Special Applications; The Maxcom As A Protective Device - BBE MAXCOM Owner's Manual

SPECIAL APPLICATIONS

• USING THE MAXCOM FOR RECORDING
1. The MAXCOM In Digital Recording And Sampling
In an analog recording low recording levels lead to an increased noise level, whereas high levels will cause a
compressed and "squashed" sound. In contrast to analog, side effects in digital always become extremely au-
dible: with decreasing level, a recording with insufficient level loses resolution: the recording sounds "hard" and
loses "atmosphere". With excessive level, the recording sounds harsh and heavily distorted. In order to avoid
these effects, the MAXCOM as a limiter should be placed before, for example, a sampler. As a result of this
process, a digital recording or a sampling event can be optimally set without any problem.
2. The MAXCOM In Mastering
The mastering process is one of the most critical processing steps in recording. In this production step it is the goal
to achieve a "maximum level" copy of the recording, without any noise or distortion. In many applications it is fur-
ther required to produce a high average volume. Quite often in these cases, dynamics suffer drastically, because
the program material has been compressed and limited too heavily. Using the Compressor section of the MAX-
COM as a limiter allows you to drastically increase the overall volume without audibly affecting the dynamics.

THE MAXCOM AS A PROTECTIvE DEvICE

Sound system distortion is usually a result of amplifiers and loudspeakers being driven beyond their limitations by
signals clipping. The signal limitations that occur lead to unpleasant distortion that is dangerous to the speakers.
A speaker diaphragm is required to accelerate, slow down, smoothly change direction and accelerate again in
normal operation. Distorted operation (clipping) leads to instant acceleration, instant stop, change of direction and
instant acceleration again. Since speaker diaphragms are subject to the laws of physics, they will not take this kind
of punishment for long: the diaphragm will either break up or its voice coil may overheat. In addition to the damage
caused by sustained overload, the speaker may also be damaged by an occasional high level overload.
Even if this type of transient does not destroy a speaker outright, it may damage the speaker surround in such a
way as to cause mechanical abrasion and future failure. It is recommended that you use the MAXCOM in order
to protect the speaker. "Brick Wall" peak limiters are not normally necessary for PA systems, as amplifiers and
loudspeakers are tolerant of short signal peaks. Nevertheless, conventional limiters have to be generally driven
far beyond the headroom limit of an amplifier in order to limit the level and length of the transients responsible for
overloading the system. The disadvantage of this principle is that the unit's full range cannot be completely used.
If an increase in the average level of up to 3 dB is attained with the MAXCOM as a Limiter, this means that you
effectively double the power amplification. The MAXCOM can act in this way to convert a PA system of 5,000
Watts into a distortion free 10,000 Watt system. The following instructions will help you to integrate the unit into
your system.
• PROTECTION OF A SYSTEM WITH A PASSIvE CROSSOvER
If your sound system incorporates a passive crossover network (included in the loudspeaker case), insert the
MAXCOM between your mixing console output and the power amplifier input.
Integrating the MAXCOM into a system with a passive crossover network
• PROTECTION OF A SYSTEM WITH AN ACTIvE CROSSOvER
For systems using active crossovers, there are two ways to use the MAXCOM. The unit may be inserted be-
tween the console output and the crossover input. In this application, the MAXCOM will process the entire audio
frequency spectrum.
Alternately, the MAXCOM can be inserted between the output of an active crossover and the input of a power
amplifier. In this application it will only affect a specific range of frequencies.
AMP
MAXCOM

SPECIAL APPLICATIONS