Wharfedale DIAMOND 8.1 PRO - Manual (Page 6)

nominal central aim point is recommended. Again, experiment and find a comfortable median
position. Height placement should ideally not be from below, nor typically too high. Be
sensitive to early reflections from control surfaces. Careful placement can reduce the
destructive effects of reflections, diffraction etc. Be aware of placements that can excite cavity
resonances, and look for symmetry from left to right and across the main three screen
channels.
5.1 set-up:
The Left and Right monitors should be placed at 30 degrees either side of the center line of
the set up. The rears should be placed at 110 degrees either side of this line.
The center should be the same distance from the central monitoring point as the left and right
channels. This can be achieved through time delay in many processors or through set-up
where possible. Levels to all channels should be either identical, or with the Left and Right
Surround Channels down set 3dB.
Equalisation:
Whether you have the skills or experience of equipment, it is still essential that EQ is used as
a last resort, or as “icing on the cake” only. Take great care in the set-up and balance of your
systems. Check all levels and placements. Fix flutter echoes, nulls/suck outs, and reso-
nances at source. Then when the system is well integrated to the environment, consider EQ.
Fix acoustic problems acoustically, and electrical problems electrically! Reflections should be
tamed at source and not compensated destructively with an equalizer! Similarly resonances
should be hunted down and cured at source. Take time, listen, look and analyze.
For these reasons, we do not generally recommend the equalization of monitoring systems.
So called “Room EQ” is considerably less necessary with a good Near Field Monitoring (NFM)
system. Since the whole principle of NFM is to remove the influence of room interactions
through the placement of speakers close to the monitoring position, and thus the timing and
level relationship of originating signal to any room reflections allows our built-in psycho-
acoustic processing to “ignore” much of the room effect. Our standard, built-in Human
Psycho-acoustic processor is extremely powerful, and is able to naturally ignore late arriving
signals in favor of the originating source within certain time envelopes. These are generally
15ms and 10-15dB. In NFM applications the close proximity of the speakers means that any
room returns are late, thus ignored! We designed the Diamond Pro to be a naturally balanced
product, with smooth, low Q, changes in radiation pattern over its operating range. All the
transducers were purpose built and integrated into the design as integral parts. The natural
balance of the speaker is such that EQ is detrimental.
System:
The Diamond Pro is a “full range” two way direct radiating, ported loudspeaker system in a
compact and well damped enclosure. All components are specifically design for this system.
The Pro-Active model is a bi-amplified with an active crossover. All components were
designed for optimum performance as a system. Magnetic shielding is provided on the trans-
ducers to allow their use in close proximity to CRT displays.
Drivers:
The Diamond Pro driver complement consists of a 1” or 25mm soft dome high frequency driv-
er, and a 127mm woofer. The woofer uses a sophisticated Kevlar® cone material specially
formed to give exceptional rigidity yet low mass. The extreme “bulletproof” strength of Kevlar®
gives excellent low frequency stiffness for long excursions under very high drive levels from
the voice coil, yet at the same time its low mass means the cone can remain truly pistonic at
extended frequencies. Normal cones are a compromised through being made light in weight to
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