dual manager User manual We thank you for choosing Focal amplifiers for your Car Audio system and for sharing our philosophy: "the Spirit of Sound". This product offers the latest advances in Focal amplifiers. In order to obtain the best results, we highly recommend you have your new amplifier installed by your local Focal distributor. To maximise the use all the functionalities of your amplifier and to fully enjoy its performance levels, we recommend that you read the entire instructions in this booklet, as well as the Focal Dual Monitor software manual. We recommend you keep the manuals for future reference. 1. Introduction The Dual Manager program has been designed to give you the entire control over a car audio system comprising one Focal Dual Monitor amplifier, operating together with its remote controller. Français page 19 Focal ® is a trademark of Focal-JMlab ® - www.focal-fr.com 2. Installation 2.1. System requirements To run the program you will need a PC with the following minimum configuration or specifications: · Supported Windows OS - Windows 98 with Microsoft Installer 2.0 (CD-ROM include last version of Installer) - Windows ME - Windows 2000 - Windows XP · CPU Minimum - 1GHz, recommended 2GHz and higher (this software makes intensive use of mathematics for DSP calculations). · Screen Resolution: 1024x768 and higher Colour depth: 16, 24, 32 Bits · Memory The program needs only 10MB of RAM. Any Windows OS with Microsoft recommended memory size is acceptable. After installation of all additional programs Windows should allocate 10MB of physical memory for the program to run without hard disk swapping activity. · Hard disk free space 3MB in "Program Files" folder and 1 MB for Drive C: Drive C: should be present. 2.2. Preparing the computer and installing the program Load the CD-ROM provided with Focal Dual Monitor amplifier. If the AutoRun facility is enabled on the computer, it will automatically offer to install the program. Otherwise, afterCopy the content of the CD-ROM has been copied to the hard disk, at an appropriate location . Simply double click on the Set-up icon and follow the instructions. If not already done, power up the Dual Monitor amplifier and connect the USB cable between the amplifier and your computer. Wait a few seconds while the amplifier firmware is loading, when finished Windows will notify you that a new hardware has been detected. When prompted do NOT allow Windows to install the drivers for you. ALWAYS choose to install the drivers by yourself. Windows 98, 2000 and XP will permit you to search for a driver. When asked to specify a location browse the disk directory and select C:\\FOCAL USB DRIVER 1. Install all drivers. Usually, you will need to install the drivers twice. Note: If this program informs you about an old Windows Installer version, you must exit the program, install a Windows Installer version 1.2 or above. Windows Installer 2.0 for Windows 98 is included on the installation CD or it can be downloaded from the Microsoft website. 02 2. Installation 2.3. Launching Dual Manager At the end of the previous step, a new shortcut has been created with a Focal Dual Manager icon on the computer desktop. To launch the program simply double click on the icon. If at this stage the amplifier is not connected or powered the following message will appear: "Amplifier is not connected. Program will be started in demo mode". This mode is intended to let you to play around and get familiar with the various functions of the program without affecting the actual settings of the amplifier. If the amplifier and its remote controller are connected, the computer takes control and the 4 green LEDS on the controller come on. When the program starts a temporary start-up window will be displayed, including some information on the program release number. Towards the bottom of the window is a button labelled "Upgrade firmware". This facility allows you to upgrade the various routines contained in the amplifier itself. For a few seconds the text displayed on the button appears in black, to indicate that this option can be activated. The first time you launch the Dual Manager program, you may be prompted to upgrade the firmware as it will check the compatibility between the current version of firmware and the program itself. In such a case, do execute the firmware upgrade by clicking the upgrade button. Once the upgrade has been completed, leave the program and start it over again. If the firmware upgrade is not executed, after a few seconds the start-up window will disappear and the main program window be displayed. Note: For more information on firmware upgrade please refer to another section of the manual. 03 Load menu Save menu Preferences menu 04 3. Title bar and menus On the title bar is displayed a line of text which looks like the following: Focal Dual Manager (Loaded Preset 1: No Name). Restricted user mode. The left hand part is ­ obviously ­ the program name. The middle part, between brackets, indicates the last loaded Preset number and name: more information on presets is given in a further paragraph. Finally the right hand information describes the current status of the user mode: "restricted user mode" or "administrator mode". Underneath the title bar is the Menus bar, which contains three groups of functions "Load", "Save", and "Preferences". 3.1. Foreword on presets Presets are sets of parameters that can be transferred between the amplifier internal non-volatile memory and the computer. The amplifier memory can store 5 different presets which, when no computer is connected, can be recalled by using the remote controller front buttons (numbered 1 to 5). Room for a 6th preset is also provided: this additional Preset which will be referred to as Temporary Preset can only be recalled - and stored - from the PC but is not accessible from the remote controller. For more information please refer to the Dual Monitor User Manual. When running Dual Manager, presets can be loaded from and saved to the amplifier. They can also be loaded and saved as files on the hard disk. 3.2. Load menu When clicking on Load a pull down menu is displayed enabling the following operations: · Preset 1 to 5 When selecting one of the 5 presets the corresponding set of parameters will be transferred from the amplifier to the computer. After a few seconds all the information displayed on the screen, including the graph of the frequency response, will be updated to reflect all the parameters of the selected Preset. · Temporary preset This performs the same operation as above for the so-called Temporary Preset (see above). · Load From file This allows to recall a complete Preset previously saved as a file on the hard disk. Having clicked on this task you can browse the disk to select the desired file (by default Dual Manager preset files have the .CFG extension). After a few seconds all the information displayed on the screen will be updated accordingly. Note: while the parameters imported from the file are displayed, the data are also transferred to the amplifier and its actual settings simultaneously updated, with all the consequences it may have in audio terms. As a general rule-except obviously in Demo mode - the information displayed on the screen always matches the current amplifier status. On the other hand, the amplifier memory will not be permanently modified until a Save Preset operation has been performed. 05 3. Title bar and menus 3.3. Save menu When clicking on Save a pull down menu is displayed, enabling the following operations: · Preset 1 to 5 When selecting one of the 5 Presets the current set of parameters, as displayed on the computer screen, will be saved in one of the five dedicated memory areas in the amplifier. Later on when the amplifier works in stand alone mode the Preset can be selected by pressing the corresponding button number on the remote controller. · Temporary Preset This performs the same operation as above, except that once saved the Temporary Preset will not be accessible from the remote controller when the amplifier works in stand alone mode. · Save To File This allows to store a complete Preset as a file on the hard disk for future use. Simply select the appropriate location on the hard disk and enter a convenient file name. 3.4. Preferences menu This menu gives the user control over two different facilities: User Mode management and Headroom. Accordingly the pull-down menu that will appear when selecting Preferences contains the following options. · Restricted user mode In Restricted user mode, for the sake of simplified use some of the most advanced functionalities are not accessible. In the next paragraphs it will be specified whenever Administrator mode is required. · Administrator mode This mode gives access to all the available parameters, allowing their modification without any restriction. Entering a valid (case sensitive) password is required before administrator rights can be granted. The default, factory set, password is simply Focal. · Change Administrator's password Clicking on this option will open a dialog box, prompting you first to type the current password, then the new password you want to authorise access to Administrator rights. · Headroom This parameter lets you set the digital attenuation you want to implement at the input of the processing section, between 0 and 30dB in 6dB steps. The default value is 0 dB, which provides maximum signal-to-noise ratio. However insufficient headroom may result in digital overflow if significant boosts are performed In the equilizing sections. As a rule of thumb, the optimum value should roughly match the maximum amplitude boost that you can see in your frequency response. Having too much headroom however will tend to waste the resolution of the A/D converter and result in degraded signal-to-noise ratio. 06 4. Setting up the system (main screen) 4.1. Overview Below the Menus bar the screen comprises: - different areas corresponding to different processing functions or group of functions. Each of these areas is located in a particular box with a black outline and a title in white capital letters (e.g. TIME DELAY). - a middle area with a dB v. frequency graph, allowing to plot the frequency response resulting from the adjustments made to the processing parameters. The next paragraphs contain more information on how each of those various functions can be used to set-up and optimize the sound of your car audio system. A feature common to most areas is the use of virtual buttons with white labels on the left hand side and a small rectangle on the right hand side mimicking a LED. This virtual LED will appear in green when the function corresponding to the label is selected or enabled, or in light grey otherwise. 4.2. Output channel selector The Dual Monitor amplifier includes 4 output channels: - two of those channels are the "normal" amplifier power outputs, i.e. they are intended to drive a stereo pair of loudspeakers. They are simply referred to as Amplifier L (L for left) and Amplifier R (R for right). - the two other channels are line outputs, i.e. they are intended to feed the stereo input of an external amplifier. They are named Line Out L and Line Out R, for the left and right channel respectively. Selecting one or a pair of output channels is done by clicking on one of the 6 buttons laid out in the Output channel selector box. Once a particular output channel (or stereo pair of channels) is selected, the entire screen and all displayed parameters will refer to this channel or pair of channels. Future edition of parameters will also apply to the same channel(s) only. In Administrator mode, each of the 4 output channels can be individually selected (4 rightmost buttons). In Restricted user mode, output channels can only be selected as stereo pairs (two leftmost buttons). Note: the 30 band Equalizer operates before the crossover section (which then divides the signal path towards the Amplifier or the Line outputs): it can be seen as located on the inputs rather than the outputs. As such it affects simultaneously and identically the Amplifier R and Line Out R on the one hand, Amplifier L and Line Out L on the other hand. Note that in Administrator mode it is possible to set left and right equalizers differently. 4.3. Crossover The CROSSOVER section is located in a box underneath the OUTPUT CHANNEL SELECTOR, on the left side of the screen. A virtual On/Off button is located in the upper left side of the box, enabling or bypassing the whole crossover section. 07 Crossover type Crossover slope and frequency Q-bass section 08 4. Setting up the system (main screen) The following settings are available: · Crossover type This parameter defines the crossover operation mode, out of four possible ones: Band-Pass (both high pass and low pass are activated), Low-Pass (high-pass is disabled), High-Pass (low pass disabled), and Of ...