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Owner’s manual
Dear customer,
Thank you for choosing Bowers & Wilkins. Please read
this manual fully before unpacking and installing the
product. It will help you to optimise its performance.
B&W maintains a network of dedicated distributors in
over 60 countries who will be able to help you should
you have any problems your dealer cannot resolve.
Environmental Information
All B&W products are designed to
comply with international directives on
the Restriction of Hazardous Substances
(RoHS) in electrical and electronic equipment and the
disposal of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment
(WEEE). These symbols indicate compliance and that
the products must be appropriately recycled or
processed in accordance with these directives.
Consult your local waste disposal authority for
guidance.
Carton Contents
Check in the carton for:
2 Two-part foam plugs.
8 Self-adhesive rubber pads.
Speaker Installation
The speakers are best used mounted on rigid floor-
stands that locate the tweeters approximately at ear
level when seated. Shelf or wall bracket mounting is
an option but it provides less opportunity for
optimising the sound through adjustment of speaker
position.
The specific stand or wall mount used will affect the
sound quality of the speakers. The B&W FS-700/CM
stand is recommended.
If the speakers are to be placed on a shelf or furniture
unit, the adhesive pads supplied may be attached to
the underside of the cabinet.
Speaker Positioning
Adjustment of speaker position following initial
installation will probably further improve the sound
quality and is usually worthwhile.
In either stereo or home theatre installations 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.
Conventional Stereo Systems
To begin with, the speakers should be positioned
between 1.5m and 3m apart at two corners of an
equilateral triangle completed by the listening area at
the third corner. The speakers should be
approximately 0.5m away from the back wall, and at
least 0.5m away from any side walls. Figure 1a
illustrates this arrangement.
Home Theatre Systems
If the speakers are to be used for the front channels in
a home theatre system they should be placed closer
together than for 2-channel audio because the
surround channels tend to widen the image.
Positioning the speakers within approximately 0.5m of
the sides of the screen will also help keep the sound
image in scale with the visual image. The speakers’
height should be somewhere between the centre of
the screen and the height of the centre speaker. As
with conventional stereo positioning, the speakers
should ideally be at least 0.5m away from any side
walls. If the speakers are preferred placed against the
back wall and this location results in over emphasized
bass, see the Fine Tuning section of this manual for
information on using the foam plugs.
If the speakers are to be used for the surround
channels in a home theatre system, position them as
illustrated in Figures 1c to 1e according to the number
of channels. To achieve even coverage over an
extended listening area it is beneficial to raise the
speakers above ear height.
Stray Magnetic Fields
The speaker drive units create stray magnetic fields
that extend beyond the boundaries of the cabinet. We
recommend you keep magnetically sensitive articles
(television and computer screens, computer discs,
audio and video tapes, swipe cards and the like) at
least 0.5m from the speaker. LCD and plasma screens
are not affected by magnetic fields.
Connections
All connections should be made with the equipment
switched off.
There are 2 linked pairs of terminals on the back of the
speaker. 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. Bi-wiring can improve the resolution of
low-frequency detail. Figures 2a and 2b illustrate
conventional and bi-wire connection.
Ensure that positive terminals on the speaker (marked
+ and coloured red) are connected to the positive
output terminal on the amplifier and that negative
terminals on the speaker (marked – and coloured
black) are connected to the negative output terminal
on the amplifier. Incorrect connection can result in
poor imaging and loss of bass.
Ask your dealer for advice when selecting speaker
cable. Keep its total impedance below the maximum
recommended in the speaker specification and use a
low inductance cable to avoid attenuation of high
frequencies.
Fine Tuning
Before fine tuning, make sure that all the connections
in the installation are correct and secure.
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