Classe Audio CP-500 manual

Owner’ s Manual CP-500 Preamplifier[...]

NO TICE All of us at Classé take extreme care to ensur e that your purchase will remain a priz ed investment. W e are pr oud to inform you that all Classé components have been officially appro ved for the Eur opean Community (CE) mark. This means that your Classé product was subjected to the most rigorous manufacturing and safety tests in the w[...]

Important Safety Instructions 1. Read these instructions. 2. Keep these instructions. 3. Heed all warnings. 4. F ollo w all instructions. 5. Do not use this apparatus near water . 6. Clean only with dry cloth. 7. Do not block any ventilation openings. I nstall in accordance with the manufactur er ’ s instr uctions. 8. Do not install near any heat[...]

4 Contents W elcome to the Classé family .......................................................................... 5 a word about installation .......................................................................... 5 Unpacking and Placement ............................................................................... 6 unpacking y our preamp[...]

5 W elcome to the Classé family Congratulations on your purchase of a Classé product. I t is the r esult of many years of continuous refinement, and we ar e sure that y ou will enjoy it for many years to come. W e value our relationship with our customers. Please allow us to stay in touch with you by returning y our warranty card no w , before y[...]

6 Unpac king and Placement unpacking y our preamplifier Carefully unpack your pr eamplifier according to the supplied instructions, and remo ve all accessories from the carton. Important! Keep all packing materials for future transport of your Classé product. Shipping y our new component in an ything other than its purpose-designed packing mater[...]

7 register y our pur c hase! Having found the serial number , now would be a good time to fill out the registration car d. Please register your pur chase so we can advise you of updates and other items of interest. I t will take only a minute or so. Please complete the car d no w , before you forget. oper ating v oltage The CP-500 preamplifier is[...]

8 w arm up/break-in period Y our new Classé power preamplifier will deliv er outstanding performance immediately . How ever , you should expect to hear it impro ve somewhat as it reaches its normal operating temperatures and its v arious components “break-in.” I t has been our experience that the greatest changes occur within the first 300 h[...]

9 Special Design F eatures flexible gr aphical user interface The LCD touchscreen on the front panel of y our new component supports an extremely flexible and versatile graphical user interface (GUI) while maintaining a clean, uncluttered appearance. The CP-500 provides a range of controls that might otherwise require dozens of buttons and knobs [...]

10 extensi ve listening tests Ex cellent measured performance is to be expected in world-class products, and Classé products deliver that performance. Ho wever , experience has shown that technical excellence alone is insufficient to guarantee subjectively musical r esults. F or this reason, all Classé pr oducts are laboriously fine-tuned durin[...]

11     F ront P anel 1 Standb y button & LED indicator The front panel S tandby button will toggle the preamplifier betw een oper ate , its fully operational state, and a standby mode that leaves the preamplifier off , yet ready to r espond to system commands via any of the suppor[...]

12 2 Menu button P ressing the front panel M enu button will call up the main menu system , replacing the normal operational menu and status display in the LCD touchscreen. 3 LCD touchscr een M uch of your interaction with the CP-500 will be via the L CD touchscreen (and the CP-500’ s supplied remote control). It will usually display the various [...]

13 In addition to receiving IR commands, the CP-500 can also transmit IR commands so they may be learned by third-party learning remote contr ols. The CP-500 includes a comprehensive list of discr ete IR commands to facilitate the creation of reliable macr os. S pecifically , there are discrete codes for all commands that normally operate as toggl[...]

14 Rear P anel 1 T ape Input Connect the analog outputs of any recor ding device (analog tape recor der , digital tape recor der , CD recorder , etc.) you may have to these single-ended R CA connectors. Y ou may select to hear the output of your recor ding device by touching the tape button on the main operational screen of the CP-500. 2 Single-end[...]

15 4 Balanced (XLR) inputs These XLR jacks accept right-channel and left-channel balanced signals from source equipment with balanced outputs. Either of these inputs may be selected by touching the corresponding button on the main operational screen of the LCD touchscr een. The pin assignments of the XLR-type female input connectors are: Pin 1: S i[...]

16 7 Balanced (XLR) main outputs These XLR outputs provide a high quality , balanced stereo analog signal to your pow er amplifier . Connect them to corresponding balanced inputs on your pow er amplifier , using shielded high-quality balanced interconnects. Y our Classé dealer can provide assistance in selecting appr opriate balanced cables for [...]

17 8 RS-232 Control P ort This DB-9 connector has two purposes: • downloading new operating software into your pr eamplifier (should new features ever be added, for example) • external control of your preamplifier b y control systems such as i-Command ™ , AMX ® and Crestron ™ F or more information, please contact y our dealer and ask abo[...]

18 11 DC T rigger Input and Output Many audio/video components can supply a DC control v oltage to associated equipment in order to induce desir ed behavior . Y our Classé preamplifier can take advantage of these capabilities in or der to be switched between oper ate and standby automatically , usually in concer t with the A/V preamp itself . The[...]

19 T he Remote Control Y our new preamplifier comes with a versatile r emote control which can control both the CP-500 itself and several aspects of the rest of a Classé-based system. The buttons are arranged in logical groups accor ding to their functions. 1 Basic Functions This section along the top of the remote control groups four functions t[...]

20 3 Navigation K e ys The central section of the remote control contains the navigation keys. This array of buttons is similar to what you may have seen on remote controls for D VD players, and is used for navigation of the menu system of the CP-500. • Home r eturns you to the normal input selection controls normally shown on the L CD screen on [...]

21 T he Menu System Y our CP-500 includes a versatile L CD touchscr een which supports both an attractive information display and a flexible menu system. While its use is quite intuitive, it is also quite extensive. This section of the owner’ s manual outlines the many capabilities found in the menu system. oper ational menu The operational menu[...]

22 main menu system P ressing the front panel M enu button to the left of the LCD touchscr een brings up a comprehensive main menu system , the top two levels of which ar e shown above. This menu provides access to many installation-specific featur es that let you customize ho w the CP-500 works within the context of your particular system. system[...]

23 rotary The rotary knob on the front panel does not directly control the volume. Instead, it controls cir cuitry that does so with greater fidelity and precision than traditional volume potentiometers could ever achieve. Since the volume contr ol circuitry is under software control, it is possible to customize its behavior under various conditio[...]

24 Of course, it is possible to bump into the knob by accident, which might result in its spinning very quickly indeed. Rather than increasing the volume uncontrollably under these conditions, the CP-500 actually slows ev erything down again as a safety measure against accidentally blo wing your speakers. I n fact, if you like you may establish a s[...]

25 • speed limit: establishes a maximum rotary speed, beyond which there will be no change in volume whatsoever; the knob ’ s input will be ignored completely until it is first stopped, and then rotated at a slow er speed. • reset defaults: if after experimenting with v arious settings you decide you prefer it the way it operated as it came [...]

26 • The t button acts like the backspace key on a computer keyboard, mo ving the cursor to the left and eliminating any characters along the way . • The u button moves the cursor to the right, adding characters along the way . (Change each character to what you want as you go along, using the + and – buttons.) • The + and – buttons chang[...]

27 phono gain The phono gain menu is only active if the optional phono module is installed; otherwise it is grayed out. When it is installed, the CP-500 will automatically recognize it, r ename the line 1 input to phono , and activate the input on the main menu. Setting the phono gain is simple enough: choose lo w gain for most moving magnet cartri[...]

28 teach IR The CP-500 provides discr ete infrared (IR) command codes for all its functions, a list that extends far beyond what is requir ed by normal remote contr ols. Ho wever , many of these functions are critical if you plan to create a customized remote control with macros that take command of y our entire system. Without these discrete codes[...]

29 brightness The brightness setting of the CP-500 has three possible values: lo w , medium, and high . Select the appropriate setting based on the lev el of ambient light typically found in your listening room while using the system. A high brightness setting usually works best in brightly-lit rooms; you may find that a lo wer setting is less vis[...]

30 remote Fke ys The remote control supplied with the CP-500 has four function keys (Fke ys) that allow you to hav e instant, easy access to specific system functions that might otherwise be buried in a menu some where. F or example, if you use the balance contr ol frequently , you may want to consider programming one of the Fkeys to take you stra[...]

31 status The status screen pro vides several items of information about the curr ent operation status of the CP-500, as well as access to information on the software used in and the internal sensors of the CP-500. version info The v ersion info button on the status screen takes you to the v ersion information scr een, which displays information on[...]

32 T roubleshooting In general, you should r efer any service problems to your Classé dealer . Before contacting your dealer , check to see if the problem is listed here. If it is, try the suggested solutions. If none of these solves the problem, contact y our Classé dealer . 1. Ev er ything appears to be on, but there is no sound. • Adjust the[...]

33 • If your preamplifier was plugged in pr operly , tr y the following: put it in standby , switch off the main power switch in the back, and unplug the unit for at least thirty seconds before trying to power it up again. (Sometimes a br ownout of short-term loss of pow er might requir e a r estart.) Important! Make sure to power down y our pow[...]

34 5. T her e is a hum coming out of the speakers. • If you are running single-ended interconnects, make sur e they are not running alongside any AC po wer cords. • If you are running single-ended interconnects, make sur e they are not too long. Long runs of single-ended interconnects have a natural tendency to pick up noise even if they are sh[...]

35 Car e and Maintenance cleaning the cabinet T o remove dust fr om the cabinet of your preamplifier , use a feather duster or a soft, lint-free cloth. T o remove dirt and fingerprints, we r ecommend isopropyl alcohol and a soft cloth. Dampen the cloth with alcohol first and then lightly clean the surface of the preamplifier with the cloth. Do [...]

36 Specifications All specifications are accurate at the time of printing. Classé reserves the right to make improv ements without notice. ■ F requenc y response DC – 200kHz ± 0.1dB ■ Distortion (THD + noise) 0.003% ■ Maximum input voltage (single-ended) 5V rms ■ Maximum input voltage (balanced) 10V rms ■ Maximum output voltage (sin[...]

37 Dimensions           [...]

Classé Audio 5070 F rançois C usson Lachine, Quebec Canada H8T 1B3 +1 (514) 636-6384 +1 (514) 636-1428 (fax) http://www .classeaudio.com email: cservice@classeaudio.com Copyright © 2006 Classé Audio I nc. P rinted in Canada. v2.5 080906[...]