Z10e Electrostatic Ampli9ier User Guide
Ampli2ier Maintenance
The ampli9ier is self-biasing, and has no adjustments.
The ampli9ier operates the tubes in a manner that maximize tube life. The tubes are
expected to give 10 to 20 years of service based on several hours of use per day. See
the section on Vacuum Tube Replacement.
Fuses
The Z10e has two fuses of the 5x20mm type slowblow, rated at 4A, in the external
transformer assembly.
Vacuum Tube Replacement
The ampli9ier comes with high quality tubes. Changing or “rolling” the tubes must be
done carefully so as not to damage your ampli9ier. If you choose to change the tubes,
be extremely careful to ensure the unit is off for at least 5 minutes to allow voltages
to dissipate. Avoid touching the board, as high voltages may still be present even if
the unit is off.
Ensure the pins of the tubes are aligned with the tube socket.
The
ampli9ier is self-biasing, so there are no adjustments necessary. Any damage caused
by changing the tubes is not under warranty.
Troubleshooting
If the amp is not turning on immediately after going into protection, turn it off and
wait 30-45 minutes before trying again. Occasionally the circuit takes longer.
If you’re experiencing distortion immediately and cannot identify the source, look
for components in the source chain that may be leaking DC, such as power supplies.
The Z10e does not have a capacitor at the input to 9ilter DC (in order to not
compromise audio quality), so is susceptible to such leaks. If you do identify
something that is leaking DC (when taken out of the chain, the distortion should
disappear) and would prefer to keep it, we can install a capacitor at the input of your
Z10e.
Technology:
In 1996 David Berning developed a new and technically advanced vacuum tube
architecture designated as ZOTL. ZOTL stands for Zero-Hysteresis Output-
Transformer-Less ampli9iers. The ZOTL architecture eliminated the problematic
sound quality issues that audio-output transformers caused, as well as provides
many other advantages such as better frequency response and accuracy, longer tube
life, less tube heat and far better coupling from the tube to the output device.
The ZOTL ampli9ier uses radio frequency to change the voltage-current transfer
characteristics of the output tube from its normal impedance plane to one suitable
for driving a dynamic loudspeaker (or headphones and power ampli9iers). The
radio-frequency remapping is implemented using special high-frequency power-
conversion techniques. The high-voltage, low-current tube impedance plane is
remapped to the high-current speaker impedance plane through special
8
Linear Tube Audio
