X-Treme Audio Monitor Line User Manual

MONITOR LINE

Monitor Line

User’s manual

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MONITOR LINE

MONITOR LINE

User’s manual

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1.

Safety

2.

General information

3.

Directivity

4. Guidelines for using passive monitors

4.1

Amplification and constraints

4.2

Connections between amplifiers and speakers

4.3

Power cables

5.

Guidelines for using active monitors

6. XT-NET

6.1

XT-NET management functions

6.2

Sensitivity

6.3

Limiters

6.4

Presets

1. SAFETY

It is very important to comply with safety standards when using elec­tric loudspeakers. Professional electroacoustic systems are capable
of producing very high levels of sound pressure and for this reason
they must be used with proper care and attention. Hearing loss is a
gradual process and can be triggered by long periods of exposure
to levels of sound pressure in excess of 90 dB. Never remain next to
loudspeakers operating at high volumes. Always check the floor is flat
and stable before placing speakers on the floor. Do not stack multi­ple speakers too high outdoors, as they are a potential safety hazard
since the wind may compromise the stability of the stack. Suspended
systems must be assembled by qualified personnel who have proper
experience and are assisted by professional riggers.

2. GENERAL INFORMATION

A good stage monitor has to feature several basic, essential requisites:
uniform frequency directivity, good angular coverage, control of feedback,
stage presence, stability and low weight. When the engineers at X-Treme
were designing the new Monitor Line (the 450W and 500W XTMON12
and XTMON15, plus the very demanded XTMON12/A, XTMON15/A
amplified versions), they treasured tips and suggestions from professional
musicians. These products are the result: an attractive design, cutting
edge components, on board amplifiers with the latest generation DSP
and a level of detail and finish that reflects the almost fanatical attention
to specific aspects that has always been a distinctive feature of X-Treme’s
business unit (just think of the raised X-Treme logo).
The new X-Treme monitors are not only fine looking, but the are also
extremely steady, always literally “fastened down to the stage”. They
are also totally free of any vibration, even when operating at high pow­er, guaranteed by the special design of the chassis in Canadian birch
plywood and its 18 mm thickness. Their ergonomic handle and light
weight make the speakers very easy to handle, whilst the shape of the
cabinet, the control of the internal stationary waves and high transpar­ency grid guarantee utter precision, even at the furthest extremes of
the sound band played.
The decision to use components that guarantee absolute reliability
and sound quality, without compromise or budget constraints, has
resulted in products whose efficiency is at the top of their category:
this is also possible thanks to the coaxial loudspeaker with a neodym­ium magnet and titanium tweeter, 3’’ coil and 80° scattering angle.
Furthermore, the crossover network of passive speakers minimises
phase rotations, and consists of air coils, high insulation capacitors
and armoured resistors with aluminium heat sinks.
This new generation of stage monitors will fully satisfy the most de­manding musician and convince the most punctilious audiophile!

XTMON12

XTMON12/A

XTMON15

XTMON15/A

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LF

transducer

1 X 12”

Neodimium

1 X 15”

Neodimium

HF, MF
and HF

transducers

1 X 3”

(Voice coil)

(Titanium)

1 X 3”

(Voice coil)

(Titanium)

Passive
version

input config.

Full Range,

8 Ohm

Full Range,

8 Ohm

Active (/A)

version

amplifier

Bi Amp

800+800 W

(@8Ohm)

Class D
Bi Amp

800+800 W

(@8Ohm)

Class D

User’s manual

3. DIRECTIVITY

The chart above shows the amplitude of the output sound beam in re­lation to the frequency of the XTMON12 (passive), measured at Sound
Corporation’s R&D laboratory in virtually anechoic conditions (calcu­lation of the impulse response and rejection of reflections). The illustra­tion shows the angle at whose boundaries the sound pressure drops
by 6 dB from the on-axis value in relation to the frequency. The width
of the vertical beam is actually quite similar to the horizontal beam
shown because of the coaxial system of transducers. The entire band
covered by the tweeter (that is above 1800 Hz - the crossover fre­quency) has a uniform beam of 80° (conversely, some lobing is inevita­ble in the range covered by the woofer and is quite generalised, given
by the ratio between the diameter of the cone and the wavelength of
the frequency in question). This can be heard quite clearly while listen­ing: the continuation of the timbre and the clarity of the sound within
the entire established emission angle are striking.
The angle of the transducer surface (31°) makes for excellent listen­ing quality at a distance of about one metre for a person of average
height, aligned with the transducer. Due to the 80° angle of dispersion,
the sound will remain clear and intelligible up to a distance of 4.5 m.

4.

GUIDELINES FOR USING PASSIVE MONITORS:

STANDARDS AND PRECAUTIONS

The Monitor Line is a series of passive and amplified products. The
passive versions have passive crossover filters with equalisation and
fader cells, designed so the transducer channels can provide a uni­form frequency response. This makes it possible to achieve excellent
sound quality with the XTMON12 and XTMON15 speakers without the
need for an external processor: simply plug and go! In particular, the
passive crossovers of the XTMON12 and XTMON15 have frequency
fading on very tight bands (notch) on the critical frequencies due to the
Larsen effect when microphones are being used. Using processors,
however, can be practical when it is vital to safeguard the quality of the
sound as well as to protect the speakers and to exploit their maximum
potential: a crucial issue for sound professionals. The amplifiers’ input
voltage has to be controlled to ensure there will be no damage to the
speaker’s passive components with signals that are too powerful or
generally unsuitable for an acoustic transducer: the following para­graph explains how and why.
It is not possible to protect the speakers a priori from harmful phenom­ena that originate within the amplifier itself by adjusting the amplifier
input signal: if an amplifier malfunction leads to the supply of direct cur­rent or ultra low frequency, this can be harmful for the transducers re­gardless of the input signal. Similarly, severe voltage peaks caused by
switching the equipment (ON or OFF) upstream to the amplifiers, when
the amplifiers are already ON, may cause damage to the transducers:
when you supply a Sound Reinforcement system, it is crucial to switch

on the amplifiers only once the mixer and the control electronics are
up and running (and have stabilised). Follow the sequence in reverse

order when shutting down the system, switching off the power ampli­fiers first.
Proper control and maintenance of a sound system are as impor­tant as following the correct sequence when switching devices in the
sound network on and off.

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4.1

Amplification and constraints

Generally speaking, excessive power can sometimes damage the
transducer coil due to the production of high temperatures (high RMS
power for long periods). More rarely, it can also lead to damage to the
mechanical part of the cone (membrane and suspensions) as a result
of severe power peaks. Frequencies below the reflex tuning frequency
may cause excessive excursions within the cone (unnecessary given
the almost zero efficiency at these frequencies) and consequently also
damage. Thus, the use of external processors is always recommend­ed, as they protect woofers and optimise their performance by trim­ming the frequencies and limiting the signal. Like all X-Treme products,
the signal sent to the high frequency drivers in the Monitor Line has
passive protection by means of a specific filament device. The end
user must make sure a passive speaker is not supplied with signals
that can damage transducers. X-Treme Audio recommends the use of
XTDP processors for this purpose.
The objective of correctly sizing amplifiers and limiters is to achieve the
maximum performance of passive acoustic speakers without the risk
of potential damage. For maximum performance and maximum ex­ploitation of the transducers at the signal peaks, a good rule of thumb
is to have a double-sized power amplification channel (“oversized”)
compared to the RMS power tolerated by the transducer. A limiter is
also needed to protect the transducer coil so the RMS power cannot
be exceeded for long periods. This is the job of the limiters contained
in the amplified versions of the Monitor Line and the X-Treme XTDP
external processors.
Generally, even if the amplifier power is lower than the transducer
power (undersized amplifier), this is no guarantee that the transducers
will not be damaged if the system is without a limiter. In actual fact,
even an undersized amplifier can “clip” the output signal where there
are high input signals: the result is the supply of higher power than the
amplifier’s nominal rating and the presence of delays marked by con­tinuous voltages, particularly harmful for acoustic transducers.
X-Treme Digital Technology Series amplifiers are recommended
for the amplification of XTMON12 and XTMON15 passive monitors
and have an internal limiter (anti clip) to prevent signal clipping, and
so are a good way to safeguard against transducer damage. Nev­ertheless, as explained above, the use of oversized XTDT amplifiers
is recommended for maximum dynamic expression, limiting the input
by means of the limitation functions of the XTDP processor. The cor­rect settings of the limiters and the size of XTDP processors, if used
with XTDT amplifiers, are included in the official presets that X-Treme
releases for these processors. If you use other amplifiers, X-Treme Au­dio supplies a specially-designed Limiter Calculator spreadsheet with
the processor for estimating the limitation threshold. The power sup­ported by the system of transducers within the speakers is 450W and
500W for the XTMON12 and the XTMON15 respectively. Therefore,
we recommend using amplifiers capable of delivering 750-1000 W of
power with a load of 8 Ohm or 1500-2000 Watt with a load of 4 Ohm
(such as X-Treme’s XTDT3800 or XTDT6000F amplifiers).

PIN 1- PIN 1+ PIN 2- PIN 2+

XTMON12

XTMON15

4.3

Power cables

It is extremely important to use power cables of the proper size. If
they are too long, they will result in considerable impedance and can
weaken the sound signal and distort the dumping factor of the am­plifier-speaker. The following table gives the maximum recommended
lengths of power cables for different transducer impedances.

CSA conductor

1.0 mm

1.5 mm

2.0 mm

2.5 mm

4.0 mm

6.0 mm

5.

GUIDELINES FOR USING ACTIVE MONITORS

XTMON12/A and XTMON15/A active monitors are dual amplified
internally with an 800+800W (@ 8 Ohm) switching technology ampli­fier, located in a dedicated cavity to avoid the risk of mechanical stress
on the internal space housing the speaker. They also have a powerful
96 kHz/24 bit DSP (Digital Signal Processor) that fulfils the crossover
functions for the dual amplification with related limitations and allows
the end user to make additional adjustments to the sound. The rear
panel has an XLR balanced input with direct output link and Neutrik
PowerCon input for the supply and relative loop output. A LED indi­cates the ON/OFF status, another one indicates when the IN signal
is present with a green light and a third, red LED indicates when the
limitation threshold has been reached. There are also 2 switches and
2 RJ45 female connectors: one for managing the internal presets and
the other for the network connection, as explained below.

Full Range

Negative

Full Range

Negative

2

2

2

2

2

2

Full Range

Positive

Full Range

Positive

Maximum length

4 ohm 8 ohm

11 m 22 m

17 m 34 m
22 m 44 m
29 m 58 m
44 m 88 m
66 m 132 m

-- --

-- --

4.2

Connections between amplifiers and speakers

Each of the XTMON12 and XTMON15 passive monitor have two NL4
female Speakon connectors linked in parallel: one is used to receive

the power signal from the amplifier, the other to connect a second
speaker in parallel (thus halving the impedance “seen” by the ampli­fier). The table shows the cables inside the cabinet between the NL4
Speakon connector and the transducers.

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User’s manual

6. XT-NET

It is important to take the following features/functions into account
to safeguard recognition of the device and thus the link between the
panel and device:

• The user can assign a name to each device: the name remains as­signed also after shutdown. This is done via the control panel on
each individual device.

• The devices are listed under their assigned names in alphabetical
order. If they have no assigned name, they are displayed at ran­dom.

• The sequence does not depend on the order in the cascade con­nection of the devices, as they are all seen “in parallel”.

There is a Locate device function for finding devices managed by a panel.
If this function is operated from a single panel, a LED will flash (speakers
on) or a description will appear on the display (XTDP processors).
Based on these features, there are two basic ways to correctly set a
session for the XT-NET network:
a) assign a physical label to each device and always use it for the

same, clear purpose (e.g. central monitor, third speaker in an array,
etc.). If a “software” name is assigned to each device that matches
its physical label, simply connect up all of the network and open
all the panels for an immediate and clear vision of the system of
names.

b) otherwise, if the various devices do not have a fixed role and a cor-

responding physical label (as with array modules that are swapped
over from time to time), use the Locate device function to correctly
assign the panels to the various devices, assigning temporary soft­ware names.

All the monitors can be linked together and connected to a PC for re­mote management via the XT-NET network. In general terms, the XT-
NET network makes it possible to simultaneously connect up to “N”
X-Treme active arrays (XTLSA/A, XTMISI/A, XTMLA/A) and monitors
(XTMON12/A, XTMON15/A) as well as “M” XTDP processors via a PC,
and to manage them all at the same time using a unique software ap­plication for running X-Treme electronics: called Network Controller.
It displays at once an individual control panel for each of the external
processors and active loudspeaker systems connected to the net­work. The link is made by using an RJ145 cable.

6.1

XT-NET management functions

The X-Treme self-powered monitors are designed with a basic sound
consisting of 2 internal presets that can be selected with the appropri-
ate switch 1 on the back of the speaker.

SWITCH 1

SWITCH 2

XT-NET input
and link for
Cat. 5 cable
with RJ145
connector

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The remote network connection can be used to modify the sound of
the speakers connected to the network in two ways:

1) downloading a .dfa file released by X-Treme Audio in order to effect

a different setting of the basic sound (updates or use in different
configurations to the basic setting).

2) changing the sound parameters available on the panel on the
screen. The functions include mute, gain, an 8-band parametric
equaliser plus two shelving filters and two band boundary cuts, a
volume for each of the two dual amplification channels and a delay.
All of these changes are considered in addition to the basic sound
(whether with preset A or B), and are used by setting the switch 2
on the back to “ON”. At any time, by selecting this switch, the user
will activate the new sound related to the software panel status or, if
the connection is down, the software will keep the legacy status that
was set in the previous disconnection. Naturally the user can save a
file (.dse) containing the sound settings which can be also created
off-line.

Read from
switch 2 position
on loudspeaker
rear panel

Read from
switch 1 position
on loudspeaker
rear panel

6.2

Sensitivity

The sensitivity of X-Treme active monitors is set at 4 dBu, fixing at 0 dB
the software volume and flat the EQs.

6.3

Limiters

The bi-amplification 800+800W of the X-Treme XTMON12/A and
XTMON15/A self-powered monitors is considerably oversized com­pared to the RMS power tolerated by the transducers that are sup­plied by them. This guarantees maximum dynamic performance and
faithful reproduction of signal peaks which are not able to damage
the transducers. Consequently, limiters are used to prevent such high
power from being conveyed to the transducers for extended periods.
For maximum SPL without compromising the dynamic quality of the
signal, the red light indicating the limitation must flash intermittently
and not remain continuously lit.

6.4

Presets

For external amplification with an XTDP processor, X-Treme releases
.dfa (Device Factory Settings) files for download onto XTDP proces-
sors via the XT-NET network for the various versions with or without
subwoofers. In order to use them, the connections between the proc­essor outputs and the amplifier channels must be made correctly: re­fer to the documentation provided with the processor. Other .dfa files
are released for active versions (but they are not compatible with the
XTDP processor) and are downloaded directly onto the monitors using
the XT-NET network. All the latest releases of presets are available for
download from the www.x-tremeaudio.com website.

The graphic equalizer lets you set notch type EQ settings and control
the Larsen effect based on the type of microphones used. The two
presets can be selected via a hardware switch and are similar to one
another except for the high-pass frequency cut: in preset “B” this is
more selective (cut at 90 Hz), and so is suitable for purely vocal use or
when there are subwoofers.
The connection also lets you consult important data such as the am­plifier temperature log and safety trips, or set the automatic shutdown
of the amplifier or switch it off manually.

This data log can be exported by simply clicking the right button in the
boxes of the charts and then “pasting” them into a file.

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Contacts

www.x-tremeaudio.com

X-Treme Headquarters:

via Monti Urali, 33 - 42100 Reggio Emilia - Italy
tel. [phone]
fax [phone]

X-Treme Audio reserves the rights to change or modify products and specifications at any time without prior notice.

X-Treme and the corresponding symbols, images and registered trademarks are of exclusive property of Sound Corporation group. © 2010 Sound Corporation group. All rights reserved.

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