Digital Interconnections - Prism Sound Titan Operation Manual

Prism Sound Titan
offenders.
Vinyl decks
Titan is equipped with an RIAA de-emphasis filter in analogue inputs 1 and 2 to allow direct
connection of a vinyl deck, as described in the
have a low-level, unbalanced output it is important to minimise interference as discussed above when
connection a vinyl deck.
Since most magnetic cartridges require a higher input impedance than that of the Titan microphone
preamplifier input, it is usually best to connect a vinyl deck to the instrument inputs using a pair of
phono-to-mono-jack cables. The instrument gain controls can then be set to an appropriate level for
the particular cartridge. The 1MR input impedance of the instrument inputs will work satisfactorily
with most magnetic phono cartridges (which are 'moving magnet' types), but with some cartridges,
improved frequency response and noise levels can be achieved by fitting the cartridge's required load
resistance (usually 22kR or 47kR) across the instrument input terminals; this is best achieved by
soldering it inside the jack. Moving coil cartridges have a lower output level and require a lower
preamplifier input impedance. These are best connected to Titan's mic inputs, or may require a
dedicated preamplifier.
Most vinyl decks have a ground wire separate from the audio connectors. Connection of this wire for
lowest hum is often a matter of trial and error. Ideally this should be connected to Titan's analogue
signal ground (the outer of the instrument input jacks, or pin 1 of the mic input XLRs). Since no
dedicated terminal exists on Titan, it is usually easiest to connect the wire to the outer of one of the
deck's unbalanced output connectors. In some situations, a direct connection to local mains ground
may work better.
In summary
· Use good-quality cables with reputable connectors;
· Use balanced connections where possible; if you must use unbalanced connections, keep them
short;
· Ensure that signals passing between equipment do so at as high a level as is practical;
· If switching interference is heard, try to identify the source equipment by unplugging things one by
one. When you find the culprit, either re-plug it a long way from the audio equipment, or use a
power filter, or both.
7.5

Digital interconnections

It is understandable that little attention is usually paid to the quality of digital audio cabling. We are
used to interconnecting our computer equipment with low-cost cables without mishap, and with digital
audio it's rather logical to assume that no sound quality issues exist since we are simply moving
digital data around.
But the choice of digital audio cabling can be important, because the problems of transmitting digital
audio data aren't really the same as for computer data at all.
Data integrity issues
In general, digital audio interfacing problems are usually (but not always) the result of inadequate
interface bandwidth, which is most often due to the choice of cabling. In extreme cases this can
result in loss of data (and resulting dropouts in the audio) because (unlike computer interconnection
protocols) simple digital audio interfaces such as AES3, S/PDIF and ADAT transmit the data only
© 2013 Prism Media Products Ltd
Operation Manual
Analogue inputs section. Since vinyl decks usually
Revision 1.00
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