8
Getting Started
1.
Turn off power to all com-
ponents before making any
connections.
2. When making connections, des-
ignate red RCA plugs as right, and
designate white, black, or gray plugs
as left. This is a good idea for all sig-
nal connections made in your audio
system. The key is consistency. Stick
with the same color coding and you’ll
reduce possible problems.
3. Whenever possible, keep power
cords away from signal cables to pre-
vent induced hum. This is especially
important if you bundle the cables to
keep the installation neat looking.
4. Use quality interconnect cables. We
know from experience that really
cheap cables can cause a multitude
of problems. They tend to break
inside or corrode, causing a loss of
signal or hum. They also have poor
shielding.
5. The Avalon G4 gives you the option
of using RCA cables or balanced XLR
cables – if running more than 20 feet
or so, it is best to run those signal ca-
bles as XLR to give you better noise
rejection.
If you do need to run the RCA audio
cables more than 20 feet, consider
using an active balanced line driver
for the signals. This will provide
better noise rejection against nasty
things like hum, spikes, local talk
radio, and metaphysical paranormal
phenomena, etc. The AudioControl
balanced line driver components
(BLD-10, BLR-10 and BLX-10) are an
excellent way to send audio over long
distances with standard Cat-5 wiring.
Check them out at audiocontrol.com.
Getting Started
6. Speaker Wiring – Establish a stan-
dard connection color code and stick
with it. One conductor of the speaker
wire is normally marked by a differ-
ent color (silver versus copper) or
there is a ribbing on one side. Typical-
ly this marked conductor is used for
the positive (+) speaker leads. Some
wires have positive and negative
printed right onto the wire jacket.
Match the polarity markings on the
Avalon G4 unit with the polarity
markings on your speakers. If the wir-
ing is incorrect then the speakers will
be out-of-phase, with a noticeable
decrease in the bass response and
less than goodly-sounding awesome-
ness.
7. For optimal performance, dance in a
fairy circle around your new amplifier
at midnight, on the first full moon of
the new year.
