RA13.2RF - Car hands-free kit Radical Audio - Free user manual and instructions

USER MANUAL RA13.2RF Radical Audio

Product photo of a speaker with exposed audio equipment and a power cord (no visible text or symbols)

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REFERENCE

RA13.2RF/RA16.2RF

MID/WOOFER RA13.2RF/RA16.2RF

CROSSOVER RA13.2RF/RA16.2RF

TWEETER RA28RF

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction 3

Package Contents....3

Technical Design Features 4

Installation Considerations .... 5

Mounting Location 5

Mid/woofer Installation 6

Crossover Wiring 6

Tweeter Installation 7

Fine Tuning of Tweeter Level....8

Fine Tuning of Presence Level. 9

Technical Specifications....17

Mounting Dimensions 18

Limited Warranty 19

Einleitung 10

Lieferumfang 10

Technical Specifications....17

Congratulations on your purchase of a Radical Audio Inc. loudspeaker system. Your new component system is comprised of loudspeakers and crossovers, that have been precision engineered to produce the highest quality audio for your vehicle.

This owner's manual provides detailed information on the features, installation and adjustment of the Radical Audio "REFERENCE" component systems. The Radical Audio RA13.2RF and RA16.2RF separates are high performance loud-speakers. To reach optimum performance i.e. best sound reproduction quality, we strongly recommend you to have this system installed by a skilled professional installer. This manual assumes that the installer has sufficient in-depth knowledge and experience installing high quality component speaker systems!

Please read this manual carefully! It is suggested to retain this manual and the purchase receipt – as well as the original carton – for possible future use.

If, after reading this manual, you still have questions regarding this product, we strongly recommend to see your nearest authorized Radical Audio Inc. dealer.

PRACTICE SAFE SOUND!

Please keep in mind that prolonged exposure to sound pressure levels in excess of 100dB can cause permanent hearing loss. RADICAL AUDIO component speaker systems can exceed this level. Use common sense and practice safe sound.

PACKAGE CONTENTS

(2) RA13RF (13cm) or RA16RF (16.5cm) Neodymium Mid/Woofers
(2) RA28RF 28mm Neodymium Silk Dome Tweeters
(2) RA13.2RF or RA16.2RF 2-Way Crossovers
(2) MassBelt Steel Rings (13cm or 16cm)
(1) Foam Mounting Gasket Set
(1) Driver Mounting Hardware Kit

TECHNICAL DESIGN FEATURES

MID/WOOFER RA13.2RF & RA16.2RF

13 CM OR 16.5 CM EURO-DIN ALUMINUM DIE-CAST BASKET
■ ADVANCED NEODYMIUM CENTER MAGNET SYSTEM
■ BACKVENTED BASKET DESIGN
■ FARADAY COPPER SHORTING RINGS
■ FIBRE REINFORCED INJECTION CONE
■ MBR NITRILE RUBBER SURROUND
YELLOW NOMEX™ SPIDER
36 MM 2-LAYER COPPER CLAD AL-WIRE VOICE COIL
KAPTON™ VOICE COIL FORMER
■ SCREW TERMINAL BINDING POSTS

TWEETER RA28RF

28 MM NEODYMIUM SOFT DOME TWEETER
DOUBLE COATED TETORON® DOME DIAPHRAGM
ALUMINUM MAIN HOUSING
ADVANCED NdFeB NEODYMIUM MAGNET MOTOR
■ FARADAY COPPER SHORTING RING
■ COUPLED REAR CAVITY WITH WOOL DAMPING
COPPER CLAD ALUMINUM WIRE VOICE COIL
ALUMINUM VOICE COIL FORMER
■ LOW-VISCOSITY FERROFLUID
SOLID SOLDERING TERMINALS

CROSSOVER RA13.2RF & RA16.2RF

BI-AMPING / BI-WIRING INPUT & OUTPUT TERMINAL
TWEETER ATTENUATION BY 4-POSITION JUMPER
■ PRESENCE ATTENUATION BY 2-POSITION JUMPER
■ GLASS EPOXY PCB WITH TIN PLATED CONDUCTOR TRACES
■ XPP PURE COPPERLEAD METALIZED PP FILM CAPACITORS
■ QUADLITZ WIRE AIR CORE INDUCTOR FOR MID/WOOFER
■ PRECISION METAL-OXIDE RESISTORS

INSTALLATION CONSIDERATIONS

GENERAL SUGGESTIONS

① Make sure you have enough high quality speaker wire at hand, to reach all the drivers and crossovers from their intended mounting locations! The preferable cross-section is 2 × 2.5mm^2 . Please note that for quality reasons, some of the speaker wiring must be purchased separately.
② Before you attempt to mount the tweeter(s) or mid/woofer(s) to the doors of your vehicle, check the available mounting depth! Always make sure the speakers or crossovers do not impair with the door or window functions.
③ Before you start any wiring work, speaker mounting etc, disconnect the negative main wire lead from the battery! For your own safety...
④ Never run speaker wires over or through sharp edges. Use rubber grommets to protect wires routed through sheet metal.

MOUNTING LOCATION

A solid front stage with good stereo imaging is the most difficult task to achieve in a vehicle! Mostly because the speakers are placed where they will fit easily, as opposed where they can perform best. In most cases, the factory cutouts – i.e. in the front doors of a vehicle – offer a stable and convenient mounting platform for the mid/woofers. In some cases you will need to purchase car specific plastic adaptors that enable mounting Euro-DIN style mid/woofers to the factory speaker cutouts.

The mounting location for the tweeters does have a profound and direct effect on the stereo imaging of your component system install. Therefore, after mounting the mid/woofers and crossovers – it is recommended to provisionally fix the tweeters to different locations, to be able to choose the mounting spot that offers best possible imaging.

Some mounting tips:

① Place the tweeters where they have a direct and unobstructed path to the listening area. The best visual location may not be the best sounding one!
② Listen to the system with both tweeters connected to the crossovers in phase ( to , to ) AND reversed, before setting tweeter level attenuation.
③ Be sure to use the supplied foam gaskets when mounting the mid/woofers. These gaskets enable an airtight seal between the mid/woofer mounting rim and the speaker mounting hole, which is important to obtain the maximum dynamic range in the upper bass range!
④ The installation of your component set is carried out best, following the sequence below: Removal of Factory Speakers → Wire Routing → Installation of the Mid/Woofers → Mounting of the Crossovers → Mounting of the Tweeters

MID/WOOFER INSTALLATION

You can install the Radical Audio mid/woofers directly to the factory speaker mounting holes, because their Euro-DIN basket bolt hole configuration will fit to a great variety of European and Asian cars.

① Remove the plastic grille (front door) and unscrew the factory installed 13cm or 16cm fullrange speaker unit.
② Place the Radical Audio Inc. mid/woofer over the mounting hole and see if the existing screw mounting holes and the basket mounting holes align properly. If not, you have to drill new screw mounting holes! Double check if the mounting clearance is sufficient to fit the mid/woofers! Otherwise you risk to impair the window or door function of your vehicle.
③ If the available clearance between the surround of the mid/woofer and the original factory plastic grilles is big enough, you can use the "MassBelt" steel rings supplied with this set. The rings are "sandwiched" between the mounting hole and the mid/woofer unit.
④ Attach the wires to the mid/woofer unit. Double-check for correct speaker polarity! Place the speaker into the hole and screw the speaker into place. Don't forget to use the supplied foam gasket for an airtight seal!
⑤ Remount the factory plastic grilles. While doing this, check for the clearance between surround and backside of the grille. You will need at least 6mm of clearance between surround and the backside – or the surround may hit the grille when the speaker system is pushed hard.

Note → If one of the mid/woofers is wired out of phase (inverted), the resulting sound is very diffuse and due to a lack of bass, your component system sounds thin.

CROSSOVER WIRING

① Wire the crossover unit as shown in the schematic diagram on Page 7. Be sure to maintain speaker polarity at the input/output terminals of the crossover!
② Fix the crossover in place with the provided self-tapping screws – and avoid installing the crossovers in locations where they could be exposed to water, excess humidity or other fluids.

Note → It is best to have the crossovers mounted in a location that allows easy access. It may be necessary to re-adjust tweeter attenuation and presence level after the speaker break-in period.

Fig.: Crossover Wiring MO/WOOFER INPUT TWEETER INPUT MO/WOOFER OUTPUT TWEETER OUTPUT AMP RA28RF

TWEETER INSTALLATION

The tweeter units come with an aluminium main housing and a front rim that features three mounting holes. After you have determined the best sounding tweeter location, you can cut two holes with 50mm diameter, using a hole-saw attachment for your power drill.

Before you mount the tweeters, you must solder a loudspeaker wire to the soldering terminals located on the backside of the tweeter. Use a hot soldering iron and avoid to heat up the terminals of this tweeter for too long, as the as the plastic back cover may get soft or even melt away due to prolonged heating!

Insert the tweeter wire into the hole you have just cut, and fix the tweeters in place using the self tapping screws provided by the mounting hardware set.

FINE TUNING OF TWEETER LEVEL

ATTENTION: Before you start to fine tune tweeter level and presence level, be sure the following steps have been completed:

→ All wiring work has been done (loudspeakers, crossovers, amplifier are wired etc).
→ Highpass and lowpass crossover frequency adjustments have been set provisionally.
→ Input gain level adjustment of satellite- and subwoofer channels (if applicable) are set
→ All tone controls - including the loudness function – have been reset to their neutral / zero position.

① Four different tweeter attenuation levels can be selected, to compensate for different tweeter mounting locations and – of course – to suit personal preferences.
② Slide back the transparent cover of the crossover unit and set the preferred attenuation level by adjusting the jumper on the circuit board.

FINE TUNING OF PRESENCE LEVEL

① The presence level can be set by adjusting the jumper to “⊕” or “⊖” depending on the tweeter mounting location and personal preferences. ② Slide back the transparent cover of the crossover unit and set the preferred attenuation level by adjusting the “presence” jumper on the circuit board.

Note: Set the jumper to “⊕”, if your tweeters are mounted relatively far away from the mid/woofers (like A-pillars or window triangle). Set the PRESENCE jumper to “⊖” when the tweeters are mounted in close vicinity of the mid/woofers.

CAUTION: Both attenuation jumpers – for tweeter attenuation and presence adjustment - must always be set to identical positions! The final tweeter and presence level adjustments should be carried out best, after the installation is complete with all the additional components being installed, like for example subwoofer, amplifier(s) etc.

EINLEITUNG

MID/WOOFER MODEL RA13.2RF RA16.2RF

Nominal Diameter	51⁄4" (13 cm) Euro-DIN	61⁄2" (16.5 cm) Euro-DIN
Nominal Impedance 4 Ω 4 Ω
Voice Coil Diameter 36 mm 36 mm
Frequency Response (- 3dB) 60 Hz – 4 kHz 50 Hz – 3 kHz
Fs 75 Hz 59 Hz
Vas 3.2 L	9.7 L
Re	3.4 Ω	3.8 Ω
Qes	0.73	0.9
Qms	6.5	8.8
Qts 0.65	0.85
Mmd	14.7 g	18.1 g
Xmax	4.5 mm	4.5 mm
B/L	5.7 T/m	4.5 T/m
Sensitivity	84.7 dB	85.3 dB
Continuous Power Handling	150 W	175 W

TWEETER MODEL RA28RF

Nominal Diameter 28 mm
Nominal Impedance 4 Ω
Frequency Response	750 kHz – 20 kHz
Resonance Frequency	980 Hz
Sensitivity	90 dB
Continuous Power Handling	200 Watts*

*Via 12dB/oct. highpass filter network @ 2700 Hz

CROSSOVER MODEL RA13.2RF RA16.2RF

Crossover Type	2-Way
Crossover Frequency	2200Hz
Electrical Crossover Slopes	12dB/oct. highpass12dB/oct. lowpasswith zobel impedance EQ
Acoustical Transfer Function	12dB/oct.@2200Hz
Tweeter Attenuation	0dB/+1.5dB/+3dB/+4.5dB
Presence Attenuation	«⊕» or «⊖»
Dimensions (HxWxD)	35x120x120 mm

• Technical construction and specifications subject to changes without notice! -

RA13.2RF

Ø73mm Ø119mm

RA16.2RF

Ø78mm Ø145mm

65 mm 27,0 mm 49,5 mm

LIMITED WARRANTY

Radical Audio Inc. warrants this component speaker system and it's parts to be free of defects in materials and workmanship for TWO YEARS from the date of purchase at retail, contingent upon being properly installed and approved by an authorized Radical Audio Inc. dealer.

Radical Audio Inc. will at its own discretion repair or replace any mechanically defective speaker unit or crossover during this warranty period.

Should your Radical Audio Inc. component system – or parts of it – require warranty service, please return it to the retailer from whom it was purchased. Please do not send any product to Radical Audio Inc. directly, as this could result in delays of the warranty return procedure. If you encounter difficulties in finding an authorized Radical Audio service center, details are available from the national distributor in the country of purchase, or on the homepage www.radical-audio.com.

Abuse of this component speaker system due to excessive amplifier power, improper installation, amplifier clipping, physical damage, or unauthorized modification of the speaker units and x-overs is not covered under warranty.

RADICAL R AUDIO

RADICAL AUDIO INC.

15584 E. Gale Avenue

Hacienda Heights

CA 91745, USA