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Frequently Asked Questions

Does a N8000 or N8000-1500 chassis come with any input or output cards already installed?
NetMax is a fully modular DSP and hardware system. This means that a user can configure any combination of input and output cards to suit their needs. However, as the entire system is modular, the N8000 and N8000-1500 chassis do not include any input or output cards-these are specified and ordered as separate items. Please contact EV Technical Services or your dealer for assistance in configuring a package that is just right for you.

How do I decide how powerful of an amplifier I should use to drive my loudspeakers?
There are many variables that can go into choosing the right amplifier to match with a loudspeaker. Some of the most important information to know first is what the continuous power rating of your loudspeaker is, and what its nominal impedance is. A good rule of thumb is to select an amplifier that can deliver 100%-200% of the loudspeaker’s continuous power rating at its nominal impedance. As an example, a Zx4 is rated at 400W, continuous and has an 8-ohm nominal impedance. The Q99 is rated at 400W into an 8-ohm load and the Q1212 is rated at 550W into an 8-ohm load, so either of these models would be good choices.

How do I properly set the Wireless “Gain”?

  1. Before the audio connections are even made or with the PA system muted, simply sing or scream into the microphone as loudly as it will ever be used in performance in this application. (For guitar systems, turn the gains on the guitar to maximum and hit the hardest note that will be used in concert)
  2. Then adjust the gain on the transmitter until the audio meter peaks in the usable range.
  3. Make the audio connections and use the mixing board or amplifier to set the appropriate audio levels for the PA. For a guitar/instrument wireless system, use the receiver output level adjustment to match the “wired” instrument output level.

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How do I set up my subwoofers for the best performance and avoid “power alleys”?
There are several techniques that can be used for setting up and configuring subwoofers, depending on which model and how many you are using. This article explains some of these techniques and demonstrates some of the tools available from EV to get the most out of your rig in any venue.

How does loudspeaker damage occur, and how can I protect my system?
Loudspeaker damage generally falls into two categories-thermal failure and mechanical failure. Protecting you system is a matter of choosing the proper equipment, setting it up correctly and operating it within its capabilities. This article from EV Engineering explains the intricate relationships between loudspeakers, amplifiers and DSP and provides insight into the causes of loudspeaker damage and how to keep your system running faithfully.

How many DC-Ones can I control from a single PC?
The DC-One Editor software allows a user to control 1 (one) DC-One directly from a PC. However, the DC-One features Master/Slave mode, which will allow you to connect a second, slaved DC-One to the master unit that is controlled by the PC. In this way, the settings and adjustments made to the first unit are reflected in the slave unit as well. Please refer to the DC-One User Manual for more information on Master/Slave mode and settings.

What are some guidelines for general microphone use?

  • Always point the microphone at the desired source and away from sources of unwanted sound.
  • The microphone should be located close to the sound source to minimize interference from other potential sound sources.
  • Use the three-to-one rule when using multiple microphones: place each microphone three times farther away from other microphones as it is from the desired sound source. (If the microphone is 1‘ away from a sound source, it should be 3’ away from the next closest microphone).
  • Minimize over-handling of the microphone to reduce unwanted mechanical noise.
  • Positioning the microphone close to the sound source will increase gain-before-feedback and will also increase the bass tone of the signal.

What are some guidelines for microphone techniques for musical instruments?
Miking techniques are a matter of personal preference. Choosing the right microphone for your application is a good place to start, and the suggested mic notes in each application below indicate EV mics that are either designed for the application or have been recommended by experienced professionals for their performance as described. These are merely guidelines to assist in the choice and placement of the microphone to achieve optimal performance.

UsageBest Mic PlacementSuggested EV Mic
Kick DrumDue to the unique nature of kick drums and placement, choosing a mic that is designed for kick drum and low-frequency instruments is recommended. Miking from the front of the drum (opposite the batter head) is preferred.
Front heads with hole: Place the mic inside the hole so that the capsule (mesh grille area) is just inside the interior of the drum. Aim the capsule at an angle toward the spot on the batter head where the beater makes contact for desired snap (attack of the sound).
Front heads without a hole: Aiming the capsule directly on-axis to the front head and within 1” of the head, choosing a spot that is between 2” and 8” towards the center from the rim. The center of the head has the floppiest tone, and the edge will have the tightest.
Kick drum with no front head: This allows the widest variety of placement options, but increases off-axis bleed and eliminates the tonal advantage of the front (resonance) head. Avoid placing the mic dead-center aiming directly into the beater because of possible wind velocity distortion. Choose a spot inside the drum between 2” and 8” from the outer shell, aiming the capsule at an angle toward where the beater strikes the batter head. Placing the mic deeper or shallower inside the drum will offer tone and attack variations.		PL33, N/D868, RE20 and RE27N/D
Snare DrumPlace mic 1-3” above the batter head, 0-2” in from the rim depending on the desired tone. Aim each mic at the top head angled down 45 degrees. If the drum rings, tape deadening material to the head or use damping rings. For more “snare” sound, place a second mic under the drum (aimed up at the bottom head) and reverse the phase on its input channel.PL35, N/D468 and N/D478
Electric GuitarPlace microphone approximately 1-2” from and at a 0° angle to the speaker cone. To reduce boominess, position the microphone off-axis to the cone at 45°, or move the mic toward the center of the cone. You can expect a brighter tone at the voice coil (speaker center) and a darker tone the farther out from center you go.PL33, PL35, N/D467, N/D478, N/D868, RE20, RE27N/D and Raven
Tom-TomsOn double-headed toms, place mic 1-3” over the top of the drum head at a 45° angle to the drum surface and 1/2” from the drum edge. On single headed toms, use above method or place mic inside tom from underneath at a 90° angle from the center of head, 3-5” away.PL35, N/D468; for floor tom – RE20, N/D868
CymbalsPlace microphone 1-2’ above the top of the cymbals. If using a stereo pair technique, increase the overhead distance of the drum set to 2-3’, and use the three-to-one rule as a separation concept.PL37, RE200 and Cardinal
High-HatPlace 5” above outside edge at a 45° down-angle toward the top cymbal.PL37 and RE200
BrassPlace microphone 6-24” away, on axis with the bell of the instrument.PL80a, N/D468, RE20, RE27N/D and Raven
Acoustic GuitarPlace microphone 6-12” from where fingerboard joins the body and aim toward sound hole.PL37, N/D468, N/D478, RE200, RE20 and Cardinal

What are some guidelines for remote mounting an antenna?
Antennas should be mounted with a direct line-of-sight to the performance area. Whenever possible, that also means above the cast and crew, so mounting antennas ten feet in the air at the side of the stage is one of the best places for them. All coaxial cable has signal loss, so keep the cable runs to minimum and use low loss cables to keep the maximum performance range. The CXU cables from EV use very low loss cables that will help maintain range.

What are some guidlines for antenna distribution?
When racking multiple receivers together, it is best to use an antenna distribution system like the APD4+. The APD4+ provides power and antenna connectors for 4 ½ rack receivers and can be cascaded to run antennas for up to 16 systems from 2 antennas (using 5 APD4+ units). With the REV-D receiver’s antenna pass through feature, one APD4+ can supply antennas for 24 channels of REV wireless. One important thing to keep in mind is to connect the input of each additional splitter to the output of the original APD4+ (the one connected directly to the antennas) to prevent a loss of range.

What are the minimum system requirements for a PC running the DC-One Editor software?
The Minimum System Requirements for the DC-One Editor software are:

  • PC* with Pentium IV 1.2GHz or equivalent processor (1.6GHz or better is recommended)
  • Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 or Vista (32-bit Only)
  • Microsoft .Net 2.0 Framework
  • 256 MB RAM
  • Hard disk with 250 MB of storage available
  • VGA Monitor (1024x768)
  • Graphics card, High Color (16-bit)
  • Mouse
  • Keyboard
  • One USB port

*PC refers to Personal Computers running the specified Windows Operating Systems. Intel-based Apple computers are only supported when running the specified Windows OS natively under Boot Camp. Virtualization, such as that offered by VMware or Parallels, is not officially supported.

What are Wireless Gain settings?
Almost every wireless microphone system has an adjustment on the transmitter that is called a “Gain” adjustment, which often confuses users. This setting should really be called a “Deviation Control”, but that would more than likely confuse users even more. The problem with calling it a gain setting, however, is that the end user attempts to use it to set their overall audio level – not what the control is designed to do. After all, wired microphones do not have a gain control and the mixing board or amplifier must be used to control the audio levels.
The gain setting is unique to wireless microphones and is used to maximize the signal-to-noise ratio and dynamic range whether it is used as a podium microphone, close talking vocal mic, lapel, headworn, or even guitar or instrument. Frequency Modulated (FM) radios transmit audio information as changes in the carrier frequency. So, in the operation of a wireless microphone system, the greater the changes in frequency (deviation), the better the signal-to-noise ratio will be. So, if the system’s maximum deviation is ±40kHz, we want the loudest level input into the microphone to generate 40kHz deviation. With the gain set above that, we would be clipping or distorting the maximum input and if it is set too low, we are not getting the clearest possible signal.

What considerations should I think about when selecting a wireless system?
It’s important to note that all wireless systems are not created equal. Only a very few of the products on the market today are actually designed and built by the people selling them. Many of the most popular systems are built by microphone companies that only recently began to manufacture wireless devices. EV is unique in the world of wireless. Electro-Voice has been leading the way in microphone technology for 80 years and Telex practically invented professional wireless microphones 30 years ago. In the late 1990’s when Telex and Electro-Voice came together, these two great heritages combined into a one of a kind microphone company. All EV wireless products are the result of this vast experience and technological know-how. As more and more wireless products get into the market, more problems in installation and performance are being encountered. Often times these problems are unique to the situation and require a trained professional with considerable RF experience to solve. EV maintains a staff of highly trained RF engineers and designers to help our dealers and customers get systems to work in the most critical and demanding applications. Wherever possible, we build features into our new products to take care of problems before they start. The key for the selling dealer is that they have a large company with plenty of experience and talent backing-up their wireless installations.
When selecting a wireless system, consider the long-term use for the system and always purchase a complete solution. That is, if you eventually intend to add more systems, make sure you select a system that will allow for the total number of future systems. Also, don’t forget to look at accessories such as antenna combiners, antenna amplifiers, antennas, low loss coaxial cable, and microphone choices.
Electro-Voice has a complete line of wireless accessories for UHF systems. These accessories allow the system to be tailored for the individual application and allow the user to get the most from their investment.

What is Combination Squelch Circuit?
Advanced products like the FMR-1000, RE-1 and ENG-100 use a combination of tone-code and amplitude squelch to provide maximum protection against errant signals. In this case, the tone squelch works as described in the previous section and when the tone is present the amplitude squelch remains active. If, in the unlikely event, random noise fools the tone detector, the signal at the intended frequency still needs to be high enough to register on the amplitude squelch. The back up amplitude squelch further reduces the chances that an errant signal will cause audio noise while the transmitter is turned off.

What is Diversity?
Diversity reception is a method of minimizing the effects of multi-path delays that create drop outs of the radio signal. This is done by combining or selecting two or more antenna sources for the same signal in order to produce a constantly usable signal. This always requires more than one antenna in different physical locations but not necessarily multiple receivers.
There are many diversity circuits used in wireless microphones on the market today, including twin receiver “switching” diversity, antenna diversity, switching antenna diversity, and the EV patented Posi-Phase auto diversity. Each of these methods may be effective, depending on the particular implementation of the circuitry by the manufacturer, provided other critical areas of the receiver circuitry are not compromised.
The term “diversity” is derived from the word “diverse”, which according to the American Heritage Dictionary means varied or unlike. In the RF world, this translates to two or more unlike sources of received signal energy at the receiver. As long as the two sources of signal are unlike or varied from each other, they are diverse, hence the term ‘diversity’. These days you hear a lot of hype about some systems that claim to be “true” diversity. It this were true, there would also have to be a “false” diversity. But, by definition, any receiver using two or more varied signal inputs has diversity, so the only ‘false’ diversity would be single antenna nondiversity. Major manufacturers may differ in their particular implementation of the diversity circuitry, but all diversity systems use different sources of received energy from two or more antennas. The term ‘true diversity’ is meaningless from an engineering standpoint.

What is FIR-Drive?
FIR-Drive is the name that EV gives to its entire range of FIR offerings, including FIR-capable processing hardware, custom FIR speaker setting files and related software. More information on FIR-Drive can be found in this article.

What is patented Posi-Phase Diversity?
Posi-Phase diversity uses two antennas spaced apart, connected to a single high quality receiver. The antenna signals are connected internally to microprocessor circuits that monitor the phase relationship between the two antennas. Both antennas are active at all times which greatly increases the signal strength under normal conditions. In the event of a signal interruption from a partial phase cancellation (multipath) or total phase cancellation (dropout) the logic circuitry adjusts the phase of the secondary antenna to a positive condition relative to the primary antenna. This process occurs in a fraction of a second and continually adjusts the phase of the second antenna for the optimum signal. A similar patented technique is used in cellular telephones to insure their reliable operation. Telex Posi-Phase diversity is more effective and less costly to produce than switching diversity because only one high quality receiver is required. Since only one receiver is needed, we are able to concentrate on the overall receiver design on more important aspects of the receiver design such as filtering, IF circuitry, squelch and audio circuitry Concentrating on these critical areas of a receiver design yields superior performance over switching diversity.
The superior performance is easily verified by a simple shoot-out with range and audio quality tests. Generally, under the same environment EV systems will go nearly twice as far as competitive models in a similar price range.

What is Phase Cancellation?
Phase cancellation or multipath dropout is a phenomenon where a direct radio signal and a reflected radio signal combine in the receiver. The two signals are slightly out of phase from each other due to the delay in the reflected signal. The phase difference causes the two signals to interfere with each other and cause deterioration in the quality of signal at the receiver. When the distance and geometry are just right, the signals are 180 degrees out of phase and can cancel each other completely, often referred to as a dropout.
A very common example of phase cancellation or multipath dropout has occurred to most people at one time or another. If you have ever driven your car listening to your favorite FM radio station and pulled up to a stop light and noticed your radio station become fuzzy and faded away as you pull slowly forward, you have experienced phase cancellation. Did you notice that when you pulled your car up just a few feet the station came back to perfect reception?
Because multipath problems are related to the geometry of the set up, it is possible to walk test the transmitters and correct potential dropouts using tools like the Sound Check Screen in the REV and adjusting your antenna placements. But be wary, each time you change the scenery, arena, or even add people in the performance area, the mix changes.

What is Squelch Circuit?
Good receiver design begins with the RF and IF filtering, but another important part of the receiver circuitry is the squelch system, or RF detection circuitry. This circuitry is the “gate” that allows the audio to turn on or off based on the RF signals entering the receiver. Simple gate squelch circuits that are commonly used in most competitive wireless receivers have a detector circuit that opens the audio path as soon as a preset level of RF energy is reached. When the signal is below the preset level, the audio path is “closed” or grounded to be very quiet. The obvious problem with a simple gate squelch is that any RF energy including distortion, hiss, harmonics from such sources as lighting dimmers, CD or DVD players, computers, digital effects and electric motors are indistinguishable from the desired signal. This extraneous RF energy will open the squelch gate just as easily as the intended transmitter. So, often times the user must “crank” up the squelch level all the way up to limit the sensitivity to noise, which reduces range and performance of the system.

Where can I download the IRIS-Net software?
The IRIS-Net software can be downloaded at irisnet.electrovoice.com. IRIS-Net is free to download.

Where can I find information on discontinued products?
Information on discontinued products can be found in the Discontinued Products Archive. If you are still unable to still cannot find the information for which you are looking, contact Electro-Voice.

Which antenna types are available for EV wireless microphones?
Most products ship with 1/4-inch wave antennas to be mounted directly on the receiver or the rack mount hardware. These 1/4-inch wave antennas are not ground independent, meaning that they cannot be mounted remotely at the end of a run of coaxial cable. For remote mounting, use 1/4-inch wave or directional Log Periodic antennas such as the FA-GW, CLA series or the LPA500.

Who can I contact if I have additional questions?
The Contact section of this website lists all of the EV team members in your region who can help answer your questions.