M-Audio Revolution 7.1 manual

Revolution 7.1 Surr ound So und Aud io Card Revie w er’s Gu ide[...]

RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE ii  2003 Midiman Inc. 45 East Saint Joseph Street Arcadia, CA 91006–2861 T elephone: 626.445.2842 To ll Free: 800.969.6434 Fax: 626.445.7564 M-Audio, the M-Audio logo, and Revolution 7.1 are trademarks or registered trademarks of Midiman Inc., for use in the United States and other countries. Other product names may be [...]

RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE iii Content s A Note To Product Reviewers 2 Key Editorial Contacts 3 Today’s Audio Cards: Pro Sound at Low Prices 4 Top 5 Cool Things To Do With The Revolution 7.1 5 About The Revolution 7.1 6 Product Info Box 9 Te sting The Revolution 7.1 10 Product Specifications 28 Bass Management 30 7.1 Surround Sound Receivers 32 DVD [...]

RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 2 A N ote T o Pr oduct R e view ers We’re pleased that you have chos en to review M - Audio’s Revolution 7.1 high-definition surround- sound audio card. It’s a product we are very ex- cited about. T his guide provides you w ith editorial background information to assis t you in writing yo ur r ev iew. It is not, howe v[...]

RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 3 Ke y E d i t oria l C ontact s As you condu ct your r eview, we encourage you to call with questions. T hough we’ve wor ked hard to ensure that you have all t he facts needed to wr ite an accurat e and comprehensive re vi ew, occasionally a qu estion may arise that is n’ t covered in this guide. For publication purpose[...]

RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 4 T oday’ s A udi o Cards: Pro Sound a t Lo w Pri ces Tw o-channe l ste reo just d oesn’t cut i t any mor e as us e r s demand high-quality surr ound sound for their DVD enabled computers OMPU TER audio has come a long way. Just a f ew years ago, PC and Mac users se ttled f or a pair of tinny, low-fidelity, battery-power[...]

RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 5 T op 5 Coo l Thi ngs T o Do Wit h The R e v olut ion 7. 1 Th e Revoluti on 7.1 offers phenomenal high-def inition sound and provides to up eight channe ls of prof ess i onal-quality audio — all for less than $100. But s o what? It’s w hat yo ur re ad ers can do with the product that matter s. Here are some examples you[...]

RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 6 About The R e vol ut ion 7. 1 W ith this car d, gamers, media enthusiasts, and business users can add speakers and super char ge their systems with eight channels of pr o-quality audio HE Re volution 7.1 is half the size of the stereo sound cards of just a few years ago, y et it delivers up to eight se parate channels of s[...]

RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 7 What Makes It So Good? Glad you ask ed—and we’r e sure your readers will want to know , too. Here are the two key factors in achieving superio r sonic performance in the Revolution 7.1. First, we’re using cutting-edge components, including the Envy 24HT chip from Via Technologies and components f rom AKM Semiconducto[...]

RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 8 Outc lasses A udigy 2 At A Lo wer Pric e For a little les s money than Creative’s new Audigy 2 s ound car d, the M-Audio Re volution 7 . 1 offers more audio cha nnels, higher fidelity, lower distortion, and twice the platform support. The following chart compares major specifi cations of the Revoluti on 7.1 with the Crea[...]

RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 9 Underst andin g the 24-bit /192kHz Capa b ility Digital audi o quality depends on bit depth and sample rate. Bit depth re fers to how many bits of information are a vailable to re present each sample, a fact or that trans- lates to dyn amic range. Sa mple rate is how many times per se cond the sound is samp led. The standa[...]

RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 10 Te s t i ng T he R e vol ut ion 7. 1 Ther e’s only one way to check out the featur es of any audio car d, and that’s to install it, load a CD, and listen to the music. “ Oh, baby, let the music play ” — The Doobie Brothers HEN you work with the Revolution 7.1 , it’s important to remember that you’ll be exami[...]

RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 11 To best expe rience the Revolution 7.1’s awesome sound you s hould have: • Seven powered speakers (left, center, r ight, surr ound (2) and rear ( or center) su rr ounds (2). Ideally, you’ll use 6 matched speakers, plus a center speaker designed to wo r k with the other s. You can us e passive speakers with a high- q[...]

RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 12 the best s ound quality or balanc e poss ible, it is an inexpe nsive and quick way to upgrade a consumer 5.1 speaker set to 7. 1. Hardw are Set-Up Simply install the Re volution 7. 1 in an available PCI slot i n a Macintosh or PC. Next, you’ll connect the spea kers. Finally, reboot the sys tem and ins t all the softwa r[...]

RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 13 Connection Color Coding Digital Output (orange) S/PDIF Coaxial output. To use, purchase an RCA or Coaxial Digital cable for connection to a digital re- corder, mixer, or receiver. Mic In (pink) Connect a microphone for recording, videophone, or voice-recognition applications. Jack is a 3- conductor TRS-type for condenser [...]

RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 14 Use a 1⁄ 8” t o RCA cab le to co nnect with speak ers or re ceiver s outfi tted with RCA jack s. T he white connect or ( top ) connects to th e fir st l isted cha nne l, th e red jack to the se cond. For ex ample, with the or ang e Center/S ub wo of er j ack, the w hit e jac k goes to the Center speaker, the red t o t[...]

RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 15 Speaker Configurations 2.0 Left, right “2.1” Left, right with subwoofer (no discrete subwoofer input) 2.1 Left, right; discrete subwoofer 4.0 Left, right, two surrounds 4.1 Left, right, two surrounds; subwoofer 5.0 Left, right, center; two surrounds 5.1 Left, right, center; two surrounds, sub woofer 6.1 Left, right, c[...]

RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 16 Spea ker Pl ac emen t Gu ide 5.1 Surround Sound 7.1 Surround Sound Q “What’s the difference between 6.1 and 7.1?” A For today’s cinema content, it’s fir st important to note the dis tinction between the number of audio channels en c oded in the content, and the sp eaker configuration on which that content is to [...]

RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 17 Q “What content is available in 6. 1 or 7.1?” A With Microso f t’s January 2003 launch of Windows Media Audio 9 Profess ional, both music a nd movie content will be availa ble in 7.1 sur- r ound s ound (in addition to 5.1) . Circle Surround II generates a 7.1 content mix from any stereo source, Pro Logic, or Circle [...]

RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 18 Spe ake r Se tup (Mac ). Indic ates numbe r of inst alled speake rs , t hei r sizes, dist ances from the lis t ener, crossove r fre- quency, and more. Specify ing more speaker s than are connect ed may cause sound to be rou ted to non- existent spe aker s, resu lt ing in au dio information being unhear d. Th e “Test” [...]

RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 19 Surround Sound (Mac intosh ). Con- tro ls a ll su rround f unctions, inclu d ing Sensaura ( PC), TruS ur round XT, Circl e Surro und II , Dia log Enhance- ment, and Tr uB ass. Refer to the fo l- lowing “L iste ning Test s” section o f thi s gu ide for de- ta iled info rmation and suggeste d evaluation pro ce - dures. [...]

RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 20 Listening T ests With the R evolution 7.1, the proof is in the listening. Ideally, you would have two computers that are identical in every way except fo r the sound card install ed. Th is will allow y ou to make direct A-B co mpar isons with Revolution 7.1 and the com- peting sound car d of your choice. If not, you’ll [...]

RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 21 2. Open the Revolution control panel software, and select the “ Sen- sa ura/Game Mode” option in the “Surround Sound” pane. 3. La unch the game and choose a positio nal audio s etting in the game’s audio settin gs such as DirectSound or EAX 2. 4. Play the game, listening to both the a udio quality and the i mmer[...]

RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 22 Test 4: Surround Sound on Stereo Speakers Th ese tes ts demonstrate virtual surround s ound through stereo s p eakers using SRS TruSurr ound XT. It’s perf ect for users who have only two speakers or headphones c onnected to their system. Th e software can create an enhanced s ound mix from either an or iginal 5. 1 surro[...]

RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 23 Test 5: DVD Surround Decode Th is te st sh ows the Revolution 7. 1’s ability to decode Dolby Digital a nd Dolby Digital EX encoded s ur round sound us ing the included WinDVD 4 DVD player. Th is illus trates how the Revolution 7.1 can be used with any surround speakers or receiver , even if they do not have a built- in [...]

RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 24 II technology (These tes ts work with Windows Me/2000/XP, and both Mac OS 9 and X. ) 1. C onnect the Revolution 7.1 to a surround-sound receiver or p owered speak- ers using the analog audio outputs. Choos e the speaker set in the Revolution C ontr ol Pane l that most closely matc hes your speaker setup. Depending on your[...]

RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 25 4. Audition a song from a CD or high-quality s ter eo WMA or MP3 f ile using a media player such as iT unes or Windows Media Player. 5. Op en the Rev olution Control Pa nel an d turn on Circle Surroun d II’s “Mu- si c” mode in the “Surround Sound” pane. 6. Li st en to the same song again. While any music will be[...]

RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 26 Re volution 7 . 1’s sound quality. Revo lution’s sound quality r esults do not rely on brick wall f ilters during testing, or muting circuitry to reduc e noise when n o audio is playing, or on any other “s moke a nd mirrors” tricks that manufacture r s may use to i nf late their audio quality m eas ur ements. S om[...]

RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 27 RightMark Audio Analyzer Testing Please see t he section above for more not es on tes t conf iguration. We highly rec- ommend using RMAA version 5.0 or later as it has more accura te test capabilities. For RM AA 4. 3: 1. Open RMAA an d the Revolution control panel. 2. In the Re vol ution contr ol panel’ s "S peaker[...]

RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 28 Pro duct Speci fi ca ti ons The follo wing series of charts lists all technical specif ications for the M-Audio Re volution 7.1 high-definition surround sound audio card. Specifications are sub- ject to change without notice due to continuing product improvement programs. Hardware Features Output 8 analog channel line out[...]

RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 29 Product Speci fications (cont’d.) Audio Performance Line Outs Dynamic Range 106 dB (typical, -60 dB input, a-weighted) Signal-to-Noise Ratio 107 dB (typical, a-weighted) THD 0.003% (i.e., -90dB) Max. Line Output Level 1.26 Vrms (+2 dBV) Frequency Response +0.8/-0.0 dB, 20 Hz to 20 kHz +0.8/-3.0 dB, 20 Hz to 80 kHz Cross[...]

RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 30 Product Speci fications (cont’d.) Minimum System Requirements With SRS Circle Surround II disabled PC 200MHz Pentium with MMX 64 MB RAM Windows Me, Windows 2000, or Windows XP Macintosh PCI-based PowerMac with built-in USB 64 MB RAM Mac OS 9.2.2 or OS X (10.1.5 for Dolby Digital pass-through) With SRS Circle Surround 7.[...]

RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 31 Th e power of Revolution’s bass manag eme nt technology is that it provides more control over bass than mos t high-end s ur round sound r eceivers . It is pos sible to se t the crossove r at “none” f or your fu l l -range fr ont left/right speakers, a 40Hz cross- over for the s ur round left/right, a 60Hz cross over[...]

RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 32 maintain the flatt est leve l balance, bu t you sho uld optimize all of your output levels to r educ e th e ch ance of ove rloading y our spe aker system. I f y ou notice no volume drop when bass managemen t is enabled , or only a slight volume drop on the sub- woofer , this is the bass mana gement sch eme used in your Re[...]

RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 33 D VD T est Scenes Th e followin g chart identifies scene s that are great f or auditioning s ur round sound. Th e DVD chap ters below highlight one or more significant parts of the surround audio experience or another: bass, direc tional audio, environm ental audio, audio clarity, dynamic r ange, etc. Titles designa ted ?[...]

RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 34 Suggested DVD Viewing DVD Title Scene Chapter Comments Support* Channels (environmental only) U571 Depth Charge 15 Room shaking explosions and bass. Great environ- mental audio. DD 5.1 IMAX Super Speedway Michael An- dretti Test Drive 21/22 Great directional and positional audio- Great visuals. DD 5.1 5.1 Toy Story 2: Toy[...]

RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 35 Musi c List eni ng Sample s Th e recordings listed in the following chart are gr eat for auditioning s ound quality and stereo-to-surround conversion. Items ch ecked “C SI I” are excellent for Circle Surround I I playback. Music with a “ hard center” r ecording s tyle may not pr ovide much surround separa tion whe[...]

RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 36 Addi tion al R esources Both Dolby L ab orato ries an d Dig ital Theat er Syst ems (DTS) ar e an excell ent s ource o f technic al inform ation r egarding surr ound sound. You ma y find the f ollowing links usef ul. Dolby Expl ains 5. 1 vs. 6.1 vs. 7.1: dolby.c us thelp.com/c gi-bin/dolby .c fg/php/enduser/s td_adp.php?p_[...]

RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 37 Com pany Bac kgrounde r M- Audio, Inc (formerly Midiman Inc. ) was founded in 1988 with the goal of of- fering compl ete audio solutions to meet th e needs of r ecording artists, audio profes- si onals, and consumers. To achieve t his goal, the company leverages cutting-edge, high-quality technology, of fering f e atures [...]

RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 38 Pre ss R ele ase M-AUDIO LAUNCHES INDUSTRY’S FIRST HIGH-DEFINITION 7.1 SURROUND SOUND CARD Revolution 7.1 delivers up to eight channels of pristine quality, 24-bit/192kHz audio for immersive music, movies and games. Arcadia, Calif., December 9, 2002—M-Audio today announced Re volution 7.1, the firs t high- de f initio[...]

RE VIE WE R’S G UI DE 39 that brings home wha t the filmmakers intended to be heard, even if additiona l sp eakers are not present. Re volution 7 . 1 is also des igned with gamers in mind. Ultra-rea listic 3D positional audio makes player s feel like th ey’re r eally in the gam e whi l e pr oviding the extr a advantage of hearing exactly where [...]