Version 1.1 © 2014 EMM Labs Inc., All Rights Reserved. EMM Labs reserves the right to amend specifications & design without notice.
Welcome 002 PRE2 STEREO PREAMPLIFIER OWNER’S MANUAL Thank you for choosing EMM Labs... © 2014 EMM Labs Inc., All Rights Reserved. EMM Labs reserves the right to amend specifications & design without notice.
Table Of Contents 003 PRE2 STEREO PREAMPLIFIER OWNER’S MANUAL Welcome 002 Warranty 005 PRE2 STEREO PREAMPLIFIER 006 Features & Specifications 007 Front Panel & Functions 008 Rear Panel & Functions 008 009 Operational Features Main Screen 011 Volume Knob and Signal Gain 012 Input Selectors 012 Product Power Up 012 Programming Menu 013 Display Contrast and Brightness © 2014 EMM Labs Inc., All Rights Reserved. EMM Labs reserves the right to amend specifications & design without notice.
Table Of Contents 004 PRE2 STEREO PREAMPLIFIER OWNER’S MANUAL Input Naming Menu 014 Volume Display Units 015 System Maintenance 016 Set Volume Font 016 Input Preselect 017 Clear Settings 008 017 Infrared Remote Control 018 Appendix A - Serial Remote Control (RS232) 019 © 2014 EMM Labs Inc., All Rights Reserved. EMM Labs reserves the right to amend specifications & design without notice.
Warranty Warranty EMM Labs warrants the PRE2 product against defects in material and workmanship under normal use and service for a period of time specified by the product’s serial number from the date of first delivery to the owner. The warranty time period is 5 years. Warranty is limited to the original owner and is non-transferable. EMM Labs will pay for return shipping charges back to the owner when the product is sent to EMM Labs within the first 90 days after purchase (US and Canada end-users only).
PRE2 STEREO PREAMPLIFIER PRE2 STEREO PREAMPLIFIER Built on the heritage of the famous PA6i, the PRE2 preamplifier incorporates Ed’s latest preamplification designs coupled with ground breaking technology. The PRE2 STEREO PREAMPLIFIER features: • • • • • • 6 sets of stereo analog inputs and 1 stereo recording loop. 100% contactless dual-balanced discrete audio paths. Proprietary software-based analog volume control. Exclusive aerospace-grade composite laminate circuit boards.
Features & Specifications 007 PRE2 STEREO PREAMPLIFIER OWNER’S MANUAL Features & Specifications S/N ratio: 110dB (A-weighted) THD: 1kHz <0.01%; 20kHz <0.
Front Panel and Functions 008 PRE2 STEREO PREAMPLIFIER OWNER’S MANUAL Front Panel & Functions 1. Standby/Power-Save button: Toggles the operation between on and power-save mode. In power save mode the remote control and all front panel functions become inactive. 2. Program and Function buttons: Front panel buttons used to access functions and program the PRE2. 3. PRE2 Display: Display can be dimmed or turned off using the the remote DIM button. 4. Input Selection buttons. 5. PRE2 Volume Knob.
Back Panel and Functions Back Panel & Functions 1. Analog Inputs: • Inputs 1 and 2 are balanced XLR inputs • Inputs 3, 4, 5 and 6 are un-balanced RCA inputs 2. Loop Input and Output (un-balanced) 3. Analog Outputs: • Left and Right Balanced (XLR) Connectors • Left and Right Un-Balanced (RCA) Connectors 4. System: • Remote RS232: RS232 control port • USB: software update port © 2014 EMM Labs Inc., All Rights Reserved. EMM Labs reserves the right to amend specifications & design without notice.
Back Panel and Functions 010 PRE2 STEREO PREAMPLIFIER OWNER’S MANUAL Back Panel & Functions 4. System (Cont’d): • RESET: Used to access the backup BIOS. 5. Product model and serial number indicator: Warranty void if model/serial number indicator is not attached to unit, missing or damaged whereby serial number cannot be seen. 6. Main Power connector and Power Switch 7. Product VOLTAGE indicator: Indicates working voltage of the PRE2. Only use with indicated line voltage. © 2014 EMM Labs Inc.
Operational Features 011 PRE2 STEREO PREAMPLIFIER OWNER’S MANUAL Main Screen 1. Mute Button Pressing the mute button initiates a 2-stage, sequential Mute function. Soft Mute (-20dB from the current level), Full Mute, and finally Mute Off. Mute is Off/disabled as soon as the Volume knob is rotated or the Volume buttons are depressed on the remote. Once Mute is off the PRE2 will return the signal path to its current volume setting. A short fade-in is performed to avoid audible transient artifacts. 2.
Operational Features 012 PRE2 STEREO PREAMPLIFIER OWNER’S MANUAL Main Screen 4. SAVE Button (cont’d) Notes: • The Mute is a transient feature and its state is not saved. PRE2 product powers up with Mute Off. • Input names are saved from a dedicated, on-screen name editor; see the ‘Programming Menu’ The Volume Knob and Signal Gain The Volume knob adjusts the signal gain from full attenuation (step 0) to maximum gain at step 100. The maximum gain measured from any input to RCA output is +6dB.
Operational Features 013 PRE2 STEREO PREAMPLIFIER OWNER’S MANUAL Product Power-up (cont’d) In a newly built product or when PRE2 is reset, default settings are as follows: • Selected input • Volume • Volume Units • Loop • Mute • LCD Contrast/Brightness • Input Names: • Volume Font : Input 1 (XLR) : Step 0 (all inputs) : Steps : Off (all inputs) : Off : Mid-point : Blank, no characters (all inputs) : ‘7-segment’ font Programming Menu In this release, the programming menu has 4 items, shown in a pop-up b
Operational Features 014 PRE2 STEREO PREAMPLIFIER OWNER’S MANUAL Programming Menu (cont’d) Display Contrast and Brightness Input Naming Menu 1. Display Contrast and Brightness Contrast and Brightness both have a 9-step adjustment range, visualized on screen by horizontal indicator bar. The left and right arrow soft buttons operate the adjustment. Contrast and Brightness adjustments have separate screens, and the soft button ‘NEXT’ allows you to access both screens.
Operational Features 015 PRE2 STEREO PREAMPLIFIER OWNER’S MANUAL Programming Menu 2. Input Naming Menu (cont’d) • DASH, PERIOD, and SLASH characters • digits 0-9. Rotating the Volume knob scrolls through the characters. Pressing one of Input Selector buttons shows the current name of the input, and allows the name to be edited. The name being edited is stored only by pressing the ‘SAVE’ button on this screen. Pressing another input button or selecting a different/same input discards the changes.
Operational Features 016 PRE2 STEREO PREAMPLIFIER OWNER’S MANUAL Programming Menu 4. System Maintenance System Maintenance Volume Font Selection The System Maintenance screen shows the current firmware version and a list of maintenance tasks. The tasks are selected by using the numbered input select buttons. In this release, there are 3 maintenance tasks: • Set Volume Font (2 options): a. 7-segment font b. EMM font In future updates EMM may update the Volume Font selection with many other fonts.
Operational Features 017 PRE2 STEREO PREAMPLIFIER OWNER’S MANUAL Programming Menu 4. System Maintenance (cont’d) • Input Preselect The power-on input can be changed by the user using the ‘Input Preselect’ feature. The current power-on input is shown on-screen. At this point, any Input can be chosen either by pressing the associated numbered input button or by using the ‘NEXT’ soft button. Pressing the ‘SELECT’ soft button saves the new setting.
Infrared Remote Control 018 PRE2 STEREO PREAMPLIFIER OWNER’S MANUAL Infrared Remote Control VOL UNITS DIM : : This button toggles volume display units between steps and dB This butons toggles through the 3 display states: • DIM (dim the display) • OFF (display off) • FULL (back to the current default setting) VOL UNITS 1 4 INPUT (1 to 6) : These buttons can be used to directly access any INPUT.
Appendix A - PRE2 Serial Remote Control (RS232) 019 PRE2 STEREO PREAMPLIFIER OWNER’S MANUAL PRE2 Serial Remote Control (RS232) Introduction The PRE2 can be remotely controlled in one of the two (mutually exclusive) modes: • Standard mode • Slave Preamp mode. In Standard mode the product receives and acts upon the RC-6 Infra Red Remote commands. Recognized IR codes are translated into EMM Labs’ ASCII-based control commands that are sent out on the RS232 port. The Command Protocol is defined in Section 2.
Appendix A - PRE2 Serial Remote Control (RS232) 020 PRE2 STEREO PREAMPLIFIER OWNER’S MANUAL PRE2 Serial Remote Control (RS232) Remote Control Protocol The PRE2 Remote Control protocol is defined with the goal of structural simplicity and ease of implementation. Typical implementation requires only a standard, asynchronous UART/RS232 port.
Appendix A - PRE2 Serial Remote Control (RS232) 021 PRE2 STEREO PREAMPLIFIER OWNER’S MANUAL PRE2 Serial Remote Control (RS232) Frame Structure (cont’d) Checksum : C1, C0 one-byte checksum, its binary value represented by 2 hex characters, or, the opt-out variant, where the checksum is substituted by "NA" token, as in 'Not-A-checksum' or 'Not Applicable'. The checksum is calculated as byte-wide exclusive OR from all preceding characters in the frame, excluding frame preamble (the asterisk).
Appendix A - PRE2 Serial Remote Control (RS232) 022 PRE2 STEREO PREAMPLIFIER OWNER’S MANUAL PRE2 Serial Remote Control (RS232) Control Messages (cont’d) Loop (LP) : Display Dim (DM) : Volume Display Units (VU) : Save settings (SV) NULL Cmd.
Appendix A - PRE2 Serial Remote Control (RS232) 023 PRE2 STEREO PREAMPLIFIER OWNER’S MANUAL PRE2 Serial Remote Control (RS232) RS232 Port Set-up The RS232 Control port in PRE2 is set up as follows: • Baud rate 9600bps • Character length 8 bits • Stop Bits 1 • Parity none Product Class Definitions • Disc Transport • SACD Player • Blu-ray Player • Preamplifier • DAC • Media Player • Signal Processor • Power Amplifier : "CD" : "SC" : "BD" : "PR" : "DA" : - to be defined : - to be defined : - to be defined -
Appendix A - PRE2 Serial Remote Control (RS232) 024 PRE2 STEREO PREAMPLIFIER OWNER’S MANUAL PRE2 Serial Remote Control (RS232) RS232 Cables for PRE2 Standard, direct RS232 cable from a PC (or dedicated System Controller) to PRE2 DB9 FEMALE PC or System Controller DB9 MALE 9 8 7 6 5 5 4 4 3 3 2 2 1 1 SHIELD © 2014 EMM Labs Inc., All Rights Reserved. EMM Labs reserves the right to amend specifications & design without notice.
Appendix A - PRE2 Serial Remote Control (RS232) 025 PRE2 STEREO PREAMPLIFIER OWNER’S MANUAL PRE2 Serial Remote Control (RS232) RS232 Cables for PRE2 (cont’d) Y-patchcord for PRE2 daisy chaining. The patchcord has 2 ‘legs’: • from PRE2 (central) connector to the Input connector, and • from PRE2 connector to slave Output connector. Recommended length is 12 to 14 inches for each leg (approx. 30 to 35 cm).
