Legacy VALOR User manual

Owners Manual For The
Loudspeaker System
VALOR
1 of 50

THANK YOU FOR CHOOSING
LEGACY AUDIO
Valor is a full range loudspeaker system utilizing the present state of
the art in driver, crossover, amplifier and acoustic radiation control
technologies.
The system is designed, assembled and tested in Springfield, Illinois
by a dedicated group of engineers, craftsmen and music lovers.
Please take a few moments to learn more about the features and
controls of these instruments to assure full enjoyment.
2 of 50

Table of Contents
Page
Registration
Owners Record 4
The Ca inetry / Our Commitment 5
6
Warranty
Setup
Placement 7
Hooking up Cables 8-9
Amplification 10-12
Speaker Connections 13-14
Technology
Behind the Design 15-16
Stereo Unfold Methodology 17
Specifications 18
Wavelet 19-25
3 of 50
Wavelet Setup 26-43
Imaging & Room Correction 44-47

Owners Record
The serial num er is located on the rear of the unit. Record this num er in the
space provided elow. Refer to this when calling your dealer regarding this
product.
Thank you for selecting a Legacy Loudspeaker System. These handcrafted
instruments will provide you with many years of listening enjoyment.
Register your product at www.legacyaudio.com/register
Model: VALOR
Serial No: _________________________
Date of purchase: ___________________
Share your Legacy speakers with the Legacy community. Post your Legacy
experience and system photos at facebook.com/LegacyAudio Like the page to
continue receiving the latest Legacy announcements.
4 of 50

The Cabinetry / Our Commitment
Handcrafted
Beneath the surface of VALOR’s elegant exterior lies rigid MDF construction. Interlocking
joinery maximizes the strength of the ca inet parts.
Each ca inet is impecca ly finished on all exposed surfaces with select veneers. The
exquisite finish is hand-ru ed several times to assure a patina at home with the most
elegant decor.
Our Commitment
A great deal of forethought, love and satisfaction is instilled in each piece of Legacy
workmanship. We take pride in getting to know many of our customers on a first name
asis.
Your purchase of this product is acked y the renowned “Legacy Satisfaction Guarantee”.
5 of 50

Legacy Audio supports its customers and products with pride. We cheerfully warrant our loud-
speaker products we manufacture from defects in materials and workmanship for a period of seven
(7) years. Electronic components such as internal amplifiers and digital processors are covered for
three (3)years. Please register your product with Legacy Audio. Should you require service Legacy
will require a proof of purchase in order to honor the warranty - so please keep your receipt.
• The warranty applies to the original owner and is not transfera le.
• The warranty applies to products purchased from an “Authorized Legacy Dealer”.
• The warranty on active components such as digital processors or internal amplifiers is limited to three
(3) years of coverage.
• The warranty on dealer stock will extend for a maximum of two years from invoice.
The warranty does not cover transportation costs of product to or from the customer, distri utor or
dealer, or related shipping damage.
Exclusions from Warranty
The following situations or conditions are not covered y the Legacy Audio warranty:
• Accidental damage, electrical a use or associated equipment failure.
• Use inconsistent with recommended operating instructions and specifications
• Damage caused y modification or unauthorized service
• Costs associated with the removal and reinstallation of defective products. Consequential damage to
other products.
• Normal wear such as fading of finishes due to sunlight.
Warranty
6 of 50

Spea er Placement
The Legacy VALOR system is designed to afford maximum flexibility in seating
arrangements and yield a large listening sweet spot by preserving directional cues and
eliminating unwanted room sound. The Legacy Wavelet, included with VALOR, allows the
speakers to operate in a variety of different positions and room setups. Assuming a
listening distance of about 10-12 feet, begin by placing the speakers about 10 feet or more
apart and 1-3 feet from the wall behind them. A slight toe-in is recommended. Because of
the unique room correction abilities of the VALOR system, adhering to the exact
recommended placement guidelines is not as critical as it is with conventional speaker
systems. Your dealer and Legacy Audio will be able to look at your room setup and
recommend the best positioning for your VALOR system.
7 of 50

The ideal conductor would have negligi le resistance, inductance
and capacitance. The ta le elow shows how a few actual speaker
ca les measure up.
Ca le Ωs/ft pF/ft µH/ft
12 ga. 0.0033 24 0.21
14 ga. 0.0048 17 0.13
16 ga. 0.0079 16 0.18
18 ga. 0.0128 28 0.21
Capacitance is considered insignificant in each ca le ecause its ef-
fect is well out of the audio andwidth; inductance can e de-
creased (at the expense of increased capacitance) y keeping the
conductor pair closely spaced.
How long would a ca le have to e efore inductance effects would
impinge on the audio spectrum? Approximately 300 feet of 12 gauge
would e required to esta lish a corner frequency of 20 kHz with an
8 Ohm loudspeaker. As you see, inductance is not a pro lem for
most of us.
Hoo ing Up Cables
8 of 50

What a out phase shift due to frequency dependent travel times down the speaker
ca le? Measurements show that 100 Hz waves will e delayed a out 20 illionths of a
second ehind 10 kHz waves when traveling to the end of a 10 foot speaker ca le.
Since the cilia of the ear requires 25,000 times longer than this just to transmit phase
information, phase shifting is o viously not the primary concern when considering
speaker ca les.
What a out resistance? Finally we are getting somewhere. Resistance is the control-
ling factor of the amplifier/loudspeaker interface. Excessive resistance can cause ma-
jor shifts of speaker crossover frequencies. The lower the impedance of the loud-
speaker, the greater the effects of series resistance. A 20 foot run of 18 gauge ca le
can cause up to 10% deviations of crossover center frequencies. That same 20 feet
can un-damp your damping factor and reduce your systems’ output y onehalf deci-
el.
In summary, there are no perfect ca les. The est way to approximate the ideal
would e to keep loudspeaker leads as short as is practical.
Hoo ing Up Cables
9 of 50

Ideally the loudspeaker would e among the first components selected when assem ling a play-
ack system. This would allow the user to choose an amplifier capa le of delivering adequate
amounts of current into the frequency dependent load presented y the loudspeaker. However,
when upgrading a system, audiophiles may find themselves matching their new loudspeakers to
their existing amplification. For this reason, extensive measures have een taken to ensure that
each Legacy speaker system represents a smooth, non-reactive load to virtually any amplifier.
Often there is much confusion regarding amplification and loudness levels. It should e under-
stood that the role of the amplifier goes eyond that of driving loudspeakers to a given sound
pressure level. The amplifier should e a le to CONTROL the loudspeakers across the entire mu-
sic spectrum. This means that parameters such as damping factor (values greater than 60 are
accepta le) and dynamic headroom should not e overlooked when comparing amplifiers.
Amplification
10 of 50