The Zapco DC-Series An Overview
The Zapco DC-Series A Complete line of car audio amplifiers with full, on-board digital processing.
The DC-Series Amplifiers Seven amplifiers that combine world famous Zapco sound quality with the ultimate in tuning capability.
Every DC Series Amplifier has… Full Digital Processing Digital HP/LP/BP Crossover for each channel , 6dB to 36dB 10 Band True Parametric EQ for each channel Digital Signal Delay accurate to 3mm for each channel More special features for faster, easier system tuning OEM Integration Speaker level input – Connect factory speaker wires to RCA inputs Channel summing – Combine separate outputs into a single full range signal Accepts up to 23 Volt input signal World Famous Zapco Sound Quality Top qual
The DPN Network With the Zapco DPN Network, you can address up to 10 amplifiers into your network and control each one individually from the same pc screen. Do you plan a big system? With the Zapco DPN and the Zapco DC amplifiers, you can have up to 60 channels of digitally processed Zapco sound. With the Zapco DC systems there are simply no limits.
Addressing your amps in the Network USB Cable connects DC Amplifier to PC 1 2 3 4 5 6 Addressing is by 6 position DIP Switch. Pins 1 to 4 address the Amplifiers Pins 5 and 6 are not used and should always stay in the up position.
DC-Series Speaker Output Impedance (Did you see the Low-Z Switch? Do you want to know more?) For Your Information: Zapco Rail Voltage Monitoring is a system to protect your sound when speaker impedance drops below normal range. Example: At 4Ω a DC352 has 100W RMS at rated distortion. At 2Ω it has 175W RMS at rated distortion.
The DSP-Z8 The DC-Series amps were designed to be the ideal solution for every car. But, not everyone will want to use the DC amps. You may want to use the Z-Series or the Studio Series amps. Or, maybe you already have amplifiers and just want processing. The DSP-Z8 puts all the processing power of the DC-Series amplifiers in a stand-alone digital signal processor that can be used with any amplifier in any system.
The Zapco DPN GUI The PC Control Screen This is the PC control Screen if you use the DC-Series Amplifiers, or if you use the DSP-Z8.
Loading Screen This is the “splash” screen, while the program is loading The top row of LEDs shows the port the amp will connect to (in this case it is COM Port 5) The second row of LEDs shows the position of the amp in your network. If you do not use any of the addressing switches (all are left up) then your amp will always come up in position 1. COM Ports can sometimes be an issue in Windows.
You must now Log In Enter Password: 1. Select “OPTIONS” 2.
Navigating the Screen Choose the channels you will work on, by pair, or individually Display Screen: The display screen shows how the settings you choose will affect the signal output. When tuning, you will use a real time analyzer to evaluate the acoustic results On-Off for EQ and Crossover functions EQ Controls for boost/cut, for Q, and for center frequency .
Device Menu The Device menu lets you pick which amplifier you will be adjusting. Positions in use will show model numbers as dark.
Getting Started 1) In the top left corner we choose the channel (or channel pair) we will adjust. In this case we have chosen to adjust Ch3/4 (highlighted in Green) * 2) In the lower left corner we choose which channel (or channel pair) we will use as the input for our adjustment Channel. We also set the input sensitivity voltage for our input channel. In this case we will use Ch1/2 as input at 1.91 volts sensitivity. * Note that for Ch 3/4 input we can use any combination of channels 1, 2, 3, and 4.
Crossovers The next step is to set the crossovers, so we know the speakers are protected We can choose High Pass, Low Pass or Band Pass We can choose Butterworth of Linqwitz-Riley crossover slopes Here we are working on channel pair 3/4 We will use Ch3/4 as midrange so we will set the crossover to Band Pass (highlighted green) We will choose a steep crossover slope (36dB) for the bottom of the midbass to protect the speaker.
Equalization With the crossovers set, we can now look at equalization Graphic Equalizer: Has set Frequencies and Q (slope) and you control the boost or cut amount Paragraphic Equalizer: You control all the EQ factors. You choose the center Frequencies, you choose the Q (slope), and you choose how much boost or cut is applied The Zapco DPN uses only Paragraphic equalization. This offers much more versatility than graphic EQs and allows you to be much more accurate in your adjustments.
Equalization - Q A “Q” of 0.5 affects a wide range of frequencies from 50Hz to 15KHZ A “Q” of 2 affects a smaller band of frequencies from about 300Hz to 4KHz A “Q” of 10 affects a very narrow band from 630Hz to 1,600z Being able to control the “Q” allows you to tailor your EQ curves to your particular needs in each individual vehicle. For best results in equalization: Cut when possible… …. never boost if you can avoid it.
Signal Delay You ear determines the location of sounds by reading the differences in the times a signal from a particular location reaches each ear. Ideally we want to sit in the center of the sound stage so we hear everything in it’s very best environment. We can do this in a home system by sitting directly between the speakers In a car system we can not do this because we sit much closer to some speakers than to others.
Signal Delay Adjustment Measure the distance from your ear to each speaker (white) Note the distance to the furthest speaker (180cm) LF 80cm RF 100cm YOU LR 100cm 80cm Ad distance (red) to each speaker to make them all the same distance as the furthest speaker.
Delay Adjustment with the Zapco DPN Enter distances by individual channels…not by channel pairs You can drag the signal delay button across the time scale to find the distance you need You can also enter time by drop-down menu, or you can type in any number you wish
Phase Control with the Zapco DPN The Zapco DPN allows you to control the phase of any channel in 15 degree stops from 15 to 180 degrees Better phase control…another Zapco tool to make tuning easier
Voltage sensitive Equalization Here is a great tool for the advanced Tuner/Installer Each channel of the DC amps and of the DSP-Z8 has a parametric EQ band that is only on … when you need it! 30Hz boost …only on when you need it. Example: You have factory radio that cuts the bass frequencies at high volume. You can set this band to restore the bass only when you have high volume. In this case the Bass boost begins when the signal voltage reaches 1.
More on the Voltage Sensitive EQ Another example: a. You are in sound-offs in both SQ and SPL b. For SQ listening you never play at more than 3 volts output c. Your vehicle resonance is 60Hz. With VSEQ you can set you EQ to give you a 15dB boost at 60Hz only when you turn the volume past 3 volts output. So you can change your tuning from SQ to SPL by simply turning up the volume! 60Hz boost triggered at 3.
Save, Save, Save… Save Your Settings Always save your settings … Save often … … There is nothing worse than losing all your hard work If you shut down the program without “Saving” you will lose your work When you make your 1st set-up Save to P-1 after Crossover Save to P-1 after EQ settings Save to P-1 after delay settings When all settings are finished, save everything to at least 2 presets (let’s be safe) Back-up: When you are happy with all settings you should “Save to File” and store the sett
Load Presets / Load from File The Zapco DPN GUI will allow you to store 4 presets You can switch between presets to compare setting groups For the professional Installers: Always log your installations in a file folder and save each car to a file. Then each time you put the same system in the same car, your tuning is already done. You simply hook up your PC to the DC amplifier, Click Load From File, Find the file for the car you already did and load it in.
OEM Integration Speaker Level Inputs: Each Zapco DC-Series amplifier, and DSP-Z8 Processor has an input level switch. In the Hi Input position you can attach RCA plugs to the factory speaker wires and plug them directly into the Zapco RCA inputs.
Computer Technical … Ports The 2013 Zapco DPN control network has been designed and engineered to provide the most advanced and efficient auto-sound tuning system. We have built upon our 12 years of automotive digital processing experience to bring you the most trouble free experience possible. Put in the disk, install the program, and you’re ready to enjoy the Zapco listening experience. The Zapco DPN has been designed to work seamlessly with the windows operating system.
Assigning COM Ports Your Zapco DPN Amplifier or Processor will communicate with your PC through a “COMM Port”. Most other devices you plug into your PC will also use a COM port.
Assigning a COM Port 4 From the device manager, pick “Ports” then “USB Serial port” From the start-up menu, pick Computer From serial port, pick properties, Port settings, Advanced 2 5 Pick System Properties 3 Pick Device Manager Here is where you can choose the port for the DPN Device. If the device has a port higher than COM9 you Need to move it to a lower port.
Thank You The Zapco DC-Series Amplifiers and DSP-Z8 Processor Full Digital Processing Digital HP/LP/BP Crossover for each channel , 6dB to 36dB 10 Band True Parametric EQ for each channel Digital Signal Delay accurate to 3mm for each channel More special features for faster, easier system tuning OEM Integration Speaker level input – Connect factory speaker wires to RCA inputs Channel summing – Combine separate outputs into a single full range signal Accepts up to 23 Volt input signal World Famou
