Grimm Audio LS1 User manual

DRIVEN TO IMPROVE

page 5
Congratulations on your purchase of the Grimm Audio LS1 playback system.
In this manual we like to assist you in setting up the LS1 playback system. You will learn
how to connect various sources and how to control the electronics, the LS1r Controller
and the LS1 remote software for Mac and PC. Furthermore we like to explain what makes
the LS1 playback system so different from all other hi speakers, why they look, function
and most important sound the way they do. If you are about to unpack and assemble
your LS1 set, please move forward to ’Assembly and Install‘ on page 14 of this manual.
Grimm Audio‘s LS1 was designed to show that one speaker can be both analytically
precise and musically pleasing at the same time. When we developed the LS1, we had
the professional user in mind. In a studio you need a speaker that is as linear as possible.
’Voicing‘, as the practice of tuning a loudspeakers' response by ear is called, only masks
abberations from linearity. The better way is to carefully measure the response with the
best test gear available and use that as a guide. We tested the LS1 in a large anechoic
room using a measurement microphone that we calibrated ourselves with a spark
gap reference. In fact we perform part of these measurements as a standard routine
during production, so the response of your LS1 loudspeakers has also been individually
measured and corrected.
By integrating top quality digital signal processing, converters and ampliers in one of
the speakers' legs, we were able to apply technical strategies no one had used before.
As a consequence, the LS1 is not just a loudspeaker, but a complete audio system that
only needs an analog or digital line source to perform. CD players, phono stages, music
servers or computers all connect straight to the speaker.
The correction of the measured response is done digitally in DSP (’Digital Signal
Processing‘). Digital processing offers a much higher degree of correction then possible in
the analog domain, and without the distortion associated with analog components. Digital
sources are fed directly into the DSP, in case you like to listen to an analog source we
included a very high quality AD converter in the system. The DSP in the LS1 takes care of
three important tasks: response correction of the drivers, cross-over between the drivers
and phase correction of the cross-over. Let's look at the response correction rst. And
remarkably this means we rst need to step back into the analog domain of acoustics.
The spatial radiation behavior of a loudspeaker cannot be corrected electrically so it
should be taken care of rst.
GRIMM AUDIO LS1

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The Electronics
With an acoustically optimised response as a starting point, we applied DSP equalisation
to atten the response of woofer and tweeter. Thanks to the cabinet design only a few
minimum phase IIR corrections with low Q were necessary to linearize amplitude- and
phase response. Correction and cross-over were adjusted by hand, based on a multitude
of measurements in an anechoic environment. Driver errors need to be treated differently
from cabinet diffractions and automatic algorithms are unable to distinguish between the
two kinds. Finally, the acoustic sum was phase corrected to minimum phase which avoids
the pre-echos introduced by more common linear phase corrections. Measurements of the
step response conrm the effectivity of this strategy.
When adding the LS1s subwoofer an LS1 turns into a true three-way system. The DSP
again takes care of all ltering, including the cross-over and its phase correction which
has dramatic impact at low frequencies. A three-way system has never sounded so even
as this. Just like with the two-way system our DSP correction offers a freely congurable
low cut frequency. Usually the two-way is cut off at 40 Hz and the three way at 20 Hz.
Digital input signals are re-clocked by a state of the art ASRC circuit which is based on the
same oscillator as the legendary Grimm CC1 clock. Analog inputs are rst converted to
digital with a high performance A/D converter. The signal then enters the DSP, which has
a data path of 48 bits wide with a 76-bit accumulator. Each driver then has its own high
quality D/A-converter. The output of the D/A converters is directly fed into 120 W Hypex
Ncore power ampliers. The optional LS1s subs have an additional 400 W amp each.
Hypex Ncore power ampliers have the lowest harmonic distortion on the market and
are the perfect choice for the LS1 due to their linearity and excellent transient response.
Throughout the whole circuit, careful attention has been paid to component selection like
capacitors and resistors. Critical parts such as power supply regulators are of our own
discrete design. Once our circuits measure well, we start listening to tweak the last parts
by ear.
And this explains why the LS1 is not only neutral and precise but also a joy to listen to
and musically pleasing. We started with smart concepts and measurements but we did
not stop there. We listened. And doing so we developed a loudspeaker system that is
equally at home in a studio as well as in a living room. The LS1 is a true step forward into
the 21st century.
The Acoustics
The theory behind the LS1's acoustical design originates back to the 1930s and '40s.
Cabinets in those days were at but wide, which moved the so called ’bafe-step‘
frequency to lower than 250 Hz. Below the bafe step frequency, sound is radiated
equally in all directions. Above the bafe step the sound becomes more forward directed,
thereby attenuating reections against the wall behind the speaker and the side walls.
These reections normally cause phase errors in the perceived sound. Psycho acoustics
says that the ear is sensitive to phase errors down to approximately 250 Hz. The wide
bafe helps to attenuate interfering reections throughout this whole range.
Progress since the 40's has learned that edge diffraction of the cabinet deteriorates the
stereo image, hence the sides of the LS1 cabinet are strongly rounded by the legs. As
a bonus, the shallow cabinet moves the resonance along the depth axis inside the box
signicantly above the cross-over frequency of the low frequency driver. This helps to
avoid boxiness.
Next step in the design phase was the driver selection. We settled on an outstanding pair
of Seas units. The tweeter’s exceptionally low distortion in the mid range allows a fairly
low cross-over frequency that benets vertical dispersion. Its small constant directivity
horn ensures an even spread of high frequency sound.
Even dispersion is also helped by the lack of cone breakup effects in the magnesium
woofer below the crossover frequency. The woofer's long excursion permits generous
sound pressure capability down to 40Hz for the two way conguration. Adding the LS1s
subwoofer takes performance up a notch by extending the response down to 20 Hz and
further increasing attainable loudness.

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sound in all directions and sound travelling backwards and sideways reects against the
walls and adds up to the direct sound. Although the ear is less sensitive to the resulting
phase errors at these low frequencies, the impact on the low frequency energy itself
can be dramatic since at certain frequencies the reected sound can cancel the direct
sound. A real solution is to apply low frequency absorption behind the loudspeaker so
the reection is attenuated. Those who cannot afford such measures are invited to spend
some time shifting the speakers back and forth untill the optimal compromise is found.
In this respect the LS1 is not different from any other loudspeaker. A special feature of
the LS1 however is that the LS1s subwoofer can be taken off the foot plate of the main
system so both can be positioned independently. If your room acoustics are particularly
difcult, feel free to experiment with placing the sub closer to the wall than the main
speaker. You can use the parameters in the subwoofer preference pane (Gain and Delay)
to compensate resulting alignment errors. Please read the chapter ‚Software Control
Settings‘ for more information.
An annoying asset of most rooms is that they resonate at low frequencies (below 200
Hz). Tones bouncing back and forth between walls interfere, and at certain frequencies
they form node and anti node patterns which means that certain tones sound silent in
one place in the room but are very loud at other spots. These resonances are called room
modes and since they are dependent on the dimensions and the weight of the walls, they
vary from room to room. Some rooms therefore sound ‚better‘ than others. Whether a
certain room mode is triggered or not is dependent on the position of the source and of
the listener. So again, it makes sense to spend some time positioning the LS1‘s carefully
to nd the optimal compromise. Consult a specialized acoustician if you have a real strong
room mode problem in your room.
Some companies apply DSP for ’room correction‘. We rather not use DSP in the LS1 for
this since the effects are inuenced by the position of the listener. If we again look at
the three acoustic factors: 1. First reections are strongly dependent on the listeners‘
position, so there is no way to correct these with DSP. This is certainly true above 200
Hz where the wavelength is short. 2. The low frequency coupling effect can partly be
compensated by DSP (please use the LS1 EQ for that). However in the region around
100 Hz where often energy is lowered due to the reection being out of phase, DSP will
not help since a louder tone will still be canceled by its reection. 3. Finally, room modes
are also strongly dependent on the position of the listener. Theoretically it should be
advantageous to attenuate peaks in the room response that reside in the whole listening
area, but all DSP solutions for this we tried so far challenged the LS1's performance too
much.
Positioning
Positioning
Room Acoustics
Keep in mind that one always hears the loudspeaker plus its acoustic environment.
Although the LS1 has superior acoustical characteristics, positioning it correctly in your
room remains of great importance. Let‘s rst have a brief look at room acoustics and then
see how positioning the LS1 inuences them.
Roughly speaking there are three factors in acoustics that inuence the audible
performance of a loudspeaker: rst reections, low frequency coupling of nearby walls
and room modes (or room resonances). Lateral rst reections inuence the stereo
image. Since high frequencies are dominant in acoustic imaging, adding fabric acoustic
absorption like curtains at the reection spots on the left and right walls helps a lot.
Since the LS1 has a wide bafe, aiming the loudspeaker away from the reective spot
helps too. Another major type of reection is via the oor and ceiling. These reections
interfere less with the stereo image, but do color the sound. Absorbing the oor bounce
with a carpet helps. A special case is reections against an obstacle in front of the
listener, like a computer screen, bouncing the sound toward the front wall and from there
back to the listener. In those cases, absorbing the reection at either the obstacle or the
wall cures the problem. Due to the wide bafe of the LS1, which focusses the sound,
reections on the wall behind the listener tend to have slightly more impact than with
other loudspeakers. Please consider to add absorption or sound scattering objects like
bookcases against this wall.
First reections also introduce phase distortion in the early sound if the walls are too
close. Psycho acoustics tells us this effect is important down to 250 Hz. One wavelength
of a 250Hz tone lasts 4ms so this is the time span that certainly needs to be ’clean‘.
Sound travels app. 1.4 m in that time. Rules of thumb are therefore that you need to
have at least 80cm distance from the side walls (1.5 m is better) and 60cm from the
back wall (1.2m is better). The wide bafe of the LS1 makes the distance to the wall
behind them less critical, but if you have the chance, please allow for some distance.
An alternative is to choose the other extreme and place each LS1 with the back directly
against a wall. In that case all reections from the back wall integrate completely in phase
with the direct sound, the speaker gets an ’innite bafe‘. Unfortunately the speakers can
not be aimed inwards in this setting to optimize the stereo image, unless the walls have
the right angle of course.
This brings us to low frequency coupling of nearby walls. Below 250 Hz the LS1 radiates
Positioning

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Positioning
Positioning
LS1 Setup
Correct placement of your loudspeakers is essential for achieving the ultimate goal of
reproducing the music as it was intended by the artists. During production in the studio
the producer listened in a so called ’equal triangle‘ setup where the corners of the triangle
between the two loudspeakers and the listener are all 60 degrees. When possible, please
try to reach this arrangement. The distance between the loudspeakers ideally is between
2.5 and 3m.
It is necessary to make sure that both the left and right loudspeaker have a similar
acoustical environment. For example, if one loudspeaker is placed close to a side wall
and the other has free space on its side, the sound of the speaker against the wall will be
enforced by reections and therefore the stereo image shifts to that side. A quick and easy
check is to sit at the listening position and have an assistant talk to you from both speaker
positions. If his voice sounds equal in both positions, you are ne. If he is boomy in one
position and bright in the other, better search further for better postioning. Listen to both
the sound of the direct sound from the assistant and of the ‚room sound‘. In fact, strange
as it may seem, you can hear these effects too when speaking yourself at the loudspeaker
positions. If you cannot nd equal sounding positions for the loudspeakers in your room,
and for instance one speaker has to stand in a corner and the other just a long a wall, you
may use the LS1 EQ to equalize a difference in the low end between both speakers. Please
consult the EQ paragraph of the Software Control Settings chapter in this manual.
The LS1 cabinet is wider than usual, so the effect of turning the loudspeaker around its
vertical axis is larger than you would expect. The off-axis response on the front side of
the LS1 is extremely even (the LS1 sounds just as good slightly off-axis as on-axis), but
it becomes gradually softer when the angle is larger. We can use this to our advantage. In
the classic arrangement the loudspeakers face the listener. The angle of the loudspeakers
relative to the wall behind them is 30 degrees. The superb off-axis performance of the LS1
offers an alternative setup where both loudspeakers are turned slightly further inward, or
’toe in‘. We advice an angle to the wall of 45 degrees. The listener then sits at 15 degrees
off-axis of the loudspeakers. This ’toe in‘ setup has two advantages:
1. For seats left or right of the sweet spot, the stereo image is better preserved. The
reason is that for a left seat the sound of the left loudspeaker will reach the ear more
early. This causes a shift to the left in the stereo image. But at the same time, the listener
is more on-axis of the right speaker and more off-axis of the left speaker. The right loud-
Positioning
speaker therefore becomes slightly louder and the image shifts back to the right again. It
is not perfect, but the net effect is a wider area to enjoy a nice stereo image.
2. The reection of the left loudspeakers‘ sound to the left wall and vice versa becomes
attenuated a bit. Since this reection path is usually relatively short, it needs to be
attenuated to not interfere with the stereo image. An easy trick to check if this reection
is too loud is to listen to a mono sound on one loudspeaker only. Close your eyes and
point in the direction of the sound. Now open your eyes again and look at your nger. If it
is pointing towards the center of the loudspeaker everything is ne. If you point a little bit
off-center in the direction of the wall, the reection is too loud. If turning the LS1's toe-
in does not cure the problem, you will need to apply acoustic absorption at the reective
spots. Mark that by turning the left LS1 like this, its reection on the right wall will become
relatively louder. Usually this is not a problem but rather an advantage because this
reection comes later. Psycho acoustics says it helps the brain to extract the ’ambience‘
information from the recording.
In about 20% of the rooms, the classic setup where the LS1's face the listener still sounds
better. This is usually the case in fairly large rooms or in rooms with acoustics where
left and right reections are very well balanced. Please accept this as an invitation to
experiment and listen in your own environment.
Once you have decided on which of the two setups sounds best, please run the LS1
remote software and set the ’toe in‘ angle in the preferences to your selected 45 degrees
or 30 degrees angle. This applies a small correction to the highest treble, making sure the
frequency response of the direct sound is perfectly linear at the listening position.

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LS1s - Subwoofer
LS1s - the optional Low Frequency Extension
With some kinds of music at higher playback levels, sufcient acoustic power in the low
frequency range is required for high delity playback. In many cases the standard 2-way
conguration will be able to deliver the full range at a sufciently high level, because of
the generally limited amount of ultra-low frequency sound in most music.
The software control settings in the ’LS1‘ tab of the preferences allows the user to set a
’Low-cut frequency‘. If that is set to 40-45Hz the LS1 can produce impressive levels, even
as a 2-way system. If you set the low-cut frequency down to 35Hz or even 28Hz the LS1
will still stay completely linear, only the maximum achievable sound level becomes lower.
With large church organs or modern music with non-acoustic electronic instruments the
content at frequencies below 40 Hz can, however, become signicant and a little help
from a big ’woofer‘ would be required to play at higher sound levels. So we developed the
’LS1s‘ low frequency extension.
Normally the reproduction of very low frequencies demands for a large driver, because
for physics reasons more air has to be moved for the same amount of sound as at high
frequencies. Unfortunately a large driver needs a large cabinet in order to not limit the
lowest frequency, when no other means are available to correct this. We wanted the
LS1s - Subwoofer
additional woofer to be both acoustically and visually integrated, which did not allow for a
large cabinet. So the challenge was to reach a high SPL level at low frequencies, while at
the same time retaining a perfectly at frequency, time and phase response down to very
low frequencies, without a large cabinet.
Fortunately, the same DSP controller that ensures the awless combination of the tweeter
and woofer with perfect timing and frequency behaviour can also be used to overcome
the issues that arise when adding an additional ’sub‘-woofer for the ultra-low frequencies.
By selecting a moderately large high performance driver with a very long linear excursion,
sufcient air can be moved and the DSP in combination with a powerful 400W amplier
compensates the frequency limitation due to the mounting in a small cabinet.
The LS1´s have a dedicated subwoofer output, which can be controlled from within the
remote software. It is possible to connect any subwoofer to this output, using a standard
setting without phase compensation because standard subwoofers are designed to act
as standalone units. The optional LS1s low frequency extension adds something more
and provides full integration with the LS1 itself. With the LS1s added, the LS1 effectively
becomes a 3-way speaker system with perfect time and frequency alignment.
Switching to the ’Grimm Sub‘ setting in the preferences sets a dedicated crossover, time
and phase correction preset in the DSP, so the system becomes a perfectly matched
3-way speaker and not only a 2-way with an added subwoofer. It completely retains and
even stretches its phase and time coherence as well as a linearized frequency response
over the full frequency range down to 20Hz. The woofer of the LS1 becomes a mid-only
unit that is crossed over to the subwoofer at ca. 70Hz, and is now able to handle higher
levels of sound.
The result is that the LS1 sounds nearly identical, both as a 2-way or a 3-way system.
The main difference is the higher possible sound pressure level and a powerful low
frequency extension down to 20 Hz. Also, distortion in the low frequency range has
dropped a bit.
LS1s - Subwoofer

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Unpacking And Assembly
Unpacking And Assembly
If you are ready to assemble your pair of LS1‘s, please rst make yourself
familiar with all components in the box.
The open transport package should look somewhat like in the pictures on
the left. First take out the ’accessory box‘, the CAT5 cables, both speaker
cabinets and the extruded aluminium proles, which for simplicity from
here on shall be called ’legs‘.
The next step is to unscrew the footplates from the transport package, but
be careful as those are really heavy.
Unpacking and Assembly

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Take a speaker cabinet and lay it down on the empty and closed shipping
crate or on a big, clean table, with the drivers facing up. Place two of the
legs next to it, one with and one without electronics.
Normally, when setting up in a living room, you´ll prefer the electronics
panel facing to the back side of the speaker in order to look uncluttered. In
this case put the ’active leg‘ on the left side, next to the speaker cabinet on
the table, the other leg to the right side. If for some reason you want the
electronics to face the front side of the speakers, you can simply swap the
legs.
The multipin connector that is used to connect the speaker cabinet to
the electronics contained in the leg can be pulled out of either side of the
bottom aluminium prole attached to the cabinet. So the choice is yours,
where to place the ’active leg‘.
Plug the cable connector into the chassis connector of the leg.
Very Important:
Every speaker is individually measured and tuned during manufacturing,
the unique correction curve for this speaker is then stored in the DSP of the
matching electronics.
Therefore both parts, speaker and electronics, get the same serial number.
Please always make sure you assemble the matching electronics with its
proper speaker.
Unpacking and Assembly
Unpacking And Assembly
Unpacking And Assembly

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Unpacking and Assembly
Unpacking And Assembly
Unpacking And Assembly
Put both legs ush with the cabinet on the table, until the four magnets
have snapped onto the metal sides of the speaker cabinet.
Please be careful, these are very strong magnets. Keep them far from
anything sensitive to magnetic elds.
Please secure the connection of the legs and cabinet by tting the knurled
screws (found in the ’accessory box‘) on the top part of the inside of the
legs.
Screw them in, but don´t tighten them completely yet, so we can still allign
all the edges exactly by hand later on, once the LS1 are in place, because
we also want them to look good...

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From now on it is really helpful and recommended to have a second person
to help you setting up the speakers.
The footplate is mounted with the four hexagon socket screws found in the
’accessory box‘ (as is the matching Allen key).
Please only tighten those gently, there is no need to torque them down too
hard.
Unpacking and Assembly
Unpacking And Assembly
Unpacking And Assembly

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Unpacking and Assembly
Now you can carefully set the assembled LS1 upright. As mentioned asking
a second person to help you is highly recommended.
Best is to directly place the LS1 close to the right spot in the room. If you
are on your own, the easiest way to carry the speaker is to stand behind it
and grab it underneath the bottom prole of the cabinet with both hands.
With two people the easiest way to carry the LS1 is to stand next to both
sides of the speaker and grab it underneath the bottom cabinet prole
from front and back. This way it is pretty easy to move the speaker to it's
desired location.
If the edges of the cabinet and the leg don't align perfectly you can now
untighten the knurled screw inside the leg just a little bit and align all
edges carefully by hand. The strong magnets provide a secure t of the
legs to the cabinets, while still allowing tiny adjustments in all directions
to make them a perfect t. If you are done aligning the cabinet and legs,
gently tighten the knurled screws. Again there's no need to torque them
down too hard.
The next step is to put the covers on top of the legs, these are only held in
place by magnets and can also be aligned simply by hand.
These steps can now be repeated to assemble the second speaker. In the
next chapter we will have a look at all the connections and peripherals.
If you like to start wiring your system right away, please jump to the
'Connectivity' chapter of this manual.
Unpacking And Assembly
Unpacking And Assembly

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Hardware Control Settings
The LS1 is not just a speaker but a complete playback system. On the left page you see a ow
diagram that illustrates the various internal processes. First there are switches that select a
signal from the various sources. Some sources are connected directly to the LS1, some to the
LS1r Controller box. Then follows a switch that determines whether the LS1 plays back the left
or right channel of a digital stereo pair. Next is a sample rate converter so our DSP can always
linearize the speaker up till very high frequencies, and then there’s an equalizer. The crossover
splits the audio range in two or three bands, dependent on the settings. What follows are EQ’s
for the various drivers (individually calibrated during production) and a delay to compensate for
the acoustic source position of the tweeter and the woofer. Just before the DAC there’s a digital
volume control. This is the best place for digital volume control in a system, since all processing
now takes place before the volume control at maximum resolution.
Many settings of the LS1 can be controlled by the user. The dark dots in the diagram indicate
the two parameters that can be set on the LS1 itself. The grey dots are functions that can be
controlled by the LS1r Controller box or the LS1 Remote Software. The functions with the white
dots can be set in the LS1 Remote Software. Let’s rst look at the controls on the LS1 itself.
Input Sensitivity (input sens)
This switch controls the input sensitivity of the analog input for each speaker between +4dBu
and +19dBu in 1dB steps. The remote software can read and display the position of this switch,
please refer to the chapter ’Software Control Settings‘.
The position of this switch has no inuence whatsoever on the digital inputs.
Channel Switch (Chnl)
If a digital input is used, and when the LS1 Remote software does not run, this switch selects if
the left or right channel of the stereo aes/spdif-signal is played back on the speaker.
Attention: The settings of the LS1 Remote software always have the rst priority. However, as soon as you
use the speakers without the remote software, they will use the setting of the hardware switch again to
determine the channel to play. For that reason it is advised to always put the switch in the right position.
Hardware Control Settings
Hardware Control Settings
Internal ow diagram of LS1
Channel switchInput sensitivity

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LS1r Controller
LS1r - Controller
LS1r - Controller
As we know already the LS1 is more than a speaker, it's actually a complete playback system
with ampliers, converters, volume control and source selection.
These are the sources that you can connect to the LS1 system:
1) Computer (Mac or PC) connected via USB
2) Analog Input (for any analog source, this can e.g. be a phono stage, a tuner or even a tape machine)
3) Digital Input 1 (directly on one of the speakers) via AES/EBU or S/PDIF (these can e.g. be a CD-
transport or a streaming client)
4) Digital Input 2 + 3 (located on the back of the LS1r Controller) via AES/EBU or S/PDIF
This means you can have all possible kinds of audio sources permanently connected. Switching
between the sources can be done via the remote software (-> see next chapter) or via the LS1
Controller that is included in the hi- package.
This is not only convenient, it completely eliminates the need for a classic hi-preamp in the
system.
It is well known that sometimes ’classical‘ hi components don't match perfectly, impedance
matching can be wrong, people try all sorts of cables and combine preamps, ampliers and
speakers of different brands searching for ’the magic combination‘.
In the LS1 we do the opposite, the signal path is as short and pure as possible and alle
elements of the system are selected for an optimal joined performance. This way all coloration is
minimized.
What's left in the end is what you put into the system: the music.

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LS1r Controller
LS1r - Controller
LS1r - Controller
Let's have a closer look at the functions of the LS1r Controller.
The display on the front panel shows either the volume level, an activated MUTE (or DIM) mode
or the respective input source while switching sources.
On top of the box you nd a big dial that controls three functions:
1. Volume Control
If you turn the dial clockwise the volume is raised, if you turn it counterclockwise the volume is
attenuated.
2. MUTE or DIM function
By shortly pressing the dial you can activate the mute or dim function (chosen in the software
settings), by pressing it again the mode is deactivated. The preferences of the remote software
allow the choice for either a complete mute of the signal, a dim (attenuation) of the signal by
10dB or a dim of the signal by 20dB. The dim function can be handy if you want to talk or answer
the phone for example, while playback of the music continuous in the background.
3. Switching between input sources
If you press and hold the dial and then turn it clockwise or counterclockwise, you can change the
source. The display indicates which of the input sources is selected. When the source you want to
listen to shows up in the display, simply release the knob and the input source is now selected.
-> The Grimm Audio LS1r Controller has an infrared sensor. So any universal IR-remote can be used to
remotely control these three functions! Please learn how to program your remote on the next page.

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LS1r Controller
LS1r - Controller
LS1r - Controller
You can step through the available controls by turning the dial.
Volume up: 
Volume down: 
Volume mute: 
Channel up: 
Channel down: 
When a control is on the display, just press the button on your handheld remote control that you
want assign it to. If the transmitted format of your remote control is accepted, ‘  ’ will show
in the display. This means the command is stored and linked to the IR handheld remote button.
You can repeat this action for the other controls, and also for the same control to overwrite it.
When a received code is already in use for another function, the display will show ‘  ’ and the
command is not stored. This is to prevent double use of codes.
In the IR programming mode, you can again go to the next setting by pressing the dial briey.
This setting shows ‘ BuT ” and lets you select the ’press‘ function for the ’button‘ (dial): either
mute (‘  ’) or dim (‘ d ’).
Next setting after pressing the dial is ‘ dis ’ or ’display‘. The options here are: ‘ vol ’, ‘ off ’ and
‘ inp ’, which means you can choose if you want your display to show the ‘volume’, be ‘off’ or
show the ‘input’, when you are not actively using it.
Pressing the dial now moves you to the next and last setting, which is a display of the software
version of the LS1r Controller. ‘ su6 ’ for instance means ’Software Version 6‘. If you turn the dial
in this menu you give a ‘Factory Reset’ and the display shows ‘ fre ’. If you in stead press the
dial once more, you will be back at the rst ’brightness‘ setting.
You can always leave the programming mode of the LS1r Controller by pressing and holding the
dial. You will see three dots appear and when all dots are lit, the display turns back to normal
mode again, briey showing the ‘ ESE ’ message.
Programming the LS1r Controller / IR Remote
Some features of your LS1r Controller can be adjusted to suit your
preference. The LS1r Controller also has the ability to learn infrared
commands from all kinds of handheld IR remotes to control various
settings. This means you can use a remote control you already own from
another product to control the LS1r Controller. Supported IR formats include
RC5, RC6 and Sony protocol.
IR controllable settings are volume, input source selection, and mute.
To program the LS1r Controller, press and hold the large dial. You will see
three dots appear while you wait until the display briey shows ‘ ESE ’ (which
stands for ’Extra Settings‘). Now you are in programming mode and you can
release the dial. The display will show the control to be programmed.
The rst control is ‘ bri ’ or the brightness of the display. Alternating it shows
the current setting. By turning the dial you can change this setting.
The next menu item is selected by pressing the dial once more. You will then
see ‘ AL ’. This calibrates the 0.0 volume point of the LS1 remote. If you
turn the dial clockwise it shows ‘ SET ’, meaning it has set the 0.0 point to the
current playback volume level. If you turn the dial counterclockwise, the
‘ def ’ indication tells you the 0.0 reference point has been set back to its
default position.
By pressing the dial one more time you will see a ‘  ’ in the display, informing
you that you are now in ’Programming‘ mode and the device is waiting to
receive commands from your IR handheld remote.

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The LS1 Remote software is designed to control all settings of the LS1 via the LS1i USB interface.
You will use it during rst setup of the LS1 system and whenever you like to make changes to
the setup. Additionally it works as a fully functional remote control of the LS1's main parameters,
such as volume and source selection. You can use it in stead of or next to an LS1r Controller.
Please download the LS1 Remote software for your mac, windows or linux PC from http://www.
grimmaudio.com/info/downloads/ and install the software following your standard procedure. To
keep your system up to date, please enable the option ’Check for update on startup‘ in the Tools
menu of the LS1 remote software.
Let s have a look at the functions of the remote software one by one, starting at the top:
( -> for hi use, please make sure to deselect the option ’Advanced Studio Monitor Controls‘ from the ’Tools‘
menu. The display will then look like in the picture)
1. These buttons let you select an input source.
2. Here the current volume setting is displayed numerically. If you have a LS1r Controller in the
system, its display will show the same level.
3. Below the volume setting you nd an indication of the current status: whether the LS1 remote
software has established a connection to your LS1 loudspeakers or not. In case the display shows
the text ’ofine‘, the speakers are not turned on or some part of the wiring is not in place, such
as the loopback connector.
4. This is the volume dial that you can use to set your preferred listening level. You may also use
the up and down arrows of your keyboard to increase or decrease the volume in small steps or
the page up and down arrows for large ones. If available you can use the scroll wheel of your
mouse to adjust the volume, when hovering above the volume dial.
5. The Mute button mutes the incoming signal. Pressing the button again deactivates the mute
function. You may also use the space bar of the keyboard to mute or un-mute the LS1.
6. The Settings button offers access to the LS1 preference window.
7. A click on the EQ button opens the EQ tab of the preference window. The button also indicates
whether the EQ of the LS1 is set to at or not. If the EQ is not at, the system is adjusted to
taste and may not be linear anymore. In this case EQ button looks like being ’on‘.
Software Control Settings
Software Control Settings
Software Control Settings
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Software Control Settings
Software Control Settings
Advanced Studio Monitor Controls
The main display offers a second mode in which more functions are visible. These functions
are in general only useful for professional audio engineers. This mode is engaged by selecting
the option ’Advanced Studio Monitor Controls‘ from the ’Tools‘ menu. The functions of the main
screen will then be as follows:
1. These buttons let you select an input source.
2. Here the current volume setting is displayed numerically. If you have a LS1r Controller in the
system, its display will show the same level.
3. Below the volume setting you nd an indication of the current status: whether the LS1 remote
software has established a connection to your LS1 loudspeakers or not. If the display shows the
text ’ofine‘, the speakers are not turned on or some part of the wiring is not in place.
4. This is the volume dial that is used to set your preferred listening level. You can use the scroll
wheel of your mouse to adjust the volume, when hovering above the volume dial. You may also
use the up and down arrows of your keyboard to increase or decrease the volume.
5. The two buttons ’Ref 1‘ and ’Ref 2‘ offer alternative ’0 dB‘ points for the display. This can help
you to easily get back to your standard monitor level. The factory default setting for 0 dB in
both reference levels is 79 dBC for a -20 dBFSrms pink noise signal, which is dened as ’K14‘
by mastering engineer Bob Katz. The reference levels can be adjusted to your acoustics or set
to your own preference via the ’Tools‘ menu of the remote software. First set the volume at the
intended acoustical reference level and then select ’Current level to Ref 1‘ or ’Current level to Ref
2‘ from the dropdown menu. You can also use the indicated keyboard short cut. Alternatively,
the reference levels can be set on the ’Pro Settings‘ tab of the Settings window, and here you
will also nd a ’restore default‘ knob. To quickly set the volume control to 0 dB, either select ’Set
volume to 0 dB Ref 1‘ (or ’Set volume to 0 dB Ref 2‘) from the Tools menu, or use the indicated
keyboard shortcuts. You may also double click on the ’Ref 1‘ or ’Ref 2‘ buttons in the control
window.
6. The Settings button offers access to the LS1 preference window.
7. A click on the EQ button opens the EQ tab of the preference window. The button also indicates
whether the EQ of the LS1 is set to at or not. If the EQ is not at, the system is adjusted to
taste and may not be linear anymore. In this case EQ button looks like being ’on‘.
Software Control Settings
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8. This button mutes both channels. Pressing the button again deactivates the mute function. You
may also use the space bar of the keyboard to mute or un-mute the LS1.
9. Mute L and Mute R will mute either the left or right channel. They toggle with each other and
with the large mute button. By clicking on the active button, the mute is deactivated again.
10. The Dim button lowers the signal level, until it is deactivated by pressing the button once
again. The signal can be attenuated by either 10dB or 20dB, which can be set in the Settings
window. A mouse-over pop up help indicates the current setting.
11. The Zoom button raises the signal by 20dB to check for hums and buzzes. Pressing it again
deactivates the function and brings the signal back down. To avoid the risk of blowing your
speakers, a limiter is engaged when the zoom function is on. If you play music when using the
zoom function, an attenuated and distorted sound will be heard. This is normal. Use Zoom only
for checking very low level sounds.
12. The Mono function sums both sides of the stereo signal into one mono signal, which is then
played back on both speakers. If you want to listen to a ’real‘ mono source, you can additionally
press either the ’Mute L‘ or ’Mute R‘ button and mute one of the speakers. You will now hear both
sides of the stereosignal mixed and played back on one speaker.
(-> This function offers a great tool while setting up your LS1‘s. Listen to the mono sum of your music in
turn on the left and right speaker and move your loudspeakers until both sound identical.)
13. The S (for Side) function calculates the difference between the left and right signals and plays
them on both speakers. This is a very useful tool for checking the stereo content during recording
or mixing and for monitoring MS processing during mastering.
14. The swap button swaps the left and right speaker channels, a trick used by mixing engineers
to temporarily have a fresh look on the stereo balance of the mix. If the left and right speakers
are physically reversed and you want to permanently swap them, please do not use this swap
button but check out the ‚Remote Connection‘ setting in the LS1 tab of the Settings window in
stead.
15. The Sim function activates a digital simulation of either a ported speaker system or a small
box shelf type speaker, which can be set in the preferences. This can help the audio engineer
determine how a mix ’translates‘ to other types of speaker systems. For your home listening
pleasure you want to make sure that this button is turned off!
Software Control Settings
Software Control Settings
Software Control Settings
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Software Control Settings
Software Control Settings
PREFERENCES
When setting up the LS1 system for the rst time, please check out the preferences or ’Settings‘
window of the LS1 remote software. It offers easy access to the settings of all LS1 parameters.
Some functions may need occasional adjustment, so you may like to have a look at the settings
once in a while.
You open the preferences by clicking on the ’Settings‘ button in the main screen of the LS1-
remote, or by choosing ’Preferences‘ from the menu.
The settings are spread over seven pages, that offer access to different parts of the system.
These pages are:
LS1 / EQ / Woofers / Gain Offsets / LS1r / Pro Settings / System
Let´s start with Pro Settings for a quick check whether the PC or Mac recognizes the LS1
USB interface. In the ’Midi connection settings‘ the LS1 USB interface should automatically be
selected if the LS1i USB interface is connected and the LS1's are turned on. If not, please use the
dropdown menu to select the ’Grimm Audio USB interface‘ for both the input and output. We will
get back to the Pro Settings page later.
Saving presets
You can save all the LS1 preferences in a ’Preset‘ le on your computer or on a memory stick.
This can be helpful when several people work on one LS1 system or when you like to bring your
settings to a friend who also owns an LS1 system. To save the preferences, select ’save preset‘ or
’load preset‘ from the main ’File‘ menu.
Software Control Settings