ZR3/5/850 Series Amplifier Owner's Manual world v 3.1 CE ©2003 ARX®
ZR3/5/850 Series Amplifier Owner's Manual world v 3.1 CE ©2003 ARX®
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Front Panel
• EasyGrip Handles
• Detented Level controls
• Protection, Clip, and Bridge LEDs
• 4 mm steel front panel
Rear Panel
• Balanced Jack and XLR Inputs
• Inputs Link switch
• Bridged Mono mode switch
• Neutrik Speakon Output Connectors
• AC power connector
Things to check before you plug your amplifier in
Main AC power
- check that the voltage on your amplifier is the same as the
voltage at the power point.
It is a good idea to check this before plugging the
amplifier into the power point!
Be especially careful of plugging into un-
checked ‘piggyback’ plugs, power distribution boxes or extension cables.
Your warranty does not cover damage caused by incorrect wiring.
Make sure the amplifier is connected to the same AC power supply and Earth/
Ground as the rest of the system, otherwise you may set up a Ground loop
hum.
We strongly recommend that you use the rear mounting slots as well as those
on the front panel.
There are 2 cooling fans on the ZR series amplifiers to force air around and
through the heatsinks. Do not block the air exit path!
Air flow and cooling
It is
extremely
important that you ensure that there is
unrestricted
air access to these
fans, and also
unrestricted
air exit path. Clean the fan filters regularly or at the first
sign of becoming clogged.
All ZR series amplifiers have sufficient fan cooling capacity built in, and need no
extra external fan cooling to operate normally. Their compact ‘UltraFin’ heatsinks
provide massive surface areas for rapid cooling and stable temperatures.
COLD AIR IN
FROM FRONT
WARM AIR
OUT AT
REAR
ZR350, ZR550, ZR850
COOLING DIAGRAM
BUT
...When racking up ZR series amplifiers, you MUST allow space for the air to
exit from the
rear
of the amplifier.
If you are using a rack that has a sealed rear panel, with pre wired multipin connec-
tors, then the normal fan cooling of the amplifiers
must
be supplemented by
additional fan forced air extraction from the rack. All that air being pumped in by
the fans has to exit somewhere
Remember that Power = Heat, and Maximum air flow = successful heat manage-
ment.
Other Rear Panel Controls
• Input Link Switch
Pushing IN the Input Link switch sends whatever signal is connected to Channel A
to Channel B as well, eliminating the need for patch leads. Also known as Parallel
Mono mode.
• Bridged Mono Switch
READ THIS BEFORE WIRING UP FOR BRIDGED MODE
Pushing this in switches the amplifier into a high power single channel unit to drive
a single 8 ohm load. Please follow these instructions exactly.
1. Turn the amplifier off.
2. Run an Input lead into Channel A input only
3. Run an Output lead from the Bridged Mono Centre Speakon output connector
only
5. Double check your connections, then turn the amplifier power back on.
6. Check at low level before turning it up!
WARNING
All the amplifiers deliver very high RMS power in this mode. Make
sure your speakers are capable of handling this amount of power. An 8 ohm
speaker load in bridged mono mode is equivalent to a 4 ohm load per channel.
Running in Bi-amp Mode with Plug-in Crossover module fitted
If a Plug-in crossover module is fitted, then Channel A will be the LOWER frequen-
cy, and Channel B the HIGHER frequency.
Note: Fitting the module requires removal of the amplifier lid and should only be
done by qualified technicians.
COLD AIR IN
FROM FRONT
WARM AIR OUT
AT REAR
• Fuse - 3AG type. Replace with
correct value only - as marked on
amplifier rear
• Heavy Duty Rear rack ears for four
point racking
• Non-scratch Lexan printed panel
• Illuminated power switch
• Fan filters. Remove, clean and replace at
first sign of clogging
