Ensemble Designs BrightEye 33 User Manual

Analog audio distribution amplifier

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Analog Audio Distribution Amplifier User Guide

Distribution Amplifier

This user guide provides detailed information for using the BrightEye 33 Analog Audio Distribution

Amplifier.

The information is organized into the following sections:

• Product Overview

• Rear Connectors

• Operation

• Front Panel Controls and Indicators

• Warranty and Factory Service

• Specifications

• Glossary

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BrightEye 33

Analog Audio

BrightEye 33 - Page 1

BrightEye 33

Revision 1.0

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Summary of Contents for Ensemble Designs BrightEye 33

Page 1: Analog Audio
Analog Audio Distribution Amplifier User Guide BrightEye 33 Analog Audio Distribution Amplifier Revision 1.0 This user guide provides detailed information for using the BrightEye 33 Analog Audio Distribution Amplifier. The information is organized into the following sections: • Product Overview • Rear Connectors • Operation • Front Panel Controls and Indicators...
Page 2: Table Of Contents
Analog Audio Outputs For Unbalanced Audio to a RCA Phono Input OPERATION Front Panel Controls Gain Front Panel Indicators Pwr (Power) WARRANTY AND FACTORY SERVICE Warranty Factory Service SPECIFICATIONS BRIGHTEYE POWER SUPPLY INFORMATION GLOSSARY BrightEye 33 - Page 2 www.ensembledesigns.com...
Page 3: Product Overview
Analog Audio Distribution Amplifier User Guide PRODUCT OVERVIEW BrightEye 33 is a high performance audio distribution amplifier for the broadcast and recording industry. Exceptional performance features include excellent response, noise and distortion specifications. BrightEye 33 functions with either 8 mono outputs or 4 stereo outputs.
Page 4: Rear Connectors
Analog Audio Outputs The four Analog Audio Outputs provide 8 Mono Outputs or 4 Stereo Outputs of Analog Audio. Each Audio Out connector provides two channels of balanced analog audio (1 pair). These connectors are each fitted with a pluggable terminal block that accepts bare wire leads. Wires can be inserted into the small round holes. Strip the audio wire to about 3/8” (8 mm). Solder tinning is not required. To remove the wire, push in the pin above the connection with a small pointed tool. This will release the wire from the connector. Follow the legend to connect the Ground (G), Positive (+), and Negative (-) connections for each signal. Ch 1 corresponds to the left channel in a stereo system, and Ch 2 corresponds to the right channel. If connecting to an unbalanced (single-ended) destination, such as a consumer speaker amplifier, with shielded coaxial style audio cable, connect the center conductor to the Positive (+) terminal. Then connect the outer conductor to both the Ground (G) and Negative (-) terminals. BrightEye 33 - Page 4 www.ensembledesigns.com...
Page 5: For Unbalanced Audio To A Rca Phono Input
To connect the audio output to a consumer audio connector such as an RCA phono jack, connect the pins as follows: • Attach Ground from Pin 1 of the Audio Out to the shell, Shield or Ground of the RCA Phono jack. • Attach the + (plus) signal from Pin 2 of the Audio Out to the center pin of the RCA Phono jack. • The – (minus) signal is not used in this application. OPERATION Monitoring of the BrightEye 33 is performed from the front panel as illustrated in the figure below. This is a simple device with no interface to the BrightEye Control application. There are no adjustments required for this unit. BrightEye 33 Front Panel Front Panel Controls Gain The gain can be adjusted from the front panel for Channel 1 or Channel 2. To adjust gain, insert a small tool into the recessed potentiometer and rotate clockwise to increase gain or counterclockwise to decrease gain.
Page 6: Warranty And Factory Service
Factory Service If you return equipment for repair, please get a Return Material Authorization Number (RMA) from the factory first. Ship the product and a written description of the problem to: Ensemble Designs, Inc. Attention: Customer Service RMA ##### 870 Gold Flat Rd. Nevada City, CA. 95959 USA (530) 478-1830 Fax: (530) 478-1832 service@ensembledesigns.com http://www.ensembledesigns.com Be sure to put your RMA number on the outside of the box. BrightEye 33 - Page 6 www.ensembledesigns.com...
Page 7: Specifications
30 Ω Maximum Output Level 24 dBu Performance Gain Range ±6 dB Frequency Response <±0.1 dB, 20 Hz to 20 KHz Isolation >100 dB S/N Ratio >100 dB, unweighted General Specifications Size 5.625” W x 0.8” H x 5.5” D (143 mm x 20 mm x 140 mm) including connectors Power 12 volts, 4 watts (100-230 VAC modular power supply not included) Temperature Range 0 to 40° C ambient Relative Humidity 0 to 95° noncondensing Altitude 0 to 10,000 feet Due to ongoing product development, all specifications are subject to change. BrightEye 33 - Page 7 www.ensembledesigns.com...
Page 8: Brighteye Power Supply Information
BRIGHTEYE POWER SUPPLY INFORMATION Below is a list of power supplies and optional items that may have come with your BrightEye: BEPS BrightEye Individual Power Supply. BEPS6 Spider Power Supply. This powers 6 single high BrightEyes or 3 double high BrightEyes. BEPS6-RP Redundant Power Supply for Spider. BERKMT BrightEye Rack Mount. This holds 6 single high BrightEyes or 3 double high BrightEyes, or a combination. BEBP BrightEye Blank Panel. Single high, for empty slots in Rack Mount. BEAC Analog Audio Breakout Cable. BrightEye 33 - Page 8 www.ensembledesigns.com...
Page 9: Glossary
BrightEye 33 Analog Audio Distribution Amplifier User Guide GLOSSARY This is a brief glossary of commonly used terms associated with this product. AES/EBU The digital audio standard defined as a joint effort of the Audio Engineering Society and the European Broadcast Union. AES/EBU or AES3 describes a serial bitstream that carries two audio channels, thus an AES stream is a stereo pair. The AES/EBU standard covers a wide range of sample rates and quantizations (bit depths.) In television systems, these will generally be 48 kHz and either 20 or 24 bits. Bandwidth Strictly speaking, this refers to the range of frequencies (i.e. the width of the band of frequency) used by a signal, or carried by a transmission channel. Generally, wider bandwidth will carry and reproduce a signal with greater fidelity and accuracy. Beta Sony Beta SP video tape machines use an analog component format that is similar to SMPTE, but differs in the amplitude of the color difference signals. It may also carry setup on the luminance channel.
Page 10 Decibels add while the ratios multiply, so 26 dB is a 20:1 ratio, and 14 dB is a 5:1 ratio. There are several special cases of the dB scale, where the reference is implied. Thus, dBm refers to power relative to 1 milliwatt, and dBu refers to voltage relative to .775V RMS. The original unit of measure was the Bel (10 times bigger), named after Alexander Graham Bell. dBFS In Digital Audio systems, the largest numerical value that can be represented is referred to as Full Scale. No values or audio levels greater than FS can be reproduced because they would be clipped. The nominal operating point (roughly corresponding to 0 VU) must be set below FS in order to have headroom for audio peaks. This operating point is described relative to FS, so a digital reference level of -20 dBFS has 20 dB of headroom before hitting the FS clipping point. BrightEye 33 - Page 10 www.ensembledesigns.com...
Page 11 Frequency Response A measurement of the accuracy of a system to carry or reproduce a range of signal frequencies. Similar to Bandwidth. The International Electrotechnical Commission provides a wide range of worldwide standards. They have provided standardization of the AC power connection to products by means of an IEC line cord. The connection point uses three flat contact blades in a triangular arrangement, set in a rectangular connector. The IEC specification does not dictate line voltage or frequency. Therefore, the user must take care to verify that a device either has a universal input (capable of 90 to 230 volts, either 50 or 60 Hz), or that a line voltage switch, if present, is set correctly. Interlace Human vision can be fooled to see motion by presenting a series of images, each with a small change relative to the previous image. In order to eliminate the flicker, our eyes need to see more than 30 images per second. This is accomplished in television systems by dividing the lines that make up each video frame (which run at 25 or 30 frames per second) into two fields. All of the odd-numbered BrightEye 33 - Page 11 www.ensembledesigns.com...
Page 12 Although the signal may be at the correct frequency on average, in the interim it varies. Some bits come slightly early, other come slightly late. The measurement of this jitter is given either as the amount of time uncertainty or as the fraction of a bit width. For 270 Mb/s video, the allowable jitter is 740 picoseconds, or 0.2 UI (Unit Interval – one bit width). Luminance The “black & white” content of the image. Human vision had more acuity in luminance, so television systems generally devote more bandwidth to the luminance content. In component systems, the luminance is referred to as Y. Multi-mode Multi-mode fibers have a larger diameter core (either 50 or 62.5 microns), and a correspondingly larger aperture. It is much easier to couple light energy into a multimode fiber, but internal reflections will cause multiple “modes” of the signal to propagate down the fiber. This will degrade the ability of the fiber to be used over long distances. See also Single mode. NTSC The color television encoding system used in North America was originally defined by the National Television Standards Committee. This American standard has also been adopted by Canada, Mexico, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. (This standard is referred to disparagingly as Never Twice Same Color.) BrightEye 33 - Page 12 www.ensembledesigns.com...
Page 13 This will create impedance matching errors, especially at higher frequencies. The Return Loss of an input or output measures how much energy is returned (reflected back due to the impedance mismatch). For digital circuits, a return loss of 15 dB is typical. This means that the energy returned is 15 dB less than the original signal. In analog circuits, a 40 dB figure is expected. RGB systems carry the totality of the picture information as independent Red, Green, and Blue signals. Television is an additive color system, where all three components add to produce white. Because the luminance (or detail) information is carried partially in each of the RGB channels, all three must be carried at full bandwidth in order to faithfully reproduce an image. BrightEye 33 - Page 13 www.ensembledesigns.com...
Page 14 A Single mode (or monomode) optical fiber carries an optical signal on a very small diameter (9 micron) core surrounded with cladding. The small diameter means that no internally reflected lightwaves will be propagated. Thus only the original “mode” of the signal passes down the fiber. A single mode fiber used in an optical SDI system can carry a signal for up to 20 kilometers. Single mode fibers require particular care in their installation due to the extremely small optical aperture that they present at splice and connection points. See also Multi-mode. A Time Base Corrector is a system to reduce the Time Base Error in a signal to acceptable levels. It accomplishes this by using a FIFO (First In, First Out) memory. The incoming video is written into the memory using its own jittery timing. This operation is closely associated with the actual digitization of the analog signal because the varying position of the sync timing must be mimicked by the sampling function of the analog to digital converter. A second timing system, genlocked to a stable reference, is used to read the video back out of the memory. The memory acts as a dynamically adjusting delay to smooth out the imperfections in the original signal’s timing. Very often a TBC will also function as a Frame Synchronizer. See also: Frame Sync. Time Base Error Time base error is present when there is excessive jitter or uncertainty in the line to line output timing of a video signal. This is commonly associated with playback from video tape recorders, and is particularly severe with consumer type heterodyne systems like VHS. Time base error will render a signal unusable for broadcast or editing purposes. BrightEye 33 - Page 14 www.ensembledesigns.com...
Page 15 BrightEye 33 Analog Audio Distribution Amplifier User Guide Tri Level Sync An analog sync reference signal that is used in High Definition systems. Tri Level Sync is constructed with three signal levels, the sync pulses extend above and below a mid-level average voltage (the blanking level). Unlike conventional analog sync which is bi-level, the proper 50% pickoff point is already identified in Tri Level Sync. This contributes to lower jitter in digital systems. Strictly speaking, YUV does not apply to component video. The letters refer to the Luminance (Y), and the U and V encoding axes using in the PAL composite system. Since the U axis is very close to the B-Y axis, and the V axis is very close to the R-Y axis, YUV is often used as a sort of shorthand for the more long-winded “Y/R-Y/B-Y”. Y/Cr/Cb In digital component video, the luminance component is Y, and the two color difference signals are Cr (R-Y) and Cb (B-Y). Y/Pr/Pb In analog component video, the image is carried in three components. The luminance is Y, the R-Y color difference signal is Pr, and the B-Y color difference signal is Pb. BrightEye 33 - Page 15 www.ensembledesigns.com...