Avalon Acoustics OPUS Ceramique Loudspeaker manual

Serial Numbers ____________________ Handcrafted by: _________________________________ _________________________________ _________________________________ _________________________________ This product is certified to meet the requirements of the European Union (EU) Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) Directive (89/336/EEC). Because the permanent ma[...]

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Table of Contents 1 I n t r o d u c t i o n ....................................................................................... 5 2 U n p a c k i n g I n s t r u c t i o n s ........................................................................... 6 I n t r o d u c t i o n ......................................................................[...]

9 A c c u r a c y o f B a s s R e p r o d u c t i o n ................................................................... 3 4 I n t r o d u c t i o n .................................................................................................3 4 9 . 1 S e n s i t i v i t y t o T i m e - R e l a t e d I n f o r m a t i o n .....................[...]

5 1 Introduction The Opus Ceramique was conceived as an alternative to our award winning original Opus . Designed specifically for moderate sized listening rooms, the Ceramique presents a taught and coherent soundfield, free of stored energy. Staging of exceptional clarity and harmonic structure is achieved through innovations in crossover technolo[...]

6 2 Unpacking Instructions Introduction Your Avalon Acoustics loudspeakers were shipped in a heavy -duty crate to ensure their safe arrival. It is recommended to save this crate for possible future use. Due to the weight of the speakers, it will require two persons to un- crate them and position them for listening. Please arrange for your dealer or[...]

7 2.1 Opening the Crate The crate features a one -piece top assembly which is fastened to the crate bottom with screws around the lower perimeter. To unpack, remove the screws and lift the upper portion of the crate straight up (this will require two people). Next, slide each speaker part way off of the crate base so that the plastic bag can be unf[...]

8 2.2 Installing the Grilles The grille assemblies are behind a panel on the outside of the speaker crate. Remove the screws securing the panel, and then carefully pull the grilles straight out. The grilles are installed with friction fasteners and press into place on the speaker cabinets. Please see Figure 2.2. Orientation of the Felt Anti- Diffra[...]

9 2.3 Replacing Grille Pins The grille pins installed on the grille assemblies are fragile and can be easily damaged. Should any of the pins break, you may replace them using the following procedure. 1. Place the grille assembly face-down on a padded surface (a towel or carpeting). 2. Remove the damaged grille pin by pulling it straight out with a [...]

10 4. Carefully pull the grille cloth away from the frame mounting hole. The mounting hole must be clear of all obstacles during pin installation. 5. Place the exposed end of the grille pin in the open mounting hole. Check to insure that the grille cloth is not trapped between the pin and frame. Use a small hammer and gently tap the new grille pin [...]

11 3 Wiring Instructions Introduction The crossover is housed in a sealed, non-accessible chamber in the bottom of the speaker cabinet, to minimize the effect of vibration on the components. The Opus Ceramic is equipped with high -quality barrier terminals for connecting the speaker cables. Ring terminals or spade lugs designed for #10 screws are r[...]

12 Figure 3.1 - Bottom view of the speakers showing the connections from the amplifier to the loudspeaker. Check to insure the correct polarity (positive lead connected to the (+) terminal and negative lead connected to the (-) terminal. INPUTS From Amplifier[...]

13 4 Break- in Period Your new Avalon Acoustics loudspeakers have an initial break-in period. They will not perform to their full sonic potential when first installed in your system. This is partially due to a residual polarization of the dielectric materials used in the crossover capacitors and internal wiring. 1 As music is played through the lou[...]

14 5 Maximizing Performance These details are imperative to obtaining optimum results from your Avalon Acoustics loudspeakers. Break-in The break-in period is critical to maximizing sonic perfo rmance and should take place before other adjustments (see the discussion on page 13). The break -in should begin with three to six hours of quiet music, fo[...]

15 Toe-In Adjusting the toe -in angle of the speakers is useful in tailoring the sound to best match the characteristics of your system and listening room. When the speakers are facing straight forward, they tend to create a large, expansive sound-stage, painted with broad brush strokes. As they are rotated toward the listening position, the image [...]

16 First Reflection Points Since the ear/brain system tends to integrate the sounds arriving within a 10 millisecond time window, it is important to control the early reflections arriving from the sidewalls to the listening position. A hard-surfaced wall can produce a strong frequency -dependent reflection that can interfere with the reproduced sou[...]

17 6 Care of Your Loudspeakers Cabinet (Hardwood Finish) Avalon Acoustics’ hardwood finished loudspeakers are supplied with a special polish and two lint-free polishing cloths, in order to properly care for the high quality furniture lacquer. The following polishing instructions should be observed: IMPORTANT: Use the supplied furniture polish ONL[...]

18 7 Warranty Your Avalon Acoustics loudspeakers are warranted against defects in workmanship and materials for a period of five years, ! provided that the enclosed registration card is returned to the factory ! within seven days of the purchase date. If the registration card is not returned within the seven day period, this warranty is null and vo[...]

19 Warranty Statement 1. Avalon Acoustics warrants the materials, workmanship, and proper functioning of this product for a period of five years, provided that the completed registration card is returned to Avalon Acoustics within seven days of the date of purchase. If the registration card is not returned to the factory within the seven day period[...]

20 6. The above warranty is the sole warranty given by Avalon Acoustics, and is in lieu of all other warranties. All implied warranties, including warranties of merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose shall be strictly limited in duration to five years from the date of original purchase, and upon the expiration of the warranty period [...]

21 8 R o o m A c o u s t i c s a n d S p e a k e r P o s i t i o n Introduction The listening room forms the final link of the playback system, as important as any other component in the chain. Just as an otherwise superb system is handicapped by an inferior pre-amplifier (for example), so can a well-matched system be hindered by poor room acoustic[...]

22 An Optical Analogy Let us use a visual analogy to aid our understanding of acoustics. Imagine that you are in a room that is lit only by a candle in its center. There is (approximately) a uniform amount of light cast in all directions. If a large mirror is held closely to candle, one half of the room becomes darkened, while the other half receiv[...]

23 8.1 Standing Waves The parallel surfaces of most listening rooms can lead to a potential problem in the low frequencies. A sound wave can be repeatedly reflected from opposing surfaces, back and forth. If the distance between the surfaces is an integral multiple of one-half the sound wavelength, a standing wave will be set up. This means that th[...]

24 8.2 Flutter Echo These parallel, reflective surfaces can also produce a different audible problem. If there is little absorption at higher frequencies, a musical transient containing high frequencies, such as a hand clap or the strike of a percussion instrument, can be heard bouncing repeatedly between the surfaces. Called flutter echo (or slap [...]

25 8.3 Early Reflections Another situation that can reduce the subjective quality of reproduced sound is the presence of early reflections. By early reflections, we are referring to reflected sound waves that reach the listener within 10 to 20 milliseconds of the direct signal from the loudspeaker. When a reflected sound reaches the listener more t[...]

26 Avoiding Early Reflections The speed of sound is approximately one foot (30 cm) per millisecond. Therefore, to preserve the natural soundstage on your recordings, there should be no reflected sounds arriving at the listening position with a path length less than ten feet (3 meters) longer than the direct path from speaker to listener (see Figure[...]

27 Since the floor is within 5 feet of the speaker, it is best to have a carpeted floor to absorb floor reflections. A thick, dense carpet and pad will absorb lower frequencies more effectively than a thin one. Due to their complex structure, carpets and pads of natural materials, such as wool and jute, will exhibit a more uniform absorption over t[...]

28 8.4 Bass reinforcement By bass reinforcement, we mean the effect of the room boundaries on the propagation of sound. It is widely known that speaker placement relative to the floor and walls can affect the relative amount of bass that the system produces. To make this interaction more clear, let us refer to the optical analogy of the candle. Sim[...]

29 As frequency increases and wavelength becomes more similar to the distance to the boundary, the phase difference between original and reflected waves increases, and the air coupling effect is diminished. In particular, when the wavelength equals about four times the distance to the boundary, the reflected wave is antiphase to the original wave, [...]

30 There are typically three reflective surfaces near each speaker: the floor, the rear wall, and the side wall. Each of these surfaces produces its own reflection, and hence its own cancellation and reinforcement. By properly selecting the distances to each surface, we can provide a uniform and extended bass response. Conversely, improper placemen[...]

31 8.5 Summary of Recommendations Now that we have looked at some of the common problems of listening rooms, as well as their cures, let us summarize our findings and recommendations. Flutter Echo and Standing Waves These situations are the result of the room having parallel, reflective surfaces. The potential problems are independent of the audio [...]

32 Speaker Placement Although your Avalon Acoustics loudspeakers may be placed in a wide variety of positions relative to the walls of the room, it is still wise to experiment a bit to achieve optimal results. The suggested minimum distances for the Opus Ceramic are 3 feet from one wall (side or rear), and 5 feet from the other (all distances are m[...]

33 8.6 A Listening Room Example In order to make these points more clear, an example of a room layout is given in Figure 8.5, illustrating the principles we have given. Figure 8.5 - Example listening room. The area around the speakers is free of objects that would produce early reflections. A tapestry is hung opposite the draperies to absorb the re[...]

34 9 Accuracy of Bass Reproduction Introduction We have all had the experience of listening to speakers with poor bass quality. Perhaps the bass was muddy, or ill -defined. Possibly the bass was exaggerated or bloated. In any case, these type of distortions are distracting and can keep us from enjoying the full measure of the performer's inten[...]

35 9.1 Sensitivity to Time- Related Information It is widely known that the human ear/brain system is extremely sensitive to time -related distortions. This can be understood when one realizes that directional and spatial information is provided by inter-aural time (and phase) differences. During the period of man's evolution, the ability to a[...]

36 9.2 Rationale There is an old saying, "There's no such thing as a free lunch." There are many trade- offs in speaker design, as in almost any area one can think of. In this case, the trade off is between transient response and anechoic frequency response (the speaker's frequency response in an anechoic chamber). Almost all ma[...]

37 9.3 Measurements of Audio Equipment It should be recognized that measurements are not the final arbiter of sound quality of audio components. Often times a measurement standard has evolved because it is easily performed, or because it is easily repeatable, or it has shown some link to certain audible characteristics. Unquestionably, it is the la[...]

38 Loudspeaker Measurements Returning to loudspeakers, a similar situation has developed. Although nobody listens to music in an anechoic chamber, loudspeaker measurements are commonly performed in them. 3 Although various proposals have been made for performing low frequency measurements in a more realistic setting, there has been no agreement as [...]

39 Designing for Accurate Bass Reproduction How, then, does one arrive at the goal of a loudspeaker that provides tonal accuracy in the listening room? The answer, in large part, comes in the form of the digital computer. It is possible to create a mathematical model of a listening room, and predict the response of a given speaker in that room. Wit[...]

40 Frequency Response Effects As you listen to music, images of the instruments that created the sounds are elicited. For instance, one can tell the approximate size of a drum from the sound it produces. On a high-resolution playback system, finer details can be heard; i.e., is the head made of plastic or calfskin? Is the player using light sticks [...]

41 Transient Response Effects A speaker with poor transient response will store energy, releasing it after the initial musical transient has passed. This causes a loss of detail and obscures important musical information. Also associated with poor transient response is a narrow- band resonance, which can emphasize specific notes. When listening for[...]

42 9.4 Conclusion Most loudspeakers have been designed to perform well in the frequency domain when measured in an anechoic test chamber. We have seen how this design paradigm produces audible bass distortion and exaggeration. While these exaggerations may sometimes seem impressive in the short term, they quickly prove to be distracting from the mu[...]

43 10 Features • Advanced ultra-light weight ceramic driver diaphragm materials minimize energy storage and time-domain distortion. • Each driver individually tested and matched for optimum performance. • Smooth, wide polar response for superlative imaging capabilities. • Moderate impedance characteristic allows for ideal interface with any[...]

44 11 Specifications Driver Complement 1" concave ceramic dome tweeter 3 1/2" concave ceramic dome midrange 9" concave ceramic dome woofer Sensitivity 87 dB (2.83V, 1 meter) Impedance 5 ohms nominal (4.5 ohms minimum) Frequency Response 28Hz to 24kHz (+/- 1.5 dB, anechoic) Recommended Amplifier Power 30 to 300 watts Wiring Methods Tw[...]

45 12 Notes[...]