D-fend SA300 User Manual

Loudspeaker protection stand alone unit

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SA300

stand alone unit

power handling:

4,000W @ 8Ω | 2,000W @ 4Ω | 1,250W @ 2Ω

User Manual

Compliance ..........................................................2

Warranty information .........................................2

Introduction

D-fend™ overview .........................................3

Typical applications ........................................3

What NOT to do with D-fend™ ......................3

"Use your ears" ..............................................4

Product Description

Front LED legend ............................................4

NL4 connectors ..............................................4

Specifications ......................................................5

Terms and Definitions ........................................6

USB Connection ..................................................9

Do not assume the SA300 is sufficiently programmed right out of the box without any additional

configuration via the set-up Wizard or Advance Programming window. The unit ships with default

settings intended for quality assurance testing purposes only.

Typical System Configurations

Subwoofers ....................................................10

Full system .....................................................11

Tweeter only ..................................................12

Distributed 20-70-100 volt .............................13

Setup Wizard .......................................................14

Mounting Recommendation..............................17

Advanced Programming ....................................18

Dual sub .........................................................20

Full system .....................................................21

Tweeter protection ........................................25

Distributed systems .......................................26

Troubleshooting ..................................................27

Technical Support ...............................................28

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Summary of Contents for D-fend SA300

Page 1: Table Of Contents
Wizard or Advance Programming window. The unit ships with default settings intended for quality assurance testing purposes only. © 2013 Eminence Speaker LLC. All rights reserved. D-fend™ is a trademark of Intrinsic Audio Solutions, Inc., D.B.A SLS Audio.
Page 2: Compliance
D-fend™ SA300 User Manual Compliance Please note there is a shock hazard and there are no serviceable parts inside this device. D-fend is FCC Class A certified, CE certified, and RoHs/WEEE compliant. Please read the manual before using this product.
Page 3: Introduction
Broadband protection of a loudspeaker or loudspeaker system By enabling the All Pass function, one can set the maximum average power level that the device will see. As with all D-fend applications, the Attack and Release times can be adjusted to facilitate natural sounding speaker protection.
Page 4: Use Your Ears
Use Your Ears! The D-fend SA300 is in the output signal chain. Monitor the quality of the sound as you make adjustments. If you have lost significant overall level, low frequency, or high frequency information then further adjustments to the settings are needed.
Page 5: Specifications
DC damage. D. FAULT / COMM – this LED indicator illuminates red if the D-fend device senses a DC voltage, over current, or over temperature fault situation. Any of these three faults will result in momentary loss of audio. DC faults will be indicated by a red fault light AND a green LF peak light.
Page 6: Terms And Definitions
(see Mounting Recommendation on page 17). Reaching the temperature threshold signifies the SA300 is being subjected to extremes beyond what it is rated for, and/or that there is an issue with the protected system or the system demands.
Page 7 Eminence Designer have the option for modeling high pass filters for subwoofer applications to prevent over-excursion and the resulting damage to the woofer. D-fend technology can provide the same woofer protection by limiting woofer excursion below this operating point.
Page 8 Sync – indicates that the D-fend has received the values from your programming screen. Async – indicates that the values on your programming screen have not been loaded to the D-fend unit. Changing any value in the programming screen will result in Async status until the values are sent to the D-fend SA300.
Page 9: Typical System Configurations
USB Connection to D-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 SA300 unit.
Page 10: Full System
SA300 is connected to the two subwoofer cabinets that are daisy chained (connected in parallel). The load presented to the SA300 will be a 4 ohm load rated at 1600 watts and the power amp will also see a 4 ohm load most of the time. We will cover the programming of the SA300 to protect this system in the Advanced Programming section on page 17.
Page 11 4 ohm, 1000 watt load connected to its output. The amplifier used to power the top boxes, a bridged mono 1600 @ 4 ohm unit, is connected to the SA300’s input. Actual programming of the SA300 will be covered in the Advanced Programming section on page 17.
Page 12 If you are not sure if your amplifier has an internal transformer you should contact the manufacturer of the amplifier, or you can call us and we will try to research it for you. If in doubt, do not connect the SA300. If you use the SA300 after an audio transformer, system damage and damage to the SA300 can occur.
Page 13 70 volt system, you may need to use a step up transformer 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.
Page 14: Setup Wizard
Set-up Wizard Step 1 – Connect the D-fend SA300 unit to your computer via the USB cable provided. After launching the D-fend programming graphical user interface (GUI) you will first be prompted to accept the terms and conditions (figure 3). After agreeing to the terms and conditions, click the “Start Program with Wizard”...
Page 15 Also note this wizard is intended to set up the D-fend unit for one speaker enclosure, not multiple enclosures wired in series or parallel. We recommend this as a starting value.
Page 16 D-fend™ SA300 User Manual Step 5 – Now that you have the desired settings loaded into the main D-fend form, click the “Connect” button at the top of the form. A warning box will appear asking, “Overwrite current workspace settings?” When programming the D-fend unit using the wizard, you will want to click “Cancel”.
Page 17: Mounting Recommendation
The SA300 is a tool to help you protect your system and allow 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 impact on the musicality of the system.
Page 18 “Low Frequency”, wherein you are provided with the available cutoff frequencies and filter slopes available within the SA300. Use the LF frequency cutoff selection to enter the desired spectrum that you want to subject to the peak limiter contained within the LF path. It is recommended to select a cutoff frequency at or above the region wherein your woofer enters mechanical over-excursion (hard bottoming, topping, or suspension blapping).
Page 19 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.
Page 20: Dual Sub
In this example we are using a single SA300 to protect two subwoofer cabinets connected in parallel. To the SA300, it looks like one load that is 4 ohms and can handle 1600 watts. When setting up the SA300 for the first time on a system it is helpful to know the system’s F3 and Fb in order to get an idea of where you think the driver may experience excursion...
Page 21: Full System
The sub used in our full system is a single 4 ohm sub rated at 1600 watts. It has an F3 at 60 Hz. It is an older “Rock and Roll” type of sub that can get really loud, but not go that low. We recommend you begin with setting the SA300 for ¼ of the power rating of your cabinet/system your are protecting, so in this example you should initially configure it for a 400 watt, 4 ohm load.
Page 22 The top boxes in our example are typical 12” two way boxes with a 1.4” exit compression driver on a horn. They are 8 ohm, rated at 500 watts. The two boxes will be connected in parallel, so the SA300 will see a 4 ohm load rated at 1,000 watts.
Page 23 HF path. Start with ¼ of the power rating for the total load that the SA300 will see. In this case it will be 600 watt load at 2.7 ohms, so the SA300 will be set up to protect a 150 watt 2.7 ohm load.
Page 24: Tweeter Protection
D-fend™ SA300 User Manual Set the wedges’ SA300 HF filter section to 2000 Hz and a 2nd order Slope. Set the RMS wattage to 37 (or 10 volts) and the peak to 72 watts (or 14 volts). This is very conservative. You will have to see if you can raise these thresholds by trial and error.
Page 25: Distributed Systems
If you are not sure if your amplifier has an internal output transformer, you should contact the manufacturer of the amplifier or you can call us and we will try to research it for you. If in doubt, do not connect the SA300. If you use the SA300 after a...
Page 26 In many cases, the nominal line voltage is 70.7 Vrms with 100 Vpeak. Configuring the SA300 for an RMS trip threshold of 70Vrms in this case will keep the output voltage of the amplifier at or below 70V and thus ensure the loudspeakers are at or below their rated power handling when properly tapped.
Page 27: Troubleshooting
SA300 will be higher than the calculated current (I) present on the 70V line. Therefore, use the step-up transformer turns ratio to determine the operating current seen by the SA300. In this scenario the turns ratio is taken to be 1.5, so I = 3.535 Arms x 1.5 = 5.3.
Page 28: Technical Support
Following are the recommended steps to find the solutions to your technical issue: Visit the FAQ page at http://www.d-fend.net/support/faqs/ 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 representative from Eminence Speaker will respond in a timely manner.