Electronics

Studio Monitors

Room control

Ideally, monitors should be at least 1.5m from any wall. If this distance is unable to be achieved, we will hear excessive bass coming from the speakers. To compensate for cases like this, monitors have a room control setting that will reduce the bass (default is 0, but can reduce -2dB and -4dB). The closer the speakers are to the walls, the higher a compensation that will be needed.

Impedance (Z)

Impedance is the resistance to a flow of alternating current, and is measured in ohms (Ω).

• anal: Think of a pump pushing water through a hose. Too much flow (current) and things can go wrong. Too little flow, and things get backed up.
• Suppose you connect two speakers to an amp. They draw twice as much current. Two speakers have half as many ohms (resistance, impedence same idea). You need to switch your amp to match the load; it's like shifting gears in a car.
  • the output impedance of your amp must match the input impedance of your cab. That means a 4-ohm output needs a 4-ohm cab and a 16-ohm output needs a 16-ohm cab.
  • ex. if you hook up two 8-ohms speakers to an amp. The impedance setting on the amp should be switched to 4

Hi-Z switch (High Impedance)

• often this is a setting found on devices that an instrument gets plugged into (audio interface, DI unit etc).
• Turn this on when connecting high impedance instruments, such as an electric guitar or electric bass, directly to the jack.
• use an unbalanced cable (ie. single ring) for connection between the instruments and the jack
• To protect your speaker system, leave the monitor speakers turned off when turning the HI-Z switch on/off.