Owner’s Manual SSP-600 Surround Processor
WARNING: TO REDUCE THE RISK OF FIRE OR ELECTRIC SHOCK, DO NOT EXPOSE THIS APPLIANCE TO RAIN OR MOISTURE. CAUTION RISK OF ELECTRIC SHOCK DO NOT OPEN CAUTION: TO REDUCE THE RISK OF ELECTRICAL SHOCK, DO NOT REMOVE COVER. NO USER-SERVICEABLE PARTS INSIDE. REFER SERVICING TO QUALIFIED PERSONNEL. NOTICE All of us at Classé take extreme care to ensure that your purchase will remain a prized investment.
Important Safety Instructions 1. Read these instructions. 2. Keep these instructions. 3. Heed all warnings. 4. Follow all instructions. 5. Do not use this apparatus near water. 6. Clean only with dry cloth. 7. Do not block any ventilation openings. Install in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions. 8. Do not install near any heat sources such as radiators, heat registers, stoves, or other apparatus (including amplifiers) that produce heat. 9.
Contents Welcome to the Classé family ..........................................................................6 Unpacking and Placement ...............................................................................7 unpacking your surround processor.......................................................... 7 placement ................................................................................................ 7 ventilation ..............................................................................
The Menu System ..........................................................................................40 system setup ........................................................................................... 40 volume setup ......................................................................................... 41 rotary ............................................................................................... 41 max volume ........................................................................
Welcome to the Classé family Congratulations on your purchase of a Classé product. It is the result of many years of continuous refinement, and we are sure that you will enjoy it for many years to come. We value our relationship with our customers. Please allow us to stay in touch with you by returning your warranty card now, before you pack up the shipping carton of your new product and forget all about it.
Unpacking and Placement unpacking your Carefully unpack your surround processor according to the supplied surround processor instructions, and remove all accessories from the carton. Important! Keep all packing materials for future transport of your Classé product. Shipping your new component in anything other than its purpose-designed packing material may result in damage that is not covered by the warranty.
warm up/break-in period Your new Classé surround processor will deliver outstanding performance immediately. However, you should expect to hear it improve somewhat as it reaches its normal operating temperatures and its various components “break-in.” It has been our experience that the greatest changes occur within the first 300 hours, as the surround processor reaches thermal equilibrium and the capacitors fully form.
Operating Voltage The SSP-600 surround processor is set at the factory (internally) for 100V, 120V, 230V, or 240V AC mains operation, as appropriate for the country in which it is to be sold. (230V only in European Union countries, in compliance with CE regulations.) The voltage setting may not be changed by the user. Make sure that the label on the rear panel of your surround processor indicates the correct AC operating voltage for your location.
A Word About Installation Every effort has been made to make the Classé SSP-600 simple and straightforward to install and use. Still, we have no way to evaluate other variables such as the size and shape of your room, its acoustics, and the associated equipment you have chosen to use with your surround processor. All of these factors influence the ultimate performance of your system.
Special Design Features high-bandwidth Modern high definition video sources provide truly stunning picture quality. video circuitry However, the technical requirements of passing these remarkable signals along to the display are quite challenging. In recognition of the degradations that normally occur when passing these pristine signals through circuitry that is often not up to task, many videophiles connect all their video sources directly to their video displays.
Re-Equalization™ The tonal balance of a standard film soundtrack will be excessively bright and harsh when played back over high quality audio equipment in the home because film soundtracks were designed to be played back in large movie theatres using very different professional equipment. Re-Equalization restores the correct tonal balance for watching a movie soundtrack in a small, home environment.
By contrast, most multichannel music is mixed with a single pair of surround speakers aimed directly at the listener from behind. Many music mixers deliberately place particular instruments or musicians in these locations, and want you to feel as though you are “in the middle of the band.” Thus, a diffuse, non-localizable soundfield is not what you might like for the most accurate reproduction of the musical producer’s intent.
Boundary Gain Most speakers are designed to sound their best when placed out well away Compensation from the walls. This placement usually offers the best imaging and overall performance. However, this placement is often not practical in multi-purpose rooms that are used for home entertainment. Speakers end up pushed back close to the walls so as to make more room for the people who live in the house. Unfortunately, this change in placement reinforces frequencies from the mid-bass down to the deepest bass.
highly refined All Classé analog amplification stages are based on circuits that have been circuit design extensively optimized over many years of continuous development. By starting with excellent circuit designs and working with them over the years, we are able to discover the many small refinements that add up to superlative performance, in a variety of applications.
Initial Setup We understand that you may be anxious to begin enjoying your new surround processor. Our best advice: take advantage of the considerable experience your Classé dealer offers to make sure you get all the performance you deserve. However, if you want to set up your new system yourself, this section is designed to get the system up and running quickly.
5 Now you are ready to power up your new SSP-600 and its associated amplifiers. Note that the initial power up takes approximately 90 seconds, during which time the blue LED on the standby button will flash. After approximately 45 seconds the LCD screen will display “initializing, please wait….” Once this period is complete the LED light will remain on while the LCD screen goes into standby mode. A simple touch of the LCD screen will wake up the SSP-600 from its standby mode.
7 Please take a moment to read the rest of this manual. It is important that you become familiar with the full capabilities of your new surround processor if you are to get maximum value from your purchase. (Alternatively, you may prefer to have your dealer perform a comprehensive installation of the system, leaving the technical details to the professionals.
Front Panel 1 Standby button & LED indicator The front panel Standby button will toggle the surround processor between its fully operational status and a standby mode that leaves the surround processor off, yet ready to respond to system commands via any of the supported control options (e.g. IR input, DC trigger, CAN Bus, or RS-232). The current state of the surround processor is indicated by the LED on the standby button on the front panel.
2 Menu button Pressing the front panel Menu button will call up the menu system, replacing the normal status display in the LCD touchscreen of the SSP-600. 3 LCD touchscreen Much of your interaction with the SSP-600 will be with the LCD touchscreen (and the SSP-600’s supplied remote control). It will usually display the various input selection buttons you would use in day-to-day operation, along with access to the tape monitor button.
6 Volume Knob The large knob on the right side of the front panel of the SSP-600 is used to control the volume of the system. The volume is raised or lowered in precise 1dB increments throughout the range of the control most likely to be used while listening to music. At extremely low volumes, the step size is increased somewhat to make it easier to move quickly between extremely low and normal listening levels.
Rear Panel The table below shows the three types of inputs of the SSP-600 and which outputs can be used. The ✔ symbol indicates a signal is available, the ✘ symbol indicates a signal is not available. For example, with a Component Input an S-Video signal is available from the Main output, but not from the Rec 1 or Rec 2 output. See the following information on the various inputs and outputs for more detailed information.
1 Composite Video Inputs The SSP-600 supports up to four composite video input signals. These connections are labeled COMPOSITE INPUT 1, 2, 3, and 4. All these inputs are converted to both S-video and Component video as needed for viewing on the MAIN output. Connect the composite video output of your source component to the appropriate composite video input of the SSP-600 using high quality 75Ω video cable for the best results. Your Classé dealer can assist you in making an appropriate cable selection.
3 Composite Video Outputs The SSP-600 provides multiple composite video outputs to support different purposes. • The REC 1 and REC 2 outputs are used to send the selected video signal to a video recorder such as a VCR or a Digital Video Recorder (DVR) for recording. For your convenience, all incoming S-video signals are converted to composite for possible recording via this output.
5 Balanced Main Analog Audio Outputs Balanced connections between components provide the highest possible quality analog signal connection. This is due to both the effective doubling of the strength of the signal being transmitted and (even more importantly) to the significant improvement in immunity from noise as compared to normal, “single-ended” designs. These changes result in a significant improvement in transparency and detail, as well as improved dynamics.
8 Coaxial Digital Inputs These four inputs accept digital audio signals conforming to the 75Ω S/PDIF digital interface standard (via 75Ω cables equipped with RCA-type connectors) from a digital satellite receiver, compact disc, DVD player or other digital source component. Connect the 75Ω S/PDIF output of your source component to any of these inputs, using high quality 75Ω cable. Your Classé dealer can assist you in making an appropriate cable selection.
12 RS-232 Control Port This port has two purposes: • downloading new operating software into your surround processor (should new features ever be added). • external control of your surround processor by systems such as i-Command™, AMX® and Crestron™. For more information, please contact your dealer and ask about home automation systems. 13 IR Input: Main and Zone Your Classé surround processor includes two 1/8th-inch mono minijacks to support the infrared (IR) remote controls that are ubiquitous today.
14 DC Trigger Outputs Many audio/video components can supply a DC control voltage to associated equipment in order to induce desired behavior. Two 1/8th-inch mono mini-jacks provide individually controllable DC trigger outputs which can be used for any of a number of purposes, as described in The Menu System. For example, your dealer can program Trigger Out1 to toggle your Classé power amplifier between operate and standby with your SSP-600.
18 7.1 Channel Analog Audio Input A 7.1 channel analog input is provided for use with a multichannel SACD and/or DVD-Audio player. For reasons of copy protection, most such players do not provide a high-resolution digital output. Instead, they use high quality analog outputs. In the SSP-600, these signals are passed through to the speakers with no further processing, in order to preserve the purity of the signal.
Note that the three analog video standards offer varying degrees of performance: • Component video offers the highest picture quality • S-Video is second-highest in picture quality • Composite video offers the lowest picture quality For this reason, you are advised to use component video connections whenever possible, and S-video connections when component is not available. Composite video connections should be used when the other options are not available, or on less critical sources (e.g.
The Remote Control STANDBY LIGHT INFO THX NIGHT DISPLAY MODE VOL INPUT SEL. MUTE VOL TAPE HOME SETUP � Your new surround processor comes with a versatile remote control which can control both the SSP-300 itself and several aspects of the rest of a Classé-based system. The buttons are arranged in logical groups according to their functions. � 1 � � • Light switches the backlighting of the remote control on, for better visibility under low-light conditions.
5 Navigation and Control Menu Keys The five keys at the center of this group are the navigation keys. They are similar to what you may have seen on remote controls for DVD players, and are used to navigate of the menu systems of the SSP-300. The four keys around the navigation keys are used to directly access certain control menu screen.
Understanding Surround Sound Today’s sophisticated surround sound systems seem to spawn a bewildering array of technologies and acronyms. In this section, we will attempt to give you a basic understanding of what all that jargon means. As a result, you will be better equipped to take advantage of the best that home entertainment has to offer.
By contrast, modern soundtracks use discrete channels of information. That is, each speaker has a distinct signal that is completely independent of every other channel. This approach is clearly more desirable, since it gives the movie makers more creative control over the quality of your experience. Musicians also prefer discrete formats, since it allows them to place their instruments and voices with greater precision, to create the musical effects they desire.
This compensation is provided by engaging the THX Ultra 2 CInema mode. It works in combination with any of the multichannel formats described in the previous section: Dolby Surround, Dolby Digital, DTS, etc. You should consider using it when watching any movie that was originally created for theatrical release, whether on DVD, broadcast television, or any other medium. Here is a list of post-processing options provided by your surround processor.
Using the SSP-600 Your SSP-600 includes a versatile touchscreen LCD display which supports most of your day-to-day operations (as well as a flexible menu system for functions you use less often). While the use of this touchscreen is quite intuitive, it is also quite extensive. This section of the owner’s manual outlines the use of this touchscreen in day-to-day operation of the system.
Touching the mode button brings up a scrolling list of the available surround modes. Touching either of the arrows will cause this list to scroll in the direction you indicated. When you see the surround mode you want, touch its name in the list. The SSP-600 will immediately change its processing to meet your request. You may then either touch the back button at the top left, or simply wait for the touchscreen to timeout and return to the Home Menu on its own.
system trims The System Trims menu controls several parameters of the SSP-600’s operation that may occasionally need adjustment to suit a particular recording. • level trims are provided for L/R balance, center, surround, rear speakers, and subwoofer. As an example, you might bump up the center channel speaker by 2-3 dB if the dialog in a particular movie is difficult to understand. Note: level trims for surround and rear speakers are grouped together as “surround”.
position select The SSP-600 supports four different families of settings for various listening positions you may use. The Position Select menu allows you to easily choose among your various listening positions. For example, you might use position 1 to optimize the sound for the seating arrangement you use when watching a movie, but have a different set of levels and delays (position 2) for when you are off to one side, sitting on a couch and listening to music while reading a good book.
The Menu System Pressing the front panel Menu button to the left of the LCD touchscreen brings up a comprehensive menu system, that is divided into a further six sections as shown below. When this button is pressed you may toggle between the “Menu” and the “Home” screens. For easy viewing during setup, the menu screens are always shown as an OSD (On Screen Display) on the main video outputs.
Here, you can: • customize the behavior of your volume control • tailor your inputs to your particular source components • configure and calibrate the system to take best advantage of your loudspeakers • create shortcuts to your preferred or most frequently used functions • program the behavior of the SSP-600’s DC triggers volume setup Touching the Volume button on the “system setup” screen brings up the “volume setup” screen.
The most significant factor in the perceived responsiveness of the volume control is the speed at which the knob is being turned. We all naturally tend to move volume knobs more quickly when we need to make a bigger change, and we tend to slow down as we approach our desired volume. Thus, if the SSP-600 sees the knob moving relatively quickly, it uses coarse steps to effectively accelerate the action of the circuitry.
• high speed: determines the responsiveness of the control when the knob is being turned slowly. A setting of 0 will cause the volume to change as slowly as possible at high knob speeds; a setting of 100 will cause the volume to change as quickly as allowed at high knob speeds. (The menu is the same as the one above except for the indication that it is for the “high speed” adjustment.
mute setup Here you can choose how you want the mute button to function. • classic - When the mute button is pressed no audio will be heard. The next two choices are useful in situations where you wish to still hear the audio source but temporarily reduce the volume to a lower level. For example, let’s say you are watching a football game and the phone rings. You need to take the call but would still like to monitor the progress of the game...
• The left button acts like the backspace key on a computer keyboard, moving the cursor to the left and eliminating any characters along the way. • The right button moves the cursor to the right, adding characters along the way. (Change each character to what you want as you go along, using the + and – buttons.) • The + and – buttons change the current character through the available characters. They include all upper and lower case letters of the alphabet, the numbers 0-9, and a variety of punctuation.
• the balanced button allows you to define how you want the balanced analog input on your SSP-600 to work. By selecting DSP enabled, the SSP-600 will convert all the incoming balanced analog signals to digital for further processing. If you prefer to pass your balanced signals through the SSP-600 unaltered, except for volume control , choose analog bypass. Note: when analog bypass is selected the 7.1 single-ended outputs will be muted.
speaker setup The Speaker Setup menu (found via the following path: system setup/speakers) allows you to tell the SSP-600 about the speakers with which it is working, so it can provide the best and most appropriate signals to each speaker. • speaker config allows you to customize your speaker configuration and set up the bass management within the SSP-600.
• THX setup sends you to a screen in which you can configure some THXspecific features. Specifically: • THX Ultra 2 sub should be engaged if you are using a subwoofer that is certified by the THX Ultra 2 standard. Such subwoofers are essentially flat to 20 Hz under what might be considered worst-case acoustic conditions for bass, and have prodigious output capability. If you select the THX Ultra 2 sub button, you will also notice that the otherwise grayed-out boundary gain compensation button becomes available.
• The name of each position can be specified in the same way that sources are. (See input setup earlier in this section.) • autocalibration uses the provided microphone to calibrate the system automatically for optimal performance in each of these four positions. Simply plug in the microphone to the mic input on the rear panel, place the microphone at the desired position, and then press auto levels and auto delays in turn, allowing the SSP-600 to run its tests and establish the correct settings for you.
triggers setup Each of the SSP-600’s DC triggers may be programmed to either “logic” (12V) or “inverse logic” (0V) settings. The ability to change the way the trigger operates can solve installation-specific problems that otherwise require external devices that add to both the cost and complexity of your system. For more information on the use of DC triggers, we recommend you speak with your authorized Classé dealer.
display setup This button brings up the display setup menu. It allows you to configure the SSP-600’s LCD screen brightness, the display timeout, and the language used in the touchscreen and menu system. It also determines the format of your OSD (on-screen display), how long the temporary display lasts on your main television (e.g., the message that appears on your television when you change inputs or volume), and how volume settings are displayed on your system.
If you prefer the display of the SSP-600 to remain on whenever not in standby, choose the never timeout setting. The lamp in the LCD display was designed for harsh automotive environments and will give you many years of reliable operation. If you plan to leave the unit on continuously, however, we recommend that you keep the timeout delay set to less than one minute. (Note that setting the brightness to a lower setting does not increase the life of the lamp.
The absolute system refers to the notion that most people thinking of the number 0 as meaning nothing, e.g., no sound at all. In this system, 0 means “sound off ” and larger numbers indicate high volumes. While this is intuitive, the only way you have any idea how loud a particular setting is would be through experience. In the relative (THX) system, there is a calibrated, reference volume at which movies are played in theaters, which is duplicated in your environment and referred to as “0 dB.
Center Width determines how much of the center-channel information is allowed to remain in the left and right speakers. A low setting places all the information that would create a phantom center image in a normal stereo system in the center channel speaker instead. (This is sometimes referred to as a “hard” center channel.) A high setting leaves this information in the left and right speakers, fading out the center channel speaker.
cautionary note on Fkey use Note that all Classé remote controls provide these same four Fkeys, so that you need not worry about which remote you happen to pick up. Thus F1 on the surround processor’s remote control sends the same infrared signal as F1 on the CD player’s remote control.
Troubleshooting In general, you should refer any service problems to your Classé dealer. Before contacting your dealer, check to see if the problem is listed here. If it is, try the suggested solutions. If none of these solves the problem, contact your Classé dealer. 1 Important! Check that the power amplifier is off before checking any connections between the surround processor and power amplifier, or between the power amplifier and the speakers.
3. Important! Only one speaker seems to be playing. ✓ Does the problem occur with all inputs? If so, check the interconnect cables between the preamp and the power amp. If no fault is found there, check the speaker wires for secure connections. Be certain that the power amplifier is off before checking any connections between the surround processor and power amplifier, or between the speakers and the power amplifier.
Care & Maintenance To remove dust from the cabinet of your surround processor, use a feather duster or a lint-free soft cloth. To remove dirt and fingerprints, we recommend isopropyl alcohol and a soft cloth. Dampen the cloth with alcohol first and then lightly clean the surface of the surround processor with the cloth. Do not use excessive amounts of alcohol that might drip off the cloth and into the surround processor.
Specifications All specifications are accurate at the time of printing. Classé reserves the right to make improvements without notice. Frequency response DC – 200kHz ± 0.1dB Distortion (THD + noise) 0.003% Maximum input voltage (single-ended) 5Vrms Maximum input voltage (balanced) 10Vrms Maximum output voltage (single-ended) 10Vrms Maximum output voltage (balanced) 20Vrms Gain range -100dB to +14dB Input Impedance 100kΩ Output Impedance (main output) 100Ω Signal-to-noise ratio (ref.
Dimensions ������ ���� 60
Classé Audio 5070 François Cusson Lachine, Quebec Canada H8T 1B3 +1 (514) 636-6384 +1 (514) 636-1428 (fax) http://www.classeaudio.com email: cservice@classeaudio.com North America: 1 800 370 3740 email: classe@bwgroupusa.com Europe: 44 (0) 1903 221 700 email: classe@bwgroup.com Asia: (852) 2790 8903 email: classe@bwgroup.hk All Others: +1 514 636 6394 email: cservice@classeaudio.com Copyright © 2007 Classé Audio, Inc. Printed in Canada. V 2.
