Definion 3 Surround "5.1-Set"

Usually, all 6.1/7.1 AV Receivers can generate a 6.1/7.1 playback from a 5.1 recording. The procedure is comparable with the Dolby Pro Logic Decoder, which generates a matrix circuit from the stereo signal of a centre channel.

The AV Receivers thus generate a rear centre channel from the rear R/L channels of a 5.1 recording through the matrix circuit. The stronger the rear R/L effects on the DVD, the stronger the signal from the rear centre.

No.

The LT 4 is a partially active system that requires AV receiver operation. It has a built-in amplifier that only supplies bass tones in the subwoofer housing That is why an "AV Receiver", i.e. a combination of radio receiver and multichannel amplifier, is essential for using the LT 4.

The subwoofer is connected from the Line In R input to the AV receiver's sub out jack using a mono RCA cable, while the three front satellites are connected to the three speaker outputs of the AV Receiver using the speaker cable and are supplied with power from there.

Connect signal-emitting source appliances such as DVD player or PC etc. directly to the corresponding input jacks on the AV Receiver.

Naturally 5.1 channel systems that play back all of the sound tracks contained on the DVDs already offer an excellent home cinema experience.

For the new 6.1 or 7.1 sound formats, a rear centre channel is controlled in addition to these channels. This channel, coded in the stereo effect channels, enables the better positioning of effects and music signals directly behind where you are sitting.

If using two speakers for the rear centre channel, the optimal seating position is not tailored to an individually specified position, i.e. you don't have to be seated in the exact centre.

In the following cases we would recommend upgrading to a 6.1 or 7.1 system:

• Your sitting position is not always dead centre, or you often have several viewers

• You have had a 5.1 system for a very long time and would like an improvement

• Your AV amplifier/receiver is designed as a 6.1 or 7.1 receiver and offers the corresponding connection possibilities

• You can also set up one and/or two rear centres. If you are currently building/renovating your house or flat, we would recommend you lay the cables for the additional rear centre channels in any case.

• Modern BluRay players usually issue a true 7.1 surround sound signal at all digital outputs and are thus optimally suitable - presuming the relevant AV Receiver - as a signal transmitter for a 7.1 channel home cinema system.

The choice of speaker(s) depends on the AV Receiver/amplifier. This has an additional power amplifier for one rear centre (6.1) or its two (7.1). You can easily see this by the wattage (e.g. 6 x 100 watt or 7 x 100 watt). To the existing (side) rear speakers for right/left (5.1 technology), one or two additional rear centres are utilised in addition (6.1 or 7.1 technology).

• My AV amplifier/receiver has six connections/power amplifiers (6.1):

In this case we recommend connecting the same centre at the rear that you also used in the front area.

• My AV amplifier/receiver has 7 connections/power amplifiers (7.1):

If you already use dipoles or direct emitters for your 5.1 system, then you have a choice of either supplementing two more dipoles or two direct emitters. For wall assembly and a short distance from the seating location to the rear wall (less than 1.00 metres), we would recommend dipoles. As soon as you want to set up the speakers on bases or on a shelf, then direct emitters would be the better choice.

Information:
Even if the AV Receiver/amplifier only has the connection and power amplifier performance for one rear centre, it is still possible to connect two instead of just one speaker through series connection.

Exception:
• The AV amplifier/receiver has seven connections/power amplifiers, but I can only set up one rear centre. As the 7.1 AV amplifiers/receiver also offer the option of operating just one of the two outputs (usually can be set in the speaker set-up!), you can also only connect just one rear centre.

Here we recommend connecting the same centre to the rear that you also used in the front area. For short distances to the listening location (less than 1.00 metres), a dipole would be the better choice - especially if you are also using dipoles at the sides.

Since the distance and volume of every individual speaker can be adjusted for the digital home cinema receivers, asymmetrical set-ups can be easily compensated. 

Take the level meter with you to the listening position and point the measuring device directly towards the front centre speaker. Now start the sound generator of the receiver (or of the sound card or DVD player) and equalise all speakers in succession to the same level.

The position and alignment of the measuring device should not be changed during this procedure. For a Teufel sound level meter, proceed as detailed in the following:

1. Remove the protective tab from the battery.

2. Set the weighting to "A" - only the "A" position considers the full frequency range during measuring!

3. Set the response to Slow.

4. Set the Range to 70.

5. Start the test noise from your AV device.

6. Change the volume for every individual channel at the AV device so that the level meter shows 75 dB (meaning between +4 and +6).

7. Done!

Compared with the 5.1 set, the 7.1 set has two extra speakers for the back rear centre channel.

The 5.1 channel set plays back all sound tracks on DVDs/Blu-rays and creates an excellent home cinema experience.

With the 7.1 sound format, a rear centre channel is also generated in addition to these channels and distributed to two further speakers (the "rear centre"). This channel, which is encoded in the stereo effects channels, allows better location of effects and music signals directly behind the sitting position.

If you use two speakers for the rear centre channel (i.e. installed 7.1 set), the optimum sitting position is not restricted to one specific place, so you don't have to be sitting exactly in the middle and several listeners can enjoy the best sound.

Because the centre plays back spoken dialogue, this speaker must be positioned as centrally as possible under or over the TV/monitor or the screen.

If the centre is placed outside the area of 40 centimetres to 1.20 meter height, it should be slightly inclined or angled towards the listener.

For smaller sets up to Theater 1, we recommend using the 2.5 mm² Teufel speaker cable for optimal sound quality if the required length does not exceed 15 metres.

For Theater 2 and larger systems, we recommend the Teufel cable with 4 mm² cross-section for the front/centre speakers, and the 2.5 mm² cable up to a length of 15 metres for the effect speakers.

Choose a higher cross-section for even greater lengths.

To realise the very reasonable sales prices usual for Teufel, it is not possible to offer the speakers in a multitude of housing designs.

This circumstance would drive up the production and storage costs, which would result in a significantly more expensive sales price.

A paint shop in your vicinity will surely be able to repaint the speaker housing to your preferred colour without loss of warranty - after expiry of the eight-week right of return.

A home cinema system needs speaker cables to connect the satellite speakers to the receivers, and an NF mono RCA cable to connect the active subwoofer to the sub out socket of the AV Receiver.

To supplement missing cable lengths you can use speaker cables of differing thicknesses without acoustical differences - provided there are no extreme differences in the cross-sections.

It is compulsory to connect partially active systems to an AV Receiver. This supplies the five to seven satellite speakers with the necessary power. Only the subwoofer works additionally with its own amplifier. The investment in a new system is higher because of the AV Receiver, but the solution is also much more flexible. After all, you can connect several signal sources, such as a TV, satellite receiver, PC, game console and MP3 player to an AV Receiver at the same time.

Fully active set do not necessarily need an AV Receiver. The five to seven satellite speakers here are supplied with power by the amplifiers which are installed in the subwoofer in addition to the subwoofer power amplifier. This saves you the costs of a receiver, but it is usually only possible to connect one source to our fully active subwoofer.

Exceptions here are the Concept E2, the Concept E Magnum Digital, the Motiv 5 Digital, the Concept F, the LT2+R and the Concept S+R.

Naturally you can also equip the fully active systems with an AV Receiver at a later point. The connection is then equal to the partially active sets.

If you aren't able to position the speakers close to the wall as described above, you should use the them as direct speakers. For this purpose the rear switch should be tipped outwards. For use as direct speakers, the rear boxes should be set up to the left and right of the listening position - ideally at the same height, e.g. on a shelf or preferably on a base. If the speakers have to be set up so that they are much higher or lower, it may be advisable to align them to the listening point. For wall mounting it is best to use wall brackets that allow for vertical movement. When using the speakers in direct speaker mode, we recommend that the distance between the two rear speakers exceeds the listening position by 1m. But if you (have to) sit closer, please make sure that the front of the speaker is not pointing directly at you; instead, angle the speakers more into the room.

The recommended set-up information below represents the best possible arrangement for perfect multichannel playback in your home. Your available space, your partner or your furniture may not always allow you to arrange the speakers in the ideal manner. Try to meet as many of the requirements as possible.

Modern AV Receivers offer numerous options for compensating electronically for any compromises in the set up. Generally speaking, the following rule always applies: you can always use our recommendations as a basis for experimenting with what works best for you, acoustically and optically. Let your ears (and eyes) decide!

This hum can be caused by the connected devices or disruptions in your electricity current. Please do a test to see which it is.

1. Remove the RCA cable from the input on the subwoofer. If the hum is no longer heard, go to point B. Otherwise, follow point A.

A. Attach the net cable of the subwoofer to another electricity outlet (i.e. Kitchen/Bathroom/Bedroom). If the subwoofer still hums, get in contact with our Support team.

Should the hum no longer be there, the disruption was a problem in your power supply, which can, for instance, be caused by dimmers or chargers. To find out where the disruption is, unplug all your devices and work back from there. As soon as the hum is heard, you now know your source of the disruption.

B. In your case, the "ground hum" is responsible for the disruption. Please proceed as follows to discover your source.

• Disconnect the cable or satellite port from the TV Receiver and check if the hum disappears or not. If it does, you can use a sheath current filter for the cable outlet to prevent this. For example, the sheath current filter AC 9022 ED. If you have a satellite connection, connect the Satellite Receiver to the optical cable playback source - Teufel Optical Digital Cable


• If this reason can be excluded, separate all devices from the AV Receiver one at a time until the hum stops. The last connected device is then your hum source and should be separated from the others using a galvanic separation filter (found in a retail shop)


• If this doesn't work, get in contact with us once again so that we can give an individual, helpful response.

Thanks to the speaker set-up/bass management integrated in the home cinema receivers/amplifiers, the subwoofer functions in stereo, Dolby Surround and digital mode.

The corresponding setting in the speaker set-up must be adjusted individually for each source for many receivers, however, e.g. for CD playback only front without woofer, and front speakers plus woofer for Dolby Surround video playback.

Some AV Receivers/amplifiers issue the bass signals via the subwoofer pre-amplifier output so quietly that the subwoofer does not start automatically.

To make sure the subwoofer switches on and off correctly in automatic mode, (to be selected on the corresponding switch of the subwoofer, such as "Auto / On / Off"), we recommend turning the level control on the subwoofer to 1/3 or perhaps to 1/2 and increasing the output level for the sub in the receiver's speaker set-up – sometimes up to the maximum (+10 dB or +12 dB). The subwoofer should then work perfectly.

The maximum position of the output level in the speaker set-up of the AV Receiver is obligatory for some of our models (e.g. the Concept S subwoofer).

Although designed to be fully active, the Teufel set is also partially active in conjunction with an AV Receiver.

You can connect it like a standard speaker system: the five satellites via speaker cable to the corresponding speaker outputs front R/L, rear R/L and centre of the AV Receiver/amplifier and the subwoofer from the front R input via a mono-RCA cable to the Sub Out output on the A/V Receiver/amplifier.

Please note:
The auto on/standby switch only responds when the front R input is being used! The subwoofer also receives the full subwoofer signal via this channel.

If the AV Receiver/amplifier has preamplifier outputs for all channels (front R/L, rear R/L, centre and subwoofer), the Teufel set can also be connected via three RCA cable pairs to the subwoofer and the satellites via speaker cables to the subwoofer. However, we recommend using the first version.

The hum (50 Hz) comes from the 220 volt supply network and is caused by current power flows through the protective conductor. These so-called "ground hums" is caused when you connect two devices that are already grounded on the protective conductor (subwoofer) or the antennae cable (AV Receiver) to the subwoofer cable.

Solution:
Separate the direct connection by a grounding filter for the antennae cable that is created for it - for instance, the Teufel modell sheath current filter AC 9022 ED. Alternatively, you can use a galvanic separation filter that is looped into the connection between the subwoofer and AV Receiver.

The hum disappears if the antennae cable is separated from the Receiver/Tuner/TV. First try the grounding filter, otherwise the galvanic separation filter.

The location of a subwoofer with a recommended cut-off frequency of under/equal to 120 Hz can be freely selected and does not affect the other speakers.

Placement within the straight line between both front satellites is ideal - but not precisely in the corner of the room because certain frequency components could be unpleasantly excessive when played back.

By setting the phase, you can affect the point at which the membrane of the subwoofer bass speaker moves to the front. This setting makes it possible to optimally adjust the subwoofer to the satellites.

The membranes of the satellites should move to the front at the same time as the membrane of the subwoofer bass speaker, because all speakers of the system must vibrate in phase for optimal playback. This means that (provided the connection has the correct polarity) all drivers must move in one direction when the three front speakers receive a pulse (towards the outside or towards the inside).

If the subwoofer is in line with the front speakers, its bass speaker should have the same direction of movement (phase) - the controller on the woofer is set to "0". If the subwoofer is not between the front speakers, but is to the side of or even behind the listening location, its phase length will not match that of the front speakers. That is why the phase of the subwoofer must be changed in such cases.

So much for the theory. In practice, this means: Listen to a loud piece of music with heavy basses and ask a second person to change the phase during playback. The correct setting of the phase switch depends on where the subwoofer is positioned in the room. The position where the bass playback (above all the upper bass range) sounds the fullest is the correct position. Have fun trying it out!

The On/Off switch is a power-saving standby switch. The switch must be set to "On" or "1" to activate the standby. The subwoofer is activated as soon as it receives a strong bass signal. After approx. ten to twenty minutes of no signal, or only after receiving a very weak signal, it automatically switches to the standby function.

Even though the LED is still illuminated, the subwoofer is in standby mode. This function can be easily checked by slowly increasing the volume at the receiver/amplifier. You will hear a quiet popping noise when the subwoofer activates itself as of a certain level.

As soon as the satellites are connected to the subwoofer and not to the AV Receiver/amplifier, the performance of the 6 or 8-channel power amplifier is distributed to the subwoofer and to the satellites.

If the satellites are not connected directly to the subwoofer but to the AV Receiver/amplifier via speaker cable instead, the subwoofer performance will increase somewhat; the power amplifiers for the satellites have no function. This enables the subwoofer and satellites to play even more dynamically than if the subwoofer still had to provide the satellites with performance.

The technical background: The subwoofer has a large transformer with a specific wattage. This performance is either distributed to the five satellites and the subwoofer, or you receive a higher performance only for the subwoofer.

If your receiver has only one subwoofer output ("Sub Out"), you only need a monocinch cable, which is then connected from the receiver to the "Sub In" of the subwoofer. With two subwoofer outputs, you can order a so-called Y-adapter from the Teufel accessories page, which has a cinch plug on one side and two cinch (RCA) sockets on the other. Connect the plug to the subwoofer "Pre Out" on the AV receiver/amplifier and connect the mono cinch cable to the two subwoofers.

If the cabling method is easier for you, then you can alternatively connect one subwoofer to the other. You will need two mono cinch cables - one to connect the subwoofer "Pre Out" on the AV receiver/amplifier to the left line-in input of the first subwoofer, and the other to connect the left line-out output of the first subwoofer to the left line-in input of the second subwoofer.

These are usually cubic wood housings (same MDF material as the speakers) with a bass reflex opening that have no membranes and are tuned to a certain frequency (e.g. 40 Hz as for a subwoofer). The frequency to be co-ordinated can be changed by the length and diametre of the bass reflex channel. If, for example, a room has a room resonance frequency of 28.3 Hz and this frequency is also played back in addition by a speaker/subwoofer, the room will begin to resonate at this frequency. This particular frequency is played back amplified.

This can be imagined as droning or booming, which occurs during heavy bass movie scenes such as explosions or certain types of music (Jazz, pizzicato bass). The bass absorber is then tuned exactly to this frequency so that only the speakers/subwoofer play back this frequency. The resonance frequency from the room, which would amplify this frequency, is swallowed by the bass absorber.

If you would like to damp more than one frequency (a room usually has three different frequencies: ceilings and floors, front and back and left and right, and its multiple), you will have to set up three absorbers accordingly.

Mono subwoofer:

The wattage (e.g. "360 W") printed on the rear of the subwoofer near the mains plug designates the ability of the power amplifier "to pull" a maximum power rating in the specified range at the moment of switching on (those 360 watt stated as an example).

Consequently, the wattage must correspond to at least the sine wave output of the amplifier, as this sine wave output must be permanently available which the power pack must provide as well.

The pulse/music performance of the amplifier, on the other hand, can exceed the wattage, because the short pulses are buffered additionally by the capacitors in the power pack and are not achieved solely through the performance of the power pack.

Multi-channel subwoofer:

The wattage for a multi-channel subwoofer can also be below the sine wave output, as the specified sine wave output is not requested from every channel at the same time.

For a 5 x 100 watt sinus power amplifier, for example, each of the five channels is able to implement 100 watt sine. However, not all five channels at the same time! This is also unnecessary, as the same signal is never transmitted across all five channels at the same time, thus requesting the same high sine wave output per channel.

That is why the wattage may be, e.g. 300 watt, even if the sine wave output exhibits 5 x 100 watt (= 500 watt).

The sound of the speaker always depends on the room where it is located.

The volume of the active subwoofer can be controlled so that you can adapt the relationship between the active bass and treble / mid tones to suit the room.

Use your own senses to judge which settings sound best in your room. This switch is especially useful in stereo mode. On the other hand, multichannel amplifiers often have technologies that adjust the subwoofer volume - so when using a multichannel amplifier the controller should first be set at 0dB.

Dans la mesure où dans un ensemble home cinéma les caissons de basses actifs sont connectés à la sortie Out du caisson de basses du récepteur AV, un câble supplémentaire pour la connexion des enceintes satellites est nécessaire. Pour les caissons de basses actifs nous proposons deux versions de câble mono RCA NF allant de 2,5m jusque 5m. Du reste, un adaptateur Y est également disponible dans nos accessoires. Le modèle „ 2 x mâles 1 x femelle“ permet un usage complet des entrées Line-In RCA droit et gauche au caisson de basses. Ainsi, la puissance du caisson de basses s’en voit augmentée. Le modèle „1 x mâle 2 x femelles“ permet la connexion de deux caissons de basses. Une sortie caisson de basses Pre-Out du récepteur se trouve en sommes doublée.

Room resonance frequency (other terms: room modes, standing waves, resonance frequency) is the frequency at which the vibrations of a voice, a musical instrument or a signal played back over the hi-fi/home cinema system is amplified unnaturally, because the vibrations build up between the walls as well as the floor and ceiling.

It is calculated of the sound velocity divided by 2 and divided by the room length [ 340 m/s: 2 : 6 m = 28.3 Hz (=1/s) ] or, more simply: 170 divided by the room dimension (length, width or height). The greatest distance between two parallel walls is taken as first standard value. For a room of 4 x 6 metres, this would be 6 metres. Strictly speaking, you would have to calculate the room resonance frequency for further parallel walls (for the 4 metres and for the ceiling height).

Overlaying resonances are also possible if the room dimensions are very close to each other. (2.8 metres high, 3 metres wide and 5.6 metres long). The resonance at 2.8 metres is repeated as multiple (times 2) at 5.6 metres length, the resonance of the 3 metres width is close to the resonance of 2.8 metres. It would resonate strongly here at 30 Hz, 56 Hz, 60 Hz and 120/112 Hz.

Phenomena of resonance frequencies:

• For example, a man with a deep voice speaks in a very small room (2 by 2 metres, 85 Hz). The voice appears to have more emphasis than in another room or out of doors. As soon as a woman speaks, the voice will sound just the same as in another room.

• The voice of a woman or that of a small child will cause glass to shatter. The voice strikes exactly the tone that corresponds to the resonant frequency of the glass. The glass resonates so strongly that it shatters (refer to the movie "The Tin Drum").

• A group of soldiers march across a bridge in cadence. The equal movement causes the bridge to vibrate so much that it collapses. That is why no one marches across bridges in cadence.

In our experience, there is no acoustical difference for different cable lengths for lengths up to 15 metres.