O W N E R ' S M A N U A L HC A-1206 High Current Multi Amplif ier LUCASFILM CASFILM L ¤ ® Congratulations on your purchase of this precision audio component and thank you for your selection of Parasound. Your HCA-1206 was designed by renowned circuit designer John Curl to meet or surpass the stringent standards required by Lucasfilm for use in THX Home Cinema systems. Each part within your HCA-1206 has been painstakingly selected for optimum sound quality on even the most challenging music and film soundtracks. Please take a few moments to read these instructions so you may fully understand the capabilities of your new Parasound power amplifier. i Amplifier HCA-1206 High Current Mult LUCASFILM Overload Power CH 1 Operation Stand by CH 2 CH 3 CH 4 CH 5 CH 5 Unpacking Your HCA-1206 The HCA-1206 is packed in two strong cardboard cartons. To unpack the amplifier, open both cartons and carefully remove the HCA-1206 from its inner carton. You may use its rear handles to facilitate removal from the carton. Take care not to cut or scratch yourself on the exposed extruded metal heatsinks on either side of the unit. Save your cartons and the packing inserts for safe transport in case you move or if the unit ever requires shipping for repair. Due to the massive weight of the HCA-1206, the inner white printed carton is not strong enough for safe shipping by itself. You absolutely must place it into the additional outer over-carton before shipment. The audiophile grade AC cord is packed separately in the carton. This is the only cord we recommend for use with your HCA-1206. Please do not lose it. Before you proceed, find the serial number which is located on the rear panel of your unit and record it here for future reference or in case of casualty loss or theft: _____________ -1- Placement of Your HCA-1206 Place your HCA-1206 away from heat sources such as hot air ducts or radiators. Make sure that your cabinet or shelf can support its enormous weight. Always place your unit horizontally. Do not place your unit directly on a carpet whose pile could interfere with air flow into its bottom vent openings or heat sinks. If you place your HCA-1206 on the floor near your speakers, elevate it above the pile of the carpet. If you stack your components, it is better to place your HCA-1206 alongside other components. Rack Mounting Your HCA-1206 Your HCA-1206 can be mounted into a standard EIA 3 unit 19" rack. Make sure you select heavy duty mounting bolts and nuts and use washers under the heads of the bolts to avoid scratching your amplifier's anodized front panel. Do not attempt to hold your unit in place yourself while you attach the bolts and nuts. Have a strong helper support the unit as it is being attached to the rack. The heat generated by the HCA-1206 may require a fan to assist air flow and if you have another component mounted directly above it in the rack. Ventilation Requirements for Your HCA-1206 Your Parasound power amplifier is designed to operate with high idling, or bias, current to reduce higherorder harmonic distortion. This bias optimization is characteristic of all Parasound power amplifiers and is perfectly normal, but it results in noticeably warm operation even when no signal is present. While many other amplifiers manufacturers have chosen to bias their amplifiers at a lower level to run cooler, we bias our amplifiers so the output transistors are allowed to operate in a much more linear region. Although the amplifier may run a little warmer than other amplifiers, we feel the resulting sonic improvements are significant and justified. However, to insure safe and reliable operation, it is very important that the amplifier has plenty of ventilation to prevent overheating and automatic shut down from the thermal protection circuitry. Please observe the following guidelines when installing your Parasound power amplifier: 1. If you are not using a fan, allow at least six inches on each side and above the amplifier, and do not close off the front with a door or panel. 2. If you are enclosing the amplifier in an equipment cabinet, use a fan and draw in cool air or exhaust warm air. In either case, two vent holes are required: one for intake and one for exhaust. 3. Do not place the amplifier on carpeting which will obstruct the air flow from the bottom of the amplifier. 4. If you plan on stacking amplifiers, you must use a fan. Minimum Impedance Precautions You may connect loudspeakers with a 4 or 8 nominal impedance for unbridged operation. Your HCA-1206 is capable of driving speakers with occasional impedance dips well below 2 . However, Lower nominal impedance loads are not recommended and may cause overheating. The HCA-1206 is designed for a minimum 8 nominal impedance for each speaker connected to bridged channels 3+4 or 5+6. Use of lower impedance at high listening levels may cause overheating or trigger one of the amplifier's protection circuits. These restrictions result from the mathematics of the bridging circuitry. In the bridge mode each channel of the amplifier functions for only the + or -- half of the musical waveform. Thus, each channel "sees" only half of the speaker's impedance. Use of an 8 speaker means that the load for each channel is 4 . And for a 4 speaker, it would result in only 2 . -2- HCA-1206 Front and Rear Panel Controls i Amplifier HCA-1206 High Current Mult LUCASFILM EIA Rack Mount Holes Overload CH 1 CH 2 CH 3 CH 4 CH 5 CH 5 Power Operation Stand by Standby/Operation LEDs Power Switch Current Overload LEDs Figure #1 HCA-1206 Front Panel Controls Bridge Switches CH 1 CH 2 CH 3 CH 4 CH 5 CH 6 Level Controls Levels Loop 1/2-3/4 On Loop 1/2-3/4 On HCA - 1206 WARNING: Mono Bridging TO PREVENT FIRE OR SHOCK HAZARD.DO NOT EXPOSE THIS UNIT TO RAINOR MOISTURE. High Current Multi-Amplifier Parasound Products, Inc San Francisco, CA U.S.A. Input Connectors Off Inputs Mono Bridging Off Fuse 15A CAUTION: Separate CH 3, CH 4 NonBridgeable Mono Bridging 8 Min Separate CH 5, CH 6 Mono Bridging 8 Min Main Fuse Power AC 120V 60Hz + + TO PREVENT ELECTRIC SHOCK, DO NOTREMOVE COVER. NO USER SERVICEABLEPARTS INSIDE. REFER SERVICING TOQUALIFIED SERVICE PERSONNEL. Carry Handle Power Consumption: 600 W CAUTION RISK OF ELECTRIC SHOCK DO NOT OPEN Input Looping Switches AC Cord Connector Figure #2 HCA-1206 Front Panel Controls -3- Input Connections and Switch Settings for the HCA-1206 Refer to Figure #2 Six Channel Operation The six channel mode of your HCA-1206 can power the six speakers required for a complete home theater: Front left and right, surround left and right, center channel, and subwoofer. Connect each output from your surround processor to the corresponding input connector of your HCA-1206. If you are using your HCA-1206 in the six channel mode, we suggest the following progression of channel priorities. This is an easy way to remember what you connected to each channel for setting levels or troubleshooting: Recommended Input Connections for Six Channel Operation Use INPUTS 1 and 2 for your front left and right channels Use INPUTS 3 and 4 for your left and surround right channels Use INPUTS 5 for your center channel Use INPUTS 6 for your passive subwoofer Switch Settings for Six Channel Operation: Leave LOOP 1/2 > 3/4 and LOOP 1/2 > 5/6 switches in their OFF positions and both MONO BRIDGE switches in their SEPARATE positions. Four and Five Channel Operation In addition to six channel operation, you can use your HCA-1206 in a variety of other configurations depending upon your needs. Below are examples of four and five channel operation. Input Connections for Four Channel Operation Use INPUTS 1 and 2 for your front left and right channels Use INPUTS 3 and 4 bridged mono for your center channel (Connect the center output of your processor to INPUT 4 only) Use INPUTS 5 and 6 bridged mono for your subwoofer (Connect the subwoofer output of your processor to INPUT 6 only.) Use an additional amplifier for your surround channels Switch Settings for Four Channel Operation: Leave LOOP 1/2 > 3/4 and LOOP 1/2 > 5/6 switches in their OFF positions Set the MONO BRIDGE switch for channel 3/4 in the MONO BRIDGING position Set the MONO BRIDGE switch for channel 5/6 in the MONO BRIDGING position Input Connections for Five Channel Operation Use INPUTS 1 and 2 for your Front left and right channels Use INPUTS 3 and 4 for your left and right surround channels Use INPUTS 5 and 6 bridged mono for your center channel (Connect the center output of your processor to INPUT 6 only) Settings for Five Channel Operation: Leave LOOP 1/2 > 3/4 and LOOP 1/2 > 5/6 switches in their OFF positions Select the MONO BRIDGE switch for channel 3/4 in the SEPARATE position Select the MONO BRIDGE switch for channel 5/6 in the MONO BRIDGING position Use a powered subwoofer or an additional amplifier for a passive subwoofer -4- Multi-Zone Stereo Operation You can switch your HCA-1206 to reproduce a single stereo source through up to three pairs of stereo channels via input cables connected to channels 1 and 2 input jacks only. This permits a neater and less confusing hookup. It eliminates the requirement for two or four "Y" adapters in order to split your preamplifier's single pair of stereo outputs to feed the 3 pairs of HCA-1206 power amplifier input jacks. When you switch the LOOP 1/2 > 3/4 Switch for channels 3 and 4 to its ON position, these channels receive the internally paralleled looped input signals from the same cables connected to the inputs of channels 1 and 2. Input 1 loops over to channel 3. Input 2 loops over to channel 4. The Loop 1/2 > 5/6 Switch for Channels 5 and 6 offers the same internal paralleling convenience. Input 1 loops over to Channel 5. Input 2 loops over to Channel 6. Speaker Connections to the HCA-1206 Refer to Figure #2 Five-Way Binding Posts The five-way binding posts on the rear panel of your HCA-1206 will accept banana or dual banana plugs, most 1/4" spade lugs, or up to AWG 12 bare solid or stranded wire. Polarity It is important to observe correct speaker connection polarity to prevent phase cancellation. One side of the speaker wire will have some sort of mark, either printing, a raised ridge on the insulation or a different color of conductor. This permits you to know which wire you had connected to the + and which to the -- speaker terminals so you can do exactly the same at the power amplifier terminals. Polarity is marked separately for both stereo and bridged connections. Banana Plugs Banana plugs offer the most convenient connection to the speaker terminals. They also have a large amount of surface contact into the speaker terminal. For these reasons, we recommend the use of banana plugs in most applications. However, you may want to use the "gas tight" connection provided by spade lugs or bare wire. Spade Lugs If you prefer to use speaker cable with spade lugs, make sure you do not permit the lug to rotate as the terminal is tightened. Do not overtighten the speaker terminal onto the spade lug. The limited warranty does not cover terminals that are sheared off as a result of overtightening. Bare Wire If you use bare wire without plugs, make sure you strip off only enough insulation so the bared wire fits into the hole that runs sideways through the terminal's metal shaft. Before inserting the wire, twist all its strands tightly to prevent strays that could cause a short circuit between + and -- terminals or adjacent channel terminals. If you have a soldering iron, it is a good idea to "tin" the bare wire with solder to keep it from unraveling and prevent oxidation. -5- Mono Bridging -- Channels 3+4 and 5+6 When you bridge channels 3+4 and/or 5+6, your speakers are connected to the bridged channels differently. You bridge by using the red + terminals of the adjacent channel pairs only. Note that bridged connections are made horizontally rather than vertically and the upper red + terminals have separate markings for bridging. In the bridged mode, channel 4 (and/or 6) output is positive and channel 3 (and/or 5) output is negative. Unbridged speaker connections can be made with standard 3/4" (19 mm) dual banana plugs. However internal space required by the high current protection relays prevent the bridged terminal pair spacing to be close enough to accept 3/4" (19 mm) dual banana plugs. Single banana plugs, spade lugs, or bare wire termination are required. Select MONO BRIDGING (up) or SEPARATE (down) as marked on the rear panel. Switch the power off before moving either of these switches. If you accidentally leave either switch in the mono bridge position, the stereo output will be very weak and distorted. For bridged operation of channels 3+4, use only the input jack and level control for channel 4. For bridged operation of channels 5+6, use only the input jack and level control for channel 6. Use Good Speaker Wire For best results, you should never use speaker wire ...