Boulder 2010 User manual

Boulder
2010 Preamplifier
Owners Manual
4/1/04
Boulder Amplifiers, Inc.
3235 Prairie Ave.
Boulder, CO 80301
www.boulderamp.com
APPENDIX RECORDING
BOULDER
LINK PROGRAMMING
REMOTE
CONTROL OPERATION
GETTING
STARTED

APPENDIX RECORDING
BOULDER
LINK PROGRAMMING
REMOTE
CONTROL OPERATION
GETTING
STARTED
Boulder 2010 Preamplifier Rear Panel

TABLE OF CONTENTS
GETTING STARTED
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-1
Before You Start . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-1
Placement of the 2010 Preamplifier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-2
Connecting the Power Supply to the Main Chassis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-3
Connecting to the Mains Outlet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-4
Polarity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-5
Connecting a Balanced Source. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-5
Connecting an Unbalanced Source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-6
Connecting to a Balanced Input Amplifier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-7
Connecting to an Unbalanced Input Amplifier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-8
Setting the Boulderlink Switch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-9
OPERATION
Powering Up. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-1
Input Selections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-2
Volume. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-3
Balance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-4
Theater Volume and Balance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-5
Mute. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-6
Polarity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-7
Display. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-9
APPENDIX RECORDING
BOULDER
LINK PROGRAMMING
REMOTE
CONTROL OPERATION
GETTING
STARTED

REMOTE CONTROL
Expansion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-1
Batteries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-5
Remote Control Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-6
Source Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-7
Volume, Balance and Mute. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-8
Polarity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-9
Display Brightness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-10
PROGRAMMING
Inputs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-1
Volume Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-5
Output Balance Offset. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-7
Mute Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-8
Main Outputs Polarity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-9
Record Outputs Polarity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-10
Restore to Factory Defaults . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-11
Programming from the Remote Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-12
Inputs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-12
Volume Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-15
Output Balance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-17
Mute Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-18
Outputs Polarity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-18
APPENDIX RECORDING
BOULDER
LINK PROGRAMMING
REMOTE
CONTROL OPERATION
GETTING
STARTED

BOULDERLINK
Connecting the Boulderlink . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-1
Setting Boulderlink Switches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-2
Setting Boulderlink ID Numbers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-2
Power up via Boulderlink . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-3
Boulderlink Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-5
USING A RECORDER
Connecting a Recording Device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-1
Record Source Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-2
Programming for Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-3
APPENDIX
Block Diagram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-1
Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-2
Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-3
Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-5
APPENDIX RECORDING
BOULDER
LINK PROGRAMMING
REMOTE
CONTROL OPERATION
GETTING
STARTED

GETTING STARTED
INTRODUCTION
Congratulations on your selection of the Boulder 2010 Preamplifier.
We at Boulder Amplifiers are certain it will provide years of listening
pleasure.
BEFORE YOU START
To get started listening, you only need to connect the 2010 as you
would any other preamplifier and the power supply as on page 1-3, but
you should take note of the following.
WARNING: The polished volume control is attractive and because it
is optical and has no stops, it is really tempting to just spin it around. DO
THIS ONLY WITH THE POWER OFF! It must be given the respect you
would any other volume control with its ability to get loud very quickly.
By the time you have turned it up to -40.0 dB with a source turned on,
you should be hearing some music. If not, don’t proceed any louder until
you have solved the problem. See troubleshooting section.
For the 2010 to work properly, the Boulderlink’s MASTER/SLAVE
switch should be set to MASTER.
A thorough reading of this manual will definitely enhance your
enjoyment of your 2010 Preamplifier.
GETTING
STARTED
1-1

PLACEMENT OF THE 2010 PREAMPLIFIER
Your Boulder 2010 Preamplifier is designed to reduce the effects that
external magnetic and radio fields (RF) have on its internal circuitry.
While placement is not critical, known magnetic fields should be
avoided. Line of sight from the listening position is necessary for the
remote control to function properly.
Because the preamplifier and its power supply are heavy, a solid,
stable surface should be used. As both will generate some heat, they
should be allowed to have good air circulation around them. In particular,
make certain that the fins on the rear of the supply are not blocked.
You may want to have some access to the rear panels for cable
changes.
GETTING
STARTED
1-2

CONNECTING THE POWER SUPPLY TO THE MAIN
CHASSIS
Your Boulder 2010 Preamplifier is supplied with a Boulder 2000
Triple Power Supply. Each of the three supplies is independent of the
others except for the front panel LED which confirms correct power
supply operation of all three supplies.
Three cables are provided for connecting the power supply to the
preamplifier chassis. Two of these cables have 4 pin connectors and are
used for connecting the left and right audio supplies (±27V). The third
one has 5 pin connectors and is used for the digital supplies (+5V).
Care must be taken not to confuse these as any attempt to insert the
wrong connector will result in a damaged connector.
CAUTION: Connect and disconnect these cables only after the power
supply has been turned off for a minimum of one minute.
GETTING
STARTED
1-3

CONNECTING TO THE MAINS OUTLET
Your 2010 Preamplifier is supplied with a mains cord suitable to the
location where it was purchased.
One of the features of the 2000 power supply is its universal automatic
voltage-selecting power supply. Simply plug it into any standard outlet.
Exact voltage and frequency compatibility is stated in the specifications
section.
GETTING
STARTED
1-4

POLARITY
Please note that the 2010 Preamplifier conforms to the standard of
pin 2 as the high or hot pin for all analog balanced inputs and outputs.
Because input and output polarities are handled through programming
setups and the remote control, no concern for polarity is needed while
connecting sources.
CONNECTING A BALANCED SOURCE
To fully realize the sonic potential of your 2010 Preamplifier, use
balanced connections whenever possible. Balanced cables reduce
interference from magnetic and RF sources to an absolute minimum.
Connect each line source to one of the six inputs provided. Later, you
will be able to name each input with the source’s name, so you might
want to make a list as you connect them.
GETTING
STARTED
1-5

CONNECTING AN UNBALANCED SOURCE
Although the inputs are all of the 3 pin type, an unbalanced source
is easily accommodated by using a special cable. This cable has an RCA
phono type connector on the source end and a 3 pin connector for going
to an input on the 2010 Preamplifier.
The minus input (pin 3) should be wired to ground only at the RCA
phono connector. This brings the minus input reference of the 2010 to the
unbalanced source ground, thus reducing ground loops.
Another option for accommodating unbalanced sources is that of
the Boulder ABL2 input adapter. It converts a balanced input into a
RCA phono input right at the rear of the 2010. Like the above cable, the
minus input of the 2010 is connected to the ground of the RCA phono.
However, this minus side will then share the shield wire with the chassis
ground and will not have the best hum rejection.
GETTING
STARTED
1-6
UNBALANCED INPUT CABLE
3-NEG INPUT
2-POS INPUT
1-GROUND

CONNECTING TO A BALANCED INPUT AMPLIFIER
With your 2010 Preamplifier’s balanced outputs driving a balanced
input power amplifier, you can take sonic advantage of short speaker
cables and correspondingly longer input cables. With the 2010’s
low output impedance, distances of more than 50 meters between
preamplifier and power amplifier are practical.
Connect each amplifier input to the main outputs labeled “MAIN
OUT 1” or ”MAIN OUT 2.” If it is desired to use three or more amplifiers
such as in tri-amping, splitters will be required. If in doubt, consult your
Boulder dealer.
GETTING
STARTED
1-7

CONNECTING TO AN UNBALANCED INPUT AMPLIFIER
A special cable is required to make this connection. This cable
connects pin 1 to the shield and pin 2 to the center pin. It leaves the
output pin 3 unconnected.
Connecting the unused output pin (usually pin 3) to ground will
cause excessive ground currents and degrade performance. Use an
ohmmeter or continuity checker to determine how a cable is wired.
GETTING
STARTED
1-8
UNBALANCED OUTPUT CABLE
3-NEG OUTPUT
2-POS OUTPUT
1-GROUND
POWER
AMPLIFIER
UNBALANCED
INPUT
2010 BALANCED OUTPUT

SETTING THE BOULDERLINK SWITCH
Set the Boulderlink MASTER / SLAVE switch to MASTER.
For more information on Boulderlink, see the Boulderlink section of
this manual.
GETTING
STARTED
1-9

OPERATION
POWERING UP
With all your connections made, you are ready to listen to your
Boulder 2010 Preamplifier.
Push on the upper portion of the rocker switch on the rear panel
of the 2000 Triple Power Supply. The LED indicator on the front of the
power supply will first turn red, then amber.
The indicator will be amber during normal operation. If for any
reason, any of the power supplies’ voltages are low, the indicator will
change to red.
During the powerup sequence, “Boulder” and “2010” will slowly
appear in the left and right display windows.
The front panel power switch can later be used for normal on-off
switching. This switch mutes the audio, turns off the display, and puts
the preamplifier in a standby mode.
2-1
OPERATION

INPUT SELECTIONS
To select an input, press one of the pushbuttons labeled ONE
through SIX. The respective input will be shown in the left display and
that signal will be routed to both main outputs. For example, if input
ONE is chosen, “1. INPUT 1” will show in the left display.
Holding down any of the pushbuttons labeled ONE through SIX
for several seconds will cause no input to be selected, and “SOURCE
NONE” will show in the left display.
NOTE: There will be a slight delay when switching from one source
to another. This is necessary to allow the circuitry to adjust to the new
input source.
Select an input for recording by pressing the RECORD pushbutton,
followed by the input’s pushbutton you wish to record. An input can
be programmed not to be recordable. If you try to record an input that
has been programmed not to be recordable, the display will show ”REC
ERROR” and the input will not change.
The record output can be set to follow the main outputs. See the
programming section.
OPERATION
2-2

VOLUME
Because the precise feel of the Boulder 2010’s volume control may be
different from what you are used to, we recommend starting the source
device so that an audio signal is fed to the 2010 before increasing the
volume.
The right display will show “VOL INFINITE” to indicate maximum
attenuation or no sound. By placing a finger on the center rotating control
and moving it slowly so it turns in a clockwise direction, the volume will
increase and an indication such as “VOL - 40.0dB” in the right display
will show the respective volume.
At this point you should be listening to music. The level of volume
step resolution may be changed–see the programming section.
WARNING: The volume control must be given the respect you would
any other volume control with its ability to get loud very quickly.
WARNING: If the input is programmed to be in “THEATER MODE,”
then the volume control will have no effect.
NOTE: The actual output level is the volume level indicated plus
the programmed input level setting. Input level is adjusted during input
programming (see pg 4-2).
OPERATION
2-3

BALANCE
To change the level balance, press the BALANCE pushbutton. “BAL
CENTERED” will show in the right display. Now rotating the center
control will change the balance instead of the volume for as long as
“BAL...” is displayed.
Turning the control counterclockwise (left) will cause an indication
such as “BAL R -1.8dB” in the right display. This means that the right
channel has been attenuated -1.8 dB below the left channel, regardless of
volume setting, making the left channel louder.
The range of balance offset is limited to -20.0 dB. If the control is
then rotated further counterclockwise, the “BAL R MUTED” will be
displayed to indicate that only the left channel is on.
After several seconds of not changing the balance, the right display
will return to the “VOL...” indication. You may also return to controlling
volume by again pressing the BALANCE pushbutton. The balance
resolution will be the same as programmed for the volume control.
WARNING: If the input is programmed to be in “THEATER MODE,”
then the balance control will have no effect.
OPERATION
2-4

NOTE: The actual balance setting is the balance indicated plus the
programmed input balance offset and programmed output balance
offset. Input balance offset is adjusted during input programming
(see pg 4-3). Output balance offset is adjusted during volume control
programming (see page 4-7).
THEATER VOLUME AND BALANCE
Sometimes it is desired that an input be set to unity gain, such as
with a surround sound processor. The 2010 has the ability to set any
input to unity gain while in the program mode. This is called Theater
Mode. When an input has been programmed for Theater Mode, the
control knob will have no affect on neither volume or balance levels.
VOL THEATER or BAL THEATER will be displayed.
Theater mode should be used with extreme caution as there is no
way to control the volume of the 2010 while in Theater Mode. If it is used
carelessly, damage to speakers and other components may occur.
OPERATION
2-5