Janszen zA2.1 User manual

Model zA2.1 Electrostatic Hybrid Loudspeaker
Passive Version
O WNER ’ S M ANUAL

zA2.1 Owner’s Manual
 2013 Janszen Loudspeaker, Ltd.
480 Trade Road
Columbus, Oh o 43204 USA
Phone [phone]
ema l [e-mail]
Th s Owner’s Gu de s publ shed only n PDF form n order to save trees and not burden people w th even
more paper than they are already barraged w th. If you’d l ke a pr nted copy and do not have a color pr nter,
there are FedEx Off ce and Staples stores nearly everywhere that can do the pr nt ng job at low cost; you can
ema l them the f le or br ng t to them on a d sk or thumb dr ve. We hope th s s alr ght w th everyone.

Table of Contents
Safety Information ...................................................................... 1
Welcome..................................................................................... 4
Unpacking................................................................................... 5
Carton contents............................................................................... 5
Unpacking ....................................................................................... 5
Feet................................................................................................. 6
Grills................................................................................................ 6
Moving ........................................................................................ 7
Large movements ........................................................................... 7
Small movements............................................................................ 7
Cleaning ..................................................................................... 8
Wooden baffles ............................................................................... 8
Painted and metal surfaces............................................................. 8
Grill cloth ......................................................................................... 8
Warnings......................................................................................... 8
Quick Start.................................................................................. 9
A good starting setup: ..................................................................... 9
Tips: .............................................................................................. 10
Connecting and Powering ........................................................ 12
Binding Posts................................................................................ 12
Cables........................................................................................... 12
Power Cords ................................................................................. 12
Powering ....................................................................................... 13
Setup Details ............................................................................ 16
Backward Tilt ................................................................................ 16
Stereo Image ................................................................................ 16
Room Compensation .................................................................... 17
Exaggerated Treble .............................................................................17
Exaggerated Bass................................................................................17
Room Boom and Suck Out...................................................................18
Features and Specifications..................................................... 19
Warranty ................................................................................... 22

S A F E T I N F O R M A T I O N
1
Safety Information
WARNING: DO NOT EXPOSE THESE SPEAKERS TO RAIN OR
WETNESS, WHICH MAY CREATE A DANGEROUS SHOCK HAZARD,
AND MAY DEGRADE OR RUIN THE SPEAKERS.
WARNING: DANGEROUS HIGH VOLTAGES MAY BE PRESENT
INSIDE THE SPEAKERS. TO AVOID THE RISK OF ELECTRIC SHOCK,
DO NOT REMOVE THE REAR PANELS OR GRILLS OR OTHERWISE
DISASSEMBLE THE SPEAKERS. THERE ARE NO USER SERVICEABLE
PARTS INSIDE. REFER SERVICING TO QUALIFIED PERSONNEL.
WARNING: CHANGES OR MODIFICATIONS TO THESE SPEAKERS
NOT AUTHORIZED BY JANSZEN LOUDSPEAKER, LTD. MAY
INVALIDATE REGULATORY COMPLIANCE AND THUS RENDER THE
SPEAKERS UNSUITABLE FOR HOME USE. THIS INCLUDES KEEPING
THE GRILLS INTACT.
WARNING: JANSZEN SHALL NOT BE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY
PHYSICAL DAMAGES OR INJURY THAT OCCURS AS A RESULT OF
MISUSE, DISASSEMBLY, OR UNAUTHORIZED CHANGES OR
MODIFICATIONS MADE TO THESE SPEAKERS.
WARNING: CONTINUOUS EXPOSURE TO LOUD SOUND CAUSES
HEARING DAMAGE.
WARNING: AMPLIFIERS CAN DELIVER HIGH VOLTAGES TO THE
INPUT TERMINALS TO THE SPEAKERS. TO AVOID THE RISK OF
ELECTRIC SHOCK, DO NOT ALLOW CHILDREN OR ANIMALS
ACCESS TO THE BINDING POSTS.
Caution:
1. Read these instructions – All safety and operat ng nstruct ons should be
read before the speakers are operated.
2. Save these instructions – keep the safety and operat ng nstruct ons for
future reference.
1

S A F E T I N F O R M A T I O N
2
3. Heed the warnings – All warn ngs about these speakers should be followed.
4. Follow the instructions – All operat ng and use nstruct ons about these
speakers should be followed.
5. Condensation – When mov ng the speakers from a cold to warm locat on,
such as dur ng del very on a cold w nter day, mo sture may condense on
components w th n. If th s should occur, the speakers m ght not operate
properly. Consequently, after br ng ng the speakers n from the cold, we
adv se leav ng them dle for a day before connecting or powering them.
6. Water and moisture – The speakers should not be used near water – for
example, they should not be placed near a bathtub, pool, s nk, lawn spr nkler,
etc., and generally should not be placed outdoors.
7. Heat and flames – The speakers should be located well away from strong
sources of heat or flames, such as f replaces, propane heaters, stoves, etc..
. Particulates – Smoke from tobacco or cook ng, aerosol or splattered grease
from cook ng, and a r pollut on over a long per od of t me can have a
deleter ous effect on any speakers, nclud ng these.
9. Power cords – As w th any power cords, they should be routed so that they
are not l kely to be walked on or p nched by heavy objects. It s also mportant
to prevent access from an mals or ch ldren that may chew or otherw se
damage the power cords.
10. Liquids – Care should be taken not to sp ll l qu ds onto the speakers.
11. Foreign objects – Care should be taken not to press, poke or otherw se push
fore gn objects nto the cloth gr lls, such as penc ls, f ngers, toy a rplanes, cat
claws, etc..
12. Cleaning – Do not use abras ve cleaners. Paint: For remov ng d rt and f nger
marks, the pa nt can w thstand glass cleaner, l ghter flu d, alcohol, kerosene, or
naptha. Avo d gett ng any of these substances on the wood, however. Wood:
The wooden surfaces should be w ped w th noth ng more than a soft, damp
cloth. Do not use cleaners. The f nal coat of wax f n sh on the wood w ll be
removed by most types of cleaners. Grill cloth: Do not spray any sort of
cleaner on or near the gr lls. The gr ll cloth can be vacuumed.
13. Overload – It s best not to connect the speaker to an ampl f er that can
del ver more than 400W/channel nto 8 Ohms. The speakers are protected
from cont nuous play at h gh ampl tude w th h gher power ampl f ers, but we
cannot guarantee aga nst the poss b l ty that trans ents del vered by such
ampl f ers w ll cause ser ous damage that requ res serv ce.
If the ampl f er s capable of del ver ng excess ve voltage, then any br ef
trans ent can ru n the electrostat c elements. In other words, f the ampl f er
can ru n the elements, then t probably w ll at some po nt, even when always
play ng “not loud”. Th s can happen from a power-on or power-off trans ent,

S A F E T I N F O R M A T I O N
3
a cable pulled or nserted wh le the ampl f er s on, scrap ng across even just
one groove on an LP, jarr ng a m crophon c component or cable, switching
the preamp to a louder source while it is playing, performing tests that
involve sine wave sweeps or impulse signals, etc.
We can detect th s type of damage eas ly, and t w ll vo d the warranty.
14. YOUR EARS – D stort on and compress on are what make ord nary
speakers seem loud when the volume goes up, but electrostat c speakers do
not do th s.
Because your zA2.1’s are capable of produc ng h gh sound pressure levels
(SPL) w thout d stort on or compress on, t s easy to exceed safe loudness
w thout not c ng. As a general rule, f you can feel the bass n your belly, or f
you have to shout to be heard by a person s tt ng next to you, t m ght be too
loud.
A pa r of zA2.1 speakers can produce a peak SPL of over 108 dB, even n a
fa rly large room, 114 dB n a small room, and w th some k nds of mus c, a
steady level over 100 dB s poss ble. This can damage your ears
permanently, and fairly quickly.
If you hear r ng ng n your ears soon after or w th n a day or so of l sten ng to
loud mus c, you have damaged your ears, perhaps sl ghtly, but permanently. It
s also poss ble to damage your ears even w thout hear ng r ng ng.
It s mportant to know --
No one notices the usual bits of hearing loss right away after each
overexposure. It adds up over time. If you don't avo d exposure to loud
sound, then at a relat vely young age, mus c w ll sound dull, or certa n notes
w ll be m ss ng, or you w ll hear constant no se n your ears, and you w ll have
trouble understand ng what people are say ng, f rst n no sy places l ke
restaurants, and then everywhere. If you th nk you may already have hear ng
loss, t’s never too late to stop mak ng t worse.
15 minutes s the NIOSH and CDC 2002 recommended maximum
exposure time to a steady SPL of 100 dB. The t me l m t s 4 hours at 85
dB. Th s 4 hour t me l m t s cut n half for each add t onal 3 dB n loudness: 2
hours at 88 dB, 1 hour at 91 dB, and so on.
SO PLEASE BE CAREFUL and you will not hurt your ears and thus
your future enjoyment of music.
You can measure loudness w th a s mple sound level meter. If you w sh to
check your exposure, JansZen can supply a good qual ty sound level meter
such as we use ourselves at modest cost. Rad o Shack also offers one. There
are also apps for smart phones that work as sound level meters and spectrum
analyzers, although they w ll probably m ss the h gh frequency extremes due
to m crophone qual ty. Follow the nstruct ons for the dev ce or app to make
sure your read ngs are val d.

W E L C O M E
4
2
Welcome
ou have chosen JansZen loudspeakers!
The zA2.1 w ll br ng you the utmost n mus c l sten ng enjoyment through ts
except onal pur ty and naturalness n sound reproduct on. Wh le these
speakers nclude esoter c technology, you can rest assured that they are des gned and
bu lt w th the best of advanced mater als and techn ques, and are ready to br ng you
cons stent, unwaver ng performance for decades to come.
Please feel free to keep n touch w th us, lett ng us know anyth ng you’d l ke to tell
about your l sten ng exper ences, or about great ampl f ers, source gear, or mus c that
you have found su t you and the speakers part cularly well. We’re also here to help w th
any setup challenges or other quest ons.
Happy l sten ng.
JansZen Loudspeaker, Ltd.
480 Trade Rd.
Columbus, Oh o 43204
[phone]
[e-mail]
Y

U N P A C K I N G
5
3
Unpacking
o not allow the delivery person to leave until you are satisfied that there
has been no shipping damage.
If there s damage, please refuse the sh pment, and t w ll automat cally come
back to us for repa r/replacement. The s tuat on w ll be harder to handle f you not ce
damage after the del very person has left.
Carton contents
Each of the two cartons should conta n one speaker and one power cord, and one of
these should also conta n one bag of sh m washers. If you have ordered carpet sp kes
for self- nstallat on, one carton w ll have both packages of sp kes.
Unpacking
The follow ng steps w ll get your new speakers out of the cartons and onto your floor
w thout m shap:
1) Move the carton onto a carpeted area, or lay a blanket, bath towel, or other
soft mater al down onto the floor to use as an unpack ng surface.
2) Set the carton on ts long s de w th the flaps up, wh ch matches the “th s
s de up” mark ngs on the s des of the carton, and sl ce through the tape to
free the flaps. We’ll call th s s de the top.
3) Remove the power cord, the bag of sh m washers, and f appl cable, the
boxes of carpet sp kes.
4) Bend the flaps back as far as poss ble. If you are work ng alone, the next
steps w ll be eas er f you tape the flaps down aga nst the s des of the
carton.
5) Roll the carton completely over so that the top has now become the
bottom.
6) L ft the carton away and set t as de.
7) L ft the blue foam nsert away from the speaker.
8) Grasp the top end of the speaker, press ng the rema n ng blue foam nsert
aga nst the speaker so that the two do not separate.
D

U N P A C K I N G
6
9) Gently t lt the speaker up unt l t s vert cal, then further unt l the feet to
the s de w th no nsert touch the floor.
10) Wh le cont nu ng to support the speaker, remove the rema n ng blue foam
nsert, and let the speaker down onto all ts feet.
11) Cl p the t e that holds the bag shut, and sl p the bag part ally down.
12) Place the speaker onto ts top by t pp ng onto ts face f rst, then up onto
ts top, remove the bag, and f nally turn t back onto ts feet.
13) Remove the protect ve f lm from the enclosure.
14) We adv se that you reta n all pack ng mater als n case you want to sell or
return the speakers. The cartons can be folded flat, and the nserts can be
nterleaved to occupy less space.
Feet
If the speakers were f tted w th rubber feet, and you w sh to sw tch over to
carpet sp kes:
1) Lay the speaker onto ts face on a carpeted or other soft surface.
2) Us ng a #3 Ph l ps screwdr ver, remove the screws hold ng the feet n
place.
3) Locate the studs n the package of sp kes.
4) Screw the studs nto the nserts n the speaker base. The studs have a slot
at one end to fac l tate th s.
5) Screw the sp kes onto the studs.
6) If the sp kes have been ordered for use on carpet ng, as we would adv se
to make f rm contact w th the floor, ensure that the adjustable t ps are
screwed n t ghtly.
7) If the sp kes are for use on hard floors, metal pads are ncluded to avo d
damage to the floor, and the adjustable t ps can be used to accommodate
uneven surfaces.
Grills
The speakers are des gned to offer opt mal sound reproduct on w th the gr lls n
place, and they also help protect the electrostat c elements, both from mechan cal
damage and from collect ng part culates from the a r.
The gr lls are permanently nstalled. Any attempt to remove them w ll cause
rreparable damage.

M O V I N G
7
4
Moving
he speakers we gh about 28 kg [62 pounds], so they can be hard to move
for someone work ng alone. If you are unpack ng these alone, here are a
few suggest ons.
Large movements
The eas est way to p ck one up s:
1) Ensure that your cloth ng presents no exposed hardware, such as a belt
buckle, snaps, r vets, buttons, etc., that could come nto contact w th the
speaker and scratch the pa nt or wood.
2) Stand ng to one s de, t lt the speaker forward, allow ng t to rest on one
hand.
3) Grasp the far upper foot on the base w th your other hand.
4) L ft using your knees. Do not stra n your back by l ft ng w th your back.
5) To get through doorways, rotate the speaker onto your h p or up onto the
hand that s grasp ng the foot.
Small movements
When f tted w th rubber feet, the eas est way to move a speaker by small amounts
s to t lt t onto two feet and walk t along by rock ng t back and forth onto one
foot at a t me wh le rotat ng t each t me t’s on one foot.
When f tted w th carpet sp kes, damage to the carpet s l kely when attempt ng to
walk the speakers. In th s case, you would do well to place a pa r of wooden or
plast c slats under pa rs of feet and sl de the speaker along on these l ke a sled.
T

C L E A N I N G
8
5
Cleaning
Wooden baffles
The f nal wood f n sh coat s wax, wh ch w ll be removed by most cleaners. W pe
only w th a soft, damp cloth.
Painted and metal surfaces
These surfaces can w thstand strong cleaners as well as alcohol, but do not spray
anything directly onto the speakers. Dampen a soft cloth w th your solvent or
solut on of cho ce, and w pe gently w th that.
Grill cloth
The gr ll cloth can be vacuumed d rectly w th a brush attachment.
Warnings
•Do not spray anything near the grill cloth. Any sort of cleaner or
water mist can harm the speakers if it gets through the grill
cloth.
•The grills cannot be removed. Any attempt to remove them will
cause irreparable harm.

Q U I C K S T A R T
9
6
Quick Start
t m d and h gh frequenc es, the zA2.1’s d rect v ty keeps the stereo mage from
be ng affected by room placement n all but the most reflect ve rooms. As
w th any non-d pole speakers, though, the bass s pract cally omn d rect onal,
so nearby walls w ll re nforce t.
A good starting setup:
•The speaker w th the even ser al number should be placed to the r ght, and the
odd to the left. The speakers are acoust cal m rror mages of each other, and
opt mal sound occurs nboard when so arranged.
•Arranged nto an equ lateral tr angle setup, that s, an equal d stance between
the speakers and each other, and between each speaker and you. Of course,
some w ll prefer or be pract cally l m ted to a smaller angle between the
speakers, wh ch s perfectly f ne.
•A med d rectly at your l sten ng pos t on or sl ghtly toed out from there so that
the r axes cross a foot or two beh nd you.
•Pos t oned between 15 nches and 30 nches from the front wall and at least 2
feet from the s de walls.
•T lted back the r ght amount for fac ng upward d rectly at your shoulders. They
sh p set up for a l sten ng d stance of 2.5 to 4 meters [8 to 13 feet] at a 1 meter
[39 nch] he ght.
•Tweeter control set at max mum and the woofer at +3 dB.
•Dr ven w th at least a 40W/ch/8 Ohm ampl f er, preferably sol d state; 90W to
120W s a good range for best trans ent reproduct on and full SPL; 250W max.
If dr v ng w th a tube ampl f er, use the 4 Ohm output taps for best woof ng
(h ghest damp ng factor), or the 8 Ohm tap for h ghest SPL.
An 18W parallel 300B SET w ll somewhat surpr s ngly produce adequate
volume levels for small ensemble mus c n a large room, so f what you own
now s a tube ampl f er w th relat vely low power, t’s worth wa t ng unt l you
hear t w th these speakers before shopp ng for a new ampl f er.
A

S E T U P D E T A I L S
10
Tips:
•The tweeter responds mmed ately to control ncreases but very slowly to
decreases. For decreases, the speed w ll be ncreased by sw tch ng the speaker
off for a wh le, such as f fteen or so m nutes, before repower ng and l sten ng
at the new sett ng.
•Too much bass? F rst make sure the tweeter control s all the way up. Then try
sett ng the woofer sw tch to the m ddle pos t on, or mov ng the speakers away
from walls, and part cularly out of corners.
•Not enough bass? Try mov ng them closer to walls or corners.
•Stag ng problems? Try:
oMov ng them four or f ve feet out from the front wall.
oChang ng the amount of back-t lt
oAdd ng absorpt on or d ffus on at the s de wall f rst reflect on po nts
•Upper treble response can be rolled off to taste by reduc ng toe- n.
•Exper ment ng w th the back-t lt can also ta lor the response, but w ll produce
changes that are more rad cal than from chang ng the toe- n; n part cular, a
severe m drange d p w ll be created when s gn f cantly off the deal t lt angle.
Also, chang ng the back-t lt away from a stra ght-fac ng a m w ll degrade t me-
al gnment.
•When there s too much deep bass, and the only solut on s to dev ate from an
equ lateral tr angle to get the speakers away from s de walls, th s w ll obv ously
narrow the soundstage, but could be worth t.
•For record ngs made us ng a Blumle n m crophone arrangement, a 90° angle
between the speakers s best, although th s s hard to arrange n most rooms
w thout s tt ng very close to the speakers, wh ch not everyone w ll want to do,
and where the dr vers do not converge as well n t me. In many cases, a very
w de arrangement s just more enjoyable for the extra soundstage w dth, and
the mage s always cr sp enough to support th s w thout degrad ng focus.
•For the most holograph c effect, try two-m crophone record ngs, espec ally
b naural!

S E T U P D E T A I L S
11

C O N N E C T I N G A N D P O W E R I N G
12
7
Connecting and Powering
Binding Posts
The standard b nd ng posts accept spades or bare w re, but not banana plugs,
although they can be clamped nto the posts n a p nch, so to speak. We have
noth ng aga nst banana plugs, but came to apprec ate the des gn of the Cardas
Patented post assembly, w th ts handy, s ngle knob clamp ng mechan sm, sol d
copper posts, and rhod um plat ng. (Rhod um has the corros on res stance of gold,
but s much harder.) A proper connect on s well assured n all env ronments
w thout per od c t ghten ng.
We also offer 5-way posts on spec al order that w ll accept banana plugs.
Cables
We recommend oxygen free, stranded copper w re, well term nated to h gh qual ty
spade lugs, accord ng to the follow ng w re gauge table:
Maximum Cable Length Gauge
7.5 m [25’] 16 gauge
10 m [33’] 14 gauge
15 m [50’] 13 gauge
Heav er w re can be used, of course. Note that the res stance, nductance and
capac tance of z p cord of these gauges are at least ten t mes better than needed to
avo d any nfluence on the sound.
Power Cords
The power cord s for the b as supply. Note that the b as supply n each speaker
draws ma ns current of only 0.008 to 0.08 Ampere, depend ng on the ma ns
voltage. The supply c rcu t s unrelated to the s gnal path. The speakers have no
suscept b l ty to a rborne or power l ne borne electr cal nterference.

S E T U P D E T A I L S
13
There s consequently no benef t to us ng a spec al power cord. The b as supply
w ll work correctly w th any ma ns voltage, and f the speakers are moved
nternat onally, su table power cords for any wall socket arrangement can be
obta ned worldw de and used w thout concern for convert ng/adapt ng the
voltage.
Powering
The speakers must be powered to obta n sound from the electrostat c elements.
You may note that there s an on/off power sw tch. The speakers may be left
powered on at all t mes w thout harm, but f they w ll be left dle for an extended
t me, or f the a r often conta ns smoke or other contam nants, t s best to power
them off.
The speakers can be powered on at any t me relat ve to the other equ pment, but t
s always a good dea to power an ampl f er last, that s, after power ng sources and
preampl f er, and then power t off f rst, before the other gear.

A I R L A E R
14
8
airLayer Option
The zA2.1 speakers are very d rect ve n the vert cal, and rather d rect ve n the
hor zontal. Th s serves to m n m ze the nvolvement of the room, thereby mak ng
setup eas er, and max mally conserv ng the recorded amb ance and the prec s on
of the mage. W th record ngs that do not have real st cally recorded amb ance
w th well conserved phase nformat on, a potent al drawback s the percept on of a
closed n soundstage, extend ng only from one speaker to the other.
The a rLayer opt on compr ses a h gh grade r ng dome tweeter mounted outboard
on each speaker, f r ng s deways toward ts near s de wall. The purpose of
bounc ng some sound off the s de walls s to w den the soundstage and prov de a
sense of spac ousness that can be m ss ng from d rect ve speakers such as the
zA2.1.
These tweeters are w red out of phase w th the sound com ng d rectly from the
front of the speaker, and the po nt source sound that reflects from the s de walls s
not strongly correlated w th the l ne source d rect sound. As a result, the son c
reflect ons from the s de wall do not smear the mage not ceably, as would the off-
ax s sound from a d pole or w de d spers on speaker. The benef t s the same sort
of a r ness as w th these more d spers ve speakers, but w thout the drawbacks.
Setup
The a rLayer tweeters are fully adjustable w th a rotary control knob between off
and way too loud. In the usual setup, w th the s de walls a few feet away, a sett ng
of -8 dB s a good place to start.
If the s de walls are d fferent d stances from the speakers, or have d fferent types
of mater als, t s best to turn off the ESL b as supply and wa t unt l there s no
output from that port on of each speaker. At th s po nt, you can adjust the
a rLayer tweeters for good center balance. Once that s done, you can turn the b as
suppl es back on aga n, and test for overall effect. You can turn them up or down
and the balance w ll rema n okay as long as you keep the d fference n dB between
the two sett ngs the same.

S E T U P D E T A I L S
15
Controls
Unfortunately, our suppl er for the usual control fasc a (marked n dB) have run
out of stock as of July 2013, and do not expect to be restocked unt l October. Th s
means we are sh pp ng a rLayers w th knobs that are not cal brated n dB, but
s mply marked l nearly from 1 to 10 or worse, from 0 to 11. In the follow ng
mage, you can see the correspondence between two of the types of d al plate.
Here’s a translat on table show ng dB of attenuat on w th the l nearly numbered
d al plate:
L near dB L near dB
1 -16 6 -3.5
2 -9 7 .2.8
3 -7 8 -1.8
4 -5.5 9 -1
5 -4.5 10 0

S E T U P D E T A I L S
16
8
Setup Details
Backward Tilt
The zA2.1 speakers are very d rect ve n the vert cal. There s thus about a 22 cm
[9”] range of ear he ght that w ll exper ence full spectrum sound. In add t on, the
backward t lt serves to present the sound from all the dr vers n phase (“t me
al gned”) at your ears, wh ch mproves the smoothness of the frequency response
by m n m z ng the effects of nterference between the dr vers, and creates a h gh
degree of phase coherence.
It s thus mportant to ensure that your speakers are t lted so that they are both
equally well a med upward at your ears when you are n your usual l sten ng
pos t on.
The speakers are sh pped w th the angle set for l sten ng d stances of 2.5 to 4
meters [8 – 13 feet] w th a nom nal ear he ght of 1m [38 nches]. S nce l sten ng
he ghts and d stances vary, you m ght benef t from some exper mentat on w th the
angle.
You can prop the front or rear of the speakers w th books, tableware, whatever,
unt l the vert cal centers of the speakers are fa rly close to be ng a med d rectly at
your ears.
Sh m washers are prov ded n a small z p-lock style bag, and you can make your
new angle permanent by remov ng the feet at the front or rear of the speakers and
nsert ng enough sh ms to match the amount you sh mmed n your test.
To remove the feet, set the speaker on ts face. The rubber feet are held on w th
screws that take a #3 Ph ll ps screwdr ver. The carpet sp kes are screwed onto
studs, and are turned counterclockw se to remove them.
Stereo Image
The stereo mage w ll be usually best when an equ lateral tr angle s created by the
speakers and the l sten ng pos t on. On the other hand, there s a strong argument

S E T U P D E T A I L S
17
that th s angle was s mply made up for no good reason other than memorab l ty,
and everyone should use whatever they want.
It s very mportant to avo d the use of a h gh backed cha r that w ll reflect
unwanted sound nto your ears w th pract cally no delay, even when the headrest
appears to be made of soft, sound absorbent mater al. Th s has a d sastrous effect
on real sm as well as the stereo mage.
Lastly, f the back wall less than a few meters [ten feet] beh nd the l sten ng
pos t on, t s helpful to add absorbent mater al there, such as heavy curta ns or a
decorat ve carpet. If you are not averse to the appearance of d ffusors, add ng
those nstead of absorpt on to that area w ll help, and do so w thout decreas ng
“a r”.
Room Compensation
In a moderately l vely, fa rly large room, you w ll probably get the best sound when the
speakers are toed n so that they face d rectly toward you or toward a pos t on a couple
of feet beh nd you. Th s w ll also g ve the w dest seat ng area w th un form sound from
both speakers.
Exaggerated Treble
The upper treble m ght be exaggerated by reflect ons from the wall beh nd the l sten ng
pos t on, or by a generally l vely room, that s, one w th lots of hard surfaces and not
many soft ones. Th s can be counteracted by reduc ng the amount of toe- n.
If the m d-treble s exaggerated, t w ll probably be best to ncrease the woofer sett ng
to the +3 pos t on, f t s not already set that way, or f t s, then reduce the tweeter
level.
Exaggerated Bass
If you f nd that t s necessary to place the speakers near walls or nto corners, the bass
w ll be re nforced by the nearby surfaces. If your equ pment has a bass knob or low
frequency equal zat on control, or your f le player has some DSP capab l t es, that w ll
be the best way to handle the s tuat on. Otherw se, f the tweeter level s not all the way
up, set t so, or f t already s, then set the woofer sw tch nto ts m ddle pos t on.
Note that there s no f le player software at th s t me that can perform DSP d rectly on
DSD f les, .e., your player EQ w ll only work on PCM f les. If you need your player to
EQ DSD f les, you’ll need to set t to convert the streams to PCM.