English

Owner’s manual

Dear customer,

Thank you for choosing B&W. 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:

1 Plinth

4 M6 allen screws

1 M6 allen key

1 Foam plug (683 only)

2 Foam plugs (684 only)

1 Accessory pack containing:

4 M6 spike feet

4 M6 rubber feet

4 Lock nuts (10mm across flats)

Speaker Installation

The speakers are intended to be floor mounted only. It is important to ensure the speakers stand firmly on the floor using the plinth and, whenever possible, the spike feet. To attach the plinth, stand the speaker on its top taking care not to damage the cabinet or the drive units during handling. Align the plinth with its attachment holes in the underside of the cabinet ensuring that the arrow on the underside of the plinth points forwards. Secure the plinth using the four screws supplied. Tighten the screws using the allen key supplied.

The spike feet are designed to pierce carpet and rest on the floor surface. Initially, screw the lock nuts onto the spikes enough to leave the nuts floating just above the carpet when the spikes are resting on the floor beneath. Screw the spikes fully into the threaded inserts in the base of the plinth. Return the speaker to the upright, again, taking care to avoid damage during handling. Figure 1 illustrates attachment of the plinth and spike feet.

If the cabinet rocks when placed in position on the floor, unscrew the two spikes that do not touch the floor until the cabinet rests firmly without rocking.

Finally, lock all 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 by screwing one into each of the holes in the underside of the plinth.

The grilles fitted to the front of speakers may be removed if desired. Take care however not to touch the moving parts of the drive units as damage may result.

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 (5 ft) and 3m (10 ft) apart at two corners of an equilateral triangle completed by the listening area at the third corner. The speakers should be approximately 0.5m (20 in) away from the back wall, and at least 0.5m (20 in) away from any side walls. Figure 2a 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 (20 in) of the sides of the screen will also help keep the sound image in scale with the visual image. As with conventional stereo positioning, the speakers should ideally be approximately 0.5m (20 in) away from the back wall, and at least 0.5m (20 in) away from any side walls.

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 (CRT television and computer screens, computer discs, audio and video tapes, swipe cards and the like) at least 0.5m (20 in) 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