Instruction/ maintenance manual of the product Revolution 7.1 M-Audio
Go to page of 41
Revolution 7.1 Surr ound So und Aud io Card Revie w er’s Gu ide.
RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE ii 2003 Midiman Inc. 45 East Saint Joseph Street Arcadia, CA 91006–2861 T elephone: 626.445.2842 To ll Free: 800.969.6434 Fax: 626.445.7564 M-Audio, the M-Audio logo, and Revolution 7.1 are trademarks or registered trademarks of Midiman Inc.
RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE iii Content s A Note To Product Reviewers 2 Key Editorial Contacts 3 Today’s Audio Cards: Pro Sound at Low Prices 4 Top 5 Cool Things To Do With The Revolution 7.1 5 About The Revolution 7.1 6 Product Info Box 9 Te sting The Revolution 7.
RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 2 A N ote T o Pr oduct R e view ers We’re pleased that you have chos en to review M - Audio’s Revolution 7.1 high-definition surround- sound audio card. It’s a product we are very ex- cited about. T his guide provides you w ith editorial background information to assis t you in writing yo ur r ev iew.
RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 3 Ke y E d i t oria l C ontact s As you condu ct your r eview, we encourage you to call with questions. T hough we’ve wor ked hard to ensure that you have all t he facts needed to wr ite an accurat e and comprehensive re vi ew, occasionally a qu estion may arise that is n’ t covered in this guide.
RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 4 T oday’ s A udi o Cards: Pro Sound a t Lo w Pri ces Tw o-channe l ste reo just d oesn’t cut i t any mor e as us e r s demand high-quality surr ound sound for their DVD enabled computers OMPU TER audio has come a long way.
RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 5 T op 5 Coo l Thi ngs T o Do Wit h The R e v olut ion 7. 1 Th e Revoluti on 7.1 offers phenomenal high-def inition sound and provides to up eight channe ls of prof ess i onal-quality audio — all for less than $100. But s o what? It’s w hat yo ur re ad ers can do with the product that matter s.
RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 6 About The R e vol ut ion 7. 1 W ith this car d, gamers, media enthusiasts, and business users can add speakers and super char ge their systems with eight channels of pr o-quality audio HE Re volution 7.
RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 7 What Makes It So Good? Glad you ask ed—and we’r e sure your readers will want to know , too. Here are the two key factors in achieving superio r sonic performance in the Revolution 7.
RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 8 Outc lasses A udigy 2 At A Lo wer Pric e For a little les s money than Creative’s new Audigy 2 s ound car d, the M-Audio Re volution 7 . 1 offers more audio cha nnels, higher fidelity, lower distortion, and twice the platform support.
RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 9 Underst andin g the 24-bit /192kHz Capa b ility Digital audi o quality depends on bit depth and sample rate. Bit depth re fers to how many bits of information are a vailable to re present each sample, a fact or that trans- lates to dyn amic range.
RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 10 Te s t i ng T he R e vol ut ion 7. 1 Ther e’s only one way to check out the featur es of any audio car d, and that’s to install it, load a CD, and listen to the music. “ Oh, baby, let the music play ” — The Doobie Brothers HEN you work with the Revolution 7.
RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 11 To best expe rience the Revolution 7.1’s awesome sound you s hould have: • Seven powered speakers (left, center, r ight, surr ound (2) and rear ( or center) su rr ounds (2). Ideally, you’ll use 6 matched speakers, plus a center speaker designed to wo r k with the other s.
RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 12 the best s ound quality or balanc e poss ible, it is an inexpe nsive and quick way to upgrade a consumer 5.1 speaker set to 7. 1. Hardw are Set-Up Simply install the Re volution 7. 1 in an available PCI slot i n a Macintosh or PC.
RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 13 Connection Color Coding Digital Output (orange) S/PDIF Coaxial output. To use, purchase an RCA or Coaxial Digital cable for connection to a digital re- corder, mixer, or receiver. Mic In (pink) Connect a microphone for recording, videophone, or voice-recognition applications.
RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 14 Use a 1⁄ 8” t o RCA cab le to co nnect with speak ers or re ceiver s outfi tted with RCA jack s. T he white connect or ( top ) connects to th e fir st l isted cha nne l, th e red jack to the se cond.
RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 15 Speaker Configurations 2.0 Left, right “2.1” Left, right with subwoofer (no discrete subwoofer input) 2.1 Left, right; discrete subwoofer 4.0 Left, right, two surrounds 4.1 Left, right, two surrounds; subwoofer 5.0 Left, right, center; two surrounds 5.
RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 16 Spea ker Pl ac emen t Gu ide 5.1 Surround Sound 7.1 Surround Sound Q “What’s the difference between 6.1 and 7.1?” A For today’s cinema content, it’s fir st importa.
RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 17 Q “What content is available in 6. 1 or 7.1?” A With Microso f t’s January 2003 launch of Windows Media Audio 9 Profess ional, both music a nd movie content will be availa ble in 7.1 sur- r ound s ound (in addition to 5.
RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 18 Spe ake r Se tup (Mac ). Indic ates numbe r of inst alled speake rs , t hei r sizes, dist ances from the lis t ener, crossove r fre- quency, and more. Specify ing more speaker s than are connect ed may cause sound to be rou ted to non- existent spe aker s, resu lt ing in au dio information being unhear d.
RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 19 Surround Sound (Mac intosh ). Con- tro ls a ll su rround f unctions, inclu d ing Sensaura ( PC), TruS ur round XT, Circl e Surro und II , Dia log Enhance- ment, and Tr uB ass. Refer to the fo l- lowing “L iste ning Test s” section o f thi s gu ide for de- ta iled info rmation and suggeste d evaluation pro ce - dures.
RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 20 Listening T ests With the R evolution 7.1, the proof is in the listening. Ideally, you would have two computers that are identical in every way except fo r the sound card install ed. Th is will allow y ou to make direct A-B co mpar isons with Revolution 7.
RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 21 2. Open the Revolution control panel software, and select the “ Sen- sa ura/Game Mode” option in the “Surround Sound” pane. 3. La unch the game and choose a positio nal audio s etting in the game’s audio settin gs such as DirectSound or EAX 2.
RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 22 Test 4: Surround Sound on Stereo Speakers Th ese tes ts demonstrate virtual surround s ound through stereo s p eakers using SRS TruSurr ound XT. It’s perf ect for users who have only two speakers or headphones c onnected to their system.
RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 23 Test 5: DVD Surround Decode Th is te st sh ows the Revolution 7. 1’s ability to decode Dolby Digital a nd Dolby Digital EX encoded s ur round sound us ing the included WinDVD 4 DVD player. Th is illus trates how the Revolution 7.
RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 24 II technology (These tes ts work with Windows Me/2000/XP, and both Mac OS 9 and X. ) 1. C onnect the Revolution 7.1 to a surround-sound receiver or p owered speak- ers using the analog audio outputs. Choos e the speaker set in the Revolution C ontr ol Pane l that most closely matc hes your speaker setup.
RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 25 4. Audition a song from a CD or high-quality s ter eo WMA or MP3 f ile using a media player such as iT unes or Windows Media Player. 5. Op en the Rev olution Control Pa nel an d turn on Circle Surroun d II’s “Mu- si c” mode in the “Surround Sound” pane.
RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 26 Re volution 7 . 1’s sound quality. Revo lution’s sound quality r esults do not rely on brick wall f ilters during testing, or muting circuitry to reduc e noise when n o audio is playing, or on any other “s moke a nd mirrors” tricks that manufacture r s may use to i nf late their audio quality m eas ur ements.
RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 27 RightMark Audio Analyzer Testing Please see t he section above for more not es on tes t conf iguration. We highly rec- ommend using RMAA version 5.0 or later as it has more accura te test capabilities. For RM AA 4. 3: 1. Open RMAA an d the Revolution control panel.
RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 28 Pro duct Speci fi ca ti ons The follo wing series of charts lists all technical specif ications for the M-Audio Re volution 7.1 high-definition surround sound audio card. Specifications are sub- ject to change without notice due to continuing product improvement programs.
RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 29 Product Speci fications (cont’d.) Audio Performance Line Outs Dynamic Range 106 dB (typical, -60 dB input, a-weighted) Signal-to-Noise Ratio 107 dB (typical, a-weighted) THD 0.003% (i.e., -90dB) Max. Line Output Level 1.26 Vrms (+2 dBV) Frequency Response +0.
RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 30 Product Speci fications (cont’d.) Minimum System Requirements With SRS Circle Surround II disabled PC 200MHz Pentium with MMX 64 MB RAM Windows Me, Windows 2000, or Windows XP Macintosh PCI-based PowerMac with built-in USB 64 MB RAM Mac OS 9.
RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 31 Th e power of Revolution’s bass manag eme nt technology is that it provides more control over bass than mos t high-end s ur round sound r eceivers .
RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 32 maintain the flatt est leve l balance, bu t you sho uld optimize all of your output levels to r educ e th e ch ance of ove rloading y our spe aker system.
RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 33 D VD T est Scenes Th e followin g chart identifies scene s that are great f or auditioning s ur round sound. Th e DVD chap ters below highlight one or more significant parts of the surround audio experience or another: bass, direc tional audio, environm ental audio, audio clarity, dynamic r ange, etc.
RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 34 Suggested DVD Viewing DVD Title Scene Chapter Comments Support* Channels (environmental only) U571 Depth Charge 15 Room shaking explosions and bass. Great environ- mental audio. DD 5.1 IMAX Super Speedway Michael An- dretti Test Drive 21/22 Great directional and positional audio- Great visuals.
RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 35 Musi c List eni ng Sample s Th e recordings listed in the following chart are gr eat for auditioning s ound quality and stereo-to-surround conversion. Items ch ecked “C SI I” are excellent for Circle Surround I I playback.
RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 36 Addi tion al R esources Both Dolby L ab orato ries an d Dig ital Theat er Syst ems (DTS) ar e an excell ent s ource o f technic al inform ation r egarding surr ound sound. You ma y find the f ollowing links usef ul. Dolby Expl ains 5.
RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 37 Com pany Bac kgrounde r M- Audio, Inc (formerly Midiman Inc. ) was founded in 1988 with the goal of of- fering compl ete audio solutions to meet th e needs of r ecording artists, audio profes- si onals, and consumers.
RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 38 Pre ss R ele ase M-AUDIO LAUNCHES INDUSTRY’S FIRST HIGH-DEFINITION 7.1 SURROUND SOUND CARD Revolution 7.1 delivers up to eight channels of pristine quality, 24-bit/192kHz audio for immersive music, movies and games. Arcadia, Calif.
RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 39 that brings home wha t the filmmakers intended to be heard, even if additiona l sp eakers are not present. Re volution 7 . 1 is also des igned with gamers in mind.
An important point after buying a device M-Audio Revolution 7.1 (or even before the purchase) is to read its user manual. We should do this for several simple reasons:
If you have not bought M-Audio Revolution 7.1 yet, this is a good time to familiarize yourself with the basic data on the product. First of all view first pages of the manual, you can find above. You should find there the most important technical data M-Audio Revolution 7.1 - thus you can check whether the hardware meets your expectations. When delving into next pages of the user manual, M-Audio Revolution 7.1 you will learn all the available features of the product, as well as information on its operation. The information that you get M-Audio Revolution 7.1 will certainly help you make a decision on the purchase.
If you already are a holder of M-Audio Revolution 7.1, but have not read the manual yet, you should do it for the reasons described above. You will learn then if you properly used the available features, and whether you have not made any mistakes, which can shorten the lifetime M-Audio Revolution 7.1.
However, one of the most important roles played by the user manual is to help in solving problems with M-Audio Revolution 7.1. Almost always you will find there Troubleshooting, which are the most frequently occurring failures and malfunctions of the device M-Audio Revolution 7.1 along with tips on how to solve them. Even if you fail to solve the problem, the manual will show you a further procedure – contact to the customer service center or the nearest service center
