Balanced Audio Technology VK-50 User manual

VK-50

WARRANTY REGISTRATION FORM

Unit Serial Number: _______________________________________

Customer Name: _______________________________________

Address: _______________________________________

_______________________________________

Date of Purchase: _______________________________________

Purchased From:

Dealer Name: _______________________________________

Address: _______________________________________

_______________________________________

IMPORTANT NOTE:

In order to receive the full five year product warranty, please mail this

completed form together with a copy of your sales receipt to Balanced Audio

Technology at the address below, within thirty days of purchase.

Failure to do so will result in the product being warrantied for one year

from the date of manufacture.

1300 First State Blvd. Suite A Wilmington, DE 19804

Tel: 302-999-8855 Fax: 302-999-8818

VK-50

Vacuum Tube

Balanced Stereo Preamplifier

Owner's Manual

1300 First State Blvd. Suite A Wilmington, DE 19804

Tel: 302-999-8855 Fax: 302-999-8818

TABLE OF CONTENT

INTRODUCTION 4

Package Content 4

Physical Placement 5

Connecting to your system 5

FRONT PANEL CONTROLS 6

VK-50 Power On sequence 6

Turning the VK-50 Off 6

PHASE Button and LED 7

MONO button and LED 7

MUTE button and LED 7

INPUT selection 7

VOLUME knob 7

DISPLAY format 8

FUCTION button 8

DISPLAY ON-OFF function 9

MUTE function 9

VK-50 PROGRAMMABLE FUNCTIONS 10

Parameter Definitions 11

PROGRAMMING THE VK-50 11

BALANCE adjustment 11

VOLUME offsets 12

PHASE 13

MONO/STEREO 13

MAXIMUM gain 13

FIXED gain 14

DISPLAY MODE 14

INPUT NAME 15

REMOTE CONTROL FUNCTIONS 16

Volume Up/Down 16

Mute 16

Fade 16

Input 17

Display/Power 17

Fuse Protection 17

Servicing 17

Cleaning 17

Warranty 18

INTRODUCTION

Thank you for your purchase of the Balanced Audio Technology VK-50 preamplifier.

Please read this owner's manual to obtain the full benefit of the VK-50 in your system. It will

provide you with the needed safety information and operating procedures for this exceptional

unit.

WARNINGS:

To prevent the possibility of serious injury, electrical shock or fire:

DO NOT operate with the cover removed.

DO NOT expose to rain or moisture.

DO NOT defeat the ground power-plug.

DO NOT replace fuse with anything other than the same type and rating as supplied by the factory.

Package Contents

Included in the box should be the following:

Description Quantity

VK-50 Preamplifier 1

Power Cord 1

Spare Fuse 1

Torx Wrench (T-10) 1

Spare Top Cover Screws 5

User’s Manual 1

VK-R3 Remote Control (If ordered)

Save all the packaging material in a safe dry area for the unlikely event that you need to

return the VK-50 to the factory for service.

PHYSICAL PLACEMENT

It is recommended that you provide at least 6" of free space around the unit for proper ventilation.

Mount the unit on a hard surface with proper ventilation underneath.

Do not stack the VK-50 preamplifier on top of other units, nor vice versa.

CONNECTING THE VK-50 TO YOUR SYSTEM

Balanced Components

Use balanced XLR interconnects. All input and output connectors are clearly marked on the back

panel.

Note: The VK-50 XLR connectors are wired as follows:

Pin 1: common/shield

Pin 2: positive

Pin 3: negative

Use either the Main 1 or Main 2 Output for connection to your power amplifier. Both yield

equivalent results.

Single-Ended Components

Single-ended components have RCA connectors. The VK-50 preamplifier is designed to

work with any mix of single-ended and balanced components connected to its inputs and outputs.

All that is required to connect a single-ended component with RCA connectors to the VK-50’s

inputs or outputs is the optional balanced to single-ended adapters. These adapters are available

from an authorized Balanced Audio Technology dealer at a nominal charge.

Two types of adapters are available:

Input Adapters: RCA Female to XLR Male

Output Adapters: RCA Female to XLR Female.

VK-50 FRONT PANEL CONTROLS

STANDBY Button and LED

The Standby button is used to turn the unit ON and OFF and to switch the preamplifier into its

Standby mode. The LED indicates the status of the unit’s power circuitry and has four state:

LED OFF Display OFF Unit is in OFF state

Display ON Unit is in ON state

LED Flashing Unit is going through its Power-ON routine

LED ON Unit is in its STANDBY mode

When the unit is plugged into a power line, it will stay in the OFF state until the Standby button is

pushed. The LED will then start blinking and the unit will go through a 50second warm-up

sequence. At the end of that sequence it will turn ON.

Pressing the button again will switch the unit into its Standby mode.

The VK-50 can be turned OFF by pressing and holding the Standby button.

VK-50 Power-On sequence:

When you turn the VK-50 On, it will automatically go through a gentle power-on sequence. This

sequence takes 50 seconds, during which time the display and the Standby LED will be flashing,

indicating the status of the unit.

1. The number on the display during this time indicates the volume setting. This will usually

start at 000. This setting can be changed during this time by using the volume knob or

Volume Up/Down buttons on your VK-R3 remote control transmitter. In addition, such

functions as Phase, Mono, input selection and Mute can be changed during this time either

from front panel or through the remote control.

2. Normally the VK-50 will be not muted (Mute LED on the display is OFF) and will begin

playing at the end of the 50 second delay. If so desired, the unit can be put in the MUTE

mode during this delay interval either by depressing the front panel MUTE switch or by

using the MUTE button on the VK-R3 remote control transmitter.

Turning the VK-50 Off:

The unit can be turned OFF by pressing and holding the Standby button. It will automatically

mute.

PHASE button and LED

This button allows the user to invert the absolute polarity of the signal to compensate for some

recordings that are made out-of-phase. The LED indicates whether the unit is in its INVERTING

or NONINVERTING mode. This function is also accessible via the VK-R3 remote control.

LED OFF Non Inverting operation

LED ON Inverting operation

MONO Button and LED

The Mono button allows the user to switch the VK-50 in Mono operation when the two channels

are summed together. This may be useful, for example, while listening to old monophonic

recordings. This function is also accessible via the VK-R3 remote control.

LED OFF Stereo operation

LED ON Mono operation

MUTE Button and LED

The Mute button disables the preamplifier output. It is recommended that the Mute be engaged any

time the signal cables are changed or any other system configuration changes are being made. This

function is also accessible via the VK-R3 remote control.

LED OFF Unit in Play mode

LED ON Output Muted

INPUT selection buttons 1through 5

These allow the user to select any of five available inputs to be played. The selected input number

together with its name will be indicated on the unit front panel display as well. This function is

also accessible via the VK-R3 remote control.

VOLUME Knob

This knob performs different function depending upon the unit’s mode of operation. In normal

mode it works as volume control knob.

It is also used as a data input device in various Function modes to program the unit. For example,

it is used to set the BALANCE adjustment when the VK-50 is switched into its Balance mode.

More on that in the corresponding sections of this manual.

The volume control knob on the VK-50 is linked to a digital encoder and is of a continuously

rotating type (there are no stops).

DISPLAY FORMAT:

The VK-50 Vacuum Fluorescent Display (VFD) is capable of showing up to twelve alphanumeric

characters. Its format depends on the mode of operation. In the normal PLAY mode the display

has the following format:

1. One character indicating the selected input number.

2. Four-character input name. That name is fully programmable (See the programming

functions) and can include up to four character from the Latin, Cyrillic or Greek alphabets

or digits.

3. Balance adjustment indicator. Characters L or R indicate that the balance is shifted in the

corresponding direction. A BLANK character means that the gains of both channels are

identical.

4. Volume setting - three digits with the full range of 000 to 140 (See programming section on

Maximum Volume Setting)

FUNCTION Button

This button puts the unit in its programming mode. In addition to its normal PLAY mode, there are

eight programmable functions in the VK-50:

BALANCE Adjustment

RELATIVE VOLUME setting

PHASE setting

MONO/STEREO setting

MAXIMUM volume setting

FIXED volume setting

DISPLAY (Volume) mode

INPUT NAME assignment

Pressing this button while in PLAY mode will switch the unit into programming mode. Once in

the programming mode, pressing the Function button will switch the unit into its NEXT

programmable functions. The unit will stay in the programming mode until the exit command is

issued. To EXIT the programming mode at any time, press and hold the Function button for about

TWO seconds.

DISPLAY ON-OFF Function

Turning the display OFF: The VK-50 display can be turned OFF or ON at any time by

simply pressing the DISPLAY button on your VK-R3 remote control transmitter.

With the display OFF, issuing any remote control command that would normally require a

display change (i.e.: Volume, Input selection, Fade) will automatically turn the display back

ON.

MUTE Function:

The VK-50 has two mute modes: manual and automatic. The blue LED above the Mute button

goes ON when the unit is in MUTE state. To MUTE the VK-50, depress the MUTE button located

on the right side of the front panel. Depressing this button again will return the unit to its normal

operation and turn the mute LED off.

When the unit is powered up it automatically self-mutes until the proper operating points of the

circuitry are reached. It will then automatically go into Play mode, provided the Mute function was

not activated (the blue Mute LED is Off).

Turning the VK-50 OFF even for short time, will make the unit reset its power sequencing circuit

and mute its output. It will then require 50 seconds for the unit to become operational again.

VK-50 PROGRAMING FUNCTIONS

The VK-50 programming functions allow the user to optimize the unit configuration for any

particular system set up. The flexible programming facility defines each signal input with a group

of user-selectable parameters that are then stored in the unit’s memory. Every time a particular

input is selected, its unique combination of parameters is loaded into the operating memory.

Programming is easy and is accomplished through using just two front panel controls -: the

Function button and Volume knob, or corresponding remote control buttons (Function and

Volume Up/Down buttons).

Every unit comes from the factory with a default set of parameters stored in its memory. This set of

parameters is usable for many applications. The default set includes the following parameters:

BALANCE ZERO

RELATIVE VOLUME ZERO

PHASE Non-Inverting

MONO/STEREO STEREO

MAXIMUM VOLUME 140

FIXED GAIN OFF

DISPLAY COUNTS

INPUT NAMES 1 TAPE

2 TUN

3 CD1

4 AUX1

5 AUX2

The user may at any time, configure the unit to a particular set of system requirements. For

example, input names can be changed to reflect a given system’s source configuration.

Parameter Definitions:

Every input of the VK-50 is defined with the following set of parameters.

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