Bowers & Wilkins 684 Owner's Manual page 4

English
Owner's manual
Dear customer,
Thank you for choosing B&W. Please read this manual
fully before unpacking and installing the product. It will
help you to optimise its performance. B&W maintains a
network of dedicated distributors i n over 60 countries
who will be able to help you should you have any
problems your dealer cannot resolve.
Environmental Information
All B&W products are designed to comply
-J..et- with international directives on the
' - " Restriction of Hazardous Substances
(RoHS) i n electrical and electronic equipment and the
disposal of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment
(WEEE). These symbols indicate compliance and that
the products must be appropriately recycled or
processed i n accordance with these directives. Consult
your local waste disposal authority for guidance.
Carton Contents
Check i n the carton for:
1 Plinth
4 M6 alien screws
1 M6 alien key
1 Foam plug (683 only)
2 Foam plugs (684 only)
1 Accessory pack containing:
4 M6 spike feet
4 M6 rubber feet
4 Lock nuts (10mm across flats)
Speaker Installation
The speakers are intended to be floor mounted only. It
i s important to ensure the speakers stand firmly on
floor using the plinth and, whenever possible, the spike
feet. T o attach the plinth, stand the speaker on its top
taking care not to damage the cabinet or the drive units
during handling. Align the plinth with its attachment
holes i n the underside of the cabinet ensuring that the
arrow on the underside of the plinth points forwards.
Secure the plinth using the four screws supplied.
Tighten the screws using the alien key supplied.
The spike feet ore designed to pierce carpet and rest
on the floor surface. Initially, screw the lock nuts onto
the spikes enough to leave the nuts floating just above
the carpet when the spikes are resting on the floor
beneath. Screw the spikes fully into the threaded
inserts i n the base of the plinth. Return the speaker to
the upright, again, taking care to avoid damage during
handling. Figure 1 illustrates attachment of the plinth
and spike feet.
If the cabinet rocks when placed i n position on the
floor, unscrew the two spikes that do not touch the
floor until the cabinet rests firmly without rocking.
Finally, lock all the nuts against the plinth. It may be
more convenient to fit and adjust the spike feet after
speaker positioning has been optimised.
If there i s no carpet and you wish to avoid scratching
the floor surface, use either a protective metal disc (a
coin perhaps) between the spike and the floor or use
the supplied rubber feet. Fit the rubber feet by
screwing one into each of the holes i n the underside
of the plinth.
The grilles fitted to the front of speakers may be
removed if desired. Take care however not to touch
the moving parts of the drive units as damage may
result.
Speaker Positioning
Adjustment of speaker position following initial
installation will probably further improve the sound
quality and i s usually worthwhile.
In either stereo or home theatre installations try to
ensure that the immediate surroundings of each
speaker are similar i n acoustic character. For example,
if one speaker i s adjacent to bare walls while the other
i s adjacent to soft furnishings and curtains, both the
overall sound quality and the stereo image are likely to
be compromised.
Conventional Stereo Systems
To begin with, the speakers should be positioned
between 1 .5m (5 ft) and 3m ( 1 0 ft) apart at two
corners of an equilateral triangle completed by the
listening area at the third corner. The speakers should
be approximately 0.5m (20 in) away from the back
wall, and at least 0.5m (20 i n ) away from any side
walls. Figure 2a illustrates
Home Theatre Systems
If the speakers are to be used for the front channels i n
a home theatre system they should be placed closer
together than for 2-channel audio because the
surround channels tend to widen the image.
Positioning the speakers within approximately 0.5m
the (20 i n ) of the sides of the screen will also help keep
the sound image i n scale with the visual image. As
with conventional stereo positioning, the speakers
should ideally be approximately 0.5m (20 in) away
from the back wall, and at least 0.5m (20 in) away
from any side walls.
Stray Magnetic Fields
The speaker drive units create stray magnetic fields
that extend beyond the boundaries of the cabinet. We
recommend you keep magnetically sensitive articles
(CRT television and computer screens, computer
discs, audio and video tapes, swipe cards and the
like) at least 0.5m (20 i n ) from the speaker. LCD and
plasma screens are not affected by magnetic fields.
Connections
All connections should be made with the equipment
switched off.
There are 2 linked pairs of terminals on the back of the
speaker. For conventional connection the terminal links
should remain i n place (as delivered) and
of terminals connected to the amplifier. For bi-wire
connection the terminal links should be removed and
each pair of terminals connected to the amplifier
this arrangement.
just one pair