In this episode of Pro Acoustics Tech Talk, Nathan and Coltin go over how to program a Crown Audio CDi Series amplifier. If you're confused about how to set up your Crown CDi amp, this video is for you.

Nathan:
Hi everybody. Welcome to another edition of Pro Acoustics Tech Talk. I'm Nathan.

Coltin:
And I'm Coltin.

Nathan:
And we are back. Gonna dive into a question we get quite a bit, which is, I bought a new Crown CDi Series amplifier, 1000, 2000, 4000. How do I get this thing to do what I want it to?

Coltin:
Yup.

Nathan:
We're going to show you how.

Coltin:
Nathan, so teach me how to navigate this guy. So many people are asking us how, and I know if you're watching this video and you clicked on it, you need to know how too, so kinda guide me through how to do this and that, and show us what the deal is.

Nathan:
Yeah, you got it. So, first things first, the Crown CDi Series of amplifiers can be programmed either via the front panel to a degree, get a lot of the important steps, but not all of them. You do have the option of a USB port on the back where you can connect this to a laptop to dial it in via Harman's Audio Architect software. I believe you'll find that link somewhere on our site, or you can find that by searching for Audio Architect as well. There is an in-depth video already out there on the market that shows you how to hook up the software, the steps to go through.

Nathan:
Not doing that today. I'm going to talk to you about the front panel, because like Coltin knows we normally got guys whose feet are to the fire and need to get something done quick. So first things first, you connect your speakers, you connect your inputs from your mixer, connect your DSP processor, if you have it. Then you go ahead and you fire it up.

Nathan:
Push the button well enough to where it turns on. All right, from there, the default message you're going to see is "DSP Off". That is basically the landing screen that is basically preset zero where things start off. It's important to note, you can't save or store over DSP off, so you're going to have to change to a different program. I am following a menu tree which is in the manual, which basically goes through a number of steps of how to program your amplifier here. I would highly recommend anybody watching this that's going to be programming a CDi 1000 have that page in the manual open. Have this menu tree in front of you. It's a little bit complicated cause there's a lot of steps. But when you go through this, you'll be able to, through a combination of pushing the select and the next button, make your selections to change the amplifier to do what you need it to.

Nathan:
Some of the things that we're going to at least just quickly show is how to put your amplifier in 70-volt mode. How to change the input modes. Whether or not you're going to add a crossover, whether or not you're going to turn on the EQ or not. Note, if you want to change the EQ you gotta use the software. Also adding delay, limiting, and if you're going to run it bridged or stereo. And then from there you can store that preset. So presets, you can do multiple presets. If you've got a preset for football versus soccer, you know, if you need to have EQ adjustments or anything like that. All of this revolves around the three buttons on the front. The first is select or enter, where you basically make your selection, previous, or up, is next, which basically is how you cycle forward or cycle to the next option. And then next, or down, which is how to change to the next unit, to the next page. So I'm going to kick it off. I hit select. Now it says preset. I want to go next to a different preset. Now it says config. I'm going to go ahead and hit select to config. Then channel one, low Z. If I want 70 volt, I'm going to hit next to change it to High Z. See how I switched back and forth between those just to make my selection. If I'm good with that, I hit enter. Now I'm on channel two. You'll see it's flashing over here on what my 70-volt settings are. And just for grins, I'm going to stop for a second. What you guys are going to find is that it defaults back to DSP off if I stop moving.

Nathan:
I mean this with the utmost sincerity, try not to get frustrated when programming this amplifier. It can be a little strenuous, but once you get the hang of it, no problem. Once again, the menu tree form is key. So to kind of give you an example, once again, of how easy this can be, once you get the hang of it, I'm gonna go ahead and put this in 70-volt, put channel two in 70-volt. I'm going to go ahead and go to channel one plus channel two, because I want my system in mono. With all systems. I don't have a crossover, so I'm going to turn that off. I don't have any queue right now, so I'm going to keep that off. I don't have any delay, so I'm advancing forward. Limiter, I'm gonna go ahead and turn on a limiter because I don't trust Coltin sometimes when he gets behind a mixer. So, I'm going to put it on the most conservative, the -12 dB setting on both channels. And I'm gonna run that in stereo.

Nathan:
And voila! I made my setting. I didn't store it because I don't feel like at the moment going through and typing everything out there. But basically, once you follow all those steps and you get to the end, you can go through and select to store on different numbers, pick your favorite number of where you want it, back up your file in case somebody gets in, you know, in a school environment, starts messing with it. But basically going through those simple steps and following the select and the next button configuration with this menu tree can be very basic, very simple, unlock some really powerful but simple to use DSP from the front panel. Once again, if you need anything more complicated, bring out your laptop, bring out your PC, get it configured to dial in things like high pass filters for paging horns, or more in-depth crossover settings for subwoofers, and also setting input compression and things like that as well. If we can help you with your audio system, either with helping you get an amplifier or help with anything else you might need, feel free to reach out to us. Our phone number is (888) 256-4112. www.proacousticsusa.com. You can chat with us there. You can shoot us an email, and basically just let us know what we can do to help out.

Coltin:
Until next time. I'm Coltin.

Nathan:
I'm Nathan.