OVERVIEW

When it comes to high-quality sound, Digidesign strives to create products that deliver the absolute best. To further ensure that you get the best-sounding audio possible in your creative endeavors, Digidesign now looks to redefine how you monitor your mixes with the Digidesign® Reference Monitor Series RM1, a professional, bi-amplified, near-field monitor co-developed with PMC, a world-leading professional monitor manufacturer.

RM1 unites Digidesign’s deep expertise in digital audio with PMC’s legacy of fine, handcrafted, cutting-edge design and meticulous manufacturing. Together, Digidesign and PMC have created a monitor that delivers unrivalled tonal accuracy, exceptionally low distortion, stunning clarity, more defined bass response, and incredible dynamic range, enabling professionals, aspiring professionals, and audiophiles to truly hear an impeccably accurate representation of their audio mixes at any stage.

DETAILS

The compact RM1 features a 5.5-inch low frequency driver and a 1-inch ferrofluid-cooled high frequency driver, and boasts performance comparable to much larger systems. It’s the ideal monitor for project studios, editing suites, home studios, and mobile production vehicles. But don’t let its small size fool you. Though the RM1 is relatively compact in stature, it can produce higher volumes and lower bass extension than other speakers of similar sizes — even if identical or larger drivers are used — thanks to PMC’s groundbreaking Advanced Transmission Line (ATL™) technology.

Because of its design, the frequency response also remains consistent regardless of how high or low you adjust the volume, meaning you won’t need to crank it to achieve maximum bass response. RM1 is also designed for a wide sound dispersion, so you’ll get accurate frequency response even when you’re listening in an off-axis position.

Features

• Professional, bi-amplified monitor
• Analog and digital inputs (up to 24-bit/96 kHz)
• Audiophile-grade, analog-controlled Class D amplifiers with high-quality
  linear power supply units
• Advanced Transmission Line technology provides high sound pressure level
  (SPL) and superior bass extension
• Unrivaled tonal accuracy, clarity, and dynamic range with exceptionally
  low distortion
• Powerful onboard DSP engine provides:
  • Extremely accurate digital crossover for pristine imaging
  • Bass Port Emulation mode to emulate tonal characteristics of ported bass
    reflex speakers
  • Precise gain trim, low- and high-frequency adjustment, and speaker placement
    settings
• Low jitter analog-to-digital converter (ADC) with low-noise clock oscillator
• Sound dispersion design maintains accurate frequency response even in off-axis
  listening positions

ATL Technology — Unrivaled Sound Accuracy and Clarity

Unlike speaker systems that tend to “color” sound to make mixes sound richer and punchier, RM1 enables you to hear sounds exactly as they are in your mix without any deceptive tonal exaggeration, thanks to its ATL construction. This innovative technology employs proprietary drivers, electronics, power amps, and patented absorption materials housed inside of a meticulously constructed cabinet, enabling the monitor to deliver pristine, high-resolution clarity and unrivaled, accurate bass response. This allows you to hear your recordings in their truest, purest form to help you fine-tune mixes that translate well to any type of audio system.

With the monitor’s superior sound accuracy, you won’t mistakenly under- or overcompensate for pronounced frequencies and/or perceived levels in your mix caused by speaker inaccuracies — or inadequacies. The end result is better mixes. No worrying about getting anemic-sounding mixes due to a speaker’s boost on the bottom end, or muddiness due to added sizzle at the top. Your final mix will ultimately sound great on any type of audio system, whether listeners hear it through a home theater or stereo system, or on an iPod, car stereo, or even during their next trip to the mall.

Onboard Digital Signal Processing Delivers Pristine Sound

RM1 features a 48-bit, fixed-point, digital signal-processing (DSP) engine that manages a variety of tasks, including speaker positioning EQ settings, trim level, Bass Port Emulation, and the complex digital crossover, which directs what signals get sent to the monitor’s low and high frequency drivers.

The two-way crossover features revolutionary steep and pure filter designs for the cleanest sound possible — with virtually zero phase shift — to ensure that signals are distortion- and interference-free. The crossover also allows for precision optimization, providing the best possible match between the drivers’ response curves and roll-off rates for optimal signal transition between the high frequency and low frequency drivers, and superb phase response over a wider listening window.

Analog-Controlled Class D Amps Provide Power and More

RM1 employs superior, analog-controlled Class D power amplifiers that power each driver. These specially designed amps combine the efficiency and size advantages of a digital amplifier with the precision, control, and sound quality of an audiophile linear amplifier, and are 92 percent efficient as opposed to the 50-percent efficiency generally found with Class A amps. This means more power to the drivers and less heat generation. And they’re cheaper — and greener — to run than standard Class A- or B-style amps.

While typical Class D amplifier designs have a load-dependant frequency response, the amplifiers in RM1 feature a single feedback loop, which senses the loudspeaker impedance directly. This provides extremely accurate amplifier frequency response regardless of the reactive load presented by the drivers, enabling the monitor to deliver higher fidelity with lower distortion. And because of the amp’s unique analog control, the monitor produces a flatter frequency response no matter what the load of the driver. Whether you choose to crank the volume or keep things down low, the sound accuracy will remain as just that — accurate.

Amplifier performance is further enhanced by the inclusion of a linear power supply, which provides two times the peak current headroom and better noise isolation than typical switch mode designs.

Bass Port Emulation — Hear How Your Mix Translates to Ported Speakers

If you’re used to mixing audio through ported speakers, which often feature exaggerated coloration on the low end, hearing an accurate representation of your mix may take a little getting used to at first. To help guide your ears, RM1 features a Bass Port Emulation mode, which emulates the frequency characteristics of a bass reflex speaker. This enables you to hear how your mix “translates” to a ported speaker, allowing you to easily switch back and forth from hearing how your mix truly sounds with a flat frequency response to hearing how it sounds with added bass coloration characteristics.

SPECIFICATIONS