miniDSP BALANCED 2X4 User Manual
BALANCED 2X4
2-IN 4-OUT BOXED AUDIO
PROCESSOR
BALANCED KIT
2-IN 4-OUT AUDIO PROCESSOR
BARE BOARD
User Manual
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Revision
Description
Date
V1.0
User manual – Initial version
24-09-2010
V1.1
Sensitivity Jumper clarifications
24-09-2010
V1.2
Updated various sections
23-12-2010
V1.3
Input/Output sensitivity tables
23-03-2011
V1.4
miniUSB 5 pin connector
25-08-2011
V2.1
New version combining Balanced 2x4
with kit board.
15 April 2015
V2.2
New DC power connector
20 April 2015
V2.3
Updated photo, new 2x4 Advanced
plugin
15 May 2015
Revision history
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Important Information ......................................................................................................................................... 5
System Requirements ...................................................................................................................................... 5
Disclaimer/Warning ......................................................................................................................................... 5
Warranty Terms ............................................................................................................................................... 6
A Note on this Manual ..................................................................................................................................... 6
1 Product Overview .......................................................................................................................................... 7
1.1 The miniDSP concept ............................................................................................................................ 7
1.2 Choosing the right miniDSP .................................................................................................................. 8
1.3 Choosing a plugin ................................................................................................................................. 9
1.3.1 Two-way crossover plugins ........................................................................................................... 9
1.3.2 Four-way crossover plugins ......................................................................................................... 10
1.3.3 Non-crossover plugins ................................................................................................................ 11
1.3.4 Subwoofer applications .............................................................................................................. 11
2 The miniDSP Workflow ................................................................................................................................ 14
2.1 Download and install the plugin ......................................................................................................... 14
2.2 Familiarize yourself with the plugin .................................................................................................... 14
2.3 Go into online mode ........................................................................................................................... 16
2.4 Perform initial configuration ............................................................................................................... 17
2.5 Get audio up and running ................................................................................................................... 17
2.5.1 Make audio connections ............................................................................................................. 17
2.5.2 Reconnect to the plugin .............................................................................................................. 18
2.5.3 Initial audio check ....................................................................................................................... 18
2.6 Fine-tune your configuration .............................................................................................................. 18
2.7 Continue to operate offline ................................................................................................................ 19
3 Installation and Connectivity ....................................................................................................................... 20
3.1 Software download and installation ................................................................................................... 20
3.1.1 Windows .................................................................................................................................... 20
3.1.2 Mac OS X .................................................................................................................................... 21
3.2 Hardware connectivity and configuration ........................................................................................... 22
3.2.1 Connecting power ...................................................................................................................... 22
3.2.2 Connecting USB .......................................................................................................................... 23
3.2.3 Audio inputs and outputs............................................................................................................ 23
3.2.4 Wiring tips .................................................................................................................................. 25
3.2.5 Input sensitivity .......................................................................................................................... 26
4 Plugin Architecture and Features ................................................................................................................. 27
4.1 System settings .................................................................................................................................. 27
4.2 Input selection, level, and metering .................................................................................................... 29
4.3 Output level, delay, and metering ...................................................................................................... 30
4.4 Graphic EQ ......................................................................................................................................... 32
4.5 Parametric EQ .................................................................................................................................... 33
4.6 Crossover ........................................................................................................................................... 35
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4.7 Compressor ........................................................................................................................................ 37
4.8 High pass and low pass filters ............................................................................................................. 38
4.9 Matrix mixer ....................................................................................................................................... 38
4.10 Mono/stereo mode ............................................................................................................................ 39
4.11 Keyboard shortcuts ............................................................................................................................ 39
4.12 Custom biquad programming ............................................................................................................. 40
4.12.1 What’s a “biquad? ...................................................................................................................... 40
4.12.2 Using custom biquad programming ............................................................................................ 40
4.12.3 The plugin calculator................................................................................................................... 42
4.12.4 Biquad calculation spreadsheet .................................................................................................. 42
4.12.5 Room EQ Wizard (REW) .............................................................................................................. 42
4.12.6 Active Crossover Designer (ACD) ................................................................................................. 42
5 Kit Documentation ...................................................................................................................................... 43
5.1 Board layout and features .................................................................................................................. 43
5.2 Power ................................................................................................................................................. 44
5.2.1 Standalone mode........................................................................................................................ 44
5.2.2 Stacked (with miniDIGI) .............................................................................................................. 44
5.3 Expansion header and I2S connectivity ............................................................................................... 45
5.4 USB connectivity ................................................................................................................................ 46
5.5 Bypass/reset....................................................................................................................................... 46
5.6 Volume control................................................................................................................................... 47
5.7 Master/Slave master clock selection ................................................................................................... 48
6 Additional Information ................................................................................................................................ 49
6.1 Specifications ..................................................................................................................................... 49
6.2 Troubleshooting ................................................................................................................................. 50
6.3 Obtaining support .............................................................................................................................. 51
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IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Please read the following information before use. In case of any questions, please contact miniDSP via the
support portal at minidsp.desk.com.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
To configure the miniDSP Balanced 2x4 or Balanced Kit, you will require a Windows PC or Apple Mac OS X
computer with the following minimum specification:
Windows
PC with 1GHz or higher processor clock speed. Intel® Pentium®/Celeron® family, or AMD K6®/AMD
Athlon®/AMD Duron® family, or compatible processor recommended.
512 megabytes (MB) of RAM or higher
Keyboard and mouse or compatible pointing device
USB 2.0 port
Microsoft• ® Windows® Vista® SP1/ XP pro SP2/Win7/Win8.1
Microsoft• ® .NET framework v3.5 or later
Adobe AIR environment (latest version)
Adobe Flash player (latest version)
Mac OS X
Intel-based Mac with 1 GHz or higher processor clock speed
512 megabytes (MB) of RAM or higher
Keyboard and mouse or compatible pointing device
Mac OS X 10.4 or higher
USB 2.0 port
Adobe AIR environment (latest version)
Adobe Flash player (latest version)
DISCLAIMER/WARNING
miniDSP cannot be held responsible for any damage that may result from the improper use or incorrect
configuration of this product. The miniDSP Balanced 2x4 or Balanced Kit is a powerful tool and can easily
generate signals that will damage your audio system if not used properly. Please read this manual carefully to
ensure that you fully understand how to operate and use this product.
To avoid mishap, be sure to configure the miniDSP Balanced 2x4 or Balanced Kit before connecting anything to
its outputs, as described in the section The miniDSP workflow. This will ensure that the software is correctly
configured and will greatly reduce any chance of causing damage to your system. Once again, miniDSP cannot
be responsible for any damage the miniDSP Balanced 2x4 or Balanced Kit may cause to your system.
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Finally, note that the miniDSP Balanced 2x4 or Balanced Kit is a very flexible device, and many of the questions
we receive at the tech support department are already answered in this user manual and in the online
application notes on the miniDSP.com website. So please take the time to carefully read this user manual and
the online technical support. And if an issue arises with your unit, please read through the Troubleshooting
section first. Thank you for your understanding!
WARRANTY TERMS
miniDSP Ltd warrants this product to be free from defects in materials and workmanship for a period of one
year from the invoice date. Our warranty does not cover failure of the product due to incorrect connection or
installation, improper or undocumented use, unauthorized servicing, modification or alteration of the unit in any
way, or any usage outside of that recommended in this manual. If in doubt, contact miniDSP prior to use.
A NOTE ON THIS MANUAL
This User Manual is designed for reading in both print and on the computer. If printing the manual, please print
double-sided. The embedded page size is 8 ½” x 11”. Printing on A4 paper will result in a slightly reduced size.
For reading on the computer, we have included hyperlinked cross-references throughout the manual. In
addition, a table of contents is embedded in the PDF file. Displaying this table of contents will make navigation
much easier:
In Adobe Reader on Windows, click on the “bookmarks” icon at the left. The table of contents will appear
on the left and can be unfolded at each level by clicking on the “+” icons.
In Preview on the Mac, click on the View menu and select Table of Contents. The table of contents will
appear on the left and can be unfolded at each level by clicking on the triangle icons.
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1 PRODUCT OVERVIEW
Thank you for choosing the miniDSP Balanced Kit board or the miniDSP Balanced 2x4 audio processor. Combined
with an extensive range of plugins, the miniDSP Balanced Kit and miniDSP Balanced 2x4 offer a compact,
inexpensive, yet powerful and flexible platform for many audio applications:
Active crossovers
System equalization with graphic or parametric EQ
Subwoofer integration
Audio mixing and routing
Center and rear channel synthesis
The balanced input/output connections allow easy connectivity to balanced audio equipment. Balanced
connections also provide additional immunity to noise over long cable runs and in electrically noisy
environments.
1.1 THE MINIDSP CONCEPT
The miniDSP concept is “one hardware unit + one software plugin = audio processing solution.” This concept
leverages the inherent flexibility of DSP (digital signal processing) to deliver a range of flexible but cost-effective
solutions.
Hardware unit
In this case, the hardware unit is the miniDSP Balanced 2x4 or miniDSP Balanced Kit. It has two
analog inputs and four analog outputs. The internal processor converts the analog input signal to
digital form, processes it according to the instructions from the plugin, and then converts it to
analog again for the outputs. See Choosing the right miniDSP for more information on miniDSP
hardware.
Software plugin
The software plugin is installed on your PC or Mac, and determines the processing that the DSP
will perform. It provides a friendly user interface, and downloads instructions into the miniDSP
hardware unit that tell it how to process the incoming audio signal. See Choosing a plugin for
more information on plugins.
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1.2 CHOOSING THE RIGHT MINIDSP
The miniDSP Balanced 2x4 and miniDSP Balanced Kit provide two balanced analog inputs and four balanced
analog outputs. They are a simple, cost-effective DSP solution for many audio processing needs. They are also an
excellent starting point for learning about DSP for audio applications.
The miniDSP Balanced 2x4 is a self-contained “miniDSP in a box”:
The miniDSP Balanced Kit consists of just the circuit board without the external chassis. The board can be
integrated into any build that requires the addition of flexible yet cost-effective audio processing.
miniDSP make a large and growing number of hardware platforms for particular needs. If the miniDSP Balanced
2x4 or Balanced Kit is not the most suitable hardware, then other options are available.
miniDSP 2x4 and miniDSP Kit
This platform uses the same set of plugins, but provides unbalanced audio connection with RCA
sockets. This enables simple connectivity to typical home audio equipment.
Other platforms
miniDSP makes many other hardware units with up to ten output channels, with sophisticated
digital room correction capabilities, and with inbuilt amplification (plate amps). Many are
available in either kit or “boxed” form. See the full range of miniDSP products.
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1.3 CHOOSING A PLUGIN
The plugin that you choose depends on the specifics of your application. Currently, there are eight plugins
available for the miniDSP Balanced 2x4 and miniDSP Balanced Kit.
1.3.1 Two-way crossover plugins
A two-way crossover splits the audio frequency band into two. Typically, this is used to feed high frequencies to
tweeters and low frequencies to woofers. A single miniDSP Balanced 2x4 or miniDSP Balanced Kit is used for
stereo, as shown in this diagram (protection capacitors on the tweeters are optional but generally
recommended):
2x4 Advanced
The 2x4 Advanced crossover plugin provides parametric EQ on both inputs and on all four
outputs, fully independent crossovers/filters with a wide range of filter slopes (up to 48
dB/octave) on all four outputs, and a matrix mixer. Two-way active loudspeakers are among the
wide range of applications supported by this plugin. For more information, see the datasheet.
Stereo Graphic EQ
The Stereo Graphic EQ plugin provides a 31-band (1/3rd octave) graphic equalizer on both input
channels, as well as fully independent crossovers of 12 or 24 dB/octave. The graphic equalizer
interface may be preferred by those more familiar with hardware graphic equalizers. For more
information, see the datasheet.
2way Advanced
The 2way Advanced crossover plugin provides parametric EQ on both inputs and on all four
outputs, as well as fully independent crossovers with a wide range of filter slopes up to 48
dB/octave. It is typically used for building fully active two-way loudspeakers. For more
information, see the datasheet. Note: in most applications, this plugin is superseded by the 2x4
Advanced plugin (see above).
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2way Advanced 21
The 2way Advanced 21 plugin is similar to the 2way Advanced plugin, but it also allows two of
the output channels to be summed together to provide a mono subwoofer feed. It is therefore
used to derive a mono subwoofer signal from a stereo signal, or to create “sub sat” systems. For
more information, see the datasheet. Note: in most applications, this plugin is superseded by
the 2x4 Advanced plugin (see above).
1.3.2 Four-way crossover plugins
A four-way crossover splits the frequency spectrum of a single input channel into up to four distinct bands.
Frequency bands can overlap if needed, as all crossover filters are independently specified. Two miniDSP
Balanced 2x4 units or miniDSP Balanced Kits are needed for stereo, as shown in this diagram (a protection
capacitor on each tweeter is optional but generally recommended):
2x4 Advanced The new 2x4 crossover plugin provides parametric EQ on both inputs and on all four outputs,
fully independent crossovers/filters with a wide range of filter slopes (up to 48 dB/octave) on all
four outputs, and a matrix mixer. Three-way and four-way active loudspeakers are among the
wide range of applications supported by this plugin. For more information, see the datasheet.
4way GEQ
The 4way GEQ plugin provides a 31-band (1/3rd octave) graphic equalizer on the input channel,
as well as fully independent crossovers of 12 or 24 dB/octave. The graphic equalizer interface
may be preferred by those more familiar with hardware graphic equalizers. For more
information, see the datasheet.
4way Advanced
The 4way Advanced plugin provides parametric EQ on one input channel and on all four output
channels, as well as fully-independent crossovers with a wide range of filter slopes up to 48
dB/octave. It is typically used to build a fully active three-way or four-way active loudspeaker
(two miniDSP hardware units required for stereo). For more information, see the datasheet.
Note: in most applications, this plugin is superseded by the 2x4 Advanced plugin (see above).
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1.3.3 Non-crossover plugins
Two plugins provide specialized audio processing functions.
Rear/Center Channel
The Rear/Center Channel plugin provides a summed (L+R) or difference (L-R or R-L) signal for
use in deriving center or rear channels from a stereo signal. It also provides a 31-band graphic
EQ, high pass and low pass filters, and long delay (total 31 ms). For more information, see the
datasheet.
Mixer
The Mixer plugin mixes the two input channels to the four output channels in arbitrary
combinations. Each input channel also has a 31-band graphic EQ and high pass and low pass
filters. For more information, see the datasheet.
1.3.4 Subwoofer applications
For subwoofer applications, we usually recommend the use of the 2x4 Advanced plugin, because of its flexibility
and ability to handle many different subwoofer configurations. This flexibility is provided by the use of the
matrix mixer, which maps and mixes input channels to output channels. Here are four common subwoofer
scenarios and the recommended routing for each.
Mono subwoofer from stereo signal, and high passed speakers
In this configuration, the miniDSP Balanced 2x4 or Balanced Kit is used to generate a single mono subwoofer
feed from a stereo signal, as well as to high-pass the main speakers. The connection diagram is shown as
follows:
To accomplish this configuration, use the matrix mixer to mix input channels 1 and 2 to output 1, and to send
input 1 to output 3, and input 2 to output 4:
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Stereo subwoofer from stereo signal
To derive a separate left and right subwoofer signal from the stereo left and right signals, input channel 1 is sent
to outputs 1 and 2, and input channel 2 is sent to outputs 3 and 4 (this is essentially the same as a two-way
crossover):
To accomplish this configuration, use the matrix mixer to send input channel 1 to outputs 1 and 2, and input
channel 2 to outputs 3 and 4:
One to four subwoofers from stereo signal
If the miniDSP is used only for subwoofer control/EQ, up to four separate subwoofer signals, each with different
delay and EQ, can be generated from a stereo signal:
To accomplish this configuration, use the matrix mixer to mix both input channels to all four output channels:
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One to four subwoofers from mono signal (e.g. AVR)
If you have an A/V processor or A/V receiver, it has already combined various signals together to generate a
single subwoofer signal. The miniDSP Balanced 2x4 or Balanced Kit can generate up to four subwoofer signals
with different EQ and delay from the AVR subwoofer output:
To accomplish this configuration, the routing matrix sends input channel 1 to all four output channels:
Two to four subwoofers from dual mono signal (e.g. AVR)
Some A/V processors and A/V receivers provide two subwoofer outputs. You can send each input to any of the
outputs. For example, this routing screen illustrates the case where input 1 is sent to output 1, and input 2 is
sent to outputs 2 through 4:
More advanced subwoofer applications
There may be cases where you need more features than provided by the miniDSP Balanced 2x4 and miniDSP
Balanced Kit – for example, higher signal levels, longer delays, or more output channels. In that case, please see
the more powerful miniDSP units 10x10 Hd, nanoDIGI 2x8 b, nanoAVR HD, and nanoAVR HDA.
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2 THE MINIDSP WORKFLOW
While each plugin is different, there is a common procedure or workflow that we recommend for all of them.
Please follow the steps below carefully for best results from your new miniDSP.
1. Download and install the plugin
2. Familiarize yourself with the plugin
3. Go into online mode
4. Perform initial configuration
5. Get audio up and running
6. Fine-tune your configuration
7. Continue to operate offline
2.1 DOWNLOAD AND INSTALL THE PLUGIN
When your order ships, your ordered plugin will be available from the User Downloads section of the miniDSP
website. Download and install your plugin, as described in Software download and installation on page 20.
2.2 FAMILIARIZE YOURSELF WITH THE PLUGIN
Before connecting your computer to the miniDSP Balanced 2x4 or Balanced Kit board, it’s worth familiarizing
yourself with the user interface presented by the plugin. When it starts, you will see the plugin screen as shown
below. (This particular example is the 2way Advanced plugin, but they all share a common layout.)
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System tabs
These tabs access various screens to provide access to different types of functionality.
Control buttons (Synchronize, Master Mute, Help)
The Synchronize button connects the user interface to the miniDSP hardware unit, downloading
configuration data and putting it into online mode. The Master Mute button enables or disables
all audio processing. Finally, the Help button brings up the help screen (shown above).
Flow diagram
The flow diagram (or “block diagram”) is a schematic representation of the audio processing that
takes place in the miniDSP hardware unit. Audio “flows” through the diagram from the inputs on
the left to the outputs on the right. Clicking on each block will show its control interface in the
detail pane underneath it.
Detail pane
The detail pane shows the control interface of the processing blocks in the flow diagram. For the
specifics of each type of processing block, see Plugin architecture and features.
Now is a good time to explore the plugin and become familiar with all of the controls in each of the signal
processing blocks. Click on each of the blocks in the block diagram to see what the controls are.
At this time, the plugin is still in offline mode, so any changes you make will not be downloaded into the miniDSP
hardware. Since we will reset all of the processing parameters in the next section, you can feel free to
experiment with the user interface at this point.
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2.3 GO INTO ONLINE MODE
Don’t connect other equipment to the miniDSP Balanced 2x4 or Balanced Kit board at this stage. That
will be done after correctly initializing the configuration.
To go into online mode, first apply power to the miniDSP. (See Connecting power on page 22 for more
information.)
Connect the USB cable.
Start the plugin (if it is not already running) and click on the Connect & Synchronize button:
The following dialog will appear:
Click on the Restore to Default button. This is essential the first time you connect to the miniDSP, as it ensures
that the miniDSP hardware unit contains an internal set of data that it understands. (Subsequently, you will
generally use the Synchronize button.)
Provided all goes well, you will see a confirmation dialog. The plugin is now in online mode. Any change that you
make in the plugin user interface will be immediately sent to the miniDSP hardware unit, so the change will take
effect in real time.
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