire the time. You should only do this if you need more than two S z
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Operating the S zone Using the S zone Input Section Using the Zone Assignment switches The S zone provides four stereo inputs that can also be set The S zone channel input strips each have assignment to accept mono signals. The input channels are where you switches for the four output zones, labeled ZONE 1, ZONE will connect your sound sources like CD, DVD player, AV 2, ZONE 3 and ZONE 4. These switches are used to select monitor output, paging mics or just about any other audio which of th
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Operating the S zone Using the Monitor Section Using the headphone The S zone features a unique monitor section located in Any standard headphone with an impedance of 8 – 200 the center of the unit allowing the operator or installer to ohms can be plugged into the front panel PHONES 1/4- listen to each of the zones in headphones or in the internal inch jack. When a headphone is connected to the PHONES super speaker. The added convenience allows the installer input, the internal super speaker w
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Operating the S zone Controlling the Zone Outputs Setting the Output level The S zone has four output zones, which are controlled It’s always a good idea to start with all the Zone Volume using the four ZONE output strips located on the right controls turned all the way down (fully counter-clockwise). side of the front panel. Each Zone Output has its own level Then, follow these steps. control, output meter and two-band equalizer. You can adjust the overall volume using the Level control and
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Operating the S zone Using the Equalizer Setting the Zone Output EQ For Voice Each of the four Zone Outputs includes a two-band equal- To set the Zone Output equalizer for vocal operation you izer allowing individual equalization settings on each want to emphasize the midrange response. To do this output channel. Located in the Zone Output section on lower the LOW and HIGH frequency control knobs by the right side of the front panel, each output’s equalizer about 3dB so set them to the 11
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Operating the S zone Using the Ducker Channel 2 DUCK ENABLE The S zone allows you to set up a sophisticated music and When the Channel 2 DUCK ENABLE switch is pressed in, paging system where the background music will auto- when ever signal is present at the input of Channel 2 the matically lower when an announcement is made. This level of the inputs connected to Channel 3 and 4 will automatic level control is known as Ducking. The S zone’s automatically be lowered by the amount set by the DU
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Operating the S zone Using the Ducker - continued You can set the S zone’s ducking matrix to seven settings. The diagram below shows the possible settings for using the DUCK ENABLE and MASTER switches. Follow the grid below and set the S zone Ducker switches to the positions that are best suited for your application. 17
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S zone System Configurations Using the S zone with Active Speakers Using the S zone with Passive Speakers ® ® ® ® ® ® 18
