Apex GX-130 - user manual
Contents
1. los Lm y ole Lr ail Figure A Dring 34 peer OES urd Drv aJa past Ma E Irpir l l Balanced Unbalanced p ono Ingih ait P F i Ground IR svih r a eae J IE nu y ol Lr ui Figure B ising 34 petak PE ud Drv aJa pama b l II nbalane ad l zaar Car aub I Fi im Gand IR svih r E E a l T IE nu y Tle Lr ui Figure C Dring 34 petek Es wil Drv aJa panas t ouis lrir I r Unban zad Ihi t LI niba sara rana d Lt Le i Gand I rich r nai EE l T lots m y Tla rail Figure D The Equaliser POWER O LOAD a LEVEL dB When pressing the power button AC mains is applied to the unit The red led below the power switch illuminates as you switch on the apparatus The fail safe relays will open switching the filters between the input and the output of the unit When switching power off the fail safe relays will link the input of each The O LOAD indicator illuminates when the peak signal voltage anywhere in the unit exceeds 18dBm This level is about 2 dB below clipping of the equaliser s internal circuits The overload led is commanded by a peak stretching circuit for better visualisation of overload conditions and will light for The LEVEL control adjusts the input level to the equaliser and filter sections of the unit Being preceded2. loops is experienced and will generally solve the problem 6 Balanced IN Connects the equaliser to balanced outputs The connector is a female Neutric XLR NC3FD For wiring details see section Signal connections 7 Balanced OUT Connects the equaliser to balanced inputs The connector is a male The GX 130 is designed for standard 19 rack mounting as well as free standing outside a rack cabinet The unit requires two standard rack units Mounting the unit directly over large heat producing devices may shorten component life and therefore is not recommended Ambient temperature should not exceed 50 degrees Celsius when the equipment is powered Because of the chassis mechanical construction the GX 130 has no need for support at the rear when mounted in a rack cabinet This feature facilitates manipulation of the unit while ensuring perfect mechanical stability Make sure there is enough room for air circulation between different pieces of equipment and through the heatsink at the back Signal connections Input For maximum performance the use of two conductor shielded cable is recommend Because the shield does not carry signal interference between signal current and shield current is minimised in this way Ordinarily the shield is connected to ground at one end The inputs of the equaliser are electronically balanced The input impedances of the and legs are made equal so that common mode rejecti
3. by the input stage the level control does not permit to adjust signal level in this part of the circuit The equaliser has 6dB of available gain and can be used as a low noise and distortion gain make up amplifier The level control lets you adjust gain between to 6dB ina 17 LP 4 SLOPE SWITCH HP 6 IN OUT SLIDERS O NOTE 18 The LP filter has a tuning range of 2 to 40KHz The HP filter has a selectable butterworth 6db or 12dB octave response This filter is useful for rejecting unwanted high frequency noise and The slope switch selects the slope of the LP filter 6 means a slope of 6dB oct and 12 corresponds to a 12 dB oct slope The HP filter has a continuously variable cutoff frequency of 15 to 400Hz The filter has a roll off slope of 12dB octave and is of the Butterworth type for maximally flat response It is particularly useful in situations where potentially harmful subsonic signals The IN OUT switch activate or deactivate the corresponding graphic equaliser section The sliders of the graphic equaliser allow centre gain adjustment for each of the indicated centre frequencies Note The rotary controls of the GX 130 are high quality conductive plastic potentiometers However calibration accuracy of these controls is only modest Indications on the front panel therefore are principally intended General operating instructions Introduction If you are not familiar with equalise
4. in a factory pack shipping prepaid If needed replacement packing can be obtained 20 from us Corrective action will be taken within a reasonable time of the date of receipt of the defective product by us or the service centre If the repairs made by Apex or the authorised service centre are not satisfactory notify Apex or the service centre immediately Repairs Product changes 26 We reserve the right to change the design on any product without prior notice and with no obligation to make corresponding changes in products previously manufactured
5. APEX GX Series Graphic Equalisers GX 130 USER MANUAL E gt puoi OX BERES 130 GRAPHIC BGUALIBSER gek 0 APEX nv Contents Section 1 Contents Section 2 Introduction 2 1 The GX 230 Section 3 Performance Highlights Section 4 Installation 4 1 Unpakking the unit 4 2 Checking the mains voltage 4 3 Setting the mains voltage 4 4 Replacing the mains fuse 5 5 The rear pannel 5 6 Rack mounting Section 5 Signal connections 5 1 Input 5 2 Output 5 3 Grounding Section 6 The Equaliser Section 7 General operating instructions 7 1 Introduction 7 2 Level control O load and power 7 3 HP and LP filters 7 4 Graphic equaliser Section 8 Specifications Section 9 Maintenance and service information Section 10 Warranty Technical Information 10 10 10 11 12 13 14 15 19 19 20 20 21 23 25 Introduction The GX 130 The APEX GX130 is a 30 band 1 3 octave graphic equaliser incorporating our newly developed DLT hybrid circuits A high pass and lowpass filter precedes the equaliser The unit is built to the highest professional standards both for electronics and mechanics The heart of the graphic equaliser is a bank of 30 bandpass filters one filter for each 1 3 octave frequency Conventional equaliser designs use discrete components to realise these bandpass filters Although it is possible to b
6. Hz IEC XLR 3 type connector connections 1 signal ground 2 hot 3 cold PERFORMANCE Frequency response 0 0 5dB 20Hz 20KHz graphic eg IN GX 130 THD lt 01 20HzZ 20KHZz Noise lt 92dBm typ 94dBm graphic and parametric equalisers in circuit OdB settings measurements 22Hz 22KHz RMS unweighted Level control to 6dB Level control OdB cal accuracy 0 2dB overall gain input to output Overload indicator lights for approximately 200ms if the instaneous peak voltage at 21 any point in the equaliser comes within 2qB of clipping FILTERS Graphic equaliser e 30150 centre frequencies 25Hz 20KHz 1 3 octave e Centre frequency tolerance 1 typically better than 0 5 e Qtolerance 1 e Max boost cut 6 or 12qdB 0 5dB reciprocal e Switchable High pass filter e Frequency range 15 300Hz 3dB frequencies e Type maximally flat 12dB octave Low pass filter Frequency range 2 40KHz 3dB frequencies e Type maximally flat 6 or12dB oct POWER REQUIREMENTS e Voltage 110 120 220 240V 50 60Hz e Consumption 20VA equaliser e IEC type connector SIZE e 482mm 19 inch wide x 89mm 3 5 inch high x 255mm 10 inch deep WEIGHT app 5Kg SPECIFICATIONS SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE Maintenance and service information Preventive maintenance Corrective maintenance Preventive maintenance consists of cleaning and visual inspecting the unit When accomplis
7. a a ad eed PP pam yan padana JE aininn akan at TENAN TAA NAN TANANAN a TAN NAN TAP saih Lal Ce d AA ANA TEL rT TELL NING ee GO a es ajaja NG NG NTT TT TEL TP OEE ENGGAN NAN L T NG TTT NINI ee eee GTT 1111 1T apaa TEL LEE BITE E E E E E E FIL Gig fit E E Fh Nli IN Wwe a a Tit nat a nk Tk fe LA tr Because of this constant Q circuitry filter resoonse does not broaden at low cut or boost settings fig 1 2 In this way filter interaction is minimised and the graphic qualities of the equaliser preserved The graphic equaliser of the GX 130 is switchable IN and OUT of the signal path The complete unit can be bypassed by switching it off The failsafe relays will react as if there were a mains failure and will link the input of each channel to its corresponding output The GX 130 has an electronically balanced input and a balanced floating output stage The output circuit actually simulate a transformer with a 10KOhm impedance to ground for each leg Both the input and output circuits are factory adjusted for optimum balance at low and high frequencies This results in increased interference immunity of the unit The overall gain of each channel of the GX 130 is variable from e to 6 dB with the front panel level control All potential overload points are continuously monitored by an extremely fast peak overload detector followed by a peak stretching circuit f
8. ation For some frequencies this means a slight deviation from the ISO proposed centre frequencies The maximum deviation is about 2 so there should be no problem when using the equaliser in combination with commercial real time analysers that generally use the ISO centre frequencies The 30 controls of the graphic section provide you with a lot of possibilities for shaping sound In doing so it is best to regard following principles It is generally better to attenuate peaks rather than to boost the surrounding frequencies to the same level Noise will be lower and the sound will be more natural in this way Do not attempt to correct narrow peaks or dips with the graphic section Use the parametric filters for this purpose These are designed for narrowband operation and are much more versatile Do not use the graphic equaliser as a gain fix up device It is far better to use the 6dB of available gain from the LEVEL control Specifications INPUT Electronically balanced Absolute overload point 22dBu Impedance 10 Kz each leg equal impedance for and legs CMRR better than 65dB 20Hz 20KHZz XLR 3 type connector connections 1 signal ground 2 hot 3 cold OUTPUT Electronically balanced and floating simulating transformer output with app 10 Kz to ground impedance for each leg Max level gt 21dBm into 600 z Impedance 51 z each leg Output symmetry balance better than 65dB 20Hz 20K
9. er of this Apex product for a period of one year from the date of purchase by the Original purchaser that the product is free of defects in components and factory workmanship under normal use and service The date of purchase is the date appearing on the first end user s bill of sale or other proof of original purchase from an We are not responsible for product failure caused by misuse accident or neglect This warranty shall not be applicable to any product on which the serial number has been defaced altered or removed It does not cover damage to other components connected to the Apex product resulting from Apex product failure This warranty shall be considered void if this product is subjected to repair work or alteration by persons other than authorised by Apex in such a manner as to injure in the sole judgement of Apex the performance stability reliability or safety During the warranty period when failing to perform as specified Apex will undertake to repair or at its option replace this product at no charge to its owner provided the unit is returned shipping pre paid to the factory or authorised service facility You must notify us of your need for warranty service preferably by filling in the service request form and returning it to us We will give you notice of the authorised service centres to whom you may deliver the product or we will give you an authorization to return it to the factory All components must be shipped
10. erminal 1 signal ground of the input XLR connector Depending on whether the circuit ground of the driving equipment is connected to earth or not it may be advantageous to lift circuit ground from chassis ground on the equaliser using the ground lift switch You can experiment with this and leave the switch in the position that gives minimum hum or buzz The output electronics of the equaliser simulate true transformer operation The impedance to ground from each output terminal is approximately 10 Kz Output connections are via a standard 3 pin XLR male socket Because the output is made electronically floating you may ground eihter terminal 2 or 3 without fear of short circuiting an op amp output to ground Moreover you loose 6dB of signal Some general rules for output connections e Always ground the shield at the equaliser side only by connecting it to terminal 1 SG of the XLR socket e When driving an unbalanced load connect terminal 2 to the signal input and terminal 3 to the circuit ground of the driven equipment See figure B and D p20 e When driving a balanced input connections are straightforward Check carefully for correct phase relative to input connections Grounding Because it is not always possible to determine whether the equipment connected to the equaliser have their circuit ground connected to earth and because the mains earth is not always of good quality it is hardly possible to gi
11. hed regularly preventive maintenance may prevent malfunction and lengthen the apparatus life The severity of the environment in which the equaliser is used determines the required frequency of preventive maintenance Regular cleaning prevents accumulated dust from penetrating potentiometers The front panel can be cleaned with a soft cloth or a small soft bristle brush The brush is particularly useful for dislodging dirt on and around the controls and inside the slider slots Dirt that remains can be removed with a soft cloth dampened in a mild detergent and water solution Do not use strong solvents as they may damage the paint the screened lettering or the plastic control knobs Be careful not to let detergent leak into the potentiometer slots as it may damage the carbon resistance tracks The rear panel can be cleaned in the same way as the front panel The top cover minimises accumulation of dust inside the unit and should normally be in place when using the equaliser Dirt on components acts as an insulating blanket preventing efficient heat dissipation It also provides an electrical conduction path that Corrective maintenance consists of component replacement and repair of the unit Unless you are a highly skilled technician do not try to repair this unit Moreover specialised components are used in this apparatus and for several of them it is very doubtful if you could find a correct replacement Therefore contact your dealer i
12. n the event of failure He or she has notice of the Apex authorised service centres and can advice you about what to do Copy the service request form on the next page fill it out and ship it with the defective unit It will help the service technician to localise the problem It is often more expedient to call your dealer or our factory 23 SERVICE REQUEST FORM Please copy and complete this form as completely as possible and return it to Apex or an authorised Apex service centre together with the defective unit NGA Gompa asana aga nag aaa a eee na af basset aa Te Ta Ta Ba a KA ae TEN ena a aan Bag a tt AG a AN aa EN a a aaa ae AdOSS aan ga aaa ra a a a a Na Aa ad a i RE ar NG a aa a A na Ka a E a Jaa Telephone sasae a aana naen nean CONUN anae aa an Aa aa ga NGE SAN Ia aana a a naa Model NO aaa eaaa anana eaaa nana SOKA ING aaa aana e a Aa aaa d eee Purchased from aaaaa eee neran Date e Describe symptoms of malfunction e Under what conditions does the malfunction occur All the time After a while At high signal levels At high temperatures Other please explain moO WW gt e How often did the problem occur e What did you do to isolate the problem to this unit e Further comments 24 ApEX WARRANTY Summary Items excluded from warranty Our commitment We APEX nv Bosdel 52 3600 Genk Belgium warrant to you the Original purchaser and any subsequent own
13. on CMR is practically independent from the impedance of the driving source HF and LF trims are provided to optimise the CMR and null out circuit tolerances These electronically balanced inputs are compatible with most professional and semi professional balanced or unbalanced sound equipment A low pass filter precedes the input stages of the equaliser When driving the equaliser from a high impedance source overall frequency response can be compromised because of the low pass filter capacitors When the source impedance is higher than 2KZ unbalanced or 4K balanced it is advisable to change the cutoff frequency of the input filters In this case contact your dealer to make the modifications Generally the output impedance of modern audio equipment is 13 Output 14 Some general rules for input connections e Although not necessary because of input circuit symmetry it is best to always use the and input terminals when wiring the equaliser In this way hum pick up from the open terminal is avoided When the GX 130 is driven from a balanced source ground the shield at the source end only and leave terminal 1 SG on the GX 130 disconnected Wiring of the other input terminals is straightforward Check carefully for correct phase relative to output connections See figure A and B p16 When the equaliser is driven from an unbalanced source connect the shield to the circuit ground of the source and to t
14. or clear AN EN APEX Performance Highlights 30 band constant Q precision DLT graphic equalisers Sweepable highpass filter with 12dB oct slope Sweepable lowpass filter with selectable 6 or 12 dB oct slope Graphic equalisers in out switchable Switchable scale 6 12 dB on graphic equalisers 6 dB of gain available Extremely low distortion and noise True differential input circuitry Effective HF interference cancelation on in and outputs through perfectly HF balanced stages XLR in and outputs Accurate peak stretching overload indicators Failsafe bypass Earth lift switch Power transformer with low flux windings and magnetic screening reducing magnetic stray field to other units Wide mains voltage range Professional parts and construction Installation NOTE In addition to these operating instructions and the GX 130 equaliser the packaging also contains A power cord see note for U K e A set of spare fuses This apparatus must be earthed The wires of the mains lead are coloured in accordance with the following code Green and yellow Earth Blue Neutral Brown Live As the colours of the wires in the mains lead may not correspond with the coloured marking in your plug proceed as follows Unpacking the unit The equaliser comes in a cardboard safety box specially designed for protection of the unit against damage during transport Save all the packing materials f
15. or future use if you ever need to ship the unit again Please inspect the unit carefully for any signs of damage occurred during transport Your GX 130 has undergone stringent quality control inspection and tests at the factory It left in perfect condition If damage is found notify the transport company immediately Only you the consignee may institute a claim against the carrier for damage during shipment Make sure to retain the damaged Checking e Check if the voltage selector on the rear of the equaliser indicates the correct supply voltage before connecting the the mains voltage recorder to the mains Setting e Remove the plug from the wall socket and check if the mains the mains voltage fuse is of the correct rating Replacing e Withdraw the fuse holder from the equaliser by turning the A locking screw a half revolution counter clockwise and pull out the mains fuse j the fuse holder of the socket e Remove the old fuse and replace with fuse of the correct rating e T630 mA slow blow fuse Littlefuse 213 630 for 100 120 V e T315 mA slow blow fuse Littlefuse 213 315 for 220 240 V NOTE Delivery position is 220 V T315mA Wickemann 19195 in all cases The rear panel ar gp a F IMPORTANT x 1 MAINS FUSE Holds the mains fuse 2 MAINS SOCKET e Insert the plug of the mains lead into the mains socket The mains connector is a standard 3 pin IEC connector The centre terminal of the connector i
16. rs the best thing to do before first turn on is to put all controls in their central position When the unit is not powered or the power supply fails the fail safe relay of the equaliser links input and output By putting the controls in their central position you make sure that the overall gain of your system is not changed when the fail safe relay activates This is a good starting point for the exploration of the equaliser s functions Once all mains and input and output connections are made correctly switch the unit on by pressing the power switch After app 0 2 seconds the fail safe relay will activate and thereby link the unit in the signal path The graphics on the equaliser s front panel illustrate the different functions of the unit and make it ergonomically pleasant to work Level control O load and power The level control is preceding the filter section of the equaliser and levels the input signals of the filter section The input stage of the equaliser is located before the level control The level control has thus no effect on the levels in the input stage In case the overload led illuminates and decreasing the level with this control has no effect it probably means that the input stage is in overload The only solution to this problem is lowering the signal level at the input of the unit by lowering the output of the driving equipment or by adding an external loss pad to the input wiring Of course the power s
17. s directly connected to the chassis of the equaliser e Connect the other end to your mains supply via a wall socket that has a connection to earth Mains frequency is 50 60Hz For units set at 100 V 120 V use a UL listed cord set consist ing of a minimum 18 AWG type SVT or SJT three conductor cord a maximum of 15 feet in length and a parallel blade grounding type attachment plug rated 15 A 125 V For units set at 230 V domestic USA use a UL listed cord set consisting of a minimum 18 AWG type SVT or SJT three conductor cord a maximum of 15 feet in length and a tandem blade grounding type attachment plug rated 15 A 250 V For units set at 220V 230 V 240 V Europe except U K use a cord set consisting of a minimum 18 AWG cord and ground ing type attachment plug rated 15 A 250 V The cord set should have the appropriate safety approvals for the country in which the equipment will be installed and marked HAR 3 MAINS VOLTAGE SELECTOR The equaliser is designed to be operated with nominal mains voltages of 115V and 230V The circuits can tolerate a deviation of 15 on the mains covering the range 98V to132V and 195V to 264V 11 Rack mounting 12 4 SERIAL NUMBER This number is the fingerprint of the unit and should be quoted in any correspondence concerning the unit 5 SIGNAL GROUND LIFT This switch disconnects the signal ground from the mains and chassis earth The switch should be used if hum due to ground
18. uild very good equalisers with this technology using precision components far better results can be achieved with dynamically trimmed hybrid circuits This is what DLT stands for Dynamic Laser Trimming At the factory each filter of the graphic equalisers is laser trimmed to match mother nature s prescription for ideal response This results in perfect combining of the individual filter resoonse curves and therefore a perfectly flat amplitude and phase response All the filter components are incorporated on the hybrid circuits As a final production step each bandpass filter is adjusted for the correct 1 3 octave center frequency and bandwidth using a specially developed trimming algorithm for adjusting the centre fre quency and bandwidth simultaneously Incorporating all filter components on the hybrid circuits yet has another important advantage because of the largely reduced number of soldered connections reliability is boosted to an extent only exceeded by integrated circuits Some call it fit and forget technology The controls of the graphic equalisers provide up to 12 dB of reciprocal cut and boost at the 30 distinct centre frequencies The filters of the GX 130 preserve optimal filter bandwidth whatever the settings of the controls NIN NINI IN IN NIN es IN SO A SQ GG a ee NY trr ota DT D AA NANA NA NB DDI NANA NA a NA eS NANA GEG a ee E E ee ee ee eee rele ay ba PHa ee ee II mn
19. ve general rules for e One and only one ground path should exist between each piece of equipment e The circuit ground of the equaliser should not be left floating A ground loop generally causes a steady hum If you encounter a ground loop you can often break it using the ground lift switch on the rear panel When using the ground lift switch the circuit ground of the equaliser is disconnected from the chassis ground Chassis ground is always connected to earth for safety reasons Signal ground remains connected to terminal 1 of the XLR sockets The input output supply board of the equaliser is provided with place for adding a resistor and a capacitor R107 C107 for those who do not wish to completely disconnect the chassis and circuit grounds Providing a small ceramic capacitor between the two grounds can be helpful for solving HF buzz problems often encountered when using mains ground The figures below shows some grounding schemes for the equaliser If you follow these figures while setting up your system and hum or noise appears don t be afraid to experiment Just keep safety earth connected to the chassis of the equaliser A ground loop consists of two connections to ground so there is always another solution than to disconnect the chassis of the 15 16 Dring 34 peer PE urd Drv aJa paast vU Irpir Balanced Serco on S JI i ics Ho k A i Gand it seich r Ma a Nan a
20. witch is for turning the unit on and off but if the system is set up well LEVEL at OdB it can be used as a bypass for the complete equaliser making use of the fail safe 19 HP and LP filters The HP filter has a continuously variable turnover frequency from 15 to 300HZz The filter has a roll off slope of 12dB octave and is of the Butterworth type for maximally flat response It is particularly useful in situations where potentially harmful subsonic signals are likely to cause speaker or amplifier overload Phono cartridges and wind in microphones are examples of sources that can produce excessive subsonic outputs Adjusted for a 25Hz roloff it will not have a dramatic effect on sound while providing serious protection against overload The LP filter has a tuning range of 2kHz to 40kHz The LP filter has a switchable butterworth 6 or 12dB octave response This filter is useful for rejecting unwanted high frequency noise and out of band signals that might cause tweeter damage As with the HP filter it is advised to leave the LP filter in the signal path Setting the control for a 23KHz roloff will protect your system while preserving musical integrity Deliberately narrowing the bandpass by adjusting the HP filter for a 300Hz roloff and the LP filter for a 2 3KHz roloff will produce a telephone channel like sound Graphic equaliser 20 The centre frequencies of the graphic equaliser are chosen for perfect filter interpol
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