Cavalli Audio Liquid Glass User Manual

Liquid Glass

Headphone Amplifier

Cavalli audio

Before You Use Your Liquid Glass® Amplifier

For Your Protection

Dangerous High Voltages: This amplifier uses dangerous and possibly lethal high voltages.

NEVER operate with the cover open. When the amplifier is powered on dangerous high voltages are present on the tube sockets in the tube cage. NEVER insert fingers, hands, or

other objects, particularly conductive objects, into the tube cage area when the amplifier is powered on or at any other time. See the rest of this manual for procedures to change the tubes.

Children: Along with the presence of high voltages, the tubes in this amplifier, as in many other

vacuum tube amplifiers, get hot enough to cause severe burns. In addition the amplifier may contain sharp pieces. Keep the amplifier out of reach of children at all times.

Ventilation: In order to improve sound quality, your Liquid Glass® amplifier runs warm and thus requires free air circulation of at least 6” around the top and sides of the product. Never place the amplifier in an enclosed space with restricted air flow. Never place it near another source of heat. Excessive heat will shorten the life of the product and may cause a fire.

Water and moisture: NEVER use the Liquid Glass® amplifier near water. NEVER handle the amplifier while in contact with water. NEVER let the amplifier come into contact with water.

NEVER spill water or other liquids into the amplifier or on the amplifier.

Power Sources: Make sure that the voltage/frequency stated on the back label of your

amplifier is compatible with the line/mains voltage in your location.

Grounding: The electrical ground in this amplifier is an important safety feature. Do not defeat

ground with special plugs, power cords, etc. Doing so will void your warranty and may lead to

a dangerous condition.

Power Cords: If you use your own power cord, use one that meets the standards of your

location.

Power and Signal: Cables should never be connected or disconnected with equipment powered up. Failure to heed this warning may damage or destroy equipment.

Servicing: To reduce the risk of electrical shock or other injuries, the user should not attempt to service the device beyond replacing tubes. All other servicing must be referred to authorized service personnel.

Congratulations! You’re now the owner of the Cavalli Audio Liquid Glass® Headphone Amplifier!

Amplifier Break-In

Most amplifiers, especially amps with tubes, need at least 150 hours of continuous use, playing music, to reach their full sound signatures.

Your Cavalli Audio Amplifier has been playing music for at least ____________ hours at near full volume. Confirmed by _______________________________.

Because the Liquid Glass® can operate with many different tube types, the amp can only be broken in using the stock tubes. This break in period will settle the solid state components of the amplifier and the power supplies, but you will have to take care of breaking in each set of tubes that you want to use.

This means that the non-tube sections of the amp should reach their optimum sound quality after about 150-200 hours and then the sound quality will be determined by the condition of the tubes.

Before you judge the sound quality of the amp please be sure that you have let the tubes as

well as the solid components fully break in!

Return Policy

If, after delivery, you decide you don’t like your Liquid Glass amplifier, returning the amplifier will incur a 30% of the retail price restocking fee and must occur within 30 days of delivery.

Important points to remember about the Cavalli Audio Liquid Glass® headphone amplifier

The Liquid Glass® is a unique hybrid headphone amplifier. The Liquid Glass® can support many different tube types, both octal and noval, so long as they conform to 6SN7 or 12AU7 pinouts and fall with reasonable operating conditions.

The LG is a conventional capacitor coupled hybrid with a tube front end and a solid state buffer. The solid state buffer is designed to be as transparent as possible to the sound of the tubes in use. It has a very high input impedance which means that the tube is barely loaded and this means that the sound of the amplifier is almost exactly the sound of whatever tube is being used. There is no global feedback mechanism so the sound features of the tube are transmitted to the headphones with as little change as possible.

The tube front end of the LG is a classic totem pole of two stacked triodes. This arrangement allows the front end to self-adjust to the triodes in use, placing ½ of the plate voltage on each triode. The resistor values have been chosen to handle a wide range of tubes without requiring complicated user adjustments.

Power is controlled by a standby power circuit activated by a custom made Piezo power switch. The LG has the standard Cavalli Audio heater delay circuit to protect the tubes and offset detector to protect your headphones.

Operation

Your Liquid Glass® amplifier has been operated for at least 50 hours for quality control and to give the stock tubes (Electro Harmonix 6SN7) and other parts an opportunity to break in. However, most amplifiers don’t fully settle, open up, and “relax” until they are played for at least 100 to 150 hours of operation. The Liquid Glass® also follows this timeline (see page 5). Your new amp will continue to improve with regard to bass impact, more open sound, warmth, and “sweetness,” depending on tube type, so we strongly recommend that you accumulate these important hours on your Liquid Glass® headphone amplifier by playing it as much as possible so that you may fully enjoy its performance as soon as possible.

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Cavalli Audio Liquid Glass User Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual