Sunfire 12 user manual Overview, The Driver, The AmpliÞer

Overview

Your SunÞre True Subwoofer EQ Soli- tiare is designed to give you the best pos- sible low-frequency sound quality for your Home Theater experience. It incorporates

atremendously powerful built-in ampliÞer and a single long-throw driver to produce tight, ßoor-rumbling, denture-rattling bass that you can feel as well as hear.

The subwoofer is available in two ver- sions, and this manual covers both:

Solitaire 12 is a 13 inch cube, with an output greater than 113 dB peak SPL, 16 Hz to 100 Hz.

Solitaire 10 is an 11 inch cube, with an output greater than 107 dB peak SPL, 18 Hz to 100 Hz.

The subwoofer has an automatic equalization system which will tailor the subwoofer output to compensate for any room effects. It also has a manual equalization mode. An Equalizer Authority control allows you to adjust the amount of automatic equalization, and overide it if required.

The subwoofer has an adjustable high cut Þlter and a choice of speaker-level or line-level inputs for easy incorporation into existing systems, or as part of a subwoofer/satellite speaker combination.

Controls for adjusting the volume, crossover frequency and phase, allow the subwoofer to be perfectly matched to any listening environment and audio components.

The Driver

To have lots of bass requires moving lots of air. Your SunÞre Subwoofer incor- porates a driver which can move back and forth approximately Þve times more than a normal subwoofer. This gives it a lot of air moving capacity which allows for majestic bass performance.

The AmpliÞer

The large movement range of the driver creates greater air pressure inside the box than a conventional subwoofer. Therefore, the drive ampliÞer must be much more powerful than an ordinary subwoofer ampliÞer. In fact, it has to be so powerful, it is almost hard to believe.

The power ampliÞer within the Solitaire 12 Subwoofer is capable of delivering over 1,500 watts into a 3.3 ohm resistor (the driver voice coil resistance). The Solitaire 10 is capable of delivering 1,250 watts. When the same full output is ap- plied to the driver, however, the enor- mous back-electromotive force generated as a consequence of its large motion and giant magnet, causes the current ßow to be much less than if it were a 3.3 ohm resistor. It is this singular property of the driver that allows the subwoofer to be ap- proximately ten times more efÞcient than a subwoofer this size would normally be.

A compressor circuit kicks in automati- cally if the input signal level reaches a level that would overload the driver. This maintains a ceiling on the output without clipping. If the input signal is driven even further, a ‘soft clipping’ circuit is enabled. This allows the subwoofer to put more sound into the room to satiate the power hungry user, but without distortion or damage to the subwoofer. Thus, for ex- plosive scenes in movies, this produces extremely high sound pressure levels (SPL) in your room without the drivers banging against the mechanical stops.

For more details of the subwoofer de- sign, please call us or view our website: www.sunÞre.com.

User's Manual 5