OPERATION MANUAL MODEL : ZMA - ZEN MYSTERY AMP
REV 1 MAR 2014
BURN IN
When you receive your Mystery Amp, it will have approximately 72 hours on it, in
some cases more. This is accomplished during multiple testing cycles during the
QC process. Since this amplifier uses such large capacitors it takes longer than
average to fully burn in.
As you listen to it, it will continue to improve noticeably for the first several hundred
hours and then less noticeably for many months if not years as it continues to
season. This is a nice switch from amplifiers that sound worse with age.
The best way to burn the amplifier in is to listen to well recorded music at normal
volumes. Burn in CD’s will train the capacitors to sound good reproducing
waveforms that are alien to music and therefor accomplish little as the capacitors
will still need to be trained on music afterwards.
A great way to speed up the burn in processes is to play the amplifier for 5 hours
followed by 5 hours off repeated 5 times. That said, the amp sounds so good out of
the box that you should be able to just use it with the knowledge that things will
improve in the coming weeks.
!
WARNING
Do not leave your amplifier unattended while it’s on for long periods of time or
overnight. The ZMA is fully operationally warm an in
the zone
within 30 minutes so
there is no need to leave it on.
!
HEAT
The ZMA is designed to generate heat. The black top plate will become hot to the
touch around the output tubes because it is absorbing infrared heat from the output
tubes. This is normal. The power transformers (A5 and B5) will also run warm to
hot depending on the length of time the amplifier is on and how high the tubes are
biased. When tubes are biased between 50 & 60 mA, the temperature of A5 and
B5 will typically be around 120 degrees F after several hours of operation. This is
normal. If your transformers run hotter than this, you may have issues with your
AC power at the wall outlet or your tubes are biased higher than 60 mA.
!
!
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