Talisman Designs SE Reference Tower owner manual Speaker Break-in ****Important, Troubleshooting

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∙In most rooms we find that the Talisman SEs perform their best with the woofers firing out. However, in rooms where the Talisman SE may have to be placed too near a corner, the woofers will usually perform better firing toward each other. We recommend trying both options to find what gives the most balanced response in your room.

∙Use absorbent materials to help smooth upper-range response and improve transient response and clarity. Why? Let’s take the sound of a bell for example. First you will hear the direct sound from the speaker. But some of that sound bounces from wall-to-wall, ceiling-to-floor, off furniture, etc. before it reaches your ears milliseconds later. Because the time difference is short, you don’t hear an echo, but the sound of the bell is stretched out from something like a “ding” to a “ddiiinngg”. Some speaker engineers have begun to realize this and are addressing the problem in their latest designs. This is why we are now seeing very directional designs. This controlled directionality increases the amount of direct sound in proportion to reflected sound.

∙Use padded furniture and drapery when possible to cut down on reflections. Furniture has the added bonus of helping to break up standing wave patterns in the bass.

∙Use a symmetrical placement of the speakers in the room. Of course the distance between the speakers is also important. In general, the further back your listening position, the farther apart should be your speakers.

∙In most rooms, you will want left and right Talisman SE speakers to be placed between five and eight feet apart. Experiment! Too much distance will smear the image and it will seem like there is a hole in the middle. Too small a distance will compress the image. Experiment with facing the speakers straight into the room or toed in toward the listener. If your sitting area is relatively far back from the Talisman SEs they may actually perform their best when toed in so that they "cross" in front of your listening position. For video applications the left and right speakers should be close to the edges of the screen.

Speaker Break-in ****Important!!!

Allow at least 60 to 80 hours of playing time before your new ACI speakers will sound their best. The adhesives and materials used in manufacturing must stretch and flex properly before a speaker will sound its best. After break-in the bass will be tighter and go lower, imaging and transparency will improve and the midrange and highs will sound smoother and more natural.

Suggestions for quicker break-in:

∙Play the Talisman SE at medium volume while away from home. A CD player on repeat or FM radio works fine.

∙Place a pair of Talisman SE grill-to-grill and reverse the polarity on ONE of the speakers. Wiring them out-of-phase like this will cancel much of the sound and allow you to break them in when the sound would otherwise be obtrusive.

Troubleshooting

Occasionally we get a call from someone who feels there is a problem with his or her ACI speaker. At least a couple of times a year we will get a call or email that goes something like this: “Speaker not working properly, can’t get enough sound even with the volume turned way up.” The problem may be different, but with this little information to go on it is almost impossible to trouble shoot the problem “long distance”.

The following checklist may help: