Turbosound TQ-440 User Manual

QLIGHT SERIES

TQ-440

USER MANUAL

Turbosound Ltd.

Star Road, Partridge Green

West Sussex RH13 8RY England

Tel: [phone] Fax: [phone]

web: www.turb osound.com

Issue 1.0 Copyright  2000 Turbosound Ltd.

user manual

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19/12/2002 9:57 AMCONTENTS

Thanks................................................................................................................................................ 3

Unpacking.......................................................................................................................................... 3

Introduction ....................................................................................................................................... 4

Features ............................................................................................................................................. 4

Product Summary............................................................................................................................. 5

System Requirements....................................................................................................................... 6

Amplifier Considerations.................................................................................................................. 6

Equalisation....................................................................................................................................... 7

Dispersion.......................................................................................................................................... 7

Mounting and fixing.......................................................................................................................... 8

Arraying........................................................................................................................................... 12

Choosing the best location............................................................................................................. 13

Maintenance.................................................................................................................................... 14

Appendix A: Technical Specifications............................................................................................ 16

Appendix B: Spares and Accessories............................................................................................. 17

Appendix C: Warranty..................................................................................................................... 18

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Thanks

Thank you for choosing a TURBOSOUND TQ-440 loudspeaker product for your application. Please
spare a little time to digest the contents of this manual , so that you can obtain the best possible
performance from this unit.

All TURBOSOUND products are carefully engineered for world class performance and reliability.

If you would like further information about this or any other TURBOSOUND product, please
contact us. Detailed product information is available on our web site at www.turbosound.com.

We look forward to helping you in the near future.

Unpacking the TQ-440 loudspeaker

After unpacking the unit please check carefully for damage. If damage i s found, please notify the
carrier concerned at once. You, the consignee, must instigate any clai m . Please retain all
packaging in case of future re-shipment.

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Introduction

Congratulations, you have just purchased a professional loudspeaker system from the renowned
Turbosound range, designed to give you the best in audio quality and many years of reliabl e,
trouble free operation. It offers superior audio quality, unsurpassed vocal projection, full technical
documentation including EASE data, and comprehensive rigging and flying hardware options.
Please read through this manual carefully before you attempt to operate the loudspeaker system.
It contains valuable information enabling you to quickly and easily set up and connect the
loudspeakers, important system and set-up checks together with positioning and mounting
instructions.

Features

♦ Superb audio quality

Superb audio qualit y: carefully designed and matched loudspeaker drive units are used

Superb audio qualitySuperb audio quality
throughout to give you exceptional performance and many years of reliable, trouble free
operation.

♦ Controlled dispersion

Controlled dispersion: the TQ-440 enclosure exhibi ts a tight, controlled dispersi on pattern

Controlled dispersionControlled dispersion
which minimises room r eflections and focuses the sound pressure directed at audience areas.

♦ Three way design

Three way design: the exclusive use of cone tr ansducers in the low and mid frequency bands

Three way designThree way design
guarantees a seamless low/mid cr ossover, greater power handling, lower di stortion and
minimal mechnical st ress.

♦ Time aligned componen

Time aligned components

Time aligned componenTime aligned componen
time-aligned within the enclosure to ensure perfect time arrival.

♦ Solid construction

Solid construction: all Turbosound QLight series cabinets are built from high grade birch

Solid constructionSolid construction
plywood, rebated, screwed and glued together for maximum rigidity and durability.

♦ Integral rigging point s

Integral rigging p oints: fitted as standard, enabling use with many diff erent types of optional

Integral rigging point sIntegral rigging point s
flying hardware.

♦ Compact enclosure

Compact enclosure: custom designed 12”/1”dual concentric driver allows this t h ree-way

Compact enclosureCompact enclosure
enclosure to be the equivalent size of many traditional two- way designs.

ts: the mid frequency and high frequency drive units are physical ly

tsts

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Product Summary

The TQ-440 is a compact three-way bi -amped full range enclosure that off ers uprecendented levels
of audio clarity and definition.

It incorporates a custom-designed co-axial 12"/1" combination LF/HF dr iver in an optimally tuned
vented trapezoidal enclosure handling the low and high frequency bands. The critical mid-range
frequencies are handled by a proprietary 6.5" cone transducer on a 60° horizontal by 40° vertical
nominal dispersion waveguide, loaded with a TurboMid device.

The exclusive use of cone transducers in both the low and mid frequency bands produces a
seamless transition at the crossover frequency, with the resul t that all of the critical vocal range
right up to 8kHz is lower in distortion than compression driver-based designs. In addition the 6.5"
mid-range driver i s a highly efficient device, and is able to handle large amounts of amplifier
power. The remaining high frequencies above 8kHz are effortlessly handled by a 1" com pression
driver, operating in a relatively narrow pass band, and theref ore subjected to minimal mechanical
stress. The mid and high components are physically time aligned within th e enclosure, ensuring
perfect time arrival at the listener's ear. When compared to conventional two-way designs the TQ­440 is able to offer higher SPL, significantly lower distortion, and unsurpassed vocal projection
capabilities in an equivalently sized physical package.

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The TQ-440 is designed for use with the LMS-D6 digital loudspeaket management system, which
provides model-specifi c crossover and limiting functions.

The TQ-440 is a full range loudspeaker, and used by itself will provide high quality audio for all
speech and many music reproduction applications. In order to extend the effective bass frequency
range of the loudspeaker by a fur ther octave the use of the complementary TQ-425 subwoofer is
recommended.

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System Requirements

The TQ-440 is a bi-amped loudspeaker syst em . It requires two independent ampli fier channels:
one channel to power the low frequency driver (LF) plus another channel to power t he midrange
(MF) and high frequency (HF) together. A frequency dividing network is also required to split the
signal and feed it to the appropriate driver section; the LMS-D6 digital loudspeaker management
system or the LMS-A6 loudspeaker m anagement system is recommended for this purpose.

Amplifier considerations

The TQ-440 should be driven by high qualit y power amplifiers designed for true professional use.
Such amplifiers will have balanced inputs, DC and RF fault prot ection, and well designed cooling
systems for reliability.

The program power listed i n the loudspeaker’s technical specification is the best guide to the size
of amplifier r equired for general purpose applications. The am plifier should therefore be capable
of delivering long ter m broadband power equal to the loudspeaker’s program power rating at the
loudspeaker’s stated nominal impedance. This approach allows sufficient headroom to generate
good dynamic range.

RECOMMENDED AMPLIFIER POWER RATINGS:

RECOMMENDED AMPLIFIER POWER RATINGS:

RECOMMENDED AMPLIFIER POWER RATINGS:RECOMMENDED AMPLIFIER POWER RATINGS:

The amplifier's r ated r.m.s. continuous power output (20Hz – 20kHz, per
channel) should be equal to the recom mended program power handling of
the loudspeaker at its nominal impedance.

In general, the more powerful the amplifier the better it will sound, provided that it is not driven
into sustained clipping. It should be understood that overdriving an in sufficiently powered
amplifier is more likely to cause loudspeaker damage – the total energy in a heavily clipped signal
is far higher than in an uncl ipped signal – than operating a more powerful amplifier within its
ratings.

One controller can be used to f eed several amplifiers as long as all the am plifiers are the same (or
have the same gain ratings). More than one controller may be required if the amplifiers are of
different gain or type. Please contact your dealer if you requi re help in this area.

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Equalisation

Because the TQ-440 features a smooth and even frequency response, it does not need equalisation
or correction to over com e the deficiencies often found in lesser designs.

Should extended frequency response be required at more than medium sound pressure levels, the
use of the complementary TQ-425 subwoofer is strongly recommended.

In order to to compensate for the room acoustics, the TQ-440 requires only minimal equalisation.
As in any system, over-equali sation introduces phase shifts, distor tion and a reduction in
headroom, usually causing more problems than it cures.

Under most circumstances a 1/3 or 1/2 octave graphic equaliser will generally be adequate, with
the fader settings applied smoothly and as little as possible for the required room compensation.

cut

Most rooms will have resonances that will be excited at particular frequencies needing some
help tame the sound, these probl ems are most pronounced at the lower frequencies where
speakers generally exhibit very little directional control.

boost

If you find that th e system needs a lot of
bass units. It is good practice to use as little equalisation as possible, aiming to cut frequencies
rather than adding large am ounts of boost.

at lower frequencies you may need addi tional sub-

to

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Dispersion

One of the design features of the TQ-440 is its tightly control led 60º horizontal by 40º vertical
nominal dispersion patt ern at mid and high frequencies. This gives many user advantages and
eases placement decisions, being essentially a point and shoot system. A 60º horizontal polar
pattern equals an angle of 30º ei ther side of the centre line at which t h e sound pressure level is 6
dB down with respect to centre, (averaged over the whole frequency range of the l oudspeaker).
Thus a 40º vertical dispersion gi ves an angle of 20º above and below the horizon.

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