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CAUTION

CAUTION

10

Tact Audio

DYNAMIC ROOM CORRECTION

Dynamic Room Correction (DRC) ® is new technology developed by Tact Audio 

Inc. over past two years.  This groundbreaking brings the science and art of Room 

Correction, and specifi cally Tact room correction products, to yet another level.

When we introduced our fi rst RCS system (the Tact-2.2 in the late 90’s) we were 

fully aware that we were embarking on a long term research process in the new 

exciting fi eld of room acoustics correction. As a result of this research effort we 

brought to the market products such as Tact-2.0 S two channel RCS preamp, the 

Tact-2.2 X two channel preamp with RCS on two main and two subwoofer chan-

nels, and the TCS MKII ten channel theater correction system. All these systems 

offer RCS technology not found in any other product on the market. Our contin-

ued research combined with enormously valuable feedback from our customers 

has  resulted  in  this  new  technology  that  we  named  Dynamic  Room  Correction 

(DRC)®.

Why do we call it Dynamic Room Correction (DRC)?

The reason we call it DRC is that the target curve used to compute correction fi l-

ters dynamically changes with the master level control. In another words, for every 

0.1 dB of level change the system uses a new target curve to compute room cor-

rection fi lters. What makes this dynamic is that all computations and adjustments 

are done on the fl y without any interruption to the music you listen to.

Why do we need Dynamic Room Correction (DRC)?

It is well known fact that humans do not here all frequencies at the same level. 

It is also known that our ears are more sensitive to frequencies between 2000 

and 5000 Hz than to frequencies bellow 2000 Hz and above 5000 Hz. In addi-

tion to this our hearing sensitivity changes with sound pressure level (SPL).  This 

human  hearing  property  was  fi rst  discovered  and  experimentally  confi rmed  by 

Fletcher and Munson at Bell Laboratories in 1933 and later refi ned by Robinson 

and  Dadson  in  1956. Their  work  resulted  in  a  family  of  equal  loudness  curves 

(contours), widely known as Fletcher-Munson equal loudness curves. A sample of 

Fletcher-Munson loudness curves is shown in the fi gure bellow.

On the graph there are 12 curves numbered from 0 to 110. These numbers repre-

sent the loudness level in phons. A Phon is a unit used to describe the loudness 

level of a given sound. The reason for introducing the loudness unit is that two 

sounds with the same SPL (dB) do not necessarily have the same perceived loud-

ness. Phon is equal to SPL in decibels at 1000 Hz. For example, 80 phons means 

as loud as 80 dB, 1000 Hz tone.

Equal loudness curves represent the SPL that different frequencies need to have 

in order to be perceived as two tones of equal loudness. For example, a 200 Hz 

tone at SPL of 50 dB will have the same perceived loudness as a 1000 Hz tone at 

SPL of 40 dB. In this case both 200 Hz and 1000 Hz tones have a loudness of 40 

phons, and they both belong to the 40 phons equal loudness curve.

As it can be seen from the graph, in comparison to frequencies between 2000 

and 5000 Hz, it is intrinsically harder for us to hear very low frequencies (below a 

few hundred Hz) and to a lesser extent very high frequencies (above 7000 Hz). At 

higher listening levels this difference gradually becomes smaller and smaller and 

curves become fl atter.

Summary of Contents for RCS 2.2 XP

Page 1: ...Owner s Manual RCS 2 2 XP Preampli er Dynamic Room Correction System...

Page 2: ......

Page 3: ...QUALIFIED PERSONNEL The exclamation point within an equilateral triangle is intended to alert the user to the presence of important operating and maintenance servicing instructions in the literature a...

Page 4: ...to one that is polarized To protect against electrical shock match the wide blade of the polarized plug to the wide slot in the outlet and fully insert the plug 8 Protect the power cord from being wal...

Page 5: ...n channels _______________________ DAC 2 analog output subwoofers _______________________ ADC analog input _______________________ Registration 2006 Tact Audio Corporation All rights reserved No part...

Page 6: ...oom Correction 12 Connecting the RCS 2 2X 20 Front Panel Controls 25 Remote Control 26 Front Panel Display 28 Main screen 28 MAIN menu 30 MODE menu 31 ADC menu 32 DOUT FS menu 33 POL menu 34 TEST menu...

Page 7: ...ollowing items in the accessory kit 1 AC mains cord 1 RJ11 data cable 1 RJ11 to RS232 adapter 1 15 RS232 cable CD ROM with RCS software Measurement microphone Remote control 2 AAA batteries This manua...

Page 8: ...es of the RCS 2 2 XP is its separate subwoofer output The RCS 2 2X P can be used with one or preferably two subwoofers An electronic crossover can be set with a frequency between 60 and 400 Hz and a s...

Page 9: ...nd inexpensive future upgrades Even the rear panel including the sockets can be exchanged to accommodate future interfaces The front panel and DSP s are 100 software driven and improvements or new fea...

Page 10: ...el It is also known that our ears are more sensitive to frequencies between 2000 and 5000 Hz than to frequencies bellow 2000 Hz and above 5000 Hz In addi tion to this our hearing sensitivity changes w...

Page 11: ...ers as the system listening level changes How does it work Dynamic Room Correction DRC offers a very sophisticated way of handling a multi target curve approach to solving equal loudness curve problem...

Page 12: ...uency response for all mea sured channels can be displayed on the screen Crossover lters and actual cor rection lters can be viewed The displayed graphs provide valuable information that helps users d...

Page 13: ...n place 2 2 XP in bypass mode by pressing on the BP remote control button or by using the front panel controls Fig 2 Tact 2 2 XP main screen Note a next to BP It indicates that BP bypass mode is selec...

Page 14: ...yed in Fig 5 The MSR MIC CAL option should be turned ON and the MIC FILE eld should display the microphone serial number as printed on your microphone MSR MIC CAL When this option is set to ON the roo...

Page 15: ...R SL and SR options to select enable a channel for measurement Channels are labeled as L for left R for right SL for subwoofer left and SR for subwoofer right channel Selected enabled channels are ma...

Page 16: ...option to display AUTO ON and then click on the SET option to activate automatic room correc tion In a split of a second the 2 2 XP will calculate target curves based on LF HF crossover lter selection...

Page 17: ...ode menu 2 1 mode selection is displayed in the upper left corner 1 The rest of the procedure is the same as in 2 2 mode Note the change in the measurement screen in Fig 7 The Tact 2 2 XP will automat...

Page 18: ...lection is displayed in the upper left corner 1 The rest of the procedure is the same as in 2 2 mode Note the change in the measurement screen in Fig 9 The Tact 2 2 XP will automatically select channe...

Page 19: ...19 Tact Audio...

Page 20: ...to 96 kHz 16 24 bits However the AES EBU and RCA coaxial input also sup port 192kHz Digital output 1 main channels The RCS 2 2 XP has 3 digital outputs for the main channels 1 S PDIF RCA 1 AES EBU XLR...

Page 21: ...signed to accommodate virtually any input and output needed without adding extra cost for features certain users might not use There are there fore 3 optional modules that can be installed ADC convert...

Page 22: ...stalled 1 analog stereo single ended RCA 1 analog stereo balanced XLR RCS 2 2 XP Connections NOTE The optional ADC module is required for analog inputs The RCS 2 2 XP has 4 stereo analog inputs when t...

Page 23: ...eo single ended RCA 1 analog stereo balanced XLR NOTE The optional DAC module is required for analog outputs Connect the supplied measurement microphone to the Mic Input connector when taking a room m...

Page 24: ...port for communication with your personal computer CAUTION CAUTION CAUTION Use the AUX port to connect to TacT digital amplifiers or to daisy chain with multiple RS232 components AC mains input mains...

Page 25: ...by pressing it multiple times it will toggle through all of the ve digital inputs The selected input will be displayed in the input display portion of the display Press the ANALOG ANALOG button to sel...

Page 26: ...CAUTION CAUTION 26 Tact Audio The remote control is used to access the front panel display controls and menus REMOTE CONTROL CAUTION CAUTION CAUTION 4 11 2 9 1 3 5 6 7 10 8 12...

Page 27: ...he remaining nine buttons will engage the corresponding room correction preset 5 MENU The MENU button will switch the front panel display from the status screen to the MAIN menu screen 6 VIDEO The VID...

Page 28: ...is positioned over CR 1 you can also select a correction preset by pressing one of the ten buttons located in the block labeled CORRECTION on the remote control The 2 2 XP will display a next to the...

Page 29: ...y indicator This displays the currently selected output sampling frequency The output sam pling frequency is can be modi ed in the OUT FS general menu option Input sampling frequency indicator This di...

Page 30: ...UT FS menu use to set the Left Right and Sub Left Right digital output sampling frequency POL menu use to set the channel polarity as well as the absolute polarity TEST menu allows for the pink noise...

Page 31: ...ht Left SUB and Right SUB STEREO 2 1 This mode produces 3 output signals Left Right and one SUB signal In this mode the SUB signal is mono and is output to both the Left SUB and Right SUB outputs STER...

Page 32: ...s for the ADC input stage 0dB or 6dB These values can be assigned to each input independently To select an option use the UP and DOWN navigation buttons and to change its value press the ENTER button...

Page 33: ...highlight the desired option 44 1 48 88 96 192 kHz and then press the ENTER button to make the selection Output 1 refers to the Left Right channel output Output 2 refers to the Sub Left Right channel...

Page 34: ...l buttons and to Tttt change its value press the ENTER button to toggle between a or setting If all channel options are set to or all channel options are set to all output signals will come out in pha...

Page 35: ...used to set the number of seconds that the display will remain on before turning o or dimming after accessing an option on the front panel display This pa rameter can be set to a value from 3 to 30 s...

Page 36: ...s feature allows for multiple Tact units to be controlled by the same RS232 link The RS232 speed is set to 57 6 Kb To change the system device address highlight the Address option and then using the L...

Page 37: ...P and DOWN navigational buttons to high light the option and then press the ENTER button to change the setting If the L R option is set to DISABLE the Left Right channel will operate in normal mode Th...

Page 38: ...used to indicate signal pres ence on either channel or to indicate near clip condition To use it as a signal presence indicator set the Detection to a value close to 90 0 dB To use it as near clip in...

Page 39: ...lected option use the LEFT and RIGHT buttons 1 LOCK MENU When this option is set to YES all Main Menu options ex cept LOCK and INFO are disabled 2 LOCK DRC RCS When this option is set to YES the user...

Page 40: ...o verify the versin of rmware that is installed on your RCS 2 2 XP This screen also provides Tact Audi Tact Audi T o s web address and phone number Pleae feel free to contact us should you require any...

Page 41: ...is option allows for correction preset selection Place the screen cursor over this option and use the UP DOWN buttons to display the desired preset Press the ENTER button to make a selection The activ...

Page 42: ...e UP and DOWN buttons to place screen cursor on desired option and then use the LEFT and RIGHT buttons to adjust individual channel level set tings Place screen cursor over eld 1 and press ENTER to sw...

Page 43: ...the ENTER button 1 Use this option to set low pass lter order This option can be set from 1 to 24 2 Use this option to set the low pass lter cuto frequency Minimum fre quency is 40 Hz and maximum fre...

Page 44: ...er of measurements that are averaged prior to being saved The averaging process reduces the effects of random environmental noise Typical Average values go from 10 to 30 DELAY If you do not want to be...

Page 45: ...t screen will be displayed After the measurements are completed click on the EXIT option and then click on the MENU button to go back to the DRC RCS screen Fig 3 At any time dur ing the measurement pr...

Page 46: ...enu is used to control the 12 band parametric equalized This menu is ac cessed through the PAR EQ option on the RCS 2 2X rst screen If Par Eq preset is set to BP bypass the following screen will be di...

Page 47: ...each channel has a separate set of EQ lters If YES is select ed the channels are linked and there will be only one set of lters used for both the left and right channels To change the LINK setting hig...

Page 48: ...s The lter parameters will be applied globally to both the left and right channels This scren is accessed through the LINK menu option on the PAR EQ menu screen PARAMETRIC EQ menu To change a paramete...

Page 49: ...dwidth and they will be applied independently to the left channel There is an analogous table for the right chan nel You can enter the right channel table from the previous menu the PAR EQ screen To c...

Page 50: ...TacT Audio Inc 201 Gates Road Unit G Little Ferry New Jersey 07643 USA Phone 1 201 440 9300 Fax 1 201 440 5580 Email info tactaudio com www tactlab com...

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