FAQ
Questions
- How long does it take to receive my order (USA)?
- What does it cost for shipping, Customs Duty, tax, and handling... total (USA)?
- What if I break it (USA)?
- Where else can I buy IRD audio components?
- How are product updates handled ?
- What size spade connector for the MB-100 binding post?
- How many amperes will my MB-100 home theater require?
- Why do the Preamplifiers have both a gain and a volume control? Aren't they the same thing?
- Sometimes my 24 position ladder volume control makes a slight noise, is this normal?
If you like forums you may enjoy visiting the IRD audio forum at AudioCircle .
How long does it take to receive my order?
Your order is shipped direct from our Charlotte NC, Sales, Distribution & Service Center by FedEx ground. Most orders are shipped within 24 hours and take from 1-6 days to receive depending where you are.
(examples: NY=1 day; FL=1 day; TX=3-4 days; CA=5-6 days)
What does it cost for shipping, Customs Duty, tax, and handling... total?
Your order is shipped totaly free, right to your door.
We ship from Thailand by sea to our Charlotte NC Sales, Distribution & Service Center, we pay all costs including Customs Duty and taxes. The final leg of the journey, to your door, is a prepaid FedEx delivery.
Total delivery cost, to you the customer, is $0.00. This is our way of saying thank you for choosing IRD.
Our Sales, Distribution & Service Center in Charlotte NC has IRD factory trained technicians that are authorized to service all IRD audio components. Replacement parts are shipped from IRD and stocked at the Charlotte center.
Your three year warranty covers all manufacturing defects, parts and labor.
If you just had too much fun and broke something our very low service rates ($25/hr + actual cost of parts [no mark-up]) will allow you repair your equipment while keeping your warranty intact for much less than you would normally expect to pay at a third party service company.
Turn around time for service is 1-2 days in most cases.
Where else can I buy IRD audio components?
We sell direct from this website, we have no dealers. Pricing is kept realistic by following this formula. Every time someone gets in the loop the price has to go up. Using a dealer network would almost double our current pricing.
We offer very high quality products for the lowest possible prices, we like doing business this way.
How are product updates handled ?
We will update (to latest SPECS) any existing IRD audio component, when possible. We will do this for the original owner or a preowned component's new owner. The update cost will include the required materials (at factory rates) plus labor (at our special low 25/hr rate).
With this special update policy you can keep IRD audio components current for years to come without the need to buy the latest model to get the latest features. This policy is possible due to our modular component construction.
What size spade connector for the MB-100 binding post?
The binding posts are metric and measure 8.65mm in outside diameter. Spades for this post should be 9mm. The wire whole is 6mm to accept very large (>10 AWG) speaker wire.
If you want to use spade connectors use 9mm spades the brand we see most, in Thailand, is Van Den Hul see link... http://www.mayaudio.com/vandenhul/Connectors.html . Of course spades can be had from many other Mfgs.
The post size in imperial dimensions is 0.341" or about 11/32" a more common size that would fit is 3/8".
How many amperes (AC mains supply) will my MB-100 home theater require?
In the case of 115VAC mains be advised that even though the MB-100s power supply can produce a 400 watt peak it would only require 400/115= 3.48A maximum mains current to do this. This is less current than some would think.
Most people play the MB-100s at 80-100 watts (averaged) for normal listening. This level is quite loud and can easily deliver music peaks of 160 watts or more.
To play at this normal listen level the MB-100s would draw about 200 watts (averaged) which is only 200/115= 1.74A. Therefore, it does seem that five MB-100s (8.7A total@100W) would be quite comfortable operating with a good 15A supply. Even if you double the 8.7A current (17.4A total) a single 20A breaker is more than enough.
We are talking about music programs here and not MB-100s connected directly to constant resistor load. It would most likely never be the case that all the MB-100s would be drawing maximum power at any one time which actually relaxes the power requirements even more.
Please note for the fast music peaks much of this current surge comes from the stored power in the 20,000 uF power supply filter capacitors. The low ESR capacitors can dump very high amperes for short periods of time, this is part of the planned MB-100 design.
We allow at least 3A @115VAC (1.5A @230VAC) for each MB-100 when using several units on a power strip. We have never popped a breaker in our test system or listening room as of this time.
For those who have 230VAC mains systems the current requirements are simply half of the 115VAC systems values.
Why do the Preamplifiers have both a gain and a volume control? Aren't they the same thing?
Preamps vary in signal gain (active gain circuit) from 0dB to about 12dB max. This is because different source-amp combinations can require different amounts of gain to reach their full volume potentials. There are no standard gain specifications.
IRD LLCs allow you to select the right amount of active gain for your exact system combo. By selecting the least amount of gain you need you optimize your systems performance and keep the systems noise at a lower level.
The volume control (passive attenuation device) allows "all of the signal" or only "part of the signal" to pass on through to the amplifier. It has 24 attenuation positions, mostly small high resolution 1.5dB steps. Our volume control's small 1.5dB steps allow for precise and subtle room SPL control over a very wide range, a very desirable feature.
We could have used a high fixed gain (at the expense of increased system noise) and allowed the VC to attenuate the signal to the correct level (at the expense of volume resolution, i.e. lost VC positions) but we do like our low noise, wide range, high volume resolution solution much better.
You may have used gear in the past where the systems volume is up full blast by the VCs 9 o'clock or twelve o'clock position, this is a very good example of too much gain and not enough volume control resolution. We would consider this type of system non-optimized and poorly matched, most likely it would not produce the systems optimum performance.
Sometimes my 24 position ladder volume control makes a slight noise, is this normal?
A precision ladder step attenuator is a wonderful device. Only two resistors in the signal path at any one time and the lowest added noise factor possible. The ladder step attenuator is the most desired and most expensive volume control available in high-end audio today.
There is only one issue with ladder attenuators, an occasional slight click when changing volume levels. These occasional clicks are not harmful in anyway, such a small noise compared to the actual music program, simply a characteristic of ladder step circuits.
The sonic benefits of a ladder attenuator far outweigh the slight occasional, harmless click produced when changing the volume level.