Orban Optimod-FM 8300 Operating Manual page 179

OPTIMOD-FM DIGITAL
voice that is mixed with music and thus not automatically detected as speech). The
B 1 A T
AND TTACK IME
tradeoff in mind, but you might prefer to make a different one. Also, compared to
bass clipping, M
H
ARD
much harder for a given amount of audible bass distortion.
The threshold of the band 1 compressor will also affect bass punch. We recommend
that you carefully study the setting of this control (and the B
trol) in the various 8300 factory presets before making your own adjustments, so
you can get a feel for how we made the tradeoff between punch and distortion at
the factory. If you set the threshold much above –6 dB, you will typically get some
distortion even on steady-state waveforms (depending on where you have set the
B C T
ASS LIPPER HRESH
This control is the primary means of trading off bass punch against IM distortion
caused the bass' pushing non-bass material into the final clippers. Set it more nega-
tive for less punch but less IM distortion.
Note that when you use H
when speech is detected by the 8300's speech/music detector. This allows you more
freedom to seek bass punch without introducing distortion on speech.
There are two bass equalizer sections—the low bass shelving equalizer and the
bass parametric equalizer. The main thing to remember about these sections is
that they are static tone controls that apply coloration equally to all program mate-
rial entering the main dynamics processing section of the 8300. (They do not affect
the AGC section, being located after it in the signal flow.) Accordingly, the five-band
compressor in the 8300 will attempt to undo any coloration added in the equalizer
setting and will automatically re-equalize the sound to the standard established by
the band threshold controls.
Therefore, to get bass to survive the dynamics processing in the 8300, it is usually
necessary to apply substantial bass boost to the input by using the equalizer con-
trols. (A small amount of boost will just be "automatically re-equalized" away; check
the factory presets to see what we mean by "substantial.") Bear in mind that using
large amounts of shelving bass boost (particularly with 12- or 18 dB/octave slopes)
can cause an effective loss of mid-bass because the band 2 compressor will be forced
to produce additional gain reduction.
Another important control that affects bass is the B
cause this is located after the dynamics processing, the dynamics processing will not
fight any adjustments you make to this control. However, the downside is that the
bass compressor will not act to prevent excessive drive to the clipping system (and
consequent distortion), so be very careful when boosting this control.
The crossover between band 1 and band 2 is adjustable to 100 Hz or 200 Hz by the
B1 / B2 X control. When the crossover is set to 100 Hz, band 1 affects extreme
OVER
low bass (the kind of bass that small clock and portable radios do not reproduce),
while band 2 affects the mid-bass and lower midrange. Setting the crossover at 200
Hz will cause more gain reduction to occur below 200 Hz because more energy is
applied to the band 1 compressor. If you now increase the fixed bass boost by using
settings in the factory presets have been adjusted with this
or S bass clipping allow you to drive the bass clipper
EDIUM OFT
control).
bass clipping, this will automatically switch to M
ARD
1 A T
AND TTACK
1 O M control. Be-
AND UTPUT IX
3-61
OPERATION
con-
IME
EDIUM