Teac MX-2424 Tutorial - Manual (Page 9)

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SET UP SET UP SET UP SET UP
Cables, & Power
Proper Power
A crucial ingredient to keeping your MX-2424 healthy—and your digital recordings
sounding their best—is clean AC power. Plugging into high quality surge protector is
highly recommended.
Power Interruptions
Consider buying an Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS) for your MX-2424. This is not
a prerequisite, but it can be a real life saver—or should we say, data saver. While your
MX-2424 automatically saves whenever an operation is completed, if the power should
fail in the middle of a recording, that recording is lost forever and corrupt data on the
drive could result. But with your MX-2424 plugged into a UPS, you can avoid this pitfall.
A UPS will provide enough power to run your MX-2424 for several minutes, without
power from a utilities company. This gives you time to complete your current action and
perform a proper shut down, ensuring that nothing is lost.
UPS devices are available at most computer stores. Consider it inexpensive insurance.
Being Grounded
Don't plug your MX-2424 into an ungrounded outlet. Nor should you plug a UPS into an
ungrounded outlet. Ungrounded power may introduce hums and buzzes to your audio
signal and can lead to serious equipment damage (especially in the event of an
electrical storm) and even electrical shock. If your residence does not have grounded
outlets, contact a professional electrician about installing a ground.
Avoiding Ground Loops
A ground loop occurs when a piece of equipment has more than one electrical path to
ground. Ground loops cause hums, buzzes, and sometimes even radio signals in your
audio. Needless-to-say, hearing the local weather station in the background of your
recordings isn't too cool. Luckily, ground loops can often be avoided by running all of
your equipment from a single wall outlet. Plug your surge protector into one outlet and
then plug all of your equipment into that one surge protector. Most surge protectors
have several outlets, and these outlets can be multiplied using standard power strips for
plenty of free sockets. Correctly configured, this system will direct every ground
connection to one ground terminal and prevent a ground loop.
A ground loop can occur when two devices are plugged into separate wall outlets and
the devices are also connected to each other. This allows each device to reach ground
by going through the other device and directly to the outlets. The result is a ground loop
through which noise and radio waves can enter your audio.