Page 2 - Alesis M1 Active Mk2 Reference Manual; ALESIS CONTACT INFORMATION; USA
Alesis M1 Active Mk2 Reference Manual © Copyright 2001, Alesis Studio Electronics, Inc. All rights reserved.Reproduction in whole or in part is prohibited. “M1 Active Mk2” and“Superport” are trademarks of Alesis Studio Electronics, Inc. ALESIS CONTACT INFORMATION Alesis Studio Electronics, Inc.1633 ...
Page 3 - Contents/Safety Warnings; ONTENTS
Contents/Safety Warnings M1 Active Mk2 Reference Manual 1 C ONTENTS Introduction 2 I MPORTANT S AFETY I NSTRUCTIONS ......................................................3 Safety symbols used in this product 3 Instructions de Sécurité Importantes (French) 5 Information to the User for Class A Digita...
Page 4 - NTRODUCTION
Contents/Safety Warnings 2 M1 Active Reference Manual I NTRODUCTION Thank you for purchasing the Alesis M1 Active Mk2 Biamplified ReferenceMonitors. To take full advantage of the M1 Active Mk2’s operation, and toenjoy long and trouble-free use, please read this user’s manual carefully. Wevalue any c...
Page 5 - MPORTANT; AFETY SYMBOLS USED IN THIS PRODUCT; LEASE FOLLOW THESE PRECAUTIONS WHEN USING THIS; Do not use this apparatus near water.
Contents/Safety Warnings M1 Active Mk2 Reference Manual 3 I MPORTANT S AFETY I NSTRUCTIONS S AFETY SYMBOLS USED IN THIS PRODUCT This symbol alerts the user that there are important operating andmaintenance instructions in the literature accompanying this unit. P LEASE FOLLOW THESE PRECAUTIONS WHEN U...
Page 6 - Refer all servicing to qualified service personnel. Servicing is
Contents/Safety Warnings 4 M1 Active Reference Manual 10. Protect the power cord from being walked on or pinched, particularly at plugs, convenience receptacles, and the point where they exit from theapparatus. 11. Use only attachments or accessories specified by the manufacturer. 12. Use only with ...
Page 7 - NSTRUCTIONS DE; YMBOLES UTILISÉS DANS CE PRODUIT
Contents/Safety Warnings M1 Active Mk2 Reference Manual 5 I NSTRUCTIONS DE S ÉCURITÉ I MPORTANTES (F RENCH ) S YMBOLES UTILISÉS DANS CE PRODUIT Ce symbole alèrte l’utilisateur qu’il existe des instructions de fonctionnement etde maintenance dans la documentation jointe avec ce produit. Ce symbole av...
Page 9 - A D; Interference-Causing Equipment Regulations.
Contents/Safety Warnings M1 Active Mk2 Reference Manual 7 I NFORMATION TO THE U SER FOR C LASS A D IGITAL D EVICE (FCC P ART 15, C LASS A) This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for aclass A digital device pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits aredesigned to ...
Page 10 - CE D; ECLARATION OF
Contents/Safety Warnings 8 M1 Active Reference Manual CE D ECLARATION OF C ONFORMITY This product conforms to current applicable CE standards for safety. For adetailed description of the standards used, please see the web site Alesis.com.
Page 11 - About the M1 Active Mk2; HAPTER; BOUT THE; NPACKING AND; The shipping carton should contain the following items:; It is important to register your purchase if you have not already
About the M1 Active Mk2 M1 Active Mk2 Reference Manual 9 C HAPTER 1 A BOUT THE M1 A CTIVE M K 2 U NPACKING AND I NSPECTION Your M1 Active Mk2 Biamplified Reference Monitors were packed carefullyat the factory, and the shipping carton was designed to protect the speakersduring shipping. Please retain...
Page 12 - NSIDE YOUR NEW SPEAKERS; If you’re in a hurry to get started, skip ahead to Chapter 2,
About the M1 Active Mk2 10 M1 Active Reference Manual I NSIDE YOUR NEW SPEAKERS ✪ If you’re in a hurry to get started, skip ahead to Chapter 2, “Speaker Installation”, for connection and placement tips. A BOUT POWERED MONITORS The M1 Active Mk2s combine a speaker and amplifiers in the same compactca...
Page 13 - ONE
About the M1 Active Mk2 M1 Active Mk2 Reference Manual 11 T ONE Tonally, every effort has been made to create a powered monitor that is aslinear as possible, representing a flat frequency response from 50Hz to 20KHz ± 2dB. (see p. 21) Additionally, the use of electronic crossovers within the critica...
Page 14 - order high and low pass electronic crossover filters centered at
About the M1 Active Mk2 12 M1 Active Reference Manual T HE M1 A CTIVE M K 2 BI - AMPLIFIERS & ELECTRONIC CROSSOVERS The M1 Active Mk2 uses a 75W woofer amp and a 25W tweeter amp alongwith 4 th order high and low pass electronic crossover filters centered at 2000Hz. Electronic crossovers, which s...
Page 15 - HE
About the M1 Active Mk2 M1 Active Mk2 Reference Manual 13 T HE M1 A CTIVE M K 2 POWER SUPPLY The M1 Active Mk2 employs a regulated switching power supply. This typeof supply has previously only been available in amplifiers sold at the veryhigh end of the Pro Audio market. Most power amp customers ar...
Page 16 - HY THE TWEETERS ARE OFFSET; angle and faced toward the amplifier’s internal heat sink. This
About the M1 Active Mk2 14 M1 Active Reference Manual W HY THE TWEETERS ARE OFFSET The M1 Active Mk2 speakers have been developed as a mirror-imaged pairwith dual front mounted ports and an offset tweeter. In some applications,an extremely wide dispersion tweeter, such as used in the M1 Active Mk2,w...
Page 17 - BOUT
About the M1 Active Mk2 M1 Active Mk2 Reference Manual 15 A BOUT N EARFIELD MONITORING In the early days of recording, most recording studios used big monitorspeakers almost exclusively. Unfortunately, they also required high poweredamplifiers and expensive acoustic treatment (often poorly done) of ...
Page 19 - Speaker Installation; PEAKER; VOIDING REFLECTIONS IN THE STUDIO
Speaker Installation M1 Active Mk2 Reference Manual 17 C HAPTER 2 S PEAKER I NSTALLATION Like any speaker system, your M1 Active Mk2 speakers will work best whenproperly positioned in a suitable acoustic environment. Achieving properspeaker placement is usually straightforward, but even with nearfie...
Page 20 - back onto the console control panel causing a strong delayed
Speaker Installation 18 M1 Active Reference Manual Monitors placed on the console’s meter bridge can directly radiate back onto the console control panel causing a strong delayed reflection at the listening position Direct Path Reflection This kind of speaker placement also couples acoustic energy f...
Page 21 - Prime Listening Position; NOTE: On some mounting surfaces the vinyl finish of the M1 Active
Speaker Installation M1 Active Mk2 Reference Manual 19 Careful consideration should also be given to the physical spacing betweenthe speakers. Alesis recommends that the distance between the speakers forstereo applications equal the distance between the listener and either speaker.In other words, th...
Page 22 - TEREO NEARFIELD PLACEMENT OF THE; tweeters to the inside
Speaker Installation 20 M1 Active Reference Manual S TEREO NEARFIELD PLACEMENT OF THE M1 A CTIVE M K 2 NOTE: We recommend that the M1 Active Mk2 speakers be placed with the tweeters to the inside , not the outside, of the listening triangle. The “classic” studio monitor layout used to be that the tw...
Page 23 - ORIZONTAL
Speaker Installation M1 Active Mk2 Reference Manual 21 H ORIZONTAL P LACEMENT R ECOMMENDATION Traditionally, proper horizontal placement of speaker systems slightly behind(not on) a meter bridge accomplished two purposes: it allowed both wooferand tweeter to be at ear level, and many times, it permi...
Page 24 - ERTICAL
Speaker Installation 22 M1 Active Reference Manual V ERTICAL P LACEMENT R ECOMMENDATION Vertical placement of the M1 Active Mk2 as shown in Figure 3 is highlyrecommended. This position will simulate the soundfield that will be heard inmost consumers’ homes and (to a great extent) their cars. For thi...
Page 25 - LAYBACK CHECK MODE
Speaker Installation M1 Active Mk2 Reference Manual 23 P LAYBACK CHECK MODE ( VERTICAL MID - FIELD ) After you’ve got your mix just right it’s always good practice to perform a“playback check” by standing the M1 Active Mk2s vertically and making thelistening triangle larger. The purpose of the playb...
Page 26 - LUGGING THE PORTS TO ADJUST FOR ROOM ACOUSTICS; a) less than 1 foot from a front wall but away from any corner:; plug one port; b) less than 1 foot from a front wall and a corner:; plug both ports
Speaker Installation 24 M1 Active Reference Manual P LUGGING THE PORTS TO ADJUST FOR ROOM ACOUSTICS The low frequency response of the M1 Active Mk2s can be custom tailored byplugging the ports. If the speakers must be placed less than one foot from afront wall, or if they are too close to a corner, ...
Page 28 - ONNECTIONS; POWER CABLE; ROUNDING; CONNECT THE M1 ACTIVES TO A PROPERLY GROUNDED OUTLET ONLY.
Speaker Installation 26 M1 Active Reference Manual C ONNECTIONS The M1 Active Mk2 has been designed to be as simple as possible to set upand use. However, please follow the instructions to ensure that you get thebest possible performance from your monitors. Before connecting the speakers, make sure ...
Page 29 - OWER SWITCH; back panel and is as follows:; Direct connection of unbalanced -10 dBV line level sources:; Most
Speaker Installation M1 Active Mk2 Reference Manual 27 P OWER SWITCH The POWER switch is located on the back panel. A blue power indicatorlamp is on the front panel. I NPUT C ONNECTIONS Almost any conventional line-level source may be plugged into the M1 ActiveMk2’s LINE INPUT jack. The Line Input j...
Page 30 - Professional recording and processing; ETTING THE
Speaker Installation 28 M1 Active Reference Manual But do NOT plug the speaker output of an amplifier, receiver, or similardevice into the LINE INPUT jack. Use only line-level sources. Pluggingtoo loud of a signal into the LINE INPUT jack may damage theelectronics. Balanced +4 dBu line level sources...
Page 31 - Active Mk2’s INPUT LEVEL control all the way down.; * denotes recommended setting for control room use
Speaker Installation M1 Active Mk2 Reference Manual 29 T O SET THE LEVEL WITH A MIXER : 1. Turn on all system components (the M1 Active Mk2s last) and turn the M1 Active Mk2’s INPUT LEVEL control all the way down. 2. Play program through the mixer and raise the mixer’s fader levels until its meter a...
Page 32 - VOIDING DAMAGE; 18 dB SPL at one meter – a level
Speaker Installation 30 M1 Active Reference Manual A VOIDING DAMAGE The best protection against speaker failure is to mix at a reasonable listeninglevel. With a +4 dBu input and the input level control set to “6”, the M1Active Mk2 speakers produce a sound pressure level (SPL) of 85 decibels at 1mete...
Page 33 - Surround Sound; URROUND; BOUT SURROUND SOUND; of
Surround Sound M1 Active Mk2 Reference Manual 31 C HAPTER 3 S URROUND S OUND A BOUT SURROUND SOUND Surround sound is the term used for several different systems which usemultiple channels of playback in the listening room to recreate a truly three-dimensional sound experience. The practice of record...
Page 34 - ENTER SPEAKERS IN MUSIC MIXES
Surround Sound 32 M1 Active Reference Manual C ENTER SPEAKERS IN MUSIC MIXES In video applications, with left, center and right channels all set to deliverequal output, the ear tends to hear dialog as coming only from the centerchannel. (It’s a psychoacoustic effect because all right and all left ch...
Page 35 - LACEMENT OF THE CENTER
Surround Sound M1 Active Mk2 Reference Manual 33 P LACEMENT OF THE CENTER M1 A CTIVE M K 2 SPEAKER IN THE STUDIO The left, center and right speakers should all be placed in an arc so that thedistance of all drivers to the listener is identical (see page 29). The equilaterallistening triangle as desc...
Page 36 - LACEMENT OF REAR SURROUNDS; Recommended positioning of surround speakers; Horizontally, place the M1 Active Mk2s slightly behind the 90
Surround Sound 34 M1 Active Reference Manual P LACEMENT OF REAR SURROUNDS The following suggestions for optimal M1 Active Mk2 placement are derivedfrom several sources: 1) Standard industry practice for home installations asrecommended by the manufacturers of surround encoder/decoder units; 2)recomm...
Page 38 - ALL MOUNTING
Surround Sound 36 M1 Active Reference Manual W ALL MOUNTING Once your have located the general area for the horizontal and verticalposition, you need to find a wall stud. Attach shelving brackets or othercommercial speaker-mounting device into the wall stud, then attach the M1Active Mk2s to the moun...
Page 39 - IXING FOR DISCRETE SIX CHANNEL REPRODUCTION
Surround Sound M1 Active Mk2 Reference Manual 37 M IXING FOR DISCRETE SIX CHANNEL REPRODUCTION : MATCHED VS . SPECIALIZED SPEAKERS While most speaker systems for monitoring music in surround use the samespeaker cabinet in all positions, both front and rear, keep in mind that mostconsumer video surro...
Page 41 - Troubleshooting; ROUBLESHOOTING
Troubleshooting M1 Active Mk2 Reference Manual 39 C HAPTER 4 T ROUBLESHOOTING T ROUBLESHOOTING I NDEX If you experience problems while using the M1 Active/Surround systems,please use the following table to locate possible causes and solutions beforecontacting Alesis Technical Support for assistance....
Page 42 - AINTENANCE; Do not attempt to clean either of the drivers.; Customers in the USA and Canada:; If the problem persists, call Alesis USA
Troubleshooting 40 M1 Active Reference Manual M AINTENANCE C LEANING The cabinet surfaces of the M1 Active Mk2 are covered with a vinyl laminate.Clean these surfaces when necessary with a lint-free cloth dampened in warmsoapy water. USE ONLY A DRY CLOTH ON THE BACK PANEL OF THEPOWER AMPLIFIER. Do no...
Page 43 - Correspondence address for customers in the USA:
Troubleshooting M1 Active Mk2 Reference Manual 41 the drivers will not be pressed on by the packing in shipment. Shippingdamage caused by inadequate packing is not covered by the Alesis warranty. Tape a note to the top of the unit describing the problem, include your nameand a phone number where Ale...
Page 44 - Specifications; PECIFICATIONS; NCLOSURE; ATERIALS AND; Dual ports with 45; RANSDUCERS; OW FREQUENCY DRIVER; ” silk soft-dome tweeter with special wave guide baffle.
Specifications 42 M1 Active Reference Manual S PECIFICATIONS E NCLOSURE M ATERIALS AND C ONSTRUCTION Front baffle painted in metallic charcoal-gray, one inch (1”) thick MDF withradiused edges to minimize diffraction. Sides and rear baffle covered inmetallic charcoal-gray vinyl laminate, over five-ei...
Page 46 - NDEX; with ports plugged, 24
44 M1 Active Reference Manual I NDEX 1/4” input plugs, 27AC cables, 26AC power, 13, 26, 43amplifiers, 10, 12, 43balanced, 27biamplified, 10center channel, 32crossover, 11, 43frequency response, 43 with ports plugged, 24 front baffle, 42fuse, 13Ground loop, 39grounding, 26INPUT LEVEL, 28 detent, 29 i...
Page 47 - LESIS
M1 Active Mk2 Reference Manual 45 A LESIS L IMITED W ARRANTY ALESIS CORPORATION ("ALESIS") warrants this product to be free of defects in material and workmanship for a period of one (1) year for parts and for a period of one (1) year for labor from the date of original retail purchase. This...