Operation Summary; Cabling And Starting-Up; Level Adjustment; Functional Characteristics - AER The Acoustic People pocket tools colourizer User Manual

4. Operation Summary

4.1 Cabling and Starting-up

Before connecting to the mains, please ensure that your lo-
cal mains voltage (e.g. 230V in mainland Europe, 120V in the
USA) is suitable for the voltage input range of the included
power supply. The relevant specs and safety symbols are
printed on the rear side of the unit.
Note: 24V power supply
The 24VDC power supply is a certified wide-range model,
capable of handling input voltages between 100V and 240V.
A substantial amount of research, effort and testing went
into the selection of this power supply. It is critical to the
function of the preamp – please use no other power supply!
Also please bear in mind that any device powered from a
power supply (as opposed to battery operation), may suffer in-
terference carried by the electricity supply itself. To avoid this,
always try and keep signal cables as short as possible.
We have opted for a „non-earthed power supply" (class 2
with protective insulation) in order to avoid unwanted earth
or ground loops that occur when using several earthed
mains powered devices in the signal chain.
Please ensure that both the tone balance and the equalizer
level controls are in their middle position (centre detent)
and all other controls are turned all the way to the left. The
pushbuttons should be off, i.e. not pushed.
Make all signal cable connections as desired (e.g. instrument
or microphone to input, line out to amplifier input and
maybe DI out to the mixing desk input).Now you can con-
nect the unit to the power supply. The green power control
LED indicates operational readiness.

4.2 Level adjustment

The colourizer is equipped with a high-quality preamp
which can handle line and microphone signals and has
therefore a wide input sensitivity range.
Using the line/mic switch, select the preamp function to
Note: Level adjustment
By setting the level correctly we mean that the signal level
in one or several devices in a signal chain is neither too high
nor too low. This applies equally to all components of a unit
(here tone, enhancer or equalizer included).
Consequently, care must be taken that no part of the circuit
is overloaded, or that distortion is unintentionally added to
the signal. We have carefully designed the circuit to achieve
this objective whilst also providing potentiometers (gain, le-
vel, volume) for „manual" intervention.
suit your signal source. Mic (pressed in) is suitable for micro-
phones. (with condenser microphones please activate 24V
phantom power) Line should be used for instrument pick-
up systems and most other signal sources. The gain control
is used to match the colourizer input stage to your signal
source, ensuring optimum function with the best possible
signal-to-noise ratio (SNR).
Having selected the appropriate preamp function (mic or
line) and with the gain controls set fully counter clockwise
(minimum gain), turn up the gain whilst playing your inst-
rument until the red clip indicator LED lights up occasionally
with heavy strumming. Now turn down the gain control (or
the volume control on the source) by a tiny amount to allow
additional headroom for undistorted reproduction.
During play, the clip control LED should only flicker inter-
mittently at most. With line (signal sources with a sufficient
input signal level) the gain controls will probably sit bet-
ween minimum gain and the 10 o'clock position. It's likely
that in mic position the setting will be significantly higher.
Finally the desired output level of the line output is cont-
rolled by the volume control. Please note that some of the
filter stages are active and will therefore affect the overall
level setting.

5. Functional Characteristics

5.1 DI level

The DI-out carries a balanced preamp signal. The DI level con-
trol determines the preamp's output signal level.

5.2 Phase

The phase switch allows reversal of the phase of the output
signal of the colourizer relative to the input signal by 180°,
thus matching it to the phasing of other devices in your si-
gnal chain.
5.3 24V Phantom power
The 24V phantom power switch is located on the rear side
of the housing. This provides phantom power to the XLR
input for devices that require it eg condenser mics. The 24V
phantom supply of your AER device complies with the DIN
EN 61398 regulations in view of a 24V phantom power sup-
ply. Please note the supplement text on page 7.
5.4 Filter network and filter stages
5.4.1 Tone Balance – How does it work?
The „tone balance" is served by the two controls balance
and intensity. The intensity control determines the degree
to which bass and treble are increased simultaneously and
are mixed to the original signal (parallel mode). If the inten-
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