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audition series owners manual
2
• INTRODUCTION
Congratulations on your purchase of athena
TECHNOLOGIES
®
speakers! Proprietary technology and high
quality manufacturing will allow you to enjoy the most
natural and accurate music reproduction for many years. The
advice offered in this manual is aimed at helping you
maximize and maintain peak performance, and therefore,
your listening satisfaction. Please take the time to read all of
the instructions contained in this manual to make certain
your system is properly installed and functioning correctly.
• BREAK-IN PERIOD
We strongly advise that you resist the temptation to play
the athena TECHNOLOGIES
®
speakers to their full capabilities
or experiment with critical placement and listening until they
have been properly broken in. This process should last
approximately 50 to 100 hours of music playback. This can
be easily be done by putting your compact disc player on
Repeat mode, while playing a CD with a wide dynamic range
at normal listening levels.
• athena TECHNOLOGIES
®
COMPANY
BACKGROUND
athena TECHNOLOGIES
®
is the newest division of Audio
Products International Corp., known throughout the industry
as "API". A Canadian company founded in 1975, The API
factory is a modern 165,000 square foot research,
development and manufacturing facility located in Toronto,
Canada. API is one of the largest speaker manufacturers in
the world, distributing products to over 60 countries
worldwide. A talented research and development team
utilizes advanced computer-based design and sophisticated
measurement techniques in its ongoing quest for new and
better acoustic technologies. This research is based upon the
years of pioneering psycho-acoustic research developed in
conjunction with the Canadian "National Research Council"
(NRC), to create speakers that achieve high performance in
typical home listening environments. Extensive research into
every aspect of the speaker is analyzed and evaluated before
the design stage begins, a concept that we refer to as a
holistic design approach. This method guarantees that the
finest components and materials are made and tested with
sophisticated manufacturing and quality control techniques
to ensure exceptional performance that is superior to
speakers costing several times their price.
• AMPLIFIER REQUIREMENTS
The athena TECHNOLOGIES
®
Audition series was designed
to be extremely efficient and therefore very undemanding of
the connected amplifier. The entire series is designed to be 8
ohm compatible allowing playback on almost any amplifier
or receiver on the market. Most amplifiers with a power
rating of 20-100 watts per channel will efficiently drive
athena TECHNOLOGIES
®
Audition speakers. If more than one
pair of speakers are being used on the same amplifier
channel, (an additional pair of speakers for another room, for
example) check with the amplifier manufacturer to confirm
that the amplifier can handle loads under 8 ohms.
Warning: If an amplifier is over-driven, the resulting
distortion is actually many times greater than its rated
power. Over-driven amplifier distortion is called
"Clipping", easily identified by its fuzzy, distorted sound,
and can damage any speaker. The volume control of most
amplifiers and receivers is a logarithmic type, which
means that full power may be reached with the volume
control set at as little as the halfway point. Operating the
loudness, treble, or bass controls increases power output
well beyond rated levels. The warranty on your speakers
is therefore void if the voice coils are burned or damaged
as a result of overpowering or clipping.
• CABINET CARE
Great care and craftsmanship have gone into the
construction and finish of the cabinet. Periodically use a
soft, dry cloth to remove dust or fingerprints. Do not use
paper towel or other abrasive materials as it may damage
the finish.
NOTE: Please retain the carton and packing material for
the athena TECHNOLOGIES
®
speakers to protect them in
the event of a move or if they need to be shipped to a
service center. Product received damaged by a service
center that has been shipped by the end user in other
than the original packaging will be repaired, refurbished
and properly packaged for return shipment at the end
user's expense.
• SPEAKER PLACEMENT
Front Speaker Placement
AS-B1, AS-B2, AS-F1, AS-F2
For best stereo imaging, the left and right speakers should
be the same distance from their respective side walls. If the
distance from one speaker to the listener is very different
from the other it can affect the soundstage or stereo
imaging. Therefore, the ideal position is having the speakers
equidistant to the listener.
A general guideline for speaker placement is to set up the
space between speaker and listener at approximately 1-1/2
times the distance between the speakers. For example, if the
speakers are placed a minimum of 6-feet (1.8m) apart (the
absolute minimum), the best seating position would be
9-feet (2.4m) away