Hints and tips, Special edition keys | Focal DUAL MANAGER guide

5. Hints and tips

5.1. Special edition keys

When a parameter is edited by selection among a drop-down list of values, some particular keys can be used to navigate through the list:

-[È] and [Í] keys: move one value up or down in the list

-[PageUp] and [PageDown]: move one page up or down in the list

-[Home] and [End]: go to the first or last value in the list

-[Á] and [Ë]: (time delay only) increment or decrement

5.2. Time alignment preserving optimum left/right delay compensation

The time delay section, and how to use it, has been described in paragraph 4.7.

The example chosen as an illustration was the time alignment of front speakers with a subwoofer.

There is another typical case where the use of the delay facility is extremely relevant. Indeed at one particular listening position (that is, on one particular seat) the left and right acoustic sources are never equidistant. As a result the sound stage is distorted and “biased” towards one side, if no compensation is applied. It is easy to do so with Dual Manager, however it can only be done in Administrator mode.

First assess the respective distances between the left and right sources and the targeted listening position. If the left-hand source is at the shortest distance, then it is the one to be delayed. Assuming the left source is driven by the left amplifier channel, in the OUTPUT CHANNEL SELECTOR click on the Amplifier L button.

Adjust the delay (as described in 4.7) to the value matching the difference in distances between the left and right sources.

It is important to be aware that, unlike the other parameters, the difference in time delay between left and right will be preserved afterwards if the two channels are treated together as a stereo set-up.

Forexample,let’sconsiderthepreviouscasewheretheAmplifierleftchannelhasbeensetto-say-1msdelay,andthe Amplifier right delay to 0 (this operation requiring Administrator mode). If we now click on the Amplifier L/R button, only the smallest of the two delay values will be displayed, i.e. 0ms. If we then increase this value to - say -4.4ms, the right channel will effectively be delayed by 4.4ms, but the actual left channel delay will be (1.0 + 4.4) = 5.4ms. This can be checked if (returning to Administrator mode) we select the Amplifier L button.

This scheme allows to keep a left/right delay compensation (hence preserving a balanced sound stage) while adjusting and optimizing the time alignment between Amplifier and Line out channels.

5.3. Remote controller LED codes

On the remote controller the status of the front panel LEDs corresponds to specific situations, as detailed below.

-one LED on: Dual Monitor amplifier in stand alone mode, configured as Preset with number corresponding to LED position (1 to 5)

-two leftmost LED flashing: system start-up in progress, after power on

-four LEDs on: amplifier connected to PC under control of Dual Manager software

-all five LEDs on: firmware upgrade is in progress

-other status: error.