SARASTRO
OWNER’S MANUAL
R.5.0
March 2005
VERITY AUDIO
PAGE 8
The
reverberation
in the room is the resulting tendency for
sound level in the room to persist after direct sound ceases.
The optimum reverberation time for a room depends upon
room volume, sound frequency, and the type of sound or
reproduced music. The Sarastro performs at its best in lively
listening rooms. Overly damped room will be detrimental to
the Sarastro’s performance. Optimum reverberation time (at
500 to 1,000 Hz) should be between 0.4 and 0.6 second.
Standing waves
are reflections from opposing parallel surfaces
resulting in serious peaks in the reverberation-time / frequency
curve. In properly proportioned rooms, resonances can be
effectively reduced and standing waves practically eliminated
by introducing numerous sound treatment devices. The object
is to prevent sound reflection back to the point of origin until
after several reflections and/or after being considerably
attenuated. Once again if you feel having a standing wave
problem in your room, please consult your dealer to get proper
assistance in this matter.
Early reflections
are the first sound reflections heard at the
listening position. They are usually intense and annoying. In
order of importance, they usually come from the floor, the side
walls and the ceiling. They can either be controlled by placing
diffusors or absorbers at their image location. Your dealer can
be of good assistance in properly helping you with this matter.
In an already well damped room, we recommend utilization of
diffusion instead of damping.
If you choose to work with a specialized room treatment
device, the included manufacturer’s instructions should be
followed.
Ancillary Equipment
Your new Sarastro is an extremely precise instrument that can
clearly reveal the qualities of your upstream equipment. Your
Sarastro’s performance will be closely related to the excellence
of its associated equipment. Subsequently, it would be wise to
invest in high-quality ancillary equipment as your enjoyment
will be significantly rewarded.
The Sarastro shows an easy impedance load for most power
amplifiers. It has been evaluated with a wide variety of power
amplifiers and showed consistent results with quality solid state
and vacuum tube equipment. Superb performance can be
realized from either design.
The uniquely designed and manufactured binding-posts on the
Verity Audio Sarastro
accept banana plugs, spade connectors
or bare wires. For best results, we recommend the use of spade
connectors.
When choosing speaker cables, experimentation is the best
way to find which one will be the most satisfying in your
installation. Your Verity Audio dealer can be of assistance in
making recommendations.
Power Handling
The Sarastro offers an outstanding power handling capacity
yielding astonishing dynamics.
Power tolerance of a loudspeaker is correlated to its maximum
voice-coil heat dissipation and to its maximum cone
displacement. These parameters are in turn stimulated by the
time, amplitude and spectral characteristics of the applied
musical energy. At low-frequencies, the maximum cone
displacement is normally reached before maximum voice-coil
temperature.
With the Sarastro’s transducers, because of their superior
ventilation system, the voice-coils will most likely never reach
critical temperatures. But, low-frequencies played at high levels
can ask for larger cone displacement than allowed by the
driver suspension. A driver reaching its maximum
displacement will not break unless this situation is maintained
for an inordinate period of time. Before a driver reaches its
maximum displacement, its distortion level will increase
greatly and will become audible. So when a speaker starts
sounding bright and hard or if any “cracking noise” can be
heard, just lower the level until it sounds comfortable again.
The Sarastro has to be played unexpectedly loud before any
occurrence of compression or distorsion.
Cabinet Resonances
Cabinet resonances are controlled in a very special way. Their
amplitudes are lowered and their frequencies are increased.
Because higher frequencies are more directional, it will be
most unlikely that they get the chance to reach the listening
point. Of course, the listening room has to be properly treated.
Also, traveling high-frequency sonic waves attenuate faster than
their low frequency counterpart. A unique cabinet bracing
arrangement can break a wall resonance into multiple higher
frequency resonances that are not harmonically related. By
doing so, their amplitudes are greatly reduced. The cabinet
construction tolerances are so tight that only computer-
controlled tooling can cut panels with acceptable accuracy.
The cabinet rigidity lowers even more any chances of
coloration caused by unwanted vibrations. Special materials
are used to ensure stability of the cabinet in any acoustical
environment.
Care of the Finish
The high-gloss exotic wood veneer and black piano finish
available for the Sarastro is composed of high-grade Italian
lacquers. You will only find them on luxury pieces of furniture
or on the best grand pianos. They are long-lasting finishes and
need little care.
