Tannoy Proto-J Reference Manual

N O R T H A M E R I C A I N C.

Nearfield Monitor

Reference Manual

Tannoy North America Inc.

335 Gage Ave., Suite #1 Kitchener, Ontario Canada N2M 5E1

Tel:[phone] Fax:[phone] Toll Free Dealer Faxline:[phone]

e-mail: [e-mail]

www.tannoy.com

1.0 INTRODUCTION

2.0 THE BASICS

2.1 Unpacking and visual checks

2.2 Preliminary recommendation

2.3 Connecting your speakers

2.4 Observing polarity

2.5 Power Amplifiers

3.0 PLACEMENT OF THE SPEAKERS

3.1 Orientation

3.2 Positioning

3.3 Console Reflections

3.4 Speaker Mounting

3.5

3.6 Equalization

Bass Ports

4.0 PERFORMANCE DATA

5.0 TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

6.0 SERVICING

6.1 Cabinet finish

6.2 Driver removal

6.3 Crossover

6.4 List of spare parts

7.0 WARRANTY

335 Gage Ave., Suite #1 Kitchener, Ontario Canada N2M 5E1

Tel:[phone] Fax:[phone] Toll Free Dealer Faxline:[phone]

Tannoy North America Inc.

e-mail: [e-mail]

www.tannoy.com

8.2”

208 mm

13.75

”

349.25 mm

1.0 INTRODUCTION

You’re thinking, "Come on, a user’s manual for speakers? That’s like a user’s manual for a tooth­brush." You know enough not to plug your speakers into an AC outlet, and you know you should
hook them up in phase and then you listen to them. How much more do you need to know? We
know these speakers are headed for the professional or semi-professional studio market, so we
know we don’t need to tell you about putting your potted plants on top of the speakers, or to avoid
putting the right one on the bookshelf, and the left one on the floor behind the sofa. We know you
are serious listeners or you wouldn’t have bought Tannoy monitors. We decided that someone need­ed to produce this type of manual, and because we’re actually interested in monitoring, not just
speaker sales, we figured it would have to be us. This user’s manual will tell you how to get the
absolute best performance out of your new monitors.

2.0 THE BASICS

The Proto-J is the latest playback monitor from Tannoy, a company with unrivalled experience in stu­dio monitoring. It has an extremely detailed, dynamic sound with a wide, flat frequency response –
all of which are essential for monitoring with reliable accuracy.
The 1/2" (12.5 mm) soft dome HF unit is seamlessly matched to a 6.5" (165 mm) long throw bass
unit by the precision low loss crossover network. The drive units are discretely mounted on a 3/4"
(18.5 mm) MDF baffle. The front edges of the vented enclosure are champhered to reduce high fre­quency difraction. The back panel features two 5-way binding post inputs and integral inserts to
accommodate Omni Mount™ 50 Series wall brackets to accommodate wall mounting for easy and
flexible 5.1 surround sound installs. Proto-J is designed to blend seamlessly with the Tannoy
PS110B 5.1 Subwoofer to complete this package.

Don’t put potted plants on top of your speakers, don’t plug them into AC outlets, or hook them up out
of phase. Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s talk about some of the technical things to
keep in mind.

2.1 Unpacking and visual checks

To remove the speakers from the carton without damage open the end flaps fully and bend them
right back (remember they are packed in pairs). Turn the package upside-down on the floor and lift
the carton vertically up to leave the speakers resting on their packing tray. Nothing on or in your
speakers should rattle about. Inspect each speaker for signs of transit damage. In the unlikely event
of this having occurred inform the carrier and the supplier. Keep all the packaging if damage has
occurred, as this will show evidence of excessive handling forces. It is also a good idea to keep the
carton if possible for future transportation.

2.2 Preliminary recommendation

Initially we would like to give a word of warning on high sound levels, which these speakers are
capable of generating over sustained periods of time. Levels over 95 dB for 8 hours per day will
eventually cause permanent hearing loss. Because Tannoy monitors have very low levels of time,
amplitude and frequency distortion it is not always obvious that the sound level is high while working
with them.
For continuous exposure we recommend the occasional use of a sound level meter capable of inte­grating the sound level over a period of exposure according to noise control standards. This should
be used just to check that noise levels are always within safety limits.

2.3 Connecting your speakers

The types of cable used to connect the speakers to the power amplifier will marginally affect the
sound. The cross-sectional area of the cable should be large enough so as not to affect the damping
factor, generally a cable with a cross-sectional area of 2.5 mm_, or greater is recommended.
The lower the resistance of the cable between the amplifier and the speakers, the better the damp­ing factor acting on the speaker. This has been covered in every audio magazine that has ever been
written about speakers, so we won’t beat it to death here. You don’t need to buy speaker wire that
costs as much as your speakers to get some benefit from wire size, select a finely stranded speaker
cable, and dress the cable ends to prevent "hairs" or stray conductors from shorting across the ter­minals. If your amplifier will not directly accept that size of cable, you can trim down the cable size at
the amplifier end. Ensure that the binding post retaining nuts are screwed down firmly without strip­ping or over tightening them.

2.4 Observing polarity

You already know about connecting the positive terminal on the amplifier to the positive terminal on
the speakers, and ensuring that both channels are "in phase" by checking to ensure that there’s
more bass with both speakers on and not less bass. Absolute polarity is a bit trickier to confirm.
Absolute polarity is the maintenance of a positive pressure wave from the microphone capsule to the
listening room. A kick drum, for instance, has the drum skin whacked by the foot pedal, and it push­es the air, which pushes the microphone diaphragm, which goes through the electronics and should
eventually come out of the speakers as a positive pressure wave, which should have the speaker
cones moving towards you, just like the drum skin. It turns out that you can’t trust a conventional
recorded source to test this because there is no way to confirm that absolute polarity was main­tained, it can even change from track to track. This isn’t a trivial thing, especially when you’re using
a true stereo microphone setup, or trying to accurately place things in your mix. This is something
that should be rigorously checked with every microphone and every signal line in a studio, but the
first step would be to use the kickdrum test described above with a few microphones. If you don’t
believe it can make a difference, set up a little test using a mix you know and flip the polarity of both
channels at the same time, while listening to the same program...imaging, vague imaging, imaging,
vague imaging. Believe it.

2.5 Power Amplifiers

The power amplifier should be reasonably well matched in power to the power rating of the speak­ers (see specifications). The use of a powerful amplifier (i.e. in excess of the recommended figure)
provides headroom, which is useful especially for highly dynamic programme materials.
Due of the high peak power handling of Tannoy monitors, responsible use of even more powerful
amplifiers should not represent a danger to the speakers if the amplifiers are not overdriven. Now,
just because you have a Ferrari, it doesn’t mean to say you can drive it at the red line all of the time,
it will eventually blow up. Same thing goes here, just because the speakers will handle a large
amplifier, it doesn’t mean that you can run them flat out constantly without eventually blowing some­thing up.