Gato Audio FM-6 2½-way User manual

FM-6 2½-way Speaker
User Manual

Gato Audio FM-6 - 2½-way Speaker
Page 2
Contents
Don’t be a stranger 2
Package contents 3
A few words on your new speakers 3
Installation 4
Using spikes 4
Mounting the driver grilles 4
Connecting your speakers 5
Bi-wiring and bi-amping 5
Placement of the speakers 5
Make it last! 6
If all else fails… 6
Technical stu 7
Technical specications 7
Drivers 7
Weight & dimensions 7
Don’t be a stranger
Thank you for purchasing this Gato Audio product. We are absolutely condent that it will bring you many pleasurable hours of listening.
We hereby cordially invite you to join the Gato Audio family by register your product online. You may also consider signing up for our
newsletter to receive information about exciting new products, demo-events and technical updates.
All this and more on www.gato-audio.com
Our very best
Gato Audio

User Manual
Page 3
Package contents
Please check that the following is included in the two packages:
• 2 Gato Audio FM-6 speakers
• 2 front grille sets
• 8 spikes
• 8 spike fasteners
• This manual - which you should be reading now 
A few words on your new speakers
A good cabinet is the essential foundation of any loudspeaker. The FM-6 cabinet incorporates several noteworthy details. First of all, the
cabinet is made from solid high-density berboard, and the rounded sides are laminated with ve layers of material to ensure strength,
stiness and resonance control. Secondly, the rounded shape itself ensures that stationary waves inside the cabinet never will be a
problem. Thirdly, the solid aluminium prole does not only give the speaker a unique design; it also has a function: to add mass and by
that dampening resonances and vibration. The cabinet shape will transfer vibration from the front panel to the rear panel. The aluminium
prole is mounted with a special gasket, providing instant high mass and a totally dierent resonance structure than the berboard. Lastly,
the coupling of the complete speaker to the oor through machined spikes ensures that the speaker can be adjusted precisely in angle
and planeness.
Excellent drivers are the foundation of true-to-life sound: the drivers’capability to react instantly to the provided signal together with
total control of mechanical resonance is crucial. The drivers in FM-6 are selected from the absolute best drivers available and then
modied further to comply with our demands for technical quality. The midrange reproduction of any speaker is without discussion the
most important thing at all. This is where it all happens. Whether it is the reproduction of vocals, high-hat or drums, all have important
information based in this frequency area. Although the two bass/midrange drivers may appear identical, they are far from it. The upper
bass/midrange is specially designed for mid- and high frequency response providing a clean and dynamic impulse response second to
none. The lower driver oers superb and tight bass performance, in eect assisting the upper driver with moving substantially more air. A
separate and optimized cabinet ensures perfect working conditions for each driver individually as well as an exact lateral musical timing
for all the drivers in unison.
The tweeter is a state-of-the-art ring radiator design that not only yields a useful output far beyond the capability of the human ear,
thereby providing instruments with their natural harmonic structure, but also adds the crucial benets of extremely low distortion and
coloration of the reproduced material.
At the heart of the FM-6 speaker lies an advanced crossover adorned with no less than ultimate quality components: large air-core
coils, low-resonance capacitors and non-inductive resistors mounted on a high-quality berglass PCB and cast in a special resonance-
controlling epoxy resin.
Hundreds of hours have been spent designing the network to comply with the drivers’frequency response and impedance, while carefully
considering phase, resonance and impulse response. Finally, we trimmed the sound, not only providing a at frequency response but
providing a tantalizingly lifelike sound.
All of the above is draped in a beautiful exterior design, as small as possible and perfectly nished in handcrafted veneer or paint.
The supplied magnetic cloth grilles are designed to produce a minimum of coloration and distortion to the sound when mounted. Using
a small and close-tting frame clad in sound-transparent fabric ensures that any loss of audio detail is kept at a minimum, and that
diractions are well out of the critical midrange area. In addition, it oers protection for the drivers while enhancing both the beautiful
nish and the elegant, simple lines in the design even further.

Gato Audio FM-6 - 2½-way Speaker
Page 4
Installation
Using spikes
Mounting the driver grilles
The grilles are easily fastened to the speakers magnetically when the small magnets on the grille are alligned on top of the driver screws.
1.Assemble all fasteners
with the spikes
2.Place the 4 spikes in the
holes of the plinth by
screwing them in clockwise
3.Screw the spikes up or
down to adjust the speaker
height from the oor, so
all spikes are touching the
oor at the same time
4.Turn the fastener clockwise
until it is positioned tightly
against the plinth. Make sure
the spike does not turn during
the process by grasping it with
your other hand if necessary
1.Place and hold the grille lightly on top of the driver as
shown below
2.Turn it clockwise or counter-clockwise until you can
feel the magnets attach to the screws below.
WARNING: Please note that using spikes under your speakers will invariably leave marks on your oor or any other surface that you place
the speakers on. Gato Audio cannot accept any responsibility for any type of damage to oor, furniture surfaces, marriage or anything
else resulting from the use of spikes. It is up to you and your family to consider carefully beforehand whether the improvements in sound
quality and performance can outweigh the possibility of any inconvenience caused.
To detach the grille from the speaker simply turn the grille clockwise or counter-clockwise and remove it.

User Manual
Page 5
Connecting your speakers
Connecting your speakers to your amplier must only be performed with the amplier turned o. Otherwise damage may occur. Connect
the red speaker terminal (+) to the positive speaker output on your amplier. Now connect the white speaker terminal (-) to the negative
speaker output terminal on your amplier.
Bi-wiring and bi-amping
The FM-6 features a double set of high-quality WBT gold plated copper
binding posts that can accommodate separate cables and/or ampliers for
high and low frequency reproduction respectively.
PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING IMPORTANT INFORMATION:
Permanent damage may occur to your audio system if the copper
shorting plates are not removed before connecting more than one
amplier to your speakers!
There are many theories about bi-wiring and bi-amping. Our best
advice is to experiment with dierent cables, ampliers and methods
of connection. Whatever performs best in your system might not work
equally well in another setup or in a dierent room. In general, our advice
would be to use the same kind of cable both for bi-wiring and bi-amping,
and also to use identical ampliers when bi-amping. This is simply due
to the fact that both methods will add more headroom and clarity to
the sound reproduction. The introduction of dierent ampliers and/or
dierent cables may cause issues with sound integration and cohesive
performance.
Placement of the speakers
Just like with real estate, location is the most important factor when setting up a high-end audio system. It is impossible to give you an
exact instruction via this manual to set up your specic system perfectly in your listening room. However, we can give you some thumb
rules:
• Place your speakers at least 0.5m from the rear and side walls. Placing
a speaker close to the rear wall will provide an extension in level of
bass and coloration in the mid band.
• Basic setup should be an even-sided triangle with equal distance
between the speakers as well as the listening position.
• The FM-6 speakers are developed to play facing directly into the
listening room, so no toe-in should be needed. However, if the room
is very small and the speakers must be placed closely to the side walls,
then some degree of toe-in may be useful.
• Hard surfaces like glass, stone and wooden oors create many
reections which can make midrange reproduction sound harsh and
with a blurry soundstage. These reections can be dampened with
curtains and carpets.
• Many soft surfaces, thick carpets and furniture may on the other
hand provide too much dampening. This may cause the midrange
reproduction to become“thin” and lacking in musical timing and
energy. In such cases, it is advised to remove some of the dampening
items.
In any case, time spent setting up your speakers is by far the most important adjustment parameter for your system. Room acoustics is a
hugely complicated eld with an almost innite number of variables. Again: what might work well in your listening room may not be the
perfect solution in other setups.
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Gato audio
FM-6
Made in Denmark
High frequency terminals
Low frequency terminals