Avalon Mixing Monitor User manual

Avalon Professional Products
Serial Numbers
____________________
This product is certified to meet the requirements of the European Union (EU)
Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) Directive (89/336/EEC). Because the permanent
magnets attached to the loudspeaker drivers produce magnetic fields, it is
recommended that the product not be positioned in very close proximity to computer
monitors or television sets.

Table of Contents
1 Introduction...................................................................................................................3
2 Unpacking Instructions .................................................................................................4
Introduction..............................................................................................4
Contents...................................................................................................4
2.1 Opening the Container..................................................................................5
3 Wiring Instructions .........................................................................................................6
Introduction..............................................................................................6
Connecting the Speaker to the Amplifier ................................................6
4 Break-in Period .............................................................................................................8
5 Maximizing Performance..............................................................................................9
Break-in.....................................................................................................9
Speaker Placement and Symmetry..........................................................9
Toe-In ........................................................................................................9
Mounting Feet Spikes................................................................................10
First Reflection Points.................................................................................10
Corner Treatment .....................................................................................10
Port Selection............................................................................................10
6 Care of Your Avalon Loudspeakers....................................................................................12
Cabinet (Black Textured Finish) ................................................................12
Drivers .......................................................................................................12
7 Technical Details...........................................................................................................13
Background..............................................................................................13
Basic Architecture ....................................................................................14
How to use the Mixing Monitor.................................................................17
8 Room Position ................................................................................................................18
Introduction..............................................................................................18
An Optical Analogy..................................................................................19
Basic Room Acoustics...............................................................................19
8.1 Standing Waves .............................................................................................20
8.2 Flutter Echo ....................................................................................................21
8.3 Early Reflections .............................................................................................22
Avoiding Early Reflections ........................................................................22
8.4 Bass reinforcement.........................................................................................24
8.5 Summary of Recommendations ....................................................................27
Flutter Echo and Standing Waves ............................................................27
Speaker Placement..................................................................................28
Early Reflections........................................................................................28
8.6 A Control Room Example...............................................................................29
9 Warranty .......................................................................................................................31
In the Event of a Problem.........................................................................31
Warranty Statement .................................................................................31
10 Features ......................................................................................................................33
11 Specifications..............................................................................................................34
12 Notes...........................................................................................................................35

1 Introduction
The Avalon Professional Products Mixing Monitor was designed by Neil Patel in
cooperation with several of the most accomplished recording engineers
currently working in the recording industry. Over the years, some of the
world’s finest recordings have been created using Avalon Acoustics
consumer products. Although not designed with the recording professional in
mind, Avalon Acoustics high-end products have already brought impressive
results into the studio. Special demands, such as robustness, nearfield
monitoring focus, extremely high resolution, low noise floor, etc., have
prompted us to produce a reference transducer specifically conceived for
the astute audio professional.
In spite of the fact that the tonal balance, phase coherence, and impulse
response of all traditional Avalon Acoustics products is impeccable, a
professional product had to surpass these qualities. Loudspeakers used for
the professional recording practice tend to be moved around a lot and play
a determining role in the final mix of an audio production. Soundstaging in
the monitoring phase of recording must precisely match the actual
placement of microphones and instruments. Phase cancellations between
microphones must be clearly heard; a half-inch change in mike position must
be easily hearable through the monitoring system. They must, above sounding
very good, be ultimately revealing towards flaws in the rest of the recording
chain. This is evident not only in issues of misplacement of microphones or
instruments, but even things such as broken cables or other related
disturbances. This means a speaker that is correct in all possible audio
disciplines, easy for transportation, and with a robust finish that fits a
professional outfit. The recording engineer and record producer are integral
elements in creating the mood and dynamic of a recording. We believe that
only by providing those artists with the proper tools, will their contribution to a
project be fully realized.
What we offer you now is a product that has all of those qualities…

4
2 Unpacking Instructions
Introduction
Your Avalon Professional Products loudspeakers were shipped in heavily padded
cardboard containers to ensure their safe arrival. It is recommended to save these
containers for possible future use.
Contents
The two shipping boxes contain the two loudspeaker units, the owner's manual, and an
accessory bag.
The accessory bag contains two pairs of alternate loudspeaker ports, assembly screw
and tools, and eight mounting spikes.
Avalon Professional Products loudspeakers are carefully matched in pairs for sonic
performance and aesthetics. All matched pairs are sequentially serial numbered, and
the lower of the two serial numbers is even. For example, serial numbers MX024 and
MX025 are a matched pair. Please check the serial numbers on the loudspeakers to
insure that you have received a matched pair.
Note: Matched pairs of loudspeakers are sequentially serialized, with the lower of the
two serial numbers as even. Contact your dealer immediately if you have NOT received
a matched pair.

5
2.1 Opening the Container
Carefully cut the packing tape on the top side, and open the flaps to the container (See
Figure 2.1).
Next, lift the top cardboard panel off of the loudspeaker. The Mixing Monitor can then
be picked up straight out of the box.
Figure 2.1 – Unpackaging the Mixing Monitors
2.
Lift off top panel.
3.
Lift loudspeaker straight
out and remove bag.
1.
Cut packing tape and
open flaps at top.

6
3 Wiring Instructions
Introduction
The Mixing Monitor is equipped with a dual-position advanced material binding Post for
connecting the speaker cables. Spade lugs designed for #10 screws are recommended
for cable termination.
WARNING: Do NOT over-tighten the screw.
Connecting the Speaker to the Amplifier
1. Carefully unscrew the large fastening knob on the binding post, allowing the fastening
plate to expose the posts. (see Figure 3.1).
2. Insert the spades from your speaker cables under the terminal plate.
3. Fasten the spades in place by tightening the large fastening knob.

7
Figure 3.1 – Connecting to the Loudspeaker Binding Posts. Check to
insure the correct polarity (positive lead connected to the (+)
terminal and negative lead connected to the (-) terminal.

8
4 Break-in Period
Your new Avalon Profession Products loudspeakers have an initial break-in
period. They will not perform to their full sonic potential when first installed in
your system. This is partially due to a residual polarization of the dielectric
materials used in the crossover capacitors and internal wiring.1As music is
played through the loudspeakers, the electrical signal will gradually anneal
these materials. Similarly, the suspensions of the drivers will reach their optimal
mechanical properties as the speakers are played. Only after the break-in
period will the full performance of your Avalon Professional Products
loudspeakers be realized.
The break-in process will occur naturally as music is played through the
system. To reduce the time required, it is recommended that the system be
played continuously, using either a digital source in the repeat mode or an
FM broadcast signal. The recommended break-in procedure is as follows:
•
Initial warm-up: three to six hours of quiet music.
•
Extended break-in: 100 to 150 hours of moderately loud and dynamic,
full bandwidth source material (e.g. Tangerine Dream, Optical Race,
RCA 2042-2-P). Many commercially available break in discs
containing sweep tracks are also helpful, but should not be substituted
entirely for dynamic music material.
During the break-in period, the sonic properties of your loudspeakers may
undergo several gradual shifts as the various components break-in at
different rates. Midrange attacks may be quite hard with an overall lack
of bass impact giving the overall presentation a bright and etched
quality. This condition is temporary. It is therefore suggested that the
fine-tuning of the system be delayed until after the break-in period is
completed. However, during the final phases of the break-in period, the
sonic image will open up, the sound-stage will gain specificity, the bass
control and impact will increase, and the overall sound will have a more
relaxed, involving presentation.
1A high-voltage test is applied to wiring and capacitors during their manufacture.
This results in a residual polarization of the dielectric materials.

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5 Maximizing Performance
These details are imperative to obtaining optimum results from your Avalon
Professional Products Loudspeakers.
Break-in
The break-in period is critical to maximizing sonic performance and should
take place before other adjustments (see the discussion on page 8).
Speaker Placement and Symmetry
Selecting the proper room position for your Avalon Professional Products
loudspeakers can dramatically improve their performance. The following
points highlight the fundamental concepts in loudspeaker positioning from
the in-depth discussion in Chapter 8, Room Acoustics and Speaker Position
(beginning on page 13):
•
Left to right room symmetry aids in producing a balanced sound
stage.
•
Image depth is enhanced when the distance to the rear wall is
increased.
•
The most even bass response will be attained when the distances to
the side and rear walls are not overly similar.
Toe-In
Adjusting the toe-in angle of the speakers is useful in tailoring the sound to
best match the characteristics of your system and listening room. When the
speakers are facing straight forward, they tend to create a large, expansive
sound-stage, painted with broad brush strokes. As they are rotated toward
the listening position, the image becomes more compact, with increased
focus, creating a greater sense of intimacy.
Start with the loudspeakers facing straight forward, and play either a mono
source, or a stereo source with a distinct center image, through both
channels. Carefully rotate the loudspeakers inward in small increments to
bring the image in precise center focus. Toe-in adjustment is rather delicate,
and experimentation is necessary to achieve the proper angle for your
listening situation. The optimum angle is usually between three and ten
degrees inward, never any more than this. If you find yourself attempting a
greater toe-in angle, there must be a flaw elsewhere in the set-up. This is a
sophisticated design, with little difference between on and off-axis frequency
response. Toe-in greater than 10 degrees will flatten images and reduce true
depth information.

10
Mounting Feet Spikes
Supplied with your Avalon Professional Products loudspeakers are eight
mounting spikes, used to couple the speakers, thereby minimizing
time-smearing resonance effects. For maximum articulation and proper tonal
balance, the spikes should replace the rubber feet. The result is an increase in
focus and solidity of the sonic images.
The rubber feet are removed by simply unscrewing them from the cabinet;
the spikes are then installed by inserting them into the same threaded holes
from which the rubber feet were removed.
First Reflection Points
Since the ear/brain system tends to integrate the sounds arriving within a 10
millisecond time window, it is important to control the early reflections arriving
from the sidewalls to the listening position. A hard-surfaced wall can produce
a strong frequency-dependent reflection that can interfere with the
reproduced sound-stage, as well as change the perceived tonal balance of
the system. Therefore, damping these first reflection points is strongly
recommended. Using a narrow bandwidth absorption device (e.g. Sonex)
will color the overall tonal balance. Natural fiber materials are always the best
choice.
Corner Treatment
It is important to control the first reflections of low frequency sound, which
normally occur at the corners behind the loudspeakers. These reflections can
cause significant distortions in phase and amplitude, resulting in muddy bass
definition and smeared bass transients. Placing DAAD Bass Traps (available
from Acustica Applicata http://www.acusticaapplicata.com) in the room
corners can significantly control these bass colorations and restore the
quickness of bass transients.
Port Selection
The Mixing Monitor is supplied with a 2.5” long port installed from the factory,
which is tuned to a frequency of approximately 36 Hz. Included with your
Mixing Monitors are two additional pairs of ports for fine tuning of your system.
The 1.5” long ports are tuned to approximately 42 Hz, and the 3.3” long ports
are tuned to approximately 32 Hz.
The installed port is optimally tuned to the internal box volume for best
balance of transient response and low frequency extension. Raising the
tuning frequency to 42Hz will reduce transient accuracy while increasing the
tonal "weight" in the warmth region of the frequency spectrum. An inverse
result will be found in lowering the tuning frequency to 32Hz. Transient
accuracy will be slightly overdamped, giving the presentation a low Q sonic
characteristic. The warmth region will be lean, giving the impression of
greater midrange clarity.

11
All of these scenarios have their acceptable applications in various studio
settings. Based on listening taste, room volume, proximity of the Mixing
Monitors to the primary listener, room treatment, etc.; the choice of port
should lend sufficient flexibility in coupling the Mixing Monitors properly within
any environment, and with whatever related electronics that might be
encountered.
Your Mixing Monitor ports are held in place with three clips (See Figure 5.1). To
change ports, remove the port clips by removing the port screws using the
supplied allen wrench. Once the screws and clips are removed, the installed
port may be removed and replaced by the new ports. Remember to fasten
the new ports in place by installing the clips and screws, and firmly tighten the
fastening screws in place.
PORT
Allen Wrench
Clip
Screw
Figure 5.1 – Installing and securing the ports. Fasten the port in three
places, using the supplied allen wrench, screws and clips. The screws
are installed through the holes in the clips and into the threaded
installation holes around the port.

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6 Care of Your Avalon Loudspeakers
Cabinet (Black Textured Finish)
The Black Textured finish is an extremely durable high-tech coating. However,
due to its textured surface, it requires different care procedures than other
finishes. For normal dusting, a lint-free cloth or feather duster should be
adequate.
Should the loudspeakers become soiled, moisten a lint-free cloth with
lukewarm water, and clean the surface with a circular rubbing motion. If this
proves insufficient for an oily or greasy stain, it may be necessary to use a
diluted mild soap. This should be applied to a damp, lint-free cloth using a
circular rubbing motion to clean the stain.
IMPORTANT: Do NOT use cleaners that contain ammonia, strong solvents, or
abrasive materials. Use of these materials can degrade, scratch, or even
DESTROY the finish.
Drivers
The drivers (woofer and tweeter) require no regular maintenance. Do not
attempt to clean the tweeter dome, as it is easily damaged. Touching the
ceramic elements of either driver will leave an oily residue from the skin. Over
time these human oils can permeate the ceramic structure and cause failure.
DO NOT TOUCH THE CERAMIC DRIVERS. If desired, you may remove dust from
the woofer cone by using a small, soft dusting brush.

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7 Technical Details
Background
Avalon Acoustics loudspeakers have traditionally created a musical sound
stage, a harmonic balance of instruments and singers, which is as correct as
possible in comparison to the world of real space. Since these designs have
proven to be successful in this respect, many professional engineers have
asked us for a product that would also have more practical characteristics for
the professional; in other words a working tool. What a scalpel is for a
surgeon, this speaker is for the professional audio engineer. Knowing how to
use the tool is as important as the precision of the tool itself, but ultimately the
latter is much easier to master then trying to do the job with the wrong tool.
‘Removing an appendix with a chainsaw is possible, but most likely it will kill
the patient’…. Recording with a loudspeaker that reproduces it’s own
character by scattering the sound image with a spread impulse response,
and changing the tonal balance by harmonic inter-modulation distortion, is a
bit like chainsaw surgery. You end up with a recording that might sound OK
on that particular speaker, but the lack of control makes reproduction on
other sets unpredictable and mistakes in the recording arrangement might
not be detected in time. Avalon Professional Products has spent a lot of time
and effort together with those engineers to produce a product that works like
a scalpel and sounds like real music.

14
Basic Architecture
The basis of this monitor speaker is the same as traditional Avalon
loudspeakers with respect to the essential shapes that have proven to
produce impeccable phase coherence across the frequency spectrum.
Impulse testing (Figure 7.1) demonstrates the correct time alignment of
tweeter and woofer. The facets and the backward leaning architecture are
fundamental for any Avalon product. What is new is the extra emphasis we
put into transient response. It is a proven fact that human hearing has several
mechanisms that determine what a sound is and where it comes from.
Transient response is likely to be responsible for the localization part of our
hearing and thus it should be immaculate in a transducer. Any smearing of
impulses causes the ear to start looking for other cues in the sound, like
amplitude (volume) and frequency determination. This proves to be a tiring
exercise and distracts the mind from the emotional content the musical
program has to offer. Stereo reproduction then sounds 2 dimensional and
tiresome to listen to, many things we all recognize as being the biggest
difference between live music and reproduced music.
Figure 7.1 – Impulse testing of the Mixing Monitor, demonstrating
correct time alignment of drivers.

15
Special Crossover filtering and signal manipulation, along with carefully
chosen materials for the drivers and passive components, gave us the ability
to engineer a speaker that can follow the natural impact of sound sources
registered by good microphones. Many microphones these days have a
transient response (rise and settle time) of less then 15 to 20 microseconds. The
new media like SACD and DVD can capture these transients correctly by
using very high sample rates and gentle filtering. This means the loudspeaker
must be able to follow and reproduce these cues that are so important to our
hearing. Figure 7.2 shows the 3-D waterfall plot, detailing frequency response
over time. All aspects of the design have been carefully considered for their
contributory effect on energy storage and edge diffraction effects. Driver
screens are almost entirely acoustically transparent, with the felt diffraction
mask on the front baffle being an essential feature for minimal energy
storage. The smooth decay plot reveals the Mixing Monitor to be free from
resonance and distortion.
Figure 7.2 – 3-D Waterfall graph of The Mixing Monitor, demonstrating
correct time alignment of drivers.

16
Figure 7.3 – Polar Response of the Mixing Monitor. The combination of
State-of-the-Art diaphragm materials, proprietary crossover circuitry,
and renowned cabinet construction in The Mixing Monitor produces a
smooth and wide polar response that reproduces music unparalleled
in accuracy, imaging, and resolution. Note the cardioid pattern that is
smooth, wide, and without “lumps”. This result translates directly into
size relationships remaining constant whether in the center of the mix,
or placed off to the sides. An open stage presentation without size or
tonal distortion is the result.

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How to use the Mixing Monitor
This monitor is designed as a quasi mid-field speaker. This means the distance
for optimal frequency and impulse response is between 1.2x and 1.4x (with x
being the distance from tweeter to tweeter). Theoretically the loudspeakers
can be as close or as far apart as required, the limitation being first reflection
artifacts from wall or other surfaces, and the ability of the amplifier to deliver
coherent and resolute energy. This latter effect limits the distance the
speakers can be spread apart, but is not a function of the speaker itself.
Soundstage and tonal balance are reproduced optimally with this formula,
given the restriction of a relatively neutral control room. If the latter is less ideal
you may change the bass response of the units by replacing the port on the
bottom-side (see Port Selection on p.10). This then will introduce a trade-off
situation between impulse response and frequency response. Beyond about
2.5x, the loudspeakers will once again throw a wide and coherent
soundstage. This affords musicians standing at the rear of the control room
who are listening to playback the ability to get a good feel for what they
have recorded.
What you will find however is that the performance of this speaker is less likely
to be dependent on the room it is used in, primarily because the coherence
of initial transient response is very high, and will build up the sound stage very
easily. Where you would have to spend a long time tuning traditional
speakers during set-up, this process will be a lot easier with these units; again
an advantage for the professional recording engineer. What you will find is
that the clearness and accuracy of the reproduced sounds offers you a wide
range of choices as to how to manipulate these sounds, and ultimately,
improve your work.
Again the cuts you are able to make with this scalpel are very delicate…

18
8 Room Position
Introduction
The listening room forms the final link of the playback system, as important as
any other component in the chain. Just as an otherwise superb system is
handicapped by an inferior pre-amplifier (for example), so can a
well-matched system be hindered by poor room acoustics. It is not necessary
to listen to your system in a specially-designed sound chamber in order to
enjoy it. In fact, a dedicated listening room usually requires additional sound
treatment, due to a lack of other items in the room that can help provide
proper acoustics. However, attention to the listening environment can greatly
increase your system's performance.
Listening in a properly set-up room can be a startling experience. Due to the
limitations of the two-channel format and the listening environment, the
illusion of actually being transported to the recording site cannot usually be
achieved. However, an uncanny sense of realism can be created. Perhaps it
is best described as if the front half of your listening room has been removed,
so that it now opens out into the recording site.
To optimize your equipment set-up and the listening-room acoustics requires a
basic understanding of the principles which affect the propagation of sound
in the room. Also, we will discuss the way in which our brain interprets spatial
cues, and how the room acoustics can affect our sonic perceptions.

19
An Optical Analogy
Let us use an optical analogy to aid our understanding of acoustics. Imagine
that you are in a room that is lit only by a candle in its center. There is a
uniform amount of light cast in all directions. If a large mirror is held closely to
a candle, one half of the room becomes darkened, while the other half
receives twice as much light. This is because there are effectively two candles
now illuminating that half of the room, the real candle, and the virtual (or
reflected) candle. The energy that had been sent to both sides of the room
has now been concentrated in one side only.
If we repeat the same experiment using a large piece of black cloth instead
of a mirror, the results will be somewhat different. The side of the room behind
the cloth is darkened, just as before, but the level of light on the side of the
candle remains unchanged. This is because the light is absorbed by the cloth,
rather than being reflected back into the room.
Thus we can see that the energy can either be absorbed or reflected. A
similar situation occurs with sound waves, although we must account for the
much greater wavelengths of audible frequencies. Of course no material is a
perfect absorber or an absolute reflector. Furthermore, the sonic absorption
coefficient of a given material usually varies with frequency.
Basic Room Acoustics
The great majority of all listening rooms are rectangular, with parallel surfaces.
The walls and ceiling are typically hard surfaces, which are acoustically
reflective. These large areas are the predominating factors in the overall room
acoustics, although the other items in the room (furnishings, carpeting, wall
hangings, doorways, etc.) will also play a role. Without going into excessive
detail, there are four primary areas of potential concern:
•
1. Standing waves.
•
2. Flutter echo.
•
3. Early reflections.
•
4. Bass reinforcement.
The first three items are problems which should be reduced or eliminated. The
last item, bass reinforcement, needs to be matched to the entire system for
proper tonal balance.

20
8.1 Standing Waves
The parallel surfaces of most listening rooms can lead to a potential problem
in the low frequencies. A sound wave can be repeatedly reflected from
opposing surfaces, back and forth. If the distance between the surfaces is an
integral multiple of one-half the sound wavelength, a standing wave will be
set up. This means that the incident and reflected waves combine with each
other so that a stationary pattern of high and low sound pressures is
established in the room. This irregular distribution of sound level is caused by
cancellation and reinforcement between the reflected and direct sound
waves.
At high frequencies, this pattern of high and low sound pressure levels within
the room becomes too finely spaced to be discerned. However, when the
dimensions of the room are comparable to the wavelengths of the musical
notes, there will be obvious changes in the intensity of certain bass notes in
different locations within the room. Additionally, the existence of the standing
wave implies a resonant condition where acoustic energy is stored in the
room. This energy storage can result in "heavy", "muddy", or "slow" bass.
Since the presence of standing waves is caused by parallel reflective
surfaces, practically every listening room suffers from this problem to some
degree. However, several factors are working in our favor here. First, as the
room size increases, the affected frequencies become lower and thereby less
audibly apparent. Second, the presence of shelving or furniture against the
walls will break up the large surfaces, reducing the magnitude of the
problem. Third, upholstered furniture can absorb a significant amount of bass,
diminishing the build-up of resonant energy. Fourth, typical wall construction is
not completely reflective at low frequencies.
However, in some cases audibly objectionable standing waves will still be
present in the listening room. This can be noted by large variations of the
intensity of certain bass notes in different areas of the room. Another indicator
is an unevenness of loudness of different bass notes. (This is sometimes what is
actually on the recording, so be sure that this is consistently a problem on a
variety of recordings.)
If you wish to reduce or eliminate standing waves that may exist in your room,
it will be necessary to reduce the low-frequency reflectiveness of at least one
of the parallel opposing surfaces. The most effective method is to use DAAD’s,
available from Acustica Applicata. This is the only commercially available
sound treatment that absorbs significant amounts of energy below 400 Hz.
Experimentation will be needed to determine the optimal locations.