Audiocontrol DQS User Manual

The Strength of

Digital

Digital

DQS

Six Channel
Digital Equalizer

Owner’s Enjoyment Manual

AudioControl

22410 70th Avenue West • Mountlake Terrace, WA 98043 USA

Phone [phone] • Fax [phone]

www.audiocontrol.com

tm

®

AudioControl®

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Owner’s Enjoyment Manual

The Strength of Digital

Table of Contents

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Key Features and Highlights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Quick Installation Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

A Guided Tour of the DQS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Placement and Mounting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Power Wiring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Audio Wiring and System Diagrams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-11

Level Matching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Navigating the DQS Menu Screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Equalization Adjustment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

™

Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Warranty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Owner’s Enjoyment Manual

AudioControl®

Owner’s Enjoyment Manual

The Strength of Digital

™

Introduction

Welcome to the world of AudioControl digital
signal processing . A magical combination of
AudioControl’s lengthy experience in perfor­mance signal processing design combined with
state-of-the-art Digital Signal Processing (DSP)
technology. You now have in your possession the
DQS, an extremely powerful six channel, thirty­band, one-third-octave stereo graphic and para­metric digital equalizer. Whew, try saying that
fast a few times. Even better the DQS has a total of
192 equalization controls making it an incredible
addition to any multi-channel system...even car
theater! Whether you are a die-hard sound-off
competitor or simply enjoy great music, you will
definitely appreciate how the DQS makes your
performance autosound system sound even better.

Now before you start salivating too much just
thinking about the benefits of the DQS, take a few
minutes to sit back, have a latte’, decaffeinated if
necessary, and read through this manual. It con­tains lots of useful facts and information… and
besides, we spent a lot of time writing it!

KEY FEATURES OF THE DQS

Here are some of the cool features that are
enclosed in this magical box:

• Six input and output channels

• 30 bands of constant-Q equalization …
on each channel

• Two, fully-adjustable parametric
equalizers per pair of channels

• Eight non-volatile memories

• 24 bit digital signal processing

Owner’s Enjoyment Manual

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AudioControl®

FEATURES AND HIGHLIGHTS

Six Channels Of Input and Output: The

DQS is AudioControl’s first digital car audio
equalizer with six input and output channels
making it ideal for a multitude of applications.
Whether you are designing around a source unit
with multiple outputs or you have a full blown
surround sound car theater system, the DQS is the
processor for you.

Input and Output Level Controls: To help

accurately level match your source units and
amplifiers, the DQS has individual input and
output level controls. This will help you maxi­mize the sound quality of your system and mini­mize any system noise. These controls will also
help your DQS work with factory installed source
units.

Constant-Q Equalization Controls: Car

interiors vary widely in size and acoustic make­up. Doors, kick-panels, and rear decks don’t make
the best location for speaker placement causing
your high performance speaker system to sound
somewhat lackluster. The DQS offers thirty precise
one-third octave equalization controls per chan­nel for a total of 180 filters!

Parametric Equalization Controls: In

addition to offering thirty, one-third octave
controls, the DQS also packs two, fully-adjustable
parametric equalization controls for each pair of
channels. With the DQS’s parametric controls you
can select a center frequency, dial in the ideal
bandwidth and apply the appropriate amount of
boost or cut. The precise filtering of the DQS
allows you to select bandwidths as narrow as 1/12
octave!

Non-volatile Memories: The DQS has the

ability to allow the user to set and store up to
eight different system equalization settings in
individual memory locations.

24-bit Digital Signal Processing:

AudioControl’s digital signal processors use a
special 24-bit DSP (digital signal processor) that
was specifically designed for equalization and
other dynamics processing. Matching 24-bit A/D ­D/A converters are also incorporated for maxi­mum sound quality.

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Owner’s Enjoyment Manual

The Strength of Digital

™

Bulletproof Warranty: The most impor-

tant feature of all. Every AudioControl product is
selflessly designed and manufactured by the
occupants of our rainforest factory. We take every
effort to ensure that you will have many years of
enjoyment out of your DQS. To ensure the perfor­mance of this new Digital product, we highly
recommend that you allow your authorized
AudioControl dealer to perform the installation.
Not only do they have all the right knowledge
and tools, but also in the unlikely chance your
DQS should stop working, we will back it with a
limited five years parts and labor warranty.
Should you choose to install it yourself we will
still give you a one-year parts and labor warranty.
To activate your warranty, you need to FILL OUT
AND SEND IN YOUR WARRANTY CARD!

We also recommend that you save your invoice
or sales slip as proof of installation and ownership.
Not only is it necessary for warranty purposes, but
should your DQS “disappear” one day while your
car is parked at your local latte’ stand, you will
find insurance companies very unforgiving
without proof of purchase.

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AudioControl®

QUICK INSTALLATION
INFORMATION

For those of you short on time, but high on ambi­tion, we offer the following section to speed up
your installation of the DQS:

1. The DQS needs to be installed in the signal path
between your source unit and your external
amplifier(s). If this is not obvious to you, quickly
pack up your DQS and run to your nearest autho­rized AudioControl dealer to have them perform
the installation. You will thank us later.

2. Physically mount the DQS in a location that
keeps it away from soda spills, food crumbs, and
curious fingers. However, you will want to select a
location that allows you to see the display and
access the equalization controls during setup.

3. Hook up +12 volt power, ground, and remote
turn-on. If you need to know more, then read on.
Heck, if you don’t think you need to know more,
you should still read on, because you can never
know too much.

4. Adjust the “Input Level” control on your DQS to
match the source unit’s output and then adjust
the “Output Level” controls to match your ampli­fier inputs.

Note: You will want to turn the gains on your
amplifiers DOWN to maximize your systems perfor­mance.

5. Now comes the fun part. Set your equalization
controls to where your system sounds the most
balanced yet dynamic. More about this in the
section titled “Adjusting Your Equalizer”... and you
thought you would not have to read the rest of
the manual. Hah!

6. Last but not least, you will want to save your
system settings in one of the eight memory
locations.

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Owner’s Enjoyment Manual

The Strength of Digital

™

Figure 1: Basic DQS System

Owner’s Enjoyment Manual

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