Axiom Sw218a User manual

USER MANUAL

SW218A

acve subwoofer

KEY FEATURES

• Very High Output • Manifolded Transmission Line conﬁguraon for very fast transient response

• Compact size for a very good output-toweight rao • 96KHz / 40 bit ﬂoang point CORE processing with PRONET remote control

• Digitally controlled Class D ampliﬁer module with SMPS

INTRODUCTION

The SW218A subwoofer is designed to deliver high quality low frequency reproducon where very high output is a key requirement, together

with well deﬁned deep bass response and fast transient response. Its compact size and light weight

make it suitable for several diﬀerent uses, ranging from touring applicaons to ﬁxed installaons and

high-level dance clubs.

The SW218A is a very high quality powered subwoofer system featuring some of the most advanced

technologies for low frequency reproducon. Its unique and innovave design is based on a conﬁguraon

that can be deﬁned as Manifolded Transmission Line.

It uses manifolding of the front side of the cones to maximize the mutual coupling between the

two drivers, while loading the back of the cone with a large-size transmission line that has the

funcon to create a transmission path from the back of the transducers to the front. This innovave

conﬁguraon does not use any large resonant cavity to load the speaker in order to get the lower

octave and this reduces signiﬁcantly pressure decay me inside the enclosure, with large advantages

in terms of deﬁnion both at the lowest end and the upper bass. At the same me, it doesn’t use very

long transmission line paths as well. Its working principle is an hybrid combinaon between a short

transmission line and an overdamped reﬂex load. Moreover, the maximizaon of the mutual coupling between the drivers increase the fastness

of the transient response while maximizing the overall energy eﬃciency as well.

The SW218A subwoofer system is equipped with two high power 18” (460mm) transducers capable of long excursion (up to 30mm peak-to-

peak), controlled by high sﬀness Double Silicon Spider as centering suspension and by heavy duty surround. The motor structure features high

strength (BL²/Re) with opmized symmetry and excursion controlled by Inner Flux Demodulang Ring. The robust copper 100mm (4”) voice coil is

wounded in two diﬀerent layers both outside and inside the coil support, then doubling the coil surface exposed to air cooling and consequently

improving the long term thermal capacity of the loudspeaker. Cones are made of very high-sﬀness glass ﬁber reinforced paper, featuring also

invisible water repellent treatment.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION

AcousƟcal Ampliﬁer Type Class D with Variable Switching Frequency

and SMPS

System type Manifolded Transmission Line

Transducer

Two 18” (460 mm), 4” (100 mm) VC,

High sﬀness, water repellent, glass ﬁbre

reinforced cone

Flux Demodulang Ring VC

Double Centering Spider Suspension

Output Power 2000 W + 2000 W

Mains Voltage Range (Vac) 230 V~ ±15% or 115 V~ ±15% 50/60 Hz

Mains Connector PowerCon® (NAC3MPA + NAC3MPB)

Consumpon* 1400 W (nominal) 3400 W (max)

IN / OUT Connectors Neutrik XLR-M / XLR-F

Frequency response (±3 dB) 36 Hz – 100 Hz (Processed) IN / OUT Network Connectors ETHERCON® (NE8FAV)

Maximum Peak SPL @ 1m 141 dB Mechanical

Electrical Width 1215 mm (47.87”)

Input Impedance 20 kΩbalanced Height 590 mm (23.24”)

Input Sensivity +4 dBu / 1.25 V Depth 950 mm (37.43”)

Signal Processing CORE processing, 96kHz / 40bit ﬂoang Depth Including Wheels 1050 mm (41.37”)

point SHARC DSP, 24 bit AD/DA converters Construcon 15 mm, reinforced Phenolic Birch

Direct access Controls 4 Presets: Standard, InfraSub, Cardioid, User. Paint High resistance, water based paint

Network Terminaon, GND Link Wheels 4 heavy-load 100 mm ø

Remote Controls PRONET control soware Transport 10 handles

Network protocol CANBUS Net Weight 101.7 Kg (223.7 lbs.)

* Nominal consumpon is measured with pink noise with a crest factor of 12

dB, this can be considered a standard music program.

revision 2014-11-10

MECHANICAL DRAWING

OPTIONAL ACCESSORIES

NAC3FCA Neutrik Powercon® BLUE PLUG

NE8MCB Neutrik Ethercon PLUG

NC3MXXBAG Neutrik XLR-M

NC3FXXBAG Neutrik XLR-F

USB2CAN PRONET network converter

RAINCOV218 Rain protecon for connectors

see hƩp://www.axiomproaudio.com/ for detailed descripon and other available accessories.

SPARE PARTS

AC103GS 100 mm Swivel castor without brake

AC115DN Black steel handle

98NEOS18SW8 18’’ woofer - 4” VC - 8 ohm

NAC3MPA Neutrik Powercon® BLUE SOCKET

91AMDSW218 Ampliﬁer module assembly

1215 mm

47.87"

590 mm

23.24"

950 mm

37.43"

1050 cm

41.37"

POWER INPUT

MAINS IN - Powercon® NAC3FCA power input connector (blue). To switch the ampliﬁer on, insert the

Powercon® connector and turn it clockwise into the ON posion. To switch the ampliﬁer oﬀ, pull back

the switch on the connector and turn it counter-clockwise into the POWER OFF posion.

WARNING! In the case of product failure or fuse replacement, disconnect the unit completely

from the mains power. The power cable must only be connected to a socket corresponding

to the speciﬁcaƟons indicated on the ampliﬁer unit. The power supply must be protected by

a suitably rated thermo-magneƟc breaker. Preferably use a suitable switch to power on the

whole audio system leaving the Powercon® always connected to each speaker, this simple trick

extend the life of the Powercon® connectors.

CONTROL PANEL

ON - This LED indicates power on status.

PROT - This red LED lights when the amplifier

module is in protect mode for an internal fault and,

consequently, the ampliﬁer is muted.

SIGN LIMIT - This LED lights in green to indicate the

presence of the signal and lights in red when an

internal limiter reduces the input level.

INPUT - Audio signal input with locking XLR connector.

It has a fully electronically balanced circuitry including

AD conversion for the best S/N ratio and input

headroom.

LINK - A direct connecon from the input connector to

link other speakers with same audio signal.

GND LIFT - This switch lithe ground of the balanced

audio inputs from the earth-ground of the ampliﬁer

module.

PRESET BUTTON - This buon has two funcon:

1) Pressing it while powering on the unit:

ID ASSIGN the internal DSP assigns a new ID to the unit for the PRONET remote control operaon. Each loudspeaker must have a unique

ID to be visible in the PRONET network. When you assign a new ID, all the other loudspeakers with the ID already assigned

must be ON and connected to the network.

2) Pressing it with the unit ON you can select the DSP PRESET. The selected PRESET is indicated by the corresponding LED:

STANDARD This PRESET is suitable for any applicaon where low frequency reinforcement is required. It features a 90Hz cut oﬀfrequency

and it can be used in almost any environment in combinaon with any vercal arrays.

INFRA This PRESET can be used when a deeper bass response is required (Note that when this preset is used the sound pressure level

of the system is slightly reduced). NOTE: INFRA and STANDARD PRESET must NOT be used together in close units.

CARDIOID This special PRESET, combined with the STANDARD PRESET, gives the advantage to reduce the low frequencies at the back of

an array of three subs, in order to obtain a more comfortable level for the performers on the stage without losing level for the

the audience in front of the array. The cardioid conﬁguraon is also useful in situaon where you want to reduce the bass

frequency feedback due to many microphones on stage, for example for acousc and jazz ensemble, classic orchestra, musicals.

Further in this manual you can ﬁnd some example how to set up a cardioid array.

USER This LED lights when the USER PRESET is loaded. This preset corresponds to USER MEMORY no. 1 of the DSP and, as a factory

seng, it’s the same to STANDARD. If you want to modify it, you have to connect the unit to a PC, edit the parameters with

PRONET soware and save the PRESET into USER MEMORY no. 1.

NETWORK IN/OUT - These are a standard RJ45 CAT5 connectors (with oponal NEUTRIK NE8MC RJ45 cable connector carrier), used for PRONET

network transmission of remote control data over long distance or mulple unit applicaons.

TERMINATE - In a PRONET network the last loudspeaker device must be terminated (with an inner load resistance) especially in a long run cabling:

press this switch if you want to terminate the unit.

POWER AMPLIFIERS

The SW218A is powered by DA SERIES digital power modules, a new generaon of CLASS D power ampliﬁer with digitally-controlled SMPS.

The innovave technology used for these ampliﬁers (including also the use of a variable switching frequency) oﬀers performances at the top of

the range, such as a superior sound deﬁnion at any audio frequency, very high dynamics also for low level signals and very low distoron even at

the maximum power The superior sound quality can be compared with top-of-the-range AB-class analog systems, while the DA modules feature a

higher dynamics, very compact size and light weight and eﬃciency above 90%. The two DA modules employed for powering the SW218A deliver

in an ultra-compact package a maximum power of 4000W.

SIGNAL PROCESSING

The system processing is based on the CORE DSP plaorm, which has been designed by the PROEL R&D Laboratories using one of the most

advanced SHARC DSP for audio applicaon. It features 40bit, 96kHz ﬂoang point resoluon and high quality 24bit AD/DA converters, for a perfect

signal integrity, a dynamic range in excess of 110dB and a superior sonic performance. Thanks to its massive processing power, the CORE plaorm

is capable of providing the most sophiscated algorithms for speaker processing, together with remote control and networking capability.

The PRONET control soware, working on a solid and reliable CANBUS based network protocol, provides an intuive interface for the remote

control of the whole system, with the possibility of eqing, delaying, increasing the protecons and monitoring the status of the ampliﬁer.

PRONET

PRONET soware has been developed in collaboraon with sound engineers and sound designers, in order to oﬀer an “easy-to-use” tool to setup

and manage your audio system. With PRONET you can visualize signal levels, monitor internal status and edit all the parameters of each connected

device.

Download the PRONET app from the AXIOM website at hƩp://www.axiomproaudio.com/ clicking on downloads secƟon of the product.

The SW218A loudspeaker devices can be connected using the network connecon, in this case the PROEL USB2CAN converter oponal accessory is

needed. The ﬁrst me you connect a device with the USB2CAN converter, Windows O.S. will ask you to install the driver ﬁles, which you can ﬁnd in

the Driver folder within the Pronet applicaon folder (by default is C:\Program Files\Proel\Pronet\Driver, or if you changed it <your path>\Driver).

Please refer also to “Installaon” and “Drivers” paragraphs in the Pronet documentaon.

The PRONET NETWORK is based on a robust, reliable and fast communicaon protocol called CANBUS. The devices in a PRONET NETWORK are

connected together with a “linear bus topology”. The USB2CAN converter must be connected to the network input of the ﬁrst device, the network

output of the ﬁrst device is connected to the input of the second and so on. For the network connecons simple RJ45 cat.5 or cat.6 ethernet

cables can be used (please don’t confuse a ethernet network with a PRONET network these are completely diﬀerent and must be fully separated

also both use the same kind of cable).

The beginning and the end of a PRONET NETWORK must be terminated. One side is terminated by the USB2CAN converter, the other side must

be terminated pressing the TERMINATE switch on the last device. All devices between these two points must have the TERMINATE switch lied.

Assign the ID number

To work properly in a PRONET network each connected device must have a unique idenﬁer number, called ID. By default the USB2CAN PC

controller has ID=0 and there can be only one PC controller. Every other device connected must have its own unique ID equal or greater than 1:

in the network cannot exist two devices with the same ID.

An ID number is assigned automacally to each devices when they are turned on for the ﬁrst me connected to a network.

In order to correctly assign a new available ID to each device for working properly in a Pronet network, follow these instrucons:

1. Switch oﬀall the devices.

2. Connect them correctly to the network cables.

3. “TERMINATE” the latest device in the network connecon.

4. Switch on the ﬁrst device keep pressed “PRESET” buon on the control panel.

5. Leaving the previous device switched on, repeat the previous operaon on the next device, unl the latest device is turned on.

The “Assign ID” procedure for a device makes the internal network controller to perform two operaons: reset the current ID; search the ﬁ

rst free

ID in the network, starng from ID=1. If no other devices are connected (and powered on), the controller assume ID=1, that is the ﬁrst free ID,

otherwise it searches the next one lefree.

These operaons ensure that every device has it’s own unique ID, if you need to add a new device to the network you simply repeat the operaon

of step 4. Every device maintains its ID also when it is turned-oﬀ, because the idenﬁer is stored in the internal memory and it is cleared only by

another “Assign ID” step, as explained above. This means that if your network is made always of the same devices the assigning ID procedure must

be executed only the ﬁrst me the system is turned on.

For more detailed instrucƟon about PRONET see the PRONET USER’S MANUAL included with the soŌware.

do not

pressed

last device

network

AX2010A

USB2CAN

PC NOTEBOOK

USB 2.0 port

STATUS

CONVERTER

USB2CAN

CODE:

S/N:

RATINGS:

RoHS COMPLIANT

MADE IN ITALY

USB2CAN

00001

5V --- 200mA

EXAMPLE OF PRONET NETWORK WITH AX2010A AND SW218A

Useful tools to set up properly a verƟcal array system using the SW218A subwoofer

This is a list of tools that can be very useful to set properly a vercal array system with the SW218A acve subwoofers.

CABLE TESTER

It is a good pracce to check all cables before each installaon, because even one faulty cable can compromise heavily the

system performance.

INCLINOMETER WITH LEVER

This tool can be used to verify the vercal array angle. It can be used at the top or at the boom of the array In this

case you have to sum all splay angles, so the maximum precision is needed for aiming the vercal array, parcularly

for long throw applicaons.

LASER DISTANCE METER

This instrument can be useful to measure the height of the vercal array and to know the distance between FOH-Subs and FOH-Array

for seng the delay me.

SMAART or similar acousƟc measurement system

These are useful to measure delays, phase and response of the system.

CARDIOID PRESET

The cardioid preset must be used in a sub array of three SW218A. Two box must be oriented towards the audience and one must be turned in the

opposite direcon (typically the box in the centre of the array). The boom and the top boxes must have the STANDARD PRESET, the box in the

middle must have the CARDIOID PRESET. The audio signal sent to all boxes is the same.

The CARDIOID PRESET has the same response of the STANDARD PRESET, but to obtain the maximum cancellaon on the back side of the array it

has the phase inverted and a proper level and delay seng.

The ﬁgure below shows two typical displacement of the array. The ﬁrst with all the boxes in horizontal posion for a total height of 1770 mm and

a width of 1215 mm. The second one with all the boxes in vercal posion for a total height of 1215 mm and a width of 1770 mm.

NOTES:

When placing the cardioid array keep a distance to walls or other obstacles of at least 80 cm (2.6 ) in order not to aﬀect the radiaon of the

reversed cabinet.

When placing mulple cardioid arrays keep a distance between them of at least 80 cm (2.6 ) in order not to maximize the combined radiaon

of whole arrays.

80 cm min.

2.7 Ōmin.

80 cm min.

2.7 Ōmin.

80 cm min.

2.7 Ōmin.

stage

wall or other

big ostacle

bass sum direcƟon

bass cancellaƟon direcƟon

audience ﬂoor

NOTES:

When placing the cardioid array keep a distance to walls or other obstacles of at least 80 cm (2.6 ) in order not to aﬀect the radiaon of the

reversed cabinet.

When placing mulple cardioid arrays keep a distance between them of at least 80 cm (2.6 ) in order not to maximize the combined radiaon

of whole arrays.

stage

wall or other

big ostacle

bass sum direcƟon

bass cancellaƟon direcƟon

audience ﬂoor

80 cm min.

2.7 Ōmin. 80 cm min.

2.7 Ōmin.

80 cm min.

2.7 Ōmin.

+15

+10

-5

-10

-15

-20

-25

-30

-35 20 50 100 200 500 1K 2K 5K 10K 20K Hz

SW218A - PRESET RESPONSE

INFRA STANDARD

LIMITED WARRANTY

Proel warrants all materials, workmanship and proper operaon of this product for a period of two years from the original date of purchase. If any defects are found

in the materials or workmanship or if the product fails to funcon properly during the applicable warranty period, the owner should inform about these defects the

dealer or the distributor, providing receipt or invoice of date of purchase and defect detailed descripon. This warranty does not extend to damage resulng from

improper installaon, misuse, neglect or abuse. Proel S.p.A. will verify damage on returned units, and when the unit has been properly used and warranty is sll

valid, then the unit will be replaced or repaired. Proel S.p.A. is not responsible for any “direct damage” or “indirect damage” caused by product defecveness.

• This unit package has been submied to ISTA 1A integrity tests. We suggest you control the unit condions immediately aer unpacking it.

• If any damage is found, immediately advise the dealer. Keep all unit packaging parts to allow inspecon.

• Proel is not responsible for any damage that occurs during shipment.

• Products are sold “delivered ex warehouse” and shipment is at charge and risk of the buyer.

• Possible damages to unit should be immediately noﬁed to forwarder. Each complaint for package tampered with should be done within eight days from product

receipt.

SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS

– To reduce the risk, close supervision is necessary when the product is used near children.

– Protect the apparatus from atmospheric agents and keep it away from water, rain and high humidity places.

– This product should be site away from heat sources such as radiators, lamps and any other device that generate heat.

– This product should be located so that its locaon or posion does not interfere with its proper venlaon and heang dissipaon.

– Care should be taken so that objects and liquids do not go inside the product.

– The product should be connected to a power supply mains line only of the type described on the operang instrucons or as marked on the product. Connect the

apparatus to a power supply using only power cord included making always sure it is in good condions.

– WARNING: The mains plug is used as disconnect device, the disconnect device shall remain readily operable.

– Do not cancel the safety feature assured by means of a polarized line plug (one blade wider than the other) or with a earth connecon.

– Make sure that power supply mains line has a proper earth connecon.

– Power supply cord should be unplugged from the outlet during strong thunderstorm or when leunused for a long period of me.

CE CONFORMITY

Proel products comply with direcve 2004/108/EC (EMC), as stated in EN 55103-1 and EN 55103-2 standards and with direcve 2006/95/CE (LVD), as stated in EN

60065 standard.