Turbosound ASPECT TA-880 SYSTEM User manual

ASPECT TA-880 SYSTEM
USER MANUAL
Turbosound Ltd.
Star Road, Partridge Green
West Sussex RH13 8RY England
Tel: [phone] Fax: [phone]
web: www.turbosound.com
Issue 1.5 © Turbosound Ltd, January 2006

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Contents
EC Declaration of Conformity........................................................................................................................6
Introduction ....................................................................................................................................................7
Turbosound Aspect System Concepts .....................................................................................................7
The Aspect Polyhorn™ Concept...............................................................................................................8
Aspect TA-880 Turnkey System Concept.................................................................................................9
The Loudspeaker Management System (LMS) Concept.......................................................................10
LMS-D26/D6 Loudspeaker Management Systems ................................................................................10
Amplifier Racks........................................................................................................................................10
Power Amplifiers.....................................................................................................................................11
Digital Controllers ...................................................................................................................................11
Aspect Loudspeaker Components..........................................................................................................11
TA-880L Low Frequency Enclosure ........................................................................................................12
TSW-218 Subwoofer ...............................................................................................................................12
TA-880H Mid/High Enclosure..................................................................................................................12
TA-880HM High-Mid Enclosure ..............................................................................................................13
TA-880LM Low-Mid Enclosure................................................................................................................13
Transportation.........................................................................................................................................14
Aspect trapezoidal Flying System ..........................................................................................................15
Flying and Stacking......................................................................................................................................16
Overview..................................................................................................................................................16
GigMate™ Acoustic Simulation..................................................................................................................17
Running Turbosound GigMate / EASE Focus for the first time:...........................................................17
System Setup ..........................................................................................................................................18
Mapping Properties.................................................................................................................................18
Audience Area .........................................................................................................................................18
Rigging.....................................................................................................................................................18
Designing a system.................................................................................................................................19
Safety Notes on Rigging .........................................................................................................................23
Flying Hardware...........................................................................................................................................25

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Horizontal Coverage................................................................................................................................ 25
Vertical Coverage ....................................................................................................................................26
Wide and Narrow Flybar settings........................................................................................................... 26
Two-wide trapezoidal flybar FB-880/2W ................................................................................................27
Three-wide trapezoidal flybar FB-880/3W..............................................................................................28
Flying Chains ...........................................................................................................................................29
Flying Swords..........................................................................................................................................30
Tilting Strap.............................................................................................................................................31
Flying a single TA-880 trapezoidal cabinet using M10 eyebolts...........................................................32
Flying a single TA-880 trapezoidal cabinet using FC-880 chains.......................................................... 33
Flying a vertical column of TA-880 trapezoidal cabinets ......................................................................34
Flying a cluster of TA-880 trapezoidal cabinets..................................................................................... 37
Single horizontal row..............................................................................................................................37
2 wide x 2 deep TA-880H array...............................................................................................................38
3 wide x 3 deep TA-880H array...............................................................................................................39
Tight-packed Flying Assemblies.............................................................................................................40
Bass Enclosure arraying..........................................................................................................................42
Aiming - directivity of the stack..............................................................................................................42
Ground stacking ...................................................................................................................................... 43
LMS series Loudspeaker Management Systems .......................................................................................44
Introduction .............................................................................................................................................44
Unpacking................................................................................................................................................44
Mechanical Installation ...........................................................................................................................44
LMS-D6 Loudspeaker Management System ..............................................................................................45
LMS-D6 Rear Panel Functions ................................................................................................................46
Mains Power............................................................................................................................................ 46
Voltage Settings ......................................................................................................................................47
Safety Earthing........................................................................................................................................47
AC Power Fusing ..................................................................................................................................... 47
Powering Up............................................................................................................................................ 47
Audio Connections..................................................................................................................................48
Input and Output Connector Wiring.......................................................................................................48
Time correction for loudspeaker driver placement............................................................................... 48
LMS-D24 and D26 Loudspeaker management Systems............................................................................49

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Features ...................................................................................................................................................49
Front Panel Functions .............................................................................................................................50
Rear Panel Functions...............................................................................................................................52
Operating the LMS-D24 and D26............................................................................................................53
Starting up ............................................................................................................................................... 53
Selecting a Factory Preset.......................................................................................................................53
Creating a Crossover...............................................................................................................................53
Navigation and Viewing Parameters......................................................................................................54
Navigation................................................................................................................................................55
Presets......................................................................................................................................................56
Preset Recall ............................................................................................................................................56
Preset Store .............................................................................................................................................57
DSP Processing Layout ...........................................................................................................................58
Input DSP block diagram ........................................................................................................................58
Output DSP block diagram .....................................................................................................................58
Stereo / Mono Formats ...........................................................................................................................58
DSP processing........................................................................................................................................59
Input Channels.........................................................................................................................................59
Parametric Equalisation ..........................................................................................................................61
High and Low shelving filters.................................................................................................................61
Parametric filters .....................................................................................................................................61
Output Channels......................................................................................................................................62
Gain and Polarity.....................................................................................................................................62
Delay ........................................................................................................................................................62
High and Low Pass Filters.......................................................................................................................63
Parametric Equalisation ..........................................................................................................................64
Limiters ....................................................................................................................................................65
Routing.....................................................................................................................................................65
Utilities.....................................................................................................................................................66
Utility functions .......................................................................................................................................66
Rear Panel Functions...............................................................................................................................67
AMP-890 Aspect System Amplification Rack.........................................................................................68
Racking, Cables and Connections...........................................................................................................68
Options.....................................................................................................................................................69
Input Connections ...................................................................................................................................69
Figure 1. Amplifier Rack Signal Wiring..................................................................................................70
Output Connections ................................................................................................................................70
Figure 2. Mid-High Outputs ....................................................................................................................71
Figure 3. Bass Outputs ............................................................................................................................71
Break-out Cables – NL4 bass...................................................................................................................72
Break-out cables – NL8 mid-high............................................................................................................73
Extension Cables .....................................................................................................................................73
Mains Connections..................................................................................................................................74
T-25 and T-45 High Efficiency Audio Power Amplifiers.............................................................................75

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General Features & Facilities..................................................................................................................75
Front Panel Functions T-25 .....................................................................................................................76
Front Panel Functions T-45 .....................................................................................................................77
Mechanical Installation ...........................................................................................................................78
Mains Power............................................................................................................................................ 78
Powering Up............................................................................................................................................ 78
Safety Earthing........................................................................................................................................78
Voltage Setting........................................................................................................................................ 79
Voltage Range .........................................................................................................................................79
Audio Connections & Controls ............................................................................................................... 79
Polarity.....................................................................................................................................................80
Input Impedance...................................................................................................................................... 80
Gain and Sensitivity Settings ................................................................................................................. 80
Attenuation & Gain Setting ....................................................................................................................81
Output Connections ................................................................................................................................81
Damping Factor....................................................................................................................................... 81
Long Speaker Lines.................................................................................................................................82
The Cooling System................................................................................................................................ 82
Appendix A: Technical Specifications.........................................................................................................83
Appendix B: Warranty..................................................................................................................................85

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EC DECLARATION OF CONFORMITY
Manufacturer
Turbosound Ltd
Star Road, Partridge Green, West Sussex, RH13 8RY
Products
T-25 Power Amplifier
T-45 Power Amplifier
LMS-D6 Controller
LMS-D26 Controller
LMS-D24 Controller
Standards
Safety EN60065:2003
Relevant Specifications used as basis for tests EN66103-1:1996
EN55103-2:1996
Category
Professional apparatus for use in Commercial Light Industrial and controlled EMC
environments.
CE Marking
All products are marked in accordance with the relevant statutory requirements.

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INTRODUCTION
Turbosound Aspect System Concepts
The TA-880 system is a modular point source loudspeaker system designed to deliver
extremely high fidelity audio. The system is easily scaleable from large and medium scale
ground-stacked and flown concert touring down to small clubs and events.
The Aspect system concept centres around the exceptional directivity of the patented
Polyhorn™ devices employed in the high frequency and high-mid frequency sections of the
mid/high enclosure. In contrast to the majority of conventional horns, Polyhorns develop
more consistent frequency response across all seats of an auditorium with minimal
interference between adjacent enclosures.
The patented Polyhorn™ devices – employed in both the high frequency and high-mid
frequency bands – exhibit a sharp cut-off at the edges of the dispersion pattern, making it
possible to produce seamless coverage of a venue with minimal destructive interference
between elements, however many individual enclosures are deployed in the cluster. The
Polyhorn™ devices generate phase-coherent and smoothly-curved wavefronts which match
the array curvature, whose centre becomes the virtual point source.
The TA-880H trapezoidal mid/high enclosure forms the main component of ground-stacked
or flown arrays. It can also be employed as a front or side fill cabinet. The TA-880HM high-
mid enclosure and TA-880LM low-mid enclosure are available for use in specific fill
applications to cover near-field audience areas such as downfills or front-of-stage fills. The
TA-880L low frequency enclosure is designed to be ground stacked in bass arrays as well as
providing ground support for TA-880 enclosures.

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The Aspect Polyhorn™ Concept
The patented Polyhorn™ design effectively solves the problem of the tendency for
exponential horns to beam with increasing frequency. Dividing the multi-cellular horn into
multiple tapered waveguides guarantees that the path length of each micro-horn is equal
from the surface of the driver diaphragm to the horn mouth, and ensures that all frequencies
from all parts of the diaphragm arrive at the horn mouth together. This provides the
wavefront with uniformity of phase. A further benefit of the Polyhorn™ geometry is that the
sound wave does not suffer from edge-diffraction effects which have a tendency to confuse
the directionality of the sound source.
Each cabinet in an array of Aspect loudspeakers contribute to the generation of a single,
cohesive, and more or less continuous wavefront without noticeable comb-filtering effects. In
addition, the Polyhorn™ design offers the possibility of locating the acoustic centre well
behind the motor system and even the enclosure. The wavefront radii can now be arranged
to coincide with the array curvature, forming a single virtual point source.
Because of the Polyhorn™ design’s sharp cut-off, its array angle can in practice be taken as
being the same as the dispersion angle.
Fig 1. Conventional HF horns produce
destructive interference
Fig 2. Poyhorn™ creates smoothly curved and
phase-coherent wavefront

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Aspect TA-880 Turnkey System Concept
Aspect is available as an integrated audio system package, comprising loudspeakers with
integral flying hardware, amplifier racks and all necessary drive and control equipment in an
extremely compact and manageable form. In addition, the system has been designed to truck
pack efficiently and handle easily.
The concept of assembling a system around standardised components ensures absolute
compatibility between users, although sufficient flexibility is built into the rack design to
allow for varying requirements such as the ratio of bass cabinets to mid-highs, or 4-way or 5-
way operation. Aspect systems from different sources may therefore be freely combined
without difficulty. This provides owners with a considerable competitive advantage in
servicing the requirements of international touring productions, and in co-operating with
other Aspect suppliers within the worldwide network.
The system controller functions as an electronic loudspeaker management system,
comprising a 24dB per octave crossover, with factory preset limiters matched to the power
amplifiers, digital time-alignment and electronically balanced inputs and outputs.
The standard trapezoidal Aspect integrated sound system consists of:
•TA-880H mid-high enclosures and TA-880L enclosures
•Flybars, flying chains and flybar trunk
•Loudspeaker break-outs and multi-way extensions
•Multi-way returns system
•LMS-D6 or LMS-D26 system controllers
•AMP-890 ampifier racks with:
•T-45 and T-25 power amplifiers
•Three phase 32A power distribution
•Multi-way and local speaker connections

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The Loudspeaker Management System (LMS) Concept
Turbosound Loudspeaker Management Systems are more than just electronic crossovers. As
well as steep slope active filters and high performance limiters, they provide full digital
alignment of all components in the Aspect enclosures, to ensure a coherent acoustic output.
They also incorporates a number of features which contribute to overall system reliability
and ease of setting-up and use.
All system parameters such as crossover frequencies, limiter settings and equalisation can be
simply called up from a factory-set menu, making it possible to maintain consistent and
repeatable system performance.
Because the power amplifiers can be included as part of the Aspect system, the controllers
are able to utilise output limiters which are precisely matched to the system requirements,
being pre-set to prevent the amplifiers from clipping. Inputs and outputs are fully balanced,
providing isolation between the controller and the amplifier inputs. These factors contribute
to high reliability in the adverse circumstances often encountered under arduous touring
conditions.
LMS-D26/D6 Loudspeaker Management Systems
Use of the LMS-D26 or LMS-D6 loudspeaker management system ensures accurate time-
alignment of the system drive units and also provides a facility for users to select additional
delay, either to compensate for physical displacement of ground-stacked bass enclosures
relative to flown high packs, or to provide full range delay for correct image localisation or
use in distributed systems. It should however be noted that the high-Q, and therefore long
throw, properties of the Aspect system generally eliminates the need for distributed delayed
systems, even for very large audiences.
Amplifier Racks
The Aspect amplifier racks are fully loaded and fully equipped for the most demanding
concert touring applications. They are fitted as standard with two T-25 model amplifiers and
three T-45 model amplifiers, Socapex speaker break-outs as well as local connectors, single-
phase or three-phase mains distribution, and multi-way signal input and signal link
connectors. All the component parts are rigidly mounted in a 12U steel space frame with
removeable panels, and housed in a road case with heavy duty wheels.

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Power Amplifiers
In addition to the Turbosound T-25 and T-45 model amplifiers supplied with turnkey Aspect
systems, the following other power amplifier brands provide sufficient performance and
mechanical compatibility to perform well with Aspect loudspeaker systems:
•MC2 E series
•Lab Gruppen FP series
•Crest Pro series
•QSC Powerlight II series
Digital Controllers
In addition to the Turbosound LMS-D6 and LMS-D26 loudspeaker management systems, the
following digital crossovers have been tested and are recommended for use with Aspect
systems:
•BSS FDS366
•XTA 224. 226 and 428
Aspect Loudspeaker Components
All the drive units have been designed in-house specifically for the Aspect system and are
manufactured exclusively for Turbosound. This means that they are expressly suited to their
intended purpose, and make use of innovative features to ensure premium performance.
Neodymium magnets are used throughout all drive units. This results in higher efficiency,
less power compression and reduced overall weight.
Low-mid frequency drivers are designed to be rear-facing in the enclosure, enabling the
heatsink / phase plug to be placed in the air flow to aid cooling.

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TA-880L Low Frequency Enclosure
The TA-880L low frequency enclosure covers the low
frequency range from 40Hz up to 100Hz. It contains
two very high power 15" neodymium drive units
loaded with TurboBass™devices. The TA-880L is a
very compact enclosure and its minimal size and low
weight ensures easy handling. It is designed to provide
beneficial low frequency coupling when used in
multiples. The enclosure is designed to be ground-
stacked.
TSW-218 Subwoofer
The TSW-218 is designed to cover the sub and low
frequency ranges from 25Hz to 160Hz, and can be
used as part of a 5-way Aspect system in order to
reinforce sub-bass frequencies. It utilises two
custom designed neodymium 18” drivers loaded
with TurboBass devices. The proprietary loading
technique and horn flare design produces
significant mutual coupling between adjeacent
enclosures, resulting in sensitivity gains of up to
110dB with eight units coupled.
TA-880H Mid/High Enclosure
The TA-880H enclosure covers frequencies above 100Hz
and contains a total of five drive units. A pair of 10”
neodymium low-mid frequency drivers loaded with
TurboMid™devices covers the frequency range from
100Hz to 400Hz. The low-mid drivers are rear-facing in the
enclosure, providing not only additional cooling by placing
the magnet/heatsink assemblies in the path of the airflow,
but also acting as phase plugs. A specially developed 10”
low-mid driver loaded with a LMF Polyhorn™device covers
the range from 400Hz to 4kHz. The remaining frequencies
are covered by a pair of 50mm dome drivers loaded with
Polyhorn™ waveguides specifically designed for this
purpose.
The TA-880H Mid-High Enclosure is designed to provide a precise array angle of 25º
horizontal x 15º vertical. This high Q provides the projection necessary for true long throw
applications such as large arena and outdoor productions.

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The Polyhorn™and TurboMid™devices are unique to Turbosound and are covered by
principle patents world-wide. They utilise specialised forms of horn loading which provide
exceptionally low distortion and high efficiency from cone-type drive units. The subjective
effect of these devices is greater clarity and transparency of reproduction when compared
with conventional compression drivers and horns.
The TA-880H can be equipped for touring applications with an external flying system
consisting of removeable swords and fixed angle flybars.
TA-880HM High-Mid Enclosure
The TA-880HM enclosure contains high frequency
and high/mid frequency elements only and is
designed is to be used as a downfill or in-fill
enclosure, either flown or ground-stacked. It covers
the frequency range from 405Hz to 20kHz, and
provides a coverage pattern of 25°H x 15°V.
The TA-880 external flying system of removeable
swords allows all types of TA-880 enclosures to be
combined freely in flown clusters.
TA-880LM Low-Mid Enclosure
The TA-880LM enclosure is a low-mid frequency
only enclosure and is designed is to be used as a
downfill or in-fill enclosure, either flown or ground-
stacked. It covers the frequency range from 100Hz to
405Hz.
As with the TA-880HM above, it can be combined
into TA-880 clusters using removeable swords.

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Transportation
An optional WB-880H wheelboard is available which clips on to the front of the TA-880H
cabinet, allowing single units to be conveniently transported. These are designed to be
stackable, so that when not in use they can be neatly stored without taking up unecessary
floor space.
TA-880L bass cabinets are fitted with heavy duty wheels.
Optional heavy duty transit covers are available for TA-880H cabinets. These simply slide
over the box and fasten underneath the cabinet with velcro straps.

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Aspect trapezoidal Flying System
To take full advantage of the very precise dispersion properties of the Aspect system, an
external rigging system has been developed. The flying systems are inherently safe, flexible
and simple to use. The rigging design allows the creation of clusters and arrays that can be
assembled quickly and with a minimum number of crew, and with full control of the vertical
angles between enclosures and their vertical inclination, to suit a wide variety of
requirements.

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FLYING AND STACKING
Overview
The Aspect system flying hardware is specifically designed to take advantage of the precise
horizontal directivity characteristics, as well as allow a wide range of adjustment of the
vertical angles between adjacent enclosures, and the overall vertical inclination of each
column of enclosures. This means that arrays can easily be optimised to suit the coverage
requirements of any situation.
Sound radiating from adjacent cabinets will successfully blend over a range of included
angles, creating a coherent point-source image, and this results in the ability to tailor both
the overall coverage and the SPL at a given distance.
The concept of arraying a point-source loudspeaker system is to create part of the surface of
a sphere. A small part of a large sphere will form a high-directivity (long-throw) system with
a high SPL at a distance, whereas a large part of a small sphere will be of lower directivity
producing less SPL at a distance, but having a wider angle of coverage. This approach leads
to the creation of a virtual point source of sound behind the array.
There are some simple rules to follow to help achieve this goal:
•Obtain a smooth even curve in the horizontal plane.
•Use a similar amount of tilt on each column.
•Ensure that the bottom corners of each column are in line with each other.

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GIGMATE™ ACOUSTIC SIMULATION
While the Aspect System is remarkably intuitive in terms of building arrays and aiming them,
and requires no theoretical calculations in order to achieve optimum coverage of a room or
audience space due to its inherent ‘point-and-shoot’ nature, there may well be situations
where some prior knowledge of a venue can save time in setting up and configuring the PA.
In order to aid in this process, Turbosound offers the GigMate™ software acoustic simulation
package, a version of the generic EASE Focus program that is based on current EASE 4.1
data.
GigMate™ provides an accurate elevation representation of sound pressure level and
coverage of a room, given the dimensions of the audience areas and location of available
rigging points in the venue. The database allows for flown clusters of TA-890 touring or TA-
880 trapezoidal enclosures, or for ground stacked arrays.
Running Turbosound GigMate / EASE Focus for the first time:
When you first start the program you must set the system file that it is to use. The installation
files include two Turbosound Aspect System files as shown below:
Select the Trapezoidal version of Aspect.
You will now be presented with the GigMate main screen.

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The screen is split into four main areas:
System Setup
The left hand side of the screen is where you define the system, auditorium and project. Tabs
On the bottom of this window allow you to toggle between modes.
Mapping Properties
This is the main window which will display the system as configured in the System Setup
window along with the audience areas and mappings.
Audience Area
Beneath the main Mapping Properties window this graphically displays the SPL on each
audience area, or across a combination of audience areas.
Rigging
The far right window shows the detail of the system configuration and is especially useful in
larger venues where the speakers shown in the main window become very small.

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Designing a system
To design a system begin by defining the venue/audience areas by clicking on the “Audience
Area” tab in the bottom left of the screen.
Within this window you can edit or remove existing audience areas, and create new ones.
There are two methods of defining an audience area. In either case you must define the
X1/Y1 coordinate of the start of the area, you can then either enter the X2/Y2 points or its
length and angle.
As you create audience areas they are show graphically in the main window.
The next step is to design the loudspeaker array using the System Setup window. Select the
System Setup tab in the bottom left of the screen and begin by choosing the desired flybar or
groundstack in the drop down box at the top left of the window.

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Now select the number of cabinets deep that you wish to hang or stack in the “Box Count”
dropdown. Trim height, or PA wing height can now be set in the “Position” field.
If a mix of Low and High cabinets are to be used then select in the Cabinet window the type
and location in the array of each box. The angle between cabinets can now be set in the
“Angle” list. Each cabinet has an aiming line that can be used to determine the centre of each
cabinet’s dispersion. Adjust the trim height, top angle and intercabinet angle to achieve
optimum coverage.