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D-fend™ SA300 User Manual

low frequency driver.  Some trial and error will have to be used when determining the peak LF wattage or voltage.  Always 
start off very conservative and slowly increase the peak power threshold and listen for sounds of woofer distress then back 
the threshold down till the woofer sounds like it is operating comfortably within its mechanical range.   

General Information on the Advanced Programming GUI 

Each of these signal paths (HF, AP, and LF) can be disabled if not required for your application.  The “enable” check-boxes 
within the High Frequency, All Pass, and Low Frequency panels allow you to disable the respective signal limiting stage.  
This can be beneficial within applications with limited spectral content, such as a subwoofer.

The indicator “lights” within the Advanced Programming threshold GUI boxes have the following function:

1.  When the stage is enabled and the PC is connected to D-fend, they will show green to indicate an active limiter 

stage.

2.  When any of the limiter stages trip while the PC is connected to the SA300, the corresponding stage will light red 

on the GUI.  In other words, the GUI indicators will track with the actual LED’s on the SA300 when tripped and the 
PC is connected. 

These indicator “lights” were added as another way to indicate trip (a threshold has been crossed) AND a method to 
indicate an active/enabled stage.  If the stage is disabled OR the connection to D-fend is lost, there will be no GUI indicators.  
We have found it quite beneficial to have the computer connected to the SA300 during system set up so that we can 
monitor the actions of the SA300 during musical testing; the lights on the SA300 may not be visible in some installations, so 
the indicator lights in the Advanced Programming GUI can be quite a blessing.

The Advanced Programming GUI also provides entry panels for you to name the current settings and assign a revision 
number to that particular setting.  This can be accomplished through the ‘Name’ and ‘Rev’ fields that appear on the 
D-fend’s Advanced Programming window.  The setting name cannot exceed 16 characters, and the revision field cannot 
exceed a two digit revision between 0-99.  It is recommended to use the name and revision fields to provide a clear label 
for your coefficients, which will in-turn be stored within the SA300 non-volatile flash memory.

Once you have entered the settings for the three D-fend processing paths, you may save these settings to your computer 
hard drive via the ‘Save’ option under the ‘File’ menu.  Keep in mind the name and revision fields will be stored within the 
file and will be recalled when you execute the ‘Open’ option under the ‘File’ menu.  Additionally, upon completing your 
coefficients and setting configurations, you may send these settings to the SA300 using either the PC-to-D-fend icon, or by 
selecting the ‘Send to D-fend’ option under the ‘Comm’ menu.  Please note when you execute either of these commands, 
the existing settings within your SA300 will be over written.  Therefore, it is recommended to begin your work by first 
downloading the current SA300 settings, then saving the settings prior to sending new settings to your SA300.

Summary of Contents for SA300

Page 1: ...g Recommendation 17 Advanced Programming 18 Dual sub 20 Full system 21 Tweeter protection 25 Distributed systems 26 Troubleshooting 27 Technical Support 28 2013 Eminence Speaker LLC All rights reserve...

Page 2: ...ure to save the original shipping cartons A charge will be made if replacement cartons are requested You are responsible for transporting your product for repair or arranging for its transportation an...

Page 3: ...for users such as yourself to experience peace of mind concerning your loudspeaker investment With the D fend digital attenuator under complete microprocessor control you have at your fingertips a wo...

Page 4: ...lluminates in the event that the user defined high frequency peak or RMS voltage thresholds have been matched or exceeded A red light here signifies RMS voltages in the high frequency band have trigge...

Page 5: ...hold settings are below the minimum audio signal power required to activate the D fend protection device see Specifications section below or in the event that it is undesired to use the audio signal a...

Page 6: ...ack and Release Times Attack time Determines how fast the D fend processing engages after the signal has exceeded the threshold Setting the attack time to a short value will result in a fast response...

Page 7: ...elow the F3 is 40Hz 20 Hz 50 30 40 100 200 dBSPL 85 90 95 100 3 dB HF High Frequency the spectral content reproduced by tweeters LF Low Frequency the spectral content reproduced by woofers and subwoof...

Page 8: ...are sent to the D fend SA300 Offline Your D fend unit is not properly connected via USB to your computer System Impedance Complex resistance expressed in ohms it is the electrical impedance to current...

Page 9: ...fend To connect the D fend SA300 to your computer simply connect the provided USB cable to an available USB port on your computer and connect the mini USB end of the cable to the front of the D fend...

Page 10: ...0 unit but the total load seen by the SA300 and power run through the SA300 must fall within the ratings guidelines given in the Maximum Minimum Power Specifications on page 5 Full System In this sect...

Page 11: ...0 watt load to the output of the SA300 assigned to protect them The amplifier used to power them has one channel that is capable of 1000 watts into a 2 ohm load so it will be connected to the input of...

Page 12: ...e of those situations 25 70 100 Volt Distributed Systems Attention The SA300 can not be used AFTER an audio transformer The SA300 can be used in 25 and 70 volt distributed systems that use either a tr...

Page 13: ...er to get the high voltage low current required If you do have to use a step up transformer the SA300 will be connected between the amplifier and step up transformer Please see fig 2 5 to see the corr...

Page 14: ...ection of the manual for explanation of the terms used within the Wizard Figure 3 Figure 3 1 Step 2 You are given the option of selecting Subwoofer or Multi way in the Enclosure Type section If you ar...

Page 15: ...duced rating and work your way up to a level you feel comfortable with and does not exceed the manufacturer s rating Listen to the cabinet and make adjustments as needed Figure 3 3 shows an example of...

Page 16: ...he Computer to D fend button figure 3 6 Figure 3 6 Once the Computer to D fend button is clicked you will receive another warning screen asking you if you wish to continue If not click Cancel If so cl...

Page 17: ...llow you to run it very hard without fear of blowing something up if it is set correctly The SA300 needs to be configured so the system can be run at its limits and the SA300 does not have any sonic i...

Page 18: ...what fast thereby allowing quick transient protection for your high frequency driver All Pass path Configuration Next you will want to configure the All Pass path AP The AP path displayed within the A...

Page 19: ...und it quite beneficial to have the computer connected to the SA300 during system set up so that we can monitor the actions of the SA300 during musical testing the lights on the SA300 may not be visib...

Page 20: ...ter of 1600 or 400 watts to begin with If working in volts this would be 40 v Again the software may not accept one of your entries exactly as entered defaulting to the closest selection found in the...

Page 21: ...boxes and floor wedges There will be three speaker level signals so we will need to use three SA300 units to completely protect the system Let s break the full system down into its three parts and see...

Page 22: ...watts We checked with the manufacturer and find that the F3 is 80 Hz and the crossover from the woofer to the compression driver is at 1650 Hz We recommend you begin with setting the SA300 for of the...

Page 23: ...needed and send the revised settings to the SA300 to either make the top box louder sound more natural or be protected even more Again it will be up to you to decide what level of protection you want...

Page 24: ...SA300 does The SA300 is not a feedback eliminator but it should be able to protect your wedges from the steady state and sometimes escalating howl that can burn out unprotected tweeters Make adjustmen...

Page 25: ...ten to some music at your normal playback level and keep an eye on the SA300 s indicators either on the unit or in the Advanced Programming GUI if the computer is still connected to the SA300 If you t...

Page 26: ...transformer in turn drives a network of loudspeakers incorporating step down transformers The SA300 should be connected between the amplifier output and the primary or input of the step up transformer...

Page 27: ...urther information on the voltage and current limitations of the D fend SA300 2 You may have reached the thermal limits of the D fend SA300 D fend incorporates built in thermal protection circuitry wh...

Page 28: ...ge at http www d fend net support faqs 2 Send an e mail with D fend technical support in the subject line to dfend eminence com and include a description of the issue you are experiencing A representa...

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