™ Owner's Reference Manual the re• evolution of music
Alesis Monitor One Mk2 Reference Manual © Copyright 2001, Alesis Studio Electronics, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part is prohibited. “Monitor One”, "Monitor One Mk2" and “Superport” are trademarks of Alesis Studio Electronics, Inc. ALESIS CONTACT INFORMATION Alesis Studio Electronics, Inc. www.alesis.com E-Mail: Website: info@alesis.com http://www.alesis.
table of contents Thank you! for purchasing the Alesis Monitor One Mk2™ Studio Reference Monitors. To take full advantage of the Monitor One’s operation, and to enjoy long and trouble-free use, please read this user’s manual carefully. We value any comments you may have about this monitor system, this manual, your Alesis dealer and about our factory service. Please take a minute now to visit our website at www.alesis.com and register your product.
Important Safety Instructions Safety symbols used in this product This symbol alerts the user that there are important operating and maintenance instructions in the literature accompanying this unit. Please follow these precautions when using this product: 1. Read these instructions. 2. Keep these instructions. 3. Heed all warnings. 4. Follow all instructions. 5. Do not use this apparatus near water. 6. Clean only with a damp cloth.
safety instructions 10. Use only with a cart, stand, bracket, rack, or table designed for use with professional audio or music equipment. In any installation, make sure that injury or damage will not result from cables pulling on the apparatus and its mounting. If a cart is used, use caution when moving the cart/apparatus combination to avoid injury from tip-over. 11. Unplug this apparatus during lightning storms or when unused for long periods of time. 12.
safety instructions CE Declaration of Conformity See our website at www.alesis.
chapter 1 About the Monitor One Your new Alesis Monitor One Mk2™ Studio Reference Monitors will deliver accurate mixes in near-field digital and analog studio monitoring applications. The Monitor Ones offer wide frequency response, accurate transient reproduction, clear imaging and high power handling capability and were designed by experts with decades of experience in professional loudspeaker design.
about the Monitor One • chapter 1 folded SuperPort overcomes this limitation by minimizing vent turbulence at high air velocities, thereby ensuring that the enclosure tuning remains stable, the acoustic output remains linear during heavy low frequency attack transients, and that the reactive load above and below box resonance seen by the driving amplifier does not dynamically shift in frequency. This all translates to tighter bass with higher definition.
chapter 1 • about the Monitor One About near-field monitoring In the early days of recording, most recording studios used big monitor speakers almost exclusively. Unfortunately, they also required high-powered amplifiers and expensive acoustic treatment (often poorly done) of the entire control room.
about the Monitor One • chapter 1 8 Monitor One Mk2 Reference Manual
chapter 2 Installation Like any speaker system, your Monitor Ones will work best when properly positioned in a suitable acoustic environment. Achieving proper speaker placement is usually straightforward, but even with near-field monitors, speaker placement and the acoustics of the listening room itself are too often overlooked and can become significant contributors to an inaccurate and uninspiring monitoring environment. Please take a moment to read this information carefully.
installation • chapter 2 of reflections and the additional acoustic conduction into the board can affect your monitor's amplitude and phase response. Avoid speaker placement directly on the console's meter bridge, because this results in two different acoustic paths between the speakers and the recording engineer causing undesirable comb filtering effects and poor imaging. The first path is the direct one, and the second is via a reflection off the mixer main control panel (as shown in Figure 1 below).
chapter 2 • installation The listening triangle Careful consideration should also be given to the physical spacing between the speakers. Alesis recommends that the distance between the speakers equal the distance between the listener and either speaker. In other words, the listener and the two speakers are at the three corners of an equilateral triangle. Figure 3 shows this concept.
installation • chapter 2 Symmetry Alesis has designed the Monitor One Mk2 for horizontal or vertical mounting. Horizontal mounting, however, keeps their height profile as low as possible to minimize the recording engineer's visual obstructions. Proper horizontal placement of speaker systems slightly behind (not on) a meter bridge accomplishes two purposes: it allows both woofer and tweeter to be at ear level, and many times, it permits the recording engineer to see over the speakers and into the studio.
chapter 2 • installation Why not place tweeters to the outside? The “classic” studio monitor layout used to be that the tweeters be placed to the outside of a horizontally-oriented speaker. In the past, this configuration was actually beneficial in time aligning the tweeter with the woofer if the cabinets were not toed-in toward the listener. (But they usually are, which makes time alignment worse if tweeters are on the outside.
installation • chapter 2 Connecting your speakers to an amplifier Before connecting the speakers, make sure your amplifier is turned OFF! The Monitor One Mk 2 features professional-grade 5-way binding posts for external wiring to the amplifier. This type of connector can accommodate bare or tinned wires, banana plugs in two different orientations, and even spade lugs. About Wire: Use the shortest length of the largest diameter wire you can get.
chapter 2 • installation To connect wires to the terminals if you are not using a banana plug: 1. Strip about 1/2" (15 mm) of insulation from the ends of each wire. If the wire is stranded, twist the strands together at the end. 2. Turn the red and black terminal caps counter-clockwise until they reach their limit. As you do, the hole through the terminal post will be exposed. 3. Insert the wires into the holes, observing proper polarity. 4. Tighten the terminal caps so that they hold the wire firmly.
installation • chapter 2 Power and Protection What size power amp should you use? Alesis recognizes that professional speakers need to be strong to survive, so the Monitor One is designed to handle twice the power of most other nearfield monitors. This was achieved by using proprietary high-power drivers and oversized crossover components, choices made principally to offer the user an extended margin of safety.
