Boston Acoustics Horizon Solo User manual

OWNER’S MANUAL / SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS / COMPLIANCE INFORMATION A Boston P.O.P. Product Make it your own...
Horizon Solo
High Performance AM/FM Radio
An about-face in radio design

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IMPORTANT SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS
This symbol found on the apparatus indicates hazards
arising from dangerous voltages.
This symbol found on the apparatus indicates the user
should read all safety statements found in the user
manual.
This symbol found on the apparatus indicates double
insulation.
Warning! To reduce the risk of re or electrical shock,
do not expose this apparatus to rain or moisture.
This symbol found on the apparatus indicates that
the apparatus must be placed in a separate collection
facility for electronic waste and not disposed with
household waste.
1. Read these instructions.
2. Keep these instructions.
3. Heed all warnings.
4. Follow all instructions.
5. Do not use this apparatus near water.
6. Clean only with dry cloth.
7. Do not block any ventilation openings. Install in accordance
with the manufacturer’s instructions.
8. Do not install near any heat sources such as radiators, heat
registers, stoves, or other apparatus (including ampliers)
that produce heat.
9. Do not defeat the safety purpose of the polarized or
grounding type plug. A polarized plug has two blades with
one wider than the other. A grounding-type plug has two
blades and a third grounding prong. The wide blade or
the third prong is provided for your safety. If the provided
plug does not t into your outlet, consult an electrician for
replacement of the obsolete outlet.
10. Protect the power cord from being walked on or pinched
particularly at plugs, convenience receptacles, and the point
where they exit from the apparatus.
11. Only use attachments/accessories specied by the
manufacturer.
12. Unplug this apparatus during lightning storms or when
unused for long periods of time.
13. Refer all servicing to qualied service personnel. Servicing
is required when the apparatus has been damaged in any
way, such as power-supply cord or plug is damaged, liquid
has been spilled or objects have fallen into the apparatus,
the apparatus has been exposed to rain or moisture, does
not operate normally, or has been dropped.
14. Maintain a minimum distance of 2” (50mm) around
the front, rear, and sides of the apparatus for sucient
ventilation. The ventilation should not be impeded by
covering the ventilation openings or placing on or around
the apparatus items such as newspapers, table-cloths,
curtains, etc.
15. No open ame sources, such as lighted candles, should be
placed on the apparatus.
16. The apparatus shall not be exposed to dripping or
splashing. No objects lled with liquids, such as vases, shall
be placed on the apparatus.
17. Either the power inlet connector on the rear of the
apparatus or the power plug at the wall must remain
accessible, to be able to disconnect power from the
apparatus.
18. To completely disconnect this apparatus from the AC
Mains, disconnect the power supply cord plug from the AC
receptacle.
19. The mains plug of the power supply cord shall remain
readily operable.
American Users:
Note: This equipment has been tested and found to comply
with the limits for a Class B digital device, pursuant to part
15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to provide
reasonable protection against harmful interference in a
residential installation. This equipment generates, uses, and can
radiate radio frequency energy and, if not installed and used in
accordance with the instructions, may cause harmful interference
to radio communications. However, there is no guarantee
that interference will not occur in a particular installation. If
this equipment does cause harmful interference to radio or
television reception, which can be determined by turning the
equipment o and on, the user is encouraged to try to correct
the interference by one or more of the following measures:
• Reorientorrelocatethereceivingantenna.
• Increasetheseparationbetweentheequipmentand
receiver.
• Connecttheequipmentintoanoutletonacircuit
dierent from that to which the receiver is connected.
• Consultthedealeroranexperiencedradio/TVtechnician
for help.
Caution: Unauthorized changes or modications to the receiver
could void user’s authority to operate the equipment.
Canadian Users
This class B digital apparatus complies with Canadian ICES-003.
Cet appareil numérique de classe B est conforme á la norme
NMB-003 du Canada.

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© 2008. All rights reserved. Boston, Boston Acoustics and BassTrac are registered trademarks, and the B/A ellipse symbol, make
it your own, and Play Smart are trademarks of Boston Acoustics, Inc.
Introduction
Thank you for choosing Boston Acoustics and congratulations on your purchase of the Horizon Solo High Performance
Tabletop Radio. If you own other Boston products, the outstanding audio performance and ease-of-use of the Solo should
come as no surprise. If you’re new to Boston, welcome – we think you’ve made a great choice. The Solo is a sophisticated AM/
FM radio with dual alarms, aux in and headphone output, all in a high-style, soft-touch enclosure -- all the things “Play Smart.”
So check out all the features and functions of your new music system. We know you’ll enjoy it for years to come.
Features
• Outstandingaudioperformancefroma31/2inch speaker in a vented acoustic chamber
• BassTrac®audioprocessingforsatisfyingbassatanyvolume
• Threeintuitive,easytousecontrolsoperatealltheSolofeatures
• Large,easytoreaddisplaywithadjustablebrightnessthatdimsautomaticallyinlowlightconditions
• HighlysensitiveAM/FMStereotuner
• 20radio station presets
• Highperformanceantennaisincluded;canalsobeusedwithanexternalantenna
• Dualalarmswithwake-to-alarmand/orwake-to-radiofunctions
• Alarmsgraduallyincreaseinvolumeforagentlewakeup
• S-n-o-o-o-o-o-z-ebar-theentirefrontaluminumtrimisatouch-sensitive,can’t-miss-itsnoozebar
• Sleepfunctionletsyoulistentotheradioforupto90minutesbeforetheSoloturnsitselfo
• Makeityourown™!CustomizeyourSolowithoptionalgrillesavailableatwww.bostonacoustics.com/POP
• Timesetting,stationpresetsandalarmssettingsarerememberedduringpoweroutages
• Frontpanelheadphoneoutputjack
• Auxiliaryaudioinput for portable music players
• Internalpowersupply-nobulkyexternaladapterneeded
Contents
Unpacking and Setting Up Your Horizon Solo 4
Placement 4
Power Connection 4
AM and FM Antennas 4
About the Front Panel Controls 4
Basic Control Operations 5
Turning the Solo On or O 5
AdjustingtheVolume 5
Setting the Clock 5
Radio Operation 5
Selecting a Source 5
Tuning In a Radio Station 5
Station Seek 6
Setting a Station Preset 6
Tuning in a Preset Station 6
Alarm Clock Features 7
Setting the Alarm Time 7
Setting an Alarm 7
How the Alarms Work 7
The Snooze Feature 8
Sleep Function 8
Audio Controls 8
Other Control Settings 9
Display Information 9
Display Brightness 9
Connecting Other Equipment 9
Security Cable Connection 10
About Clock Memory 10

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Unpacking and Setting Up Your Horizon Solo
Carefully unpack your Horizon Solo. If there is any sign of damage from transit, report it immediately to your dealer and/or
delivery service. Keep the shipping carton and packing materials for future use. Be sure to keep your purchase receipt in a
safe place, as it may be required for warranty purposes.
In the box, you should nd the Solo, the FM antenna, and the power cord.
Placement
Your Horizon Solo will sound great just about anywhere. But if you put it
near a wall or corner the bass response will be enhanced. Blocking the bass
port will result in a loss of performance.
Horizontal or Vertical Position
The Solo control panel can be rotated to allow for horizontal or vertical use.
If you want to change the orientation of the radio, grasp the ring around the
control panel and turn it 90°.
Power Connection
Just connect the power cord to the back of the Horizon Solo and plug it into the wall power outlet.
AM and FM Antennas
The Horizon Solo comes out of the box ready to use. The internal AM
antenna is connected. The FM antenna is also connected. Just extend the
wire connected to the plug. With the standard antennas you’ll probably pull
in more stations than any other radio you own. But if you want to listen to
stations that are very far away then external antennas can be connected to the
antenna inputs.
About the Front Panel Controls
Most of the Horizon Solo functions are operated by the three controls on the
front panel.
Power/Volume – Is controlled by the large knob in the center of the panel.
Mode – Selects the input you want to use or the function you want to adjust.
Tune – Tunes in a new radio station.
These logical, intuitive controls make it easy to operate the Horizon Solo. The
way you use them is the same for each feature. Once you learn how to control
one of the features the rest of them will be easy. You may not need to refer to
this manual once you understand the way the controls work.
AM Antenna Input
AC Input
Aux Input
FM AntennaInput

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Radio Operation
Selecting a Source
1Turn the MODE control until the source you want is highlighted with brackets.
Note that other function and alarm setting control icons also may be selected.
2Press the MODE control to select the highlighted item. Or just wait a few
seconds and the source is automatically selected. The Solo begins playing the
source selected.
Note: You can also select sources by simply pressing the MODE control. Each press
will select the next source in this sequence: AM > FM > AUX > Presets > AM, etc.
Tuning In a Radio Station
1Use the MODE control to select the AM or FM radio source.
2Turn the TUNE control until the station frequency you want shows in the display.
• Iftheradiosourceyouwantitalreadyselectedyoucanskipstep1and use the
TUNE control to tune in a new station.
• Ifthestationyouselecthasbeenassignedtoastationpresetthenumberis
displayed.
Basic Control Operations
Turning the Solo On or O
Press the POWER/VOLUME control on the center of the front panel.
Adjusting the Volume
Turn the front panel POWER/VOLUME knob.
Note: On the control illustrations –
Regular arrows indicate to press and release the
button or control.
Double headed arrows indicate to press and hold the
button or control.
This symbol indicates the control is turned then pressed.
Setting the Clock
1Turn the MODE control until the clock icon is highlighted with brackets .
2Press the MODE control. The clock icon and time display will ash.
3Turn the MODE control to adjust the time.
4Press the MODE control again to set the time. The display reverts to its previous
mode and the new time is set.
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This illustration shows the FM
source highlighted for selection.
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Setting a Station Preset
1Use the MODE control to select the AM or FM radio band you want to use.
2Use the TUNE control to tune in the station you want to assign to a preset.
3Press and hold the TUNE control. A tone will sound. The preset number will light
indicating the station has been assigned to the preset.
In this example FM station 107.9 has been assigned to preset 16.
About Station Presets
The Solo has 20 station presets. The presets can be used to store either AM or FM
stations. Because of the way the Solo places stations in the presets you may want to plan how you store them. Here’s how it
works. The rst station you store goes into Preset 1. The second station goes into Preset 2 and so on, up to 20 stations. If you
remove a preset all the stations in presets above the one you removed, drop down a preset position. The table below gives an
example.
Preset # 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
originally programmed stations FM 89.7 FM 90.9 FM 100.3 FM 104.9 AM 680 AM 850 AM 1030
after removing presets 2 and 6 FM 89.7 FM 100.3 FM 104.9 AM 680 AM 1030
It may be helpful to put the presets in some logical order. You could put the FM presets in order of ascending frequency. For
example put 89.70 into Preset 1, 90.95 into Preset 2, 93.70 into Preset 3, etc. Or you could assign presets on the basis of how
often you listen to them. For example, your favorite station could go into Preset 1, the next favorite into preset 2, etc.
Tuning in a Preset Station
1Turn the MODE control to select Preset.
2Turn the TUNE control to select the preset station you want. The Preset indicator,
the preset number and the station frequency will light.
In this example AM preset 5, with station frequency 1050 assigned to it, has been selected.
Removing One or More Presets
To remove one preset – Tune in the preset station as described above. Press and hold
the TUNE control. When the Preset has been cleared the station frequency, “radio”and
the AM/FM band indicator are replaced with“_ _ _ _” .
Note: You must tune in the preset you want to delete with the Preset source. If you tune in a radio station that has been
placed in a preset using the AM or FM source, you will see the Preset indicator and number in the display, but you will not be
able to delete the preset.
To clear all the presets – Using the Preset source, tune in any preset station. Then press and hold the TUNE control for 10
seconds. You’ll hear 3 beeps indicating the presets have been cleared.
Station Seek
Press the TUNE button. The Solo will seek up the radio band for the next receivable
station.
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Alarm Clock Features
The Horizon Solo has two independent alarm settings. Each can have its own type of alarm—wake to tone, wake to music or
both. Both types of alarms start at a low volume level that gently increases.
Setting the Alarm Time
The alarm time can be set when the Solo is turned on or o.
1Press and hold the ALARM 1 or ALARM 2 button for one second. The alarm
time and the or icon will ash.
2Turn the MODE control to adjust the alarm time.
3Press the MODE control to set the alarm time.
In this example Alarm 2 is set to 7:15 AM.
Note: The alarm time can also be set by using the MODE control to highlight the
or icon. Then press the MODE control and follow steps 2 and 3
above.
Setting an Alarm
If you plan to use the wake to music function, note that the last source and volume
level settings will be used for the alarm.
1Press the ALARM 1 or ALARM 2 buttons one or more times to turn on the alarm
and set the alarm type. One press selects wake to music . A second press
selects wake to tone . A third press selects both. Press the button a fourth
time to cancel the alarm.
2Press the POWER/VOLUME button to turn the Solo o. The display will show the
current time along with the icons for the alarm(s) and alarm style(s) selected.
This example shows how the display might look after the Solo is turned o. The current
time is displayed and the icons show Alarm 1 is on, set for wake to music and tone, and
Alarm 2 is on, set to tone only.
How the Alarms Work
When an alarm starts the icon for the alarm starts ashing.
If you selected wake to tone the alarm tone starts sounding, quietly at rst then with increasing volume.
If you selected wake to music the radio station that was tuned in when you set the alarm is played at a gradually increasing
volume.
If you selected wake to music and tone the radio station that was tuned in when you set the alarm is played at a gradually
increasing volume. If you do not turn o the alarm within ve minutes the music stops playing and the alarms tone begins to
sound at a gradually increasing volume.
To turn o the alarm press the POWER/VOLUME button.
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The Snooze Feature
If you want to sleep a while longer after the alarm sounds you can use
the “Snooze“ feature. Simply touch the metal rim around the front of the
Solo. This delays the alarm for ten minutes. Each additional touch of the
rim increases the length of the “Snooze” alarm delay by 5 minutes. The
maximum delay is 60 minutes. The display shows the time and a ashing
Alarm icon.
To see how much “Snooze” time is left touch the metal rim once. If you
touch the rim again another ve minutes is added to the“Snooze”time for
each additional touch.
To cancel the “Snooze” function press the button for the active Alarm.
Sleep Function
You can set the Horizon Solo to play for up to 90 minutes. After the specied time the Solo shuts o. Select the source and set
the volume level where you want it.
1Use the MODE control to highlight the Sleep icon in the display.
2Press the MODE control. The Sleep icon and“OFF” will ash in the display.
3Turn the MODE control to set the number of minutes until the Solo turns o.
4Press the MODE control. The brackets around the Sleep icon will ash a few times.
The display will return to its previous state with the Sleep icon lit.
In this example the Sleep turn o delay is set to 30 minutes.
Notes:
• TocanceltheSleepdelaybeforeithasnished,followsteps1– 3. Turn the MODE control down until“O”appears in
the display. Then press the MODE control. Or press the POWER/VOLUME control to turn o the Solo.
• TouchthemetalrimaroundtheSolotodisplaytheremainingtimeoftheSleepdelay.Seethe“TouchSensitiveRim”
illustration on the previous page.
Audio Controls
1Turn the MODE control to select the Bass or
Treble icon in the display. The Bass or Treble icon
and the current setting ashes in the display.
2Turn the MODE control clockwise to increase, or
counter-clockwise to decrease the Bass or Treble
In these examples the Bass is set to –2 and the Treble is
set to +1.
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Touch Sensitive Rim

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Other Control Settings
Display Information
When you adjust the controls or settings of the Solo the display shows information and symbols related to what you are
doing. After a few seconds the display goes back to showing the time or the source you are listening to. You can select which
of the default displays you want.
1Turn the MODE control to highlight the Info icon of the display.
2Press the MODE control. The information in the display ashes.
3Turn the MODE control. The display will toggle between the source display and
the time display.
4When the display shows default you want press the MODE control.
This example shows the display after step 1. The information in the display will be
ashing..
Display Brightness
The display brightness varies automatically with changing light conditions. In addition the overall range of the display
brightness can be adjusted to suit personal preference.
1Turn the MODE control to highlight the Brightness icon.
2Press the MODE control. The Brightness icon and the current brightness setting
will ash.
3Turn the MODE control to adjust the brightness setting. The setting can range
from 1 – 20.
4Press the MODE control again to set the new display brightness setting. The
brackets around the Brightness icon ash a few times. Then the display reverts to
its previous state.
In this example the brightness is set to 12.
Connecting Other Equipment
Connecting Headphones
Connect the headphone plug to the jack on the front panel. This turns o the Solo internal speaker. If your headphones have
the old-style large plug you will need an adapter.
Using the Aux Input
Other audio equipment, such as an iPod or a portable CD player, can be connected to the Solo through the rear panel Aux
input. You will need a cable with a stereo mini plug on both ends. Select the Aux input using the MODE control as described
in the “Selecting a Source”section on page 5.
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Security Cable Connection
There is a security cable connection point on the rear of the Solo adjacent to the AM antenna connector. This is the same as
the connection point found on most laptop computers. Connect a computer security cable between the Solo and a solid
anchor point to help prevent theft of your Solo.
About Clock Memory
When power to the Solo is interrupted a special power component called a “super-cap”will keep the clock functions active for
a period of 24-48 hours. If the Solo is without power for a longer period of time you may need to reset the clock when power
is restored.
Limited Warranty
Boston Acoustics warrants to the original purchaser of the Horizon Solo that it will be free of defects in materials and
workmanship for a period of one year from the date of purchase.
Your responsibilities are to install and use the Solo according to the instructions supplied, to provide safe and secure
transportation to an authorized Boston Acoustics service representative, and to present proof of purchase in the form of your
sales slip when requesting service.
Excluded from this warranty is damage that results from abuse, misuse, improper installation, accidents, shipping, or repairs/
modications by anyone other than an authorized Boston Acoustics service representative.
This warranty is limited to the Boston Acoustics product and does not cover damage to any associated equipment. This
warranty does not cover the cost of removal or reinstallation. This warranty is void if the serial number has been removed or
defaced. This warranty gives you specic legal rights, and you may also have other rights which vary from state to state.
If Service Seems Necessary
First, contact the dealer from whom you purchased the product. If that is not possible, write to:
Boston Acoustics, Inc.
300 Jubilee Drive
Peabody, MA 01960 USA
Or contact us via e-mail at:
[email protected]
We will promptly advise you of what action to take. If it is necessary to return your Horizon Solo to the factory, please ship it
prepaid. After it has been repaired, we will return it freight prepaid in the United States and Canada.
For EU Customers Only
This symbol found on the product indicates that the product must not be disposed of with household waste.
Instead, it may be placed in a separate collection facility for electronic waste or returned to a retailer when
purchasing similar product. The producer paid to recycle this product. Doing this contributes to reuse and
recycling, minimizes adverse eects on the environment and human health and avoids any nes for incorrect
disposal.

300 Jubilee Drive, Peabody, MA 01960 USA
www.bostonacoustics.com
© 2008. All rights reserved. Boston, Boston Acoustics and BassTrac are registered trademarks, and the B/A ellipse symbol,
make it your own, and Play Smart are trademarks of Boston Acoustics, Inc. 142-003139-0