User manual B&W SIGNATURE DIAMOND

[. . . ] The "architecture", aesthetic and material choices of the Signature Diamond are his and as such he can take much credit for its magic. Kenneth Grange CBE RDI is without doubt one of the most eminent in the field of consultant industrial designers. His work crosses product sectors from transport (he was responsible for the latest iteration of the classic London taxi cab and that long-lived icon of British Rail, the Inter City 125 train), through to consumer electronics where, in addition to B&W, he has contributed to products from Kodak, Kenwood, Parker Pens and many others. Most of us will at some time have used a product on which Kenneth made a mark. [. . . ] The spike feet are best fitted to the underside of the speaker when it is laid on its side during unpacking or later for connection. Identify the five tapped holes in the underside of the plinth (see Figure 3) and screw a spike foot into each one. Once the spike feet are fitted and the speaker is returned to the upright position, it may rock on the floor. To minimise rocking, unscrew the spikes that do not touch the floor until the speaker rests firmly without rocking then lock the nuts against the plinth. It may be more convenient to fit and adjust the spike feet after speaker positioning has been optimised. If there is no carpet and you wish to avoid scratching the floor surface, use either a protective metal disc (a coin perhaps) between the spike and the floor or use the supplied rubber feet. Fit the rubber feet and level the speaker in the same manner as with the spike feet. For conventional connection, the terminal links should remain in place (as delivered) and just one pair of terminals connected to the amplifier. For bi-wire connection, the terminal links should be removed and each pair of terminals connected to the amplifier independently. If the speakers are to be bi-wired, the right-angle plugs may be removed from the link cables using the Allen key supplied and attached to the connection cables. Once the connections have been made, the cable clamp should be tightened down on the cable using the two wing nuts. When standing the speaker upright, take care that its weight is not borne by only one or two spike feet. Figure 4 illustrates conventional and bi-wire connection and use of the cable clamp. Ensure that the positive terminals on the speaker (marked + and coloured red) are connected to the positive output terminal on the amplifier and the negative terminals on the speaker (marked ­ and coloured black) are connected to the negative output terminal on the amplifier. Keep its total impedance below the maximum recommended in the speaker specification and use a low inductance cable to avoid attenuation of high frequencies. Adjustment of speaker position following initial installation will probably further improve the sound quality and is usually worthwhile. 0m apart at two corners of an equilateral triangle completed by the listening area at the third corner. They should be angled inward so that they point at, or just in front of, the listening position. Try to ensure that the immediate surroundings of each speaker are similar in acoustic character. For example, if one speaker is adjacent to bare walls while the other is adjacent to soft furnishings and curtains, both the overall sound quality and the stereo image are likely to be compromised. Before fine tuning, make sure that all the connections in the installation are correct and secure. Moving the speakers further from the walls will generally reduce the volume of bass. [. . . ] The drive unit suspensions will also loosen up during the first hours of use. The time taken for the speaker to achieve its intended performance will vary depending on previous storage conditions and how it is used. As a guide, allow up to a week for the temperature effects to stabilise and 15 hours of average use for the mechanical parts to attain their intended design characteristics. However, longer run-in periods (as long as a month) have been reported and there is evidence to suggest that this has little to do with the speaker changing and more to do with the listener getting used to the new sound. [. . . ]