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Speaker Grills

Your Sapphire  XLs are supplied with cloth covered grills which enhance the appearance of your

speakers and provide some protection for the drive units. To protect the drivers we recommend leaving the
grills in place most of the time. However, for the most critical listening we suggest removing the grills.

Positioning the Sapphire XLs

As mentioned, the proper placement of speakers in your room will easily improve the sound.

Because all of our rooms and tastes are different, it is impossible to specify a “correct” placement. Instead,
let us present you with some acoustical facts, then you can optimize placement in your room.

It helps to visualize sound waves as behaving very much like water waves. The sound we hear is

made up of two types of waves. Direct sound waves come right from the speaker and are not changed in
any way. Reflected waves come to us after bouncing (diffracting) off the speaker enclosure itself, or walls,
ceiling, floor or furniture. If you want to see how much these reflected waves affect the sound, move your
speakers outside and hear the difference.

Sound waves come in different lengths; the lower the note, the longer the wave. Extreme low

frequencies such as the lowest organ pedal notes are over 60 feet long! If your room is not big enough, the
wave can’t develop fully. But the biggest problem with bass notes is the phenomenon we call standing
waves. In effect the waves more or less “pile up”. This creates big peaks and dips in the bass response. If
you put a certain frequency through the speakers, you can usually walk around the room and find places
where it is very loud, and places where you perceive virtually nothing.

Just as the room affects the bass response, so it affects the mid-treble sound of the system. In the

mid-treble range, the sound waves are shorter and have peaks and dips, most of the affects (peaks and
dips) occur from enclosure edges, furniture, walls, or the floor. Sapphire  XLs exhibit the deepest image
when placed away from walls and furniture. The shorter wavelengths of the mids and highs are more easily
absorbed than the longer wavelengths of low frequencies. This is why a bare room sounds so harsh
compared to a room with a lot of stuffed furniture, carpets, drapes, etc.

An ideal setup for sound would be achieved if you could:

 

Choose a room with width, height and length dimensions that are not multiples of each other. (A cube
would be the worst!) Good numbers might be something like, height = 8 feet, width = 15 feet, and
length = 26 feet.

 

Choose a room that has an irregular shape, non-parallel walls cut down on standing waves.

 

Place the speakers so that the woofer cones are at irregular distances to the floor, walls and ceiling.
This can be difficult. Use a tape to measure the distance from the center of the woofer to the room
boundaries.  Move the woofers around till you have cut down on the number of related distances. (You
don’t want distances like 12 and 24”, but more like 12 and 22”). Use the distance from the woofer to the
boundaries to increase or decrease bass output. Sticking the speaker in the corner or close to walls will
give more bass output than putting the speaker out into the room. You can use this to get the best
balance between bass output and upper range output.

 

Use absorbent materials to help smooth upper-range response and improve transient response and
clarity. Why? Let’s take the sound of a bell for example. First you will hear the direct sound from the
speaker.  But some of that sound bounces from wall-to-wall, ceiling-to-floor, off furniture, etc. before it
reaches your ears milliseconds later. Because the time difference is short, you don’t hear an echo, but
the sound of the bell is stretched out from something like a “ding” to a “ddiiinngg”.  Some speaker
engineers have begun to realize this and are addressing the problem in their latest designs. This is why
we are now seeing very directional designs. This controlled directionality increases the amount of direct
sound in proportion to reflected sound.

Содержание Sapphire XL

Страница 1: ...udioc com Email service audioc com Forum www audiocircle com All Rights Reserved 2006 Sound that Satisfies Since 1977 Table of Contents Guarantee Warranty 2 Specifications 4 Design Philosophy 4 Using your Speakers 6 Avoiding Damage 6 Hookup 7 Positioning the Sapphire XLs 8 Adding Subwoofers 9 Care Cleaning 10 Troubleshooting 11 Warranty Registration 13 ...

Страница 2: ...cts which have been damaged in shipping Audio Concepts Inc liability is limited only to the replacement of defective parts No other liabilities or obligations are expressed or implied For the first year of ownership ACI also provides a unique Total Assurance Guarantee TAG TAG from ACI not only covers everything included in our standard five year warranty but we will also pay for shipping to ACI an...

Страница 3: ...ugh hours on your speakers and your 30 day return privilege is getting near call us We will work with you Please give us the courtesy of breaking the speakers in before you determine they don t sound right Many of our customers break their speakers in by A Leaving them on at moderate listening levels when they are not home B Leaving them on at moderate listening levels while they sleep C Running p...

Страница 4: ...20kHz 3db anechoic 60 20kHz 1 5db usable in room response extends cleanly to 38 40Hz Nominal impedance 6 ohms minimum impedance 4 5 ohms low reactance Sensitivity 85 5db 1 watt 1 meter Bass loading 4 th order low Q rear ported system Recommended RMS Power 35 to 200 watts per channel Tweeter 1 hand damped silk dome with aperiodic rear chamber cast faceplate and ferro fluid Bass mid 5 1 2 cast frame...

Страница 5: ...icult load for the driving amplifier The Sapphire XL has a nominal impedance of 6 ohms The minimum impedance is 4 5 ohms and the maximum impedance is 26 ohms Some speakers have wildly varying impedance phase curves that can cause problems for amplifiers The phase of the Sapphire XLs impedance helps make the Sapphire XL an easy load for any amplifier Low distortion drive units are necessary to keep...

Страница 6: ...gs but you should try a few of the best audiophile recordings just to see how terrific your system can be when fed a good signal III Work at getting the best placement of your speakers in their environment It is not unusual to be able to get a 25 to 50 percent improvement in sound by careful placement of speakers and furniture It may not be practical to go all out but the more you can tune your ro...

Страница 7: ...ever watched a cone flap you know just what we mean Vented speakers are particularly sensitive to signals below their F3 point The average vented box that can handle 100 watts at 50Hz may handle less than 5 10 watts below 25Hz Sealed box speakers with low Qts numbers have a similar characteristic although not as severe Low organ or synthesizer notes may cause an otherwise excellent woofer to botto...

Страница 8: ...s furniture walls or the floor Sapphire XLs exhibit the deepest image when placed away from walls and furniture The shorter wavelengths of the mids and highs are more easily absorbed than the longer wavelengths of low frequencies This is why a bare room sounds so harsh compared to a room with a lot of stuffed furniture carpets drapes etc An ideal setup for sound would be achieved if you could Choo...

Страница 9: ...to the inside Try the Sapphire XLs both ways to determine which placement provides the best response in your application Adding Subwoofers Using subwoofers gives you some flexibility that you don t have with an all in one system But it also requires some decisions Choosing between the Force XL Titan XL or Maestro XL subs All were designed to mate perfectly with the Sapphire XLs These are self powe...

Страница 10: ...n the subwoofer and the Sapphire XL 2 If you have a room setup situation in which the bass seems to be too prominent This might occur if the Sapphire XLs are pushed right up to the walls It will depend on room dimensions and other equipment used Install the foam plugs by inserting so they are fully in the port They may easily be removed using tweezers pliers or something similar Care Cleaning The ...

Страница 11: ...p The problem may be different but with this little information to go on it is almost impossible to trouble shoot the problem long distance The following troubleshooting checklist may help 1 Are all system hookups properly connected not partial shorted wires or reversed connections etc 2 Did you try the rest of your system with other speakers to determine if the problem exists with the speakers 3 ...

Страница 12: ...g please fill out and return the warranty registration This warranty registration is important It allows us to reach you in the event of future upgrades The comments you make on the warranty help us to continually improve our products and customer service Thank you Specifications and design are subject to change without notice due to our continuous research and development program Designed assembl...

Страница 13: ...her speakers within the next two years _____ If so what types of speakers are you interested in purchasing Tower speakers satellite speakers subwoofers wall speakers outdoor speakers home theater speakers etc __________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________ All speakers require at least 60 8...

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