AudioControl Ten III User Manual

How to

Hook Up and

Enjoy Your

tm

Series IIITen

tm

Series III

®

making good stereo sound better

®

®

Congratulations on having the good taste to buy one of the world’s

finest octave equalizers for your home stereo.

Now you can improve the performance of your speakers, adjust the sound of

CD's, make killer car tapes and even improve the sound of video soundtracks.

MAKING FRIENDS WITH YOUR NEW TEN Series III

The TEN is a fairly complex, high performance add-on with lots of buttons,
knobs and sockets including some not found on any other equalizer, so face the
blackboard and we’ll run you through each control, hole and protuberance on
the TEN.

1

¶ POWER SWITCH

Self explanatory. It allows the TEN to nourish its circuits from the vast
dynamos and generators of your local monopolistic power company. Don’t
worry about using a splitter socket if you’re short of outlets: The TEN draws less
current than a clock radio and will pose no overload hazard when added to
your current tangle of plugs.

· EQ SWITCH

Think of this as a comparison switch. IN, you’re hearing the effect of the
TEN. OUT, you’re hearing things as they were before the TEN was installed.
When you use the TEN to change the tone of your music or beef up speaker
range, just pop the EQ switch in and out to make frequency comparisons.

¸ EQUALIZE RECORDING

This switch determines whether you’re equalizing your program source (CD,
FM etc.) onto tape or not. In the OUT position, your program source is simply
being equalized and played through your speakers. The IN setting transfers all
the
equalization to your tape deck. Just about all cassette recordings can benefit by
equalization which we’ll cover further on. Note that the LED under the
EQUALIZE RECORDING button blinks on the IN position to warn you in case
you DON’T want to equalize a recording.

¶ · ¸ ¹ º » ¼

2

¹ SUBSONIC FILTER

Subsonics are inaudible ultra-low frequency oscillations caused by feed­back, floor vibration, studio noise and other nefarious enemies of your
speakers. They manifest themselves in a visible flopping of speaker woofer
cones. Distorting and destructive, subsonics are chopped off below 20Hz by
this special filter circuit. Don’t confuse it with the lousy “Low Cut” filter on
your receiver or integrated which also robs audible low bass. The SUBSONIC
filter on the TEN should be left IN at all times with no audible loss of bass and
a whole lot of positive speaker protection.

º VIDEO/AUXILIARY

Both this button and the TAPE MON button next door allow you to play
different inputs into the equalizer and then into your receiver or preamp for
listening. When you press VIDEO/AUX IN, the TEN will be equalizing input
from a television, disc player, VCR or any other line level source.

» TAPE MONITOR

This is a “loop” just like the one controlled by the Tape Monitor on your
receiver. When pushed in, the TEN is receiving signals from the tape decks.
Note that if the deck is not playing and the TAPE MON button is pushed in,
deafening silence will occur.

Since the TAPE MON is a loop which goes out of the TEN through a tape
deck or other device and back in, it is where you’d plug any other sound­enhancing devices such as surround sound, noise reducers, expanders, etc. If
such a device is installed, pushing the TAPE MON button IN will activate this
device. See the hook-up details if this is getting hazy. If you don’t own any
other outboard add-ons, don’t worry about it further.

¼ Next we come to the EQ SLIDERS that make up the equalization

portion of the TEN. The sound spectrum - from the lowest to highest - is
divided up into ten EQUAL ranges, called octaves. Don’t worry about the fact
that the frequency numbers don’t jump up in orderly tenths but instead
approximately double. Just think of them as ten equal bands of sound. Each
has its purposes and contributes different experiences to your enjoyment of
music. While reading this section, note the chart of instruments which will
help you understand the relationships of instruments to frequency bands.

3

Harmonic or Overtone
Fundamental Note

31.5 63 125 250 500 1000 2000 4000 8000 16,000

Kick Drum
Tom Drum
Snare Drum
Cymbals
Chimes
Bass Guitar
Lead Guitar
Female Vocal
Male Vocal
Blues Harp
Saxophone
Organ
Piano
Synthesizer
String Bass
Violin
Cello
Clarinet
Flute
Trumpet

MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS vs. EQUALIZER BANDS

31.5 Hz, 63 Hz, 125 Hz, 250 Hz:
THE SLIDERS THAT SHOOK THE WORLD!

The four bottom sliders on your TEN roughly correspond to the bass
control on your amp or receiver - or rather we should say that your receiver’s
bass tone control is what’s rough.

31.5 Hz. Truly a piece of the rock. This lowest of lows is what you’ve

always wanted more of. It’s the frequency that you feel as well as hear. The
frequency that kicks you live at concerts.

Unfortunately, the whole signal chain conspires to remove it. Even $1000
microphones are not flat that low; studio recorders roll off in this area. It’s
hard to master and pretty near impossible for most speaker woofers to
reproduce.

So, even if you run the 31.5Hz slider up to +15Hz, your speakers will
probably be 5dB or more down at this gutrocking frequency.

Lay it on thick, if you have the amp power to handle it.

63Hz. Here’s the bass you were after when you used to turn on the
loudness or bass tone control. It’s the deep, tight,strong bass that makes rock
solid. It’s also where most speaker systems start giving out, as you probably
saw when you response-analyzed your speakers and room. But, if it didn’t
take a lot to flatten the response of your system, feel free to add some more.

Most studio producers and engineers actually cut down on this frequency
to compensate for teeny radios and bubblegummers’ cheap compact stereos,
so adding some 63Hz is not “gonna be no sin,” as B.B. King put it.

It’s the slider that makes the bass drums and floor toms “bigger” and
broadens bass guitar parts. And, even does surprising things to operatic basso
voices. (Forget it on Neil Young’s, though.)

125Hz. This is the bass that jukeboxes and cheap stereos specialize in. It