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Step-by-step operating process
We’ve covered all of the basic controls and indicators of the Altair II. Here’s how you use them to
perform the basic operations of turning the unit on, selecting a source, adjusting the sound, and
turning the unit off.
STEP 1: To turn on the Altair II from the front panel, push the Standby button in the middle under the
LCD touchscreen. Alternatively, you may push the Standby button on the remote.
When you turn on the power, you will hear the Altair II’s internal relays click as the unit goes into
warm-up mode. In a few seconds, the front touchscreen will illuminate and the blue LED on the front
of the power supply will come on. The most recently used input will be selected. If you wish to let the
unit warm up for a while before listening, hit the Standby button (on the front panel or remote) again
to enter Standby mode. The Standby screen will appear on the LCD and the audio will be silenced until
you push the Standby button again.
NOTE: While the Altair II will work quite well immediately upon power-up, the light-dependent
resistors used in its volume control become most linear after 8 hours of continuous operation. In the
first 15 to 30 minutes, you may notice a slight left-to-right imbalance, which can be temporarily
corrected using the balance control. We recommend leaving the Altair II on all the time for optimum
performance.
STEP 2: To change to a different input from the front panel, press the button under the Home icon.
This will bring up the input select screen. Push an onscreen button (XLR-1, RCA-1, etc.) to select the
input you want. The screen for that input will appear. Alternatively, you can scroll through the
available inputs using the Input button on the remote. Enable playback on the chosen source device.
STEP 3: Adjust listening volume with the volume knob on the front of the unit or the volume up/down
buttons on the remote. Note that the control is calibrated in negative decibels (-dB), reaching
maximum volume at 0.0 dB and minimum at -99.0 dB. Thus, when you turn the volume up (clockwise),
the number on the front display will decrease. When you turn the volume down (counterclockwise), the
number will increase.
STEP 4: To adjust left-to-right balance, turn the balance knob. Counterclockwise shifts the balance to
the left, clockwise shifts it to the right. Or use the buttons on the remote; left shifts the balance to
the left, right shifts to right. The onscreen indicator will show you the balance setting in 0.1 dB
increments.
STEP 5: You may wish to set a maximum output level to prevent damage to your speakers if the level is
accidentally turned up to high, and a minimum output level so that the preamp always delivers an
audible volume. To do this, adjust the Altair II’s volume to the desired minimum or maximum level.
Push the multifunction button labeled Setup. Press either the Set Min or Set Max button, depending on
which function you want. Hit Apply to accept the setting, or Cancel to return to the original setting. To
clear the setting, press either CLR Min or CLR Max as appropriate, or press Default to clear both
settings.
STEP 6: If you want to use the Altair II in a home theater system, in conjunction with a surround-sound
processor, you should set up one input for home theater bypass. When you switch to this input, volume
and balance will be at fixed settings and your channel balance adjustments in the surround processor
will be preserved. To do this, first select the input you want to use for this function. Now adjust the
volume on the Altair II to the desired level. Push the multifunction button labeled Setup. Push the Set
Summary of Contents for Altair II
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