Xtreme XTO User manual

X-ONE
X-ONE
User’s manual
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X-ONE
X-ONE
User’s manual
1. General information
X-ONE is a new generation of flexible professional loudspeaker
systems suitable for a wide range of applications. The line features 3
models providing a solution for different uses. These lightweight and
totally modular systems can meet any performance need both in fixed
and mobile installations. They offer the same quality and reliability of
all X-Treme products, targeted at high-level professional perform-
ances since the business unit was first launched. They include top-
quality components such as Neodymium loudspeakers with a Kapton
wound coil and a Titanium driver. The internal crossover grids are
extremely selective to obtain the most natural timbre effect at medium
frequencies, which play an important role in improving voice scatter-
ing and in achieving excellent musical clarity.
Fig.1 XTO speaker
The XTO is a two-way loudspeaker system with a 15’’ woofer and a
1.4’’ driver within a coaxial structure. The advantage of this system
is that it allows the same sound diffusion as a point source, generat-
ing a clear and transparent sound by creating a coherent wavefront,
while limiting the phenomena resulting from secondary lobes. More-
over, the point source system - with a single sound source - ensures
an extremely linear frequency response all over the space around the
speaker because the paths between the sound source and the lis-
tening point always maintain the same distance for all the frequency
range. As a result, the so-called “holes” in the frequency response
are completely avoided in all listening points.
Another original and innovative element of this loudspeaker system
is the horn designed by X-Treme engineers and equipped with a Ti-
tanium 1.4’’ driver coaxially fitted on a 15’’ Neodimium loudspeaker.
The system allows for a coverage with a 60-degree scattering angle
both on the horizontal and vertical planes.
The small-sized and lightweight cabinet is made of 3/4’’ (19 mm)
birch plywood painted with a special hot-applied bi-component
scratch-resistant paint which makes the system highly resistant to
weather conditions. The cabinet is equipped with flying points so that
the system can be used in as many as 12 different positions. This is
X-Treme’s philosophy: offering users a product easy to be managed
thanks to quick and safe installation.
The system can reproduce a frequency range from 50 to 20k Hz,
it shows 8 Ohm nominal impedance and is able to handle musical
power up to 1600 Watt. It can be used individually in a full range
configuration which allows for a 60° X 60° coverage, or as a stage
monitor both in near-field and far-field configurations thanks to the
different orientations of the cabinet and a wide frequency response.
CONTENTS
1. General information
2. Instructions for correct use
3. Safety instructions
4. Stacked or flying system?
5. Stacking guidelines
6. Subwoofers
7. General Guidelines for the use of subwoofers
8. Amplification
9. Connectors
10. Cable lengths
11. System configurations
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User’s manual
By matching different speakers, both simple and more complex clus-
ters can be created, whether horizontally or vertically arranged. This
is made easier by the extremely simple geometry of the cabinet. For
flown or stacked arrays, the scattering angle of the whole system
increases by 60° for each additional element, both horizontally and
vertically.
Fig. 2 XTOS subwoofer
In order to achieve a “deeper” sound diffusion, a XTOS subwoofer
can be added to the XTO system to achieve further enhancement
at low frequencies. The XTOS is equipped with a high-dynamic 15”
woofer with a direct radiation configuration which is able to repro-
duce a frequency range from 35 to 200 Hz and a musical power up
to 2000 W with 8 Ohm nominal impedance. The cabinet has been
designed to make the combination with other speakers of the same
line as easy as possible. It can be easily arrayed with an XTO speaker
both in horizontal and vertical arrangements. By using specific ac-
cessories, a “sat+sub” configuration can be made between the XTO
and XTOS systems to obtain a sound scattering free of any distortion
and enriched at low frequencies.
Fig. 3 Double subwoofer XTODS
The XTODS double subwoofer completes the X-ONE line to achieve
high enhancement at low frequencies while maintaining excellent ef-
ficiency and reduced distortion. It is equipped with two 15” woofers
arranged in a reflex configuration with 4 Ohm nominal impedance
and it is able to reproduce musical power of up to 4000 Watt. The
cabinet has been designed to make matching with other speakers of
the same line as easy as possible. It is built in birch plywood covered
with a special scratch and weather-resistant paint. The front panel is
provided with a sturdy metal grid covered by an acoustically trans-
parent sponge material. It can be arranged both horizontally and ver-
tically on the floor and, by using specific accessories, it can hold one
or two XTO satellites in each position.
The double subwoofer XTODS can offer significant enhancement at
low frequencies and excellent “punch” effect. Moreover, in combina-
tion with other components, it makes the line complete, flexible and
suitable for a wide range of applications.
Fig. 4 Sat+sub configuration (2XTO+1XTODS)
2. Instructions for correct use
The X-ONE loudspeaker systems can be used both at floor level
as well as suspended. The double subwoofer XTODS is available
for the floor installation only, and can be arranged both horizontally
and vertically. A homogenous horizontal coverage without any phase
interference is made possible by choosing a configuration made up
of XTO and XTOS systems. Floor stacks are generally arranged by
positioning the loudspeakers directly one on top of the other. In this
way a coupling effect is produced at medium-high frequencies that
increases vertical directivity and allows an extraordinary coverage,
even over long distances. By means of a flying system, vertical sus-
pended clusters made up of two or more XTO speakers can be cre-
ated. If XTOS subs are added to the array, further boost at low fre-
quencies will be achieved. The high flexibility of the X-ONE line allows
“sat+sub” configurations to be created using either one XTO speaker
plus one XTOS subwoofer or two XTO speakers plus one XTODS
double subwoofer. By matching different X-ONE speakers, horizontal
clusters can be created in order to extend diffusion to a larger area
compared to that covered by a single element - the cabinet suits
perfectly this purpose.
Generally speaking, the X-ONE line offers a wide range of configura-
tions which can be adapted to any sound event venue.
3. Safety instructions
It is really important to use the loudspeaker systems in compliance
with safety rules. The professional loudspeakers produce extreme-
ly high sound levels and therefore they have to be used with care.
Hearing loss is cumulative and can be a consequence of prolonged
exposure to sound pressure levels higher than 90 dB. Never stand
close to loudspeakers operating at high volume. For stacking, ensure
that the floor or stage is level and solid. Do not stack the speakers
too-high outdoors, where winds could topple the stack. Flying sys-
tems should only be assembled by trained and skilled personnel, work-
ing in cooperation with professional riggers. All cluster systems must be
suspended to safe and properly load rated rigging points.
4. Stacked or flying system?
Although flying systems are generally preferred by most sound engi-
neers, there are good arguments to support both solutions. In many
cases the answer is dictated by logistics that are venue-specific,
i.e.sometimes it is simply impossible to lift PA.
Stacking on-stage lowers the perceived sound image to stage level
which is beneficial in small venues. Stacking also offers more low
frequency SPL due to enhanced floor coupling.
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X-ONE
In addition, for geometric reasons a stacked cluster can provide
more extended vertical coverage than a flying one. For these rea-
sons, stacking makes sense in small configurations where only a few
elements can optimize audience coverage.
Flying is the best solution to achieve uniform sound pressure level
in case the number of elements arrayed is sufficient to provide, over
the entire audience, the necessary front-to-rear coverage. Flying is
also an excellent solution for sightline problems that commonly oc-
cur and provides better high frequency penetration into the audience
with reduced shadowing effects. For flying configurations, additional
speakers are added to cover center or front-fill requirements and to
help pull the localization image down towards the stage for the first
10-20 rows of the audience.
5. Stacking guidelines
The FOH engineer must know if the audience is standing or seated,
but, in any case, the bottom of the cluster should always be higher
than the heads of the audience in the first rows and the lowest ele-
ment tilted downwards. If the bottom of the cluster (consisting of
XTO speakers) is too low, the first rows could receive too high level
of SPL because audience members directly in front of the system act
as an acoustic screen for the rows behind them (shadowing).
Ideally, the MF-HF speakers should be positioned slightly above the
audience (in any case not lower than 2 m or 6.5 ft above floor level),
with a proper volume regulation as necessary.
Note: for extended bandwidth applications, a stack of 2 XTODS
double subwoofers - placed one on top of the other - provides a
stable stacking platform at a height of 1.05 m above ground level.
6. Subwoofers
Subwoofers are used to extend the frequency response of the XTO
system down to 30 Hz and to increase the overall SPL (without wors-
ening the potential audience hearing loss).
7. General Guidelines for the use of subwoofers
The number of subwoofers to be used depends on 3 parameters:
1) Number of XTO Elements. The standard number of XTOS sub-
woofers recommended is a 1:1 ratio and for XTODS subwoofers is
a 2:1 ratio (2 upper modules - 1 subwoofer).
2) Type of Program being reproduced. Standard subwoofer ratios
are recommended for classical music or corporate events. For these
applications, subwoofers act as a low frequency extension for XTO
and provide approximately 6 dB of low frequency contour. In this case,
the overall system will function as a 3-way extended bandwidth in bi-or
tri-amplification. For more demanding rock music applications, a ratio
of 1:2 (1 XTO - 2 XTOS) is recommended to provide a more suitable
low frequency contour (e.g. 2:4, 4:8, 8:16).
3) Type of Venue or Installation. The number of subwoofers is
standard when ground-stacked in open-air places.
8. Amplification
X-ONE loudspeaker systems are designed to be used with profes-
sional amplifiers able to produce the following outputs:
XTO: 800 W MF-HF (@ 8 Ohm)
XTOS: 1000 W LF (@ 8 Ohm)
XTODS: 2000 W LF (@ 4 Ohm)
Care should be taken to avoid amplifiers clipping. It is important to un-
derstand that a low power amplifier driven into clipping is more likely to
damage a loudspeaker than a higher power amplifier used within its rat-
ings. This is because music signals have a high peak-to-average “crest”
factor. When an amplifier is severally overdriven, its output waveform is
clipped (its peaks are squared off) - reducing the crest factor.
In extreme cases, the waveform can approach that of a square wave.
An amplifier is normally able to consume far more electric power un-
der these conditions than its undistorted rated power output.
The use of very high power amplifiers with output greater than those
recommended is discouraged.
Care should be taken to avoid switch-on surges, which can result in
momentary power peaks in excess of specified ratings. When pow-
ering up a sound system it is important to switch on the amplifiers
only after electric supply of the mixer and the control electronics have
stabilised. For the system powering down reverse the sequence by
switching off the power amplifiers first.
9. Connectors
The rear panel of XTO, XTOS and XTODS loudspeakers are fitted
with two Neutrik Speakon NL4 connectors.
All four pins of each connector are wired in parallel. The XTO uses
poles 2+/2- for mid-hi section in double amplification. The 1+/1-
poles are designed for woofer in bi-amp or for in full range system
with passive filter, for XTOS subwoofer and XTODS double sub-
woofers. Using the male connector as input, the female connector
allows a direct connection to additional speakers.
PINS 1+ 1- 2+ 2-
NL4
LF+
(XTO LF biamp)
(XTO full range)
LF-
(XTO LF biamp)
(XTO full range)
HF+
(XTO HF biamp)
HF-
(XTO HF biamp)
NL4 (XTOS)
(XTODS)
(XTOS)
(XTODS)
4 pins Speakon connector:
1+: Positive (+) woofer, XTO full range, XTOS, XTODS
1-: Negative (-) woofer, XTO full range, XTOS, XTODS
2+: Positive (+) high, XTO high
2-: Negative (-) high, XTO high
10. Cable lengths
When connecting loudspeakers to an amplifier, it is recommended that
the return resistance of the cable used is lower than one tenth of the
nominal impedance of the loudspeaker or systems in parallel.
The table below gives an indication of the maximum admissible cable
run for various cross-sectional conductors.
Maximum Cable Run
Conductor CSA 4 ohm 8 ohm
1.0 mm211 m 22 m
1.5 mm217 m 34 m
2.0 mm222 m 44 m
2.5 mm229 m 58 m
4.0 mm244 m 88 m
6.0 mm266 m 132 m
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User’s manual
XTODSXTODS
XTOXTO
XTODSXTODS
XTOXTO
11. System configurations
X-ONE loudspeaker systems can be used with analog controllers
which perform system specific equalization, crossover and limiter
functions. More complex set-ups will benefit from the use of XTDT
amplifiers provided with a digital DSP. X-ONE systems can also
be used with XTDP24 Digital Speaker Management System or any
other professional digital controller.
A system like this, operating with amplifiers having the power rating
suggested and used by experienced professional sound engineers,
is sufficiently protected from overdriving. For further information about
limiters threshold setting please refer to the controller’s user guide.
The nominal horizontal coverage pattern of XTO is 60-degrees. This
value is considered to be the optimum one in order to meet the re-
quirements of both small-and-medium size installations.
The crossover frequency recommended for XTOS subwoofers is
lower than 100 Hz.
X-ONE systems, driven by a properly configured controller, provide
an essentially flat on-axis frequency response. Equalizations to com-
pensate particular acoustic conditions of the environment can be
used if required. If the speakers are arrayed in several side by side
clusters, it is possible to obtain benefits from equalization correction
that offsets the effect of the sum of the mid-low frequencies caused
by the use of multiple loudspeaker systems.
Examples:
8 ohm configuration 4 ohm configuration
4-8 ohm configuration
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X-Treme Headquarters:
via Monti Urali, 33 - 42100 Reggio Emilia - Italy
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