Congratulations on your purchase of loudspeakers from the Wharfedale ATLANTIC range. These speakers have been designed to suit your lifestyle so please spend a few minutes to look through this manual which has been written to help you get the best from your new purchase.
UNPACKING
Unpack your loudspeakers with care. After taking out the top-most packing piece the loudspeakers can be lifted from the carton and the polythene bags removed. Check each loudspeaker after unpacking and in the event of any transit damage, immediately contact your Wharfedale dealer. We suggest that you retain all the packaging, in case you need to move the loudspeakers at some later date.
ANCILLARY EQUIPMENT
Your Wharfedale loudspeakers have been designed to be compatible with the great majority of the hi-fi and audio visual equipment currently available and so we would not anticipate any significant problems in matching up your system. However, if you have any doubts your dealer will be happy to advise you.
Remember that a loudspeaker can only reproduce the signal with which it is fed. If the recording is bad; the reception of a radio is poor or if the amplifier is distorting, then this will be faithfully reproduced as an unpleasant sound. For this reason you should install the best equipment you can afford and in particular, you should select an amplifier which has good reserves of output power. A high output amplifier will usually sound better than a low powered one and will enhance the reliability of your loudspeakers. This is because a small amplifier will ‘clip’ the music signal when it is asked to deliver a higher output level, beyond that which it is capable of. The resulting clipped signal generates unusually high levels of high frequency distortion which can stress or even damage the tweeter units. For this reason you should always turn down the volume if the music starts to sound distorted.
CONNECTING THE LOUDSPEAKERS TO YOUR SYSTEM
Always ensure that the amplifier and all associated components are switched OFF before connection commences.
NEVER CONNECT THE MAINS ELECTRICITY SUPPLY TO YOUR LOUDSPEAKERS
Connect the left hand speaker to your amplifier’s left hand channel, taking care to connect red to red and black to black. Repeat this for the right hand speaker.
BINDING POST TERMINALS - EUROPEAN SAFETY REGULATIONS
This loudspeaker has been fitted with plastic blocking plugs on the terminals in order to conform with European safety regulations. Customers outside of the European Union who wish to remove these plugs can do so by carefully inserting the tip of a penknife or other pointed tool under the plug and gently prising it out.
Separate terminals are provided for feeding the low and high-frequency drive units. You will see that the red terminals are connected together, as are the black; by two metal links. If you wish to use the system conventionally leave the links in place and connect to the amplifier as shown in the diagram. However improved performance can be obtained by either bi-wiring or bi- amping the speakers.
To do this, first remove the metal links connecting the pairs of terminals. In the case of bi-wiring connect each of the red terminals on the speaker via separate cables to the red output terminal on the amplifier. Repeat the process for the black terminals. Take care that the left channel outputs are fed to the left hand speakers and similarly for the right hand side. Bi-amping is similar to the above but requires the use of two stereo amplifiers as shown in the diagram.
ROOM POSITIONING
Your ATLANTIC loudspeakers offer great flexibility of positioning within your home. Depending upon the model they can be positioned upon shelves, on stands or directly on the floor.
All the models can be positioned as close as 0.5m - 1m from a side facing wall. There must be a distance of at least 0.7m - 1m between the backs of the cabinets and the walls. If the loudspeakers are positioned close to the wall they should ideally be angled inwards slightly and be separated by a distance of 3 meters.
The performance of the ATLANTIC loudspeakers may be improved by positioning them further away from the back wall, if you have enough room. In that case you can angle them inwards by 40 degrees, as shown in the diagram. The ATLANTIC AT-100,200,300 should ideally be placed on loudspeaker stands or wall brackets well away the floor, with the top of the cabinet at approximately eye level when seated in your normal listening position. As an alternative, use bookshelf mounting.
The ATLANTIC AT-100,200,300 loudspeakers are designed for shelf mounting; wall mounting or stand mounting. A number of suitable floor stands and wall brackets are available and your dealer will be pleased to recommend suitable designs.
As a general rule the level of the bass output will be higher when the loudspeaker is positioned close to a wall and lower when the loudspeaker is positioned away from a wall or walls. If you have the space and flexibility in positioning you can use this characteristic to adjust the tonal balance to your own taste.
CARE AND MAINTENANCE
Very little maintenance is required. The cabinets can be occasionally wiped with a damp (not wet) cloth. Spray polishes can be used but they must not be sprayed onto the grilles or drive units. Indeed it is best to spray the polish onto a cleaning cloth not the loudspeaker.
You may listen to the loudspeakers with the grilles removed and some listeners may well prefer the resulting sound but remember that the grilles perform the function of protecting the drive units.
CARE MUST BE TAKEN TO AVOID CONTACT WITH
THE DRIVE UNITS AS THEY ARE EASILY DAMAGED.
If you wish to clean the grilles this may be done by removing them and gently vacuuming their surface. Solvent based cleaners must be avoided; minor stains are best removed with soap and lukewarm water.
