English Manual Version: 8/3/2006 CE Declaration We: TerraTec Electronic GmbH, Herrenpfad 38, D-41334 Nettetal, Germany hereby declare that the product: PhonoPreAmp iVinyl to which this declaration refers is in compliance with the following standards or standardizing documents: EN 55013 The following are the stipulated operating and environmental conditions for said compliance: residential, business and commercial environments and small-company environments. This declaration is based on: Test report(s) of the EMC testing laboratory The information in this document is subject to change without notice and shall not be deemed as a warranty by the seller. No warranties, express or implied, are made with regard to the quality, suitability or accuracy of this document. The manufacturer reserves the right to change the contents of this document and/or the associated products at any time without the provision of prior notice to specific persons or organizations. The manufacturer shall not be held liable for damages of any kind arising from the use, or the inability to use this product or its documentation, even if the possibility of such damage is known. The information in this document is subject to copyright. All rights reserved. No part of this manual may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or for any purpose without the express written permission of the copyright holders. Product and brand names contained in this document are used for identification purposes only. All registered trademarks, product designations or brand names used in this document are the registered property of their respective owners. ©TerraTec® Electronic GmbH, 1994-2006. All rights reserved (8/3/2006). 2 PhonoPreAmp iVinyl (English) Contents Pre-amplified Congratulations................................................................................................. 4 Technical data .........................................................................................................................5 Connection and Control Elements ........................................................................................... 6 All about Vinyl......................................................................................................................... 8 Tips and Tools ..................................................................................................................... 8 Just one Groove, but a Lot of Music...................................................................................... 8 RIAA filtering........................................................................................................................ 8 Shielding............................................................................................................................. 9 Recording ............................................................................................................................ 9 Wav, Mp3 or AP ..................................................................................................................10 Links .................................................................................................................................. 11 Sound Rescue TerraTec Edition 2.1......................................................................................... 12 1. Overview ......................................................................................................................... 12 2. First steps....................................................................................................................... 13 3. User Interface ................................................................................................................. 15 4. Recording .......................................................................................................................18 5. Rescuing Audio Material .................................................................................................19 6. Descratcher ................................................................................................................... 20 7. Denoiser ......................................................................................................................... 21 8. Burning CDs................................................................................................................... 22 9. Application Notes ...........................................................................................................23 10. Contacting Us................................................................................................................25 11. Restoration on the Macintosh........................................................................................25 Service at TerraTec. ............................................................................................................... 26 PhonoPreAmp iVinyl (English) 3 Pre-amplified Congratulations With the TerraTec PhonoPreAmp iVinyl, you have made a great choice. The PhonoPreAmp iVinyl is the complete solution for digitizing analog sound sources, like your beloved LP record collection, in top high-fidelity quality. The USB connection to the computer is almost too easy. Even so, please read the following information so that you can start using all of the benefits of your phono PreAmp Studio USB right away. Furthermore, the chapter entitled, "All about Vinyl", provides useful background information on the LP recording medium as well as worthwhile information on the topic of "digital restoration on the PC". The following description is based on use with a PC but can be applied to Mac use without modification. Tip: Don't forget to stop in at our website at http://www.terratec.de. There you can find regular software updates, tutorials and instructions to make your experience with your TerraTec product easy and successful. If you run into problems, checking to make sure you have the newest drivers and software version, and then going to our FAQs page will solve most issues. We hope you find great satisfaction in using your TerraTec PhonoPreAmp iVinyl ...your TerraTec Team 4 PhonoPreAmp iVinyl (English) Technical data · · · · · · · · · · · · · Stereo input for record player, can be switched to analog line input (RCA/cinch) USB bus power supplied by the computer--no separate power adapter necessary Suitable for moving magnet (MM) pickups and moving coil (MC) systems with high output level (at least 2-3mV); standard moving coil (MC) pickups are not supported Sampling frequencies of 32 kHz / 44.1 kHz / 48 kHz / 96 kHz are supported Input capacity adjustable in three stages (100 pF, 250 pF and 430 pF) Filter function with high-precision RIAA equalizer (20 Hz-20 kHz / ± 0.4 dB) Harmonic distortion < 0.007 % (5 mV) Signal-to-noise ratio: > 86 dB (A) EMC-compliant aluminum case LED display for level and signal Bundled software (Algorithmix Sound Rescue 2.1 TerraTec Edition) Windows 2000/XP Mac OS X PhonoPreAmp iVinyl (English) 5 Connection and Control Elements Phono line input (cinch / red = right channel, white = left channel) This is where you connect the output cable from your turntable. Note that the PhonoPreAmp iVinyl is designed for moving-magnet (MM) pickup systems. Standard movingcoil (MC) systems are not supported. If you have a high-output MC system, you can use it with the "phono PreAmp Studio USB". However, the output level must be at least 2-3 mV. Alternatively, you can connect devices with line level output, such as tape decks (refer to the input-level selector switch (point Ground screw To prevent so-called "AC hum," you should connect the grounding wire from your record player to the thumbscrew located on the connection side of the PhonoPreAmp iVinyl. This ensures that your record player is grounded through the computer. )). USB jack for connecting to the computer's USB port The USB port is how the audio data, digitized in the PhonoPreAmp iVinyl, is sent to your computer. It also acts as the power supply for your PhonoPreAmp iVinyl. Don't bother searching for an audio jack for your sound card: you don't need one! It all works digitally through USB. Using the USB cable provided, simply connect the PhonoPreAmp iVinyl to any free USB port on your computer. 6 PhonoPreAmp iVinyl (English) Input-range selector switch Please refer to the technical documentation of your phono pickup system for the recommended input capacity range for the preamplifier. Then set this selector switch to a value that best matches this range. If you cannot find any technical documentation for your pickup cartridge, set the selector switch to its middle position. Your selection will be indicated by the LED. Signal and peak display These two LED lamps conveniently let you know that the PhonoPreAmp iVinyl hardware is working. If the unit is connected correctly and is receiving an audio signal, the signal LED is lit (red, top). Its brightness changes according to the strength of the input signal. The peak LED (blue, bottom) lights if the signal level is too high, causing overamplification. For adjusting input levels, see item selector switch". regarding the "Input-level Input-level selector switch Use this to select the type of input signal and how it is to be preamplified. You can select between minimum (Min) and maximum (Max) preamplification. If you are recording a line-in signal, select the Line-IN option. Your selection will be indicated by the LED. In this case, also refer to the chapter entitled Recording. PhonoPreAmp iVinyl (English) 7 All about Vinyl Tips and Tools When CD technology took hold of the music recording industry, it eventually replaced all production of vinyl records, to the regret of many collectors and enthusiasts. Today, it has become easy for just about anyone to create his own CDs using a computer and a CD burner. This is the time when the idea of eternalizing (or at least conserving them for the "half-life period" of a CD blank ...) your old vinyl treasures has become most interesting. Even the restoration software available on the market today has become more affordable and easier to use. How, however, do you get the phono recordings into the computer? First of all, turntables do not provide a signal that is directly usable with sound cards (and other line devices). Second, many of today's commercial HiFi amplifiers do not even come integrated with the special phono-input preamplifier required for use with turntables. Of course, you can always set up your (turntable-compatible) HiFi amplifier directly next to your PC--that is, if you don't mind having to move all your nicely connected equipment all the time. That is precisely why Terratec came up with the concept of the PhonoPreAmp iVinyl. The PhonoPreAmp iVinyl amplifies the output signal of the turntable, turns it into a high-quality, usable signal, and then digitizes it--all within the device. The digital data are then "copied" straight to the computer through the USB port. Now you can even archive your records on a laptop in comfort-- without having an unnecessary mess of cables lying around--because the PhonoPreAmp iVinyl takes its power supply directly from the computer's USB port. For those interested in the details of the good old phonograph technology, the following is for you. Just one Groove, but a Lot of Music The audio signal is stored on a record as a pattern in the record's groove. This pattern is picked up mechanically by the turntable's stylus, which converts the "audio data" pressed into the vinyl into a weak electrical signal. There are two different pickup systems: Moving Coil (MC) and Moving Magnet (MM or MD for magnetodynamic). In MM systems, a permanent magnet is moved; in MC systems, the coil follows the movement of the record's groove. The advantage of MC systems is their lower moving mass, but they have the disadvantage of an output signal that is lower than that of MM systems by a factor of 10, making it more difficult to achieve a good S/N ratio. Both MM and MC systems are capable of outstanding musical reproduction, but in practice the first system is the more common one. RIAA filtering Perhaps you've accidentally connected your turntable to the wrong input of your HiFi amplifier at one time or another. You probably noticed that the signal was not only very quiet, but also 8 PhonoPreAmp iVinyl (English) distorted. The reason: as the deflection of the needle is limited to specific range, high frequencies (= low amplitude) are amplified and low frequencies (= high amplitude) are weakened on the record. The signal from the pickup must therefore be processed (filtered) before it can be used. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has defined a standard for the changes to the frequency ranges to ensure that all records can be played using the same filtering. The quality of the equalization process is thus an ...