Instruction/ maintenance manual of the product AVALON INDRA Avalon Acoustics
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S ERIAL N UM BERS : ________________ H A NDCRAFTED B Y : ____________ ___________ ____ ____________ ___________ ____ ____________ ___________ ____ ____________ ___________ _____ INDRA R D ESIGNED BY N.
Table of Contents 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 4 2 Unpacking Instr uctions .................................................................
9 Accuracy of Bas s Reproduction .......................................................................................... 33 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 33 9.
4 1 Introduction Congratulations on your purchase of A V ALON INDRA , one of the most technologica lly advanced high -energy t ransducers ever creat ed. I NDRA represents t he c ulminat ion of 20 years of researc h an d developme nt in the areas of tra nsient response, bandw idth, noise fl oor and octave - to -octave energy balance.
5 2 Unpacking Instructions Introduction Your A VALON A CO USTICS loudspea kers w ere shipped in a heavy-duty crate to ensure their safe arriva l. It is rec ommended to save these c rates for p ossibl e future use. D ue t o t he w eight of the speakers, it will require two persons t o un -crat e t hem an d position t hem for listeni ng.
6 2.1 Opening the Crate The crat e fea tures a on e- piece top assembly w hich is fast ened to t he crate bottom with screw s around the lower perimeter. T o u npack, remove the screws and lift the upper portion of t he crate straight up (this will require two people).
7 2.2 Installing the Grilles The grille asse mblies are behind a p anel on th e outside of the speaker cr ate. Remove the screws securing the panel, and then c arefully pull the grilles straight out. The grilles are insta lled w ith friction fast ene rs and press into place on the speaker ca binets.
8 2.3 Replacing Grille Pins The grille pins installed on the grille assemblies are fragi le an d can be easily damaged. Should any of the pin s brea k, you may replace them using t he following procedure . 1. Place the grille assembly face -dow n on a padded surface (a towel or carpetin g).
9 4. Carefully pull t he grille cloth away from the frame mounting hole. T he mounting hole must be clear of all obst acles durin g pin inst allation. 5. Place t he exposed end of th e grille pin in the open mount ing hole. Check to insure that th e grille cloth is not trap ped between the pin and frame.
10 3 Wiring Instructions Introduction The cross over is housed in a sealed, non -accessib le chamber in the b ottom of the speak er cabinet, to minimize t he effect of vibration on t he component s. The I NDRA is eq uipped w ith h igh -quality binding post for connect ing t he speaker cables.
11 4 Break-in Period Your new A VALON A C OUSTICS loudspeakers have an i niti al break-in period. They will not perform to their full sonic pot ential when first i nstalled in your system. This i s pa rtially due to a residual polarization of the diel ectric materials used in the crossover capaci tors and internal wiring.
12 5 Maximizing Performance These details are imperative to obta ining optim um r esults from your A VALON A COUSTICS loudspeakers. Break- in The break -in period is critical to ma ximizing sonic performan ce and should take place before other adjustmen ts (see the discus sion on page 11 ).
13 Toe- In Adjusting the toe -in angle of t he spea kers i s use ful in tailoring the sound to best mat ch the characteristic s of your system and li stening room. When the speakers are fac ing straight forward, t hey t end t o crea te a la rge, expansive so und-st age, pai nted w ith broad b rush strokes.
14 First Reflection Points Since the ear/brain system tends to integrat e t he sounds arrivi ng within a 10 millisecond time w indow, i t is important to control th e early reflec tions arr ivi ng from t he sidewal ls to th e list ening position.
15 6 Care of Your Loudspeakers Cabinet (Hardwood Finis h) A VALON A COUSTICS ’ hardwood finished loudspeakers a re suppl ied with a special polish and tw o lint -free polishing c loths, in order to p roperly c are for the h igh qualit y furniture l acquer.
16 7 Warranty Your A VALON A COUSTICS loudspeakers are warra nted to the original, registered purchaser agai nst defec ts in workma nship an d mat erials for a period of three years from the date of first purchase, pro vided th at the enclosed registration card is returned to th e factory within seven days of the purchase date.
17 Warranty Statement 1. A V A LON A C OUSTICS warran ts th e materi als, workma nship, a nd p roper functioning of thi s product for a period of t hree years to t he origi nal regi stered purchaser, provided th at the completed registration card is returned to A VALON A COUSTICS within seven days of the date of purchase.
18 6. The above w arrant y is the sole warrant y given by A VALON A COUSTICS , and is in lieu of all other wa rranties. All implied warranti es, including warranties of merchanta bility or fitness for.
19 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 listenin g room forms t he fina l link of t he playback system , as import ant as any oth er c omponent in the chain.
20 An Optical Analogy Let us use a visual ana logy to aid our underst andi ng of acoustic s. I magine that you are in a room that is lit only by a candle in its center.
21 8.1 Standing Waves The paral lel surfaces of most list ening rooms c an lead t o a pot ential probl em in the low frequencies. A sound wave ca n be repeatedly reflect ed from opposing surfaces, back an d forth. If t he dist ance betw een t he surfaces i s an integra l mult iple of one-half the sound wa velength, a stan ding wave will be set up.
22 8.2 Flutter Echo These paral lel, r eflective surfaces can also produce a different audible problem. I f there is little absorption at higher frequencies, a musical transient containin g high frequencies, such as a h and clap or t he strike of a percussion instrument, ca n be heard bouncing repea tedly bet ween the surfaces.
23 8.3 Early Reflections Another sit uation t hat c an reduce t he subject ive qualit y of reprod uced s ound is the presence of early reflections. By earl y reflect ions, we are referri ng to reflected sound w aves that reach the list ener w ithin 10 t o 20 milliseconds of the direct signa l from the loudspeaker.
24 Avoiding Early Reflecti ons The speed of sound is approximat ely one foot (30 cm) per mi llisecond. Therefore, t o preserve the natural soundstage on your recordings, t here should be no reflected .
25 Since the floor i s wit hin 5 feet of the speak er, it is b est to have a carpeted fl oo r to absorb fl oor reflect ions. A thic k, dense carpet and pad will absorb l ower frequencies m ore eff ectively t han a thin one.
26 8.4 Bass reinforcement By ba ss reinforcement , we mean the effect of the room boundarie s on the propagation of sound . It is wi dely kn own t hat speaker placement relative to the floor a nd wall s can a ffect the relative amount of bass that the system produces.
27 By pr operly selec ting the distanc es t o ea ch surfa ce, we can extend the in - room bass response of the speaker m uch deeper than its anechoic response. Please see Fig ure 8.5. This is bec ause the bass rein forcement p rovides a b oost which i s complement ary to t he bass roll -off t hat w ould be present in an anechoic chamb er.
28 Conversely, improper p lacement of the loudspeakers can re sult in une ven frequency response . This results in diminished bass qualit y. Please refer t o Figure 8.
29 There are t ypically three reflective surfaces near each speaker: t he floor, t he rear wall, and the side w all. Eac h of these surfaces prod uces its ow n reflection, a nd h ence i ts own cancellation and reinforcement . By prope rly selecting the dist ances t o each surface, we can provide a uniform a nd extended bass response.
30 8.5 Summary of Recommendations Now that we have l ooked at some of the common probl ems o f listenin g rooms, as well as their cures, let us summarize our findin gs and recommendations . Flutter Echo and Standing Waves These sit uations are t he result of the r oom having p arallel, reflec tive surfaces.
31 Speaker Placement Although yo ur A VALON A COUST I CS l oudspeakers may be p laced i n a wide variety of positi ons rel ative to t he walls of the ro om, it is sti ll wise to experiment a bit to achieve optimal results.
32 8.6 A Listening Room Example In order to make t hese points more clear, an example of a r oom layout is given in Figure 8 .9, illustrat ing the prin ciples we have given. Figure 8.9 - Example l istening room. The area around the spea kers is free o f objects that would produce earl y refl ect ions.
33 9 Accuracy of Bass Reproduction Introduction We have all ha d the experienc e of list ening to speakers w ith poor bass quality. Perhaps th e ba ss w as muddy, or ill-defi ned.
34 9.1 Sensitivity to Time-Related Information It is w idely know n that the h uman ear/brai n system is ext remely sensit ive to time-rel ated distortions. Thi s can be understood when one rea lizes that directional a nd spatial information is provided by in ter - aural ti me (and phase) differences.
35 9.2 Rationale There i s an old saying, "There's no such thin g a s a free l unch." There are many trade-offs in speaker design, as i n almost a ny area one can think of. In thi s case, t he t rade off is between t ransient response and anechoic frequency response (the speaker 's freq uency response in a n anech oic chamber).
36 9.3 Measurements of Audio Equipment It should be recognized th at measurement s are not th e f inal a rbiter of sound quality of audio comp onents. Often times a measurement standa rd h as evolved because i t is easil y perf ormed, or bec ause it is easily rep eatable, or it has shown some lin k to c ertain audible characteristi cs.
37 Loudspeaker Measur ements Returning to loudspeakers, a sim ilar situation has developed. Although nobody listens t o music in an a nechoic chamber, l oudspeaker mea surement s are commonly perfor med in th em.
38 Designing for Accur ate Bass Rep roduction How, then, d oes one arrive at the goal of a loudspea ker th at provides t onal accuracy in the listeni ng room? The a nswer, in large part , comes in t he form of t he digital comput er.
39 9.4 Listening Qualities We have seen how many speaker systems store resonant bass energy , resulting in ringing and poor transient accuracy. Now we w ill turn our attention to the listening experienc e, and des cribe how these measurab le properties correlat e with our subjecti ve impressions.
40 Transient Response E ffects A spea ker with poor t ransient response will st ore energy , releasin g it after t he initial musical transient has pa ssed. This cau ses a l oss of detai l and obscur es important musica l informati on. A lso associat ed with poor transient response i s a narrow- band resonance, whic h can empha size specific notes.
41 9.4 Conclusion Most loudspeakers have been designed to perf orm well in th e frequency domain when mea sured in an anechoic test chamber. W e h ave seen how this desi gn pa radigm p roduces audibl e bass di stortion and exa ggeration.
42 10 Features Advanced ultra-light weight ceramic and Nomex/Kevla r driver di aphragm material s minimize energy storage a nd time -domain distortion. Each driver in dividually tested and m atched for op timum performance . Smooth, wide polar resp onse for superl ative ima ging capab ilities.
43 11 Specifications Driver Complement ( 1) 1 ” Concave Ceramic NeoDymium Tw eeter (1) 3 .5 ” Concave Ceramic Do me Midra nge (2) 7 " Nomex Kevlar Comp osite Cone W oofers Sensitivity 87 dB I.
44 12 Notes.
An important point after buying a device Avalon Acoustics AVALON INDRA (or even before the purchase) is to read its user manual. We should do this for several simple reasons:
If you have not bought Avalon Acoustics AVALON INDRA yet, this is a good time to familiarize yourself with the basic data on the product. First of all view first pages of the manual, you can find above. You should find there the most important technical data Avalon Acoustics AVALON INDRA - thus you can check whether the hardware meets your expectations. When delving into next pages of the user manual, Avalon Acoustics AVALON INDRA you will learn all the available features of the product, as well as information on its operation. The information that you get Avalon Acoustics AVALON INDRA will certainly help you make a decision on the purchase.
If you already are a holder of Avalon Acoustics AVALON INDRA, but have not read the manual yet, you should do it for the reasons described above. You will learn then if you properly used the available features, and whether you have not made any mistakes, which can shorten the lifetime Avalon Acoustics AVALON INDRA.
However, one of the most important roles played by the user manual is to help in solving problems with Avalon Acoustics AVALON INDRA. Almost always you will find there Troubleshooting, which are the most frequently occurring failures and malfunctions of the device Avalon Acoustics AVALON INDRA along with tips on how to solve them. Even if you fail to solve the problem, the manual will show you a further procedure – contact to the customer service center or the nearest service center
