Radial Engineering Ice-Cube IC-1 User Manual

www.radialeng.com

True to the Music

Radial Engineering Ltd.

®

®

True to the Music

USER GUIDE

Radial Engineering Ltd.

Ice-Cube IC-1

™

Ice-Cube IC-1™

FEATURES

RADIAL ENGINEERING 3 YEAR

TRANSFERABLE LIMITED WARRANTY

RADIAL ENGINEERING LTD. (“Radial”) warrants this product to be free from defects in material and
workmanship and will remedy any such defects free of charge according to the terms of this warranty.
Radial will repair or replace (at its option) any defective component(s) of this product (excluding fi nish and
wear and tear on components under normal use) for a period of three (3) years from the original date of
purchase. In the event that a particular product is no longer available, Radial reserves the right to replace
the product with a similar product of equal or greater value. In the unlikely event that a defect is uncovered,
please call 604-942-1001 or email [e-mail] to obtain a RA number (Return Authorization
number) before the 3 year warranty period expires. The product must be returned prepaid in the original
shipping container (or equivalent) to Radial or to an authorized Radial repair center and you must assume
the risk of loss or damage. A copy of the original invoice showing date of purchase and the dealer name
must accompany any request for work to be performed under this limited and transferable warranty.
This warranty shall not apply if the product has been damaged due to abuse, misuse, misapplication,
accident or as a result of service or modifi cation by any other than an authorized Radial repair center.

THERE ARE NO EXPRESSED WARRANTIES OTHER THAN THOSE ON THE FACE HEREOF
AND DESCRIBED ABOVE. NO WARRANTIES WHETHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING
BUT NOT LIMITED TO, ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR
A PARTICULAR PURPOSE SHALL EXTEND BEYOND THE RESPECTIVE WARRANTY PERIOD
DESCRIBED ABOVE OF THREE YEARS. RADIAL SHALL NOT BE RESPONSIBLE OR LIABLE FOR
ANY SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR LOSS ARISING FROM THE USE
OF THIS PRODUCT. THIS W ARRANTY GIVES YOU SPECIFIC LEGAL RIGHTS, AND YOU MA Y ALSO
HAVE OTHER RIGHTS, WHICH MAY VARY DEPENDING ON WHERE YOU LIVE AND WHERE THE
PRODUCT WAS PURCHASED.

Ice-Cube IC-1™ User Guide - Part No. R870 1206 00 • © Copyright 2014 all rights
reserved.

Specifi cations and appearance are subject to change without notice.

Radial Engineering Ltd.
1588 Kebet Way, Port Coquitlam BC V3C 5M5
tel: [phone] • fax: [phone]
[e-mail] • www.radialeng.com

1. XLR OUT: Connects to your PA or recording system.

2. XLR IN: Connects from the device you would like to isolate.

3. GROUND LIFT: Disconnects PIN-1 on the XLR - the audio ground

at the outputs to eliminate hum and buzz created by ground loops.

4. STEEL CASE: Virtually indestructible steel case for toughness
and reliability on the road. Protects the audio circuit from
electromagnetic and radio interference. Durable power-coat fi nish
for years of long life.

5. HD JACKS: Heavy duty glass reinforced nylon XLR connectors
are bolted to the steel case for durability.

6. RF FILTER: Passive fi lter blocks radio frequency interference
from bleeding into audio lines.

7. TRANSFORMER: Radial Eclipse transformer isolates the audio
between the input and output to eliminate hum and buzz.

8. HEAVY DUTY PCB: Double sided PCB mounts to a rigid 14-gauge
steel L-frame for long life.

RADIAL ICE-CUBE IC-1 SPECIFICATIONS

Audio circuit type: ............................................................................................Passive

Frequency response: ...............................................................20Hz - 20KHz +/-1 dB

Total harmonic distortion (THD+N): ...............................<0.0006% 1KHz -10dBu Out

Dynamic range: ...............................................................................................>135dB

Input impedance: ........................................................................8.66K With 10K load

Maximum input: ...............................................................................................+25dBu

Gain: ....................................................................+.25dB/-5.7dB 10K/600 Ohm Load

Clip level: .........................................................................................+25dBu at output

Output impedance: ......................................................................................600 Ohms

Equivalent input noise: ....................................................................................110dBu

Noise fl oor: ......................................................................................................110dBu

Intermodulation distortion: .............................................................0.002% -10dBu out

Common Mode Rejection: .................................................................................-84dB

To meet the requirements of California Proposition 65, it is our responsibility to inform you of the following:

WARNING: This product contains chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer,
birth defects or other reproductive harm.

Please take proper care when handling and consult local government regulations before discarding.

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Thank you for purchasing the Radial Ice-Cube IC-1. The Ice-Cube is the
perfect problem-solver for the AV technician and audio engineer because it
will eliminate hum and buzz caused by ground loops in an audio system by
simply inserting it into the signal path. The Ice-Cube IC-1 is fast to deploy and
has excellent audio properties that won’t introduce harsh distortion, excessive
phase shift or limit the bandwidth.

Although the IC-1 is designed to be plug & play easy to use, please take a
minute to read this short manual. It will give you insight on how to use the
Radial IC-1 to get the most out of it. If you fi nd yourself asking questions
after reading the guide we suggest you visit the Ice-Cube FAQ page on the
Radial web site. This is where we post questions from users and inform you
of updates. If you still do not fi nd what you are looking for, we invite you to
send us an email at [e-mail] and we will do our very best to
answer you in short order.

OVERVIEW

The Ice-Cube IC-1 has been designed to provide isolation between two line­level devices such as between mixing consoles, remote speakers, crossovers
or amp-racks. Use the Ice-Cube IC-1 anywhere the source and destination
devices may cause system noise due to different ground potentials (often
referred to as ground loops) and stray DC voltages.

So called ground loops can introduce a 60 cycle hum in the sound system
and other noise. Although there are various solutions that can be engineered
to eliminate noise, the simplest and most effective is to isolate the source
and destination with an audio transformer.

The Ice-Cube IC-1 employs a high-quality Radial Eclipse transformer to
isolate the input from the output while blocking stray DC currents that cause
hum. The Ice-Cube is engineered to handle any buffered line-level signal up
to about +15dB with very low distortion and exceptionally linear frequency
response from 20Hz to 18kHz.

The IC-1 is inserted in between a source device (like a mixer) and a destination
device (like a powered speaker). The XLR female input accepts a line-level
signal from the source device and the XLR male output sends the balanced
signal to the destination.

SOURCE

MIXING CONSOLE

XLR-F IN

XLR-M OUT

DESTINATION

POWERED SPEAKER

MAKING CONNECTIONS

Before inserting the Ice-Cube into your signal chain, make sure all levels are
turned down. This will avoid power-on and connection transients that could cause
a loud pop in the sound system and damage more sensitive components such as
tweeters. The Ice-Cube is a passive device. This means that it does not require an
external power source to make it work. As soon as you plug it in, it will spring to life.

BALANCED CABLES

You can connect balanced devices to and from the Ice-Cube using standard XLR
cables. The Ice-Cube is wired following the AES convention with pin-1 ground,
pin-2 (+), and Pin-3 (-).

SOURCEICE-CUBE

12

3

12

3

SHIELDED TWISTED PAIR CABLE

DRAIN (G)

If your source device uses balanced ¼” TRS connectors you can use a balanced
TRS to XLR adaptor cable wired as shown in the diagram below.

SOURCE

ICE-CUBE

RING (-)

TIP (+)

SLEEVE (G)

12

3

SHIELDED TWISTED PAIR CABLE

DRAIN (G)

UNBALANCED CABLES

You can also connect an unbalanced device such as a CD player to the IC-1 using
an adapter cable. This will reduce the signal amplitude by roughly 6dB but for
high output devices like CD players and DJ mixers this is usually not a problem.
Simply increase the gain at the destination mixing console to compensate. The
Ice-Cube will convert the signal to balanced and you can use standard XLR cables
from the Ice-Cube output to the destination mixing console.

SOURCE

ICE-CUBE

SHEILD (G)

12

3

TIP (+)

SLEEVE (G)

COAXIAL CABLE

Once the connections are made, slowly increase the volume to test. It is a good
idea to always test the audio system at low volumes. This will further prevent
system damage should a cable or connection be faulty.

ABOUT TRANSFORMERS

The Ice-Cube IC-1 employs a high performance Radial Eclipse isolation
transformer to ensure the best signal transfer. However, not all transformers
are of equal quality. At Radial, we take great care in engineering the best
transformer for the job and spend hours listening to the results.

Radial Eclipse Transfromer

The Eclipse transformer inside the Ice-Cube sounds great and does a
superb job at providing isolation from noise caused by ground loops. Note
that because the transformer will block all forms of DC, it will also block 48V
phantom power coming from the console. Phantom power will not harm the
Ice-Cube.

LIFTING THE GROUND

The only control on the Ice-Cube is a GROUND LIFT switch. This switch is
recessed to prevent accidental use during operation. Use a small screwdriver
to access the switch.

Using the recessed switch

When the switch is set to the outward position, the signal ground from the
input to the output is connected via pin-1 at the XLR jacks. When pushed in,
the signal ground connection is ‘lifted’ on both sides by disconnecting pin-1
at the XLR jacks. This further isolates the source and destination devices
and generally results in less noise.

If, after connecting, you hear noise such as hum and buzz try pushing the
GROUND LIFT switch inward. Lifting the grounds can be useful when the
source and destination devices derive their AC power from different circuits
of the AC electrical mains leading to a potential ground loop.

Radial Engineering Ltd. Radial Engineering Ltd. Radial Engineering Ltd.

Ice-Cube IC-1

™

Ice-Cube IC-1™ Ice-Cube IC-1™