1. Manuals
  2. Brands
  3. Avalon Manuals
  4. Speakers
  5. Idea
  6. User manual

Avalon Idea User Manual

Hide thumbs
Table of Contents

Advertisement

Quick Links

IDEA
S
ERIAL
___________________________
___________________________
___________________________
____________________________
D
ESIGNED BY
This product is certified to meet the requirements of the European Union (EU)
Electromagnetic
Compatibility
permanent magnets attached to the loudspeaker drivers produce magnetic fields, it is
recommended that the product not be positioned in very close proximity to computer
monitors or television sets.
N
:
________________
UMBERS
H
ANDCRAFTED
N
P
A
EIL
ATEL FOR
(EMC)
Directive
B
:
Y
A
VALON
COUSTICS
(2004/108/EC).
Because
the

Advertisement

Table of Contents
loading

Related Manuals for Avalon Idea

Summary of Contents for Avalon Idea

  • Page 1 IDEA ________________ ERIAL UMBERS ANDCRAFTED ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ____________________________ ESIGNED BY ATEL FOR VALON COUSTICS This product is certified to meet the requirements of the European Union (EU) Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) Directive (2004/108/EC). Because permanent magnets attached to the loudspeaker drivers produce magnetic fields, it is recommended that the product not be positioned in very close proximity to computer monitors or television sets.

  • Page 3: Table Of Contents

    Table of Contents 1 Introduction ......................... 5 2 Unpacking Instructions ....................... 6 Introduction ......................6 Contents ......................6 2.1 Opening the Crate ....................7 2.2 Installing the Grilles ....................8 Orientation of the Felt Anti-Diffraction Mask ..........8 2.3 Replacing Grille Pins ....................8 3 Wiring Instructions ....................... 11 Introduction ......................11 Connecting the Speaker to the Amplifier ............11 4 Break-in Period ........................
  • Page 4 9 Accuracy of Bass Reproduction ..................34 Introduction ......................34 9.1 Sensitivity to Time-Related Information ..............35 "Fast Bass" ......................35 9.2 Rationale ........................36 Anechoic vs. In-Room Frequency Response ..........36 9.3 Measurements of Audio Equipment ..............37 A Correlation with Amplifier Measurements ..........37 Loudspeaker Measurements ................38 Designing for Accurate Bass Reproduction ...........39 Frequency Response Effects ................40 Listening for Size Distortions ................40...

  • Page 5: Introduction

    COUSTICS standards in the audio industry. Handcrafted in Boulder, Colorado by dedicated craftsmen and technicians, each Idea is measured and matched creating perfect symmetry and coherency. Before leaving the factory each of our masterpieces are subjected to a demanding array of quality control and testing procedures to assure flawless and consistent performance.

  • Page 6: Unpacking Instructions

    2 Unpacking Instructions Introduction Your A loudspeakers were shipped in a heavy-duty crate to VALON COUSTICS ensure their safe arrival. It is recommended to save these crates 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.

  • Page 7: Opening The Crate

    2.1 Upacking the Speakers...

  • Page 8: Installing The Grilles

    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.

  • Page 9: Replacing Grille Pins

    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).
  • Page 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 in place.

  • Page 11: Wiring Instructions

    The crossover is encapsulated in a sealed, non-accessible chamber in the bottom of the speaker cabinet, to minimize the effect of vibration on the components. The IDEA is equipped with a high-quality binding post for connecting the speaker cables. Spade lugs are recommended for cable termination.

  • Page 12: Break-In Period

    4 Break-in Period Your new A loudspeakers have an initial break-in period. They VALON COUSTICS 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.

  • Page 13: Maximizing Performance

    5 Maximizing Performance These details are imperative to obtaining optimum results from your A loudspeakers. VALON COUSTICS Break-in The break-in period is critical to maximizing sonic performance and should take place before other adjustments (see the discussion on page 12). The break-in should begin with three to six hours of quiet music, followed by 200 to 300 hours of loud and dynamic source material.

  • Page 14: Toe-In

    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 becomes more compact, with increased focus, creating a greater sense of intimacy.

  • Page 15: First Reflection Points

    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 sound-stage, as well as change the perceived tonal balance of the system.

  • Page 16: Care Of Your Loudspeakers

    6 Care of Your Loudspeakers Cabinet (Hardwood Finish) ’ hardwood finished loudspeakers are supplied with a VALON COUSTICS 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 ONLY.

  • Page 17: Warranty

    7 Warranty Your A loudspeakers are warranted to the original, registered VALON COUSTICS purchaser against defects in workmanship and materials for a period of three years from the date of first purchase, 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 void, and you will not be notified of future updates.

  • Page 18: Warranty Statement

    Wood is a natural product subject to the laws of physics. While all effort has been made to create the most stable and perfect product possible, your Avalon cabinet is a live piece of furniture. As is the case with any musical instrument constructed of wood, excessively dry or humid conditions and areas prone to atmospheric changes may cause surface cracking, checking, or joint expansion;...
  • Page 19 Changes in the product caused by these environmental conditions are not considered defects in workmanship. 6. The above warranty is the sole warranty given by A , and is VALON COUSTICS 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 three years from the date of shipment from the factory, and upon the expiration of the warranty period (three years), A...

  • Page 20: Room Acoustics And Speaker Position

    8 Room Acoustics and Speaker Position 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 acoustics.

  • Page 21: An Optical Analogy

    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 receives twice as much light.

  • Page 22: Standing Waves

    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.

  • Page 23: Flutter Echo

    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 echo), these multiple reflections can obscure musical detail.

  • Page 24: Early Reflections

    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.

  • Page 25: Avoiding Early Reflections

    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 8.1).
  • Page 26 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 the frequency spectrum than synthetic materials will.

  • Page 27: Bass Reinforcement

    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.
  • Page 28 Figure 8.4 - Same conditions as above, except speaker is 6.6 feet from the reflecting surface. Note how the reinforcement now occurs at a lower frequency. By properly selecting the distances to each surface, we can extend the in- room bass response of the speaker much deeper than its anechoic response. Please see Figure 8.5.
  • Page 29 Conversely, improper placement of the loudspeakers can result in uneven frequency response. This results in diminished bass quality. Please refer to Figure 8.6. Figure 8.6 - Uneven frequency response caused by improper placement of the speakers. In this case, the speaker is 2.0 feet from both the side and rear walls.
  • Page 30 33% of each other. A good rule of thumb in establishing the lateral position of IDEA is to apply the ratio 4 : 10 : 4. In other words, the distance to the side wall is 4/18 (or about 22.2%) of the room width, and the distance from speaker to speaker is 10/18...

  • Page 31: Summary Of Recommendations

    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 system, and need to be addressed at the source.

  • Page 32: Speaker Placement

    The suggested minimum distances for the IDEA are 3 feet from one wall (side or rear), and 5 feet from the other (all distances are measured to the center of the woofer cone). This will provide the proper degree of bass reinforcement, as well as minimize early reflections.

  • Page 33: A Listening Room Example

    8.6 A Listening Room Example In order to make these points more clear, an example of a room layout is given in Figure 8.9, illustrating the principles we have given. DRAPERIES SHELVES SPEAKER EQUIPMENT SHELVES CHAIR DESK TABLE SOFA TABLE SPEAKER SOFA TAPESTRY...

  • Page 34: Accuracy Of Bass Reproduction

    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 intent.

  • Page 35: Sensitivity To Time-Related Information

    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 accurately determine the direction and distance of sound sources conferred a decided survival advantage, hence our present day aural sensitivity to time-related information.

  • Page 36: Rationale

    Avalon loudspeakers are carefully designed taking these factors into account. When placed in a variety of representative positions in the room, Avalon loudspeakers will produce deep, accurate, and unexaggerated bass response, with complete freedom from stored resonant energy.

  • Page 37: Measurements Of Audio Equipment

    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.

  • Page 38: Loudspeaker Measurements

    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. Although various proposals have been made for performing low frequency measurements in a more realistic setting, there has been no agreement as to what that setting should be.

  • Page 39: Designing For Accurate Bass Reproduction

    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.

  • Page 40: Frequency Response Effects

    9.4 Listening Qualities We have seen how many speaker systems store resonant bass energy, resulting in ringing and poor transient accuracy. Now we will turn our attention to the listening experience, and describe how these measurable properties correlate with our subjective impressions. There are two main factors which affect subjective low-frequency accuracy, frequency response and transient response.

  • Page 41: Transient Response Effects

    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 the low-frequency transient accuracy of a speaker, it will be useful to utilize a broad variety of recordings.

  • Page 42: Conclusion

    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 musical intentions of the composer.

  • Page 43: Features

    10 Features • Purely pistonic wavefront generation with smooth open lobing characteristics • Advanced light weight 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. •...

  • Page 44: Specifications

    11 Specifications Driver Complement (1) Proprietary Composite Neodymium Tweeter (2) 7 inch Nomex-Kevlar Composite Cone Woofers Sensitivity 88 dB @ rated impedance Impedance 4 Ohms Nominal Frequency Response 28Hz to 22kHz Recommended Power 50 to 300 Watts Wiring Methods Two Position Binding Post Dimensions 35.5"...

  • Page 45: Notes

    12 Notes...

This manual is also suitable for:

Transcendent

Table of Contents