OPERATION MANUAL
Model RL-3.0
RADIAL LOUDSPEAKERS
MANUFACTURED by DECWARE / High Fidelity Engineering Co.
1202 N.E. Adams Street, Peoria IL 61603
USA
www.decware.com
Congratulations on your purchase of the RL-3.0 loudspeakers! Please
take a moment to read this setup guide so that you understand how this
speaker works.
DESCRIPTION
The RL3 is a 2-way loudspeaker that features the unique Decware 6.5 inch radial driver coupled with a conventional forward firing driver and a planar ribbon
tweeter.
This combination of Radial and Conventional drivers gives the RL-3.0’s the
benefits of both designs. The canted horizontal radial driver ensures a huge coherent sound stage while the conventional forward firing driver adds a midrange
presence that is hard to argue with. Unlike it’s sister, the RL-1.5, the RL-3.0
has more accurate front to back imaging that is true to the recording. It has
the ability to project an image in front of the speaker plane when needed
whereas the RL-1.5 design keeps the image at or behind the plane of the speakers at all times.
Both the Radial and conventional drivers are wired in parallel with no crossovers
of any kind. The lack of a crossover greatly reduces phase shifts throughout the
frequency response, maintains the high efficiency and most of all transient response. You will hear that these speakers are unusually fast. In fact, unlike
your average audiophile speaker of less efficiency, the RL-3.0’s will have a more
accurate linearity to that speed. That simply means they will be as fast in the
bass as they are in the midrange.
The only crossover in the speaker consists of a single capacitor for the tweeter
which is externally mounted for those who like to tweak.
This 3 component driver array is close coupled and time aligned in a small cube
that is de-coupled to the main cabinet. This expensive process keeps cabinet
resonance away from the array to improve coherency.
In the bottom of the cabinet there is an 8 inch passive radiator that is used to
create a 4th order reflex cabinet without the signature of a tuned port. This
passive driver couples the bass directly to the floor in a radial pattern not unlike
the radial driver on the top of the cabinet.
The pyramidal shape of the cabinet eliminates all parallel surfaces which reduce
standing waves inside the cabinet.
From a design aspect you have a speaker using the more expensive and less
common design elements. It has evolved from 1000’s of hours of listening with
the goal of having a near perfect audiophile loudspeaker.
After unpacking your speakers, please check for damage. Save your shipping
cartons and remember how the speakers were packed in case you have to send
them back.
HOOKUP
GETTING STARTED
Your RL-3’s have 3 sets of
binding posts.
The lower horizontal set is
the main jacks that hook to
your amplifier.
The top vertical sets are as
follows:
Left set is for the tweeter
capacitor.
Right set is for the tweeter
resistor.
These speakers can not be
bi-wired.
Periodically check the top
vertical sets to be sure
they are always tight.
The tweeter capacitor was externally mounted so that you can easily change
from on brand of capacitor to another. Since no two brands sound alike it is
possible for you to voice your tweeters to your own liking with different caps.
The tweeter resistor is used for attenuation and is also externally mounted so
that you can easily change the resistor to a different value. These a 5 watt ceramic resistors and can range in value from 1 ohm to 16 ohms or higher. The
higher the value used, the quieter the tweeter will become. It is also acceptable
when no attenuation is needed to replace this resistor with a straight piece of
wire.
TWEETER ANGLE
The RL-3.0 uses a Isodynamic Planar Ribbon Tweeter mounted to a steel tab
that is designed to be bent a few degrees in either direction (front or back) to
facilitate the correct tweeter angle. Correct tweeter angle is determined by the
listening chair distance away from the speakers and the listening chair height.
The picture at left shows the tweeter
angle at 1 degree back in relation to
the front baffle. This is the maximum forward angle typically used
when sitting far away and or in a low
listening chair.
From this point it is possible to continue the tweeter angle back to
about 7 degrees or 1 inch back at
the top of the tweeter.
Making small adjustments over time
will hone your soundstage and image
focus.
SPEAKER PLACEMENT
Two things are effected by where you physically place your speakers in the listening room. Bass / overall frequency balance and Imaging / Soundstage performance. As a general rule, the farther out from the wall behind the speakers
you place them, the deeper your soundstage will become. Placing them too
close to the walls or corners will exaggerate the bass. As with all speakers, the
more time you invest in trying different placement possibilities the more likely
you are to stumble into the best possible setup in your room. In small rooms I
usually recommend a near field arrangement where the speakers are 6 to 8 feet
apart and the listening chair is 4 to 8 feet back. The toe in should be such that
the axis of each speaker crosses either just in front of your nose, or just behind
your head. In larger rooms the same method just gets better results, but you
have the option of enlarging the triangle.
TWEAKING THE BASS
Room placement is 90% of it. Once you have determined the best possible
placement in your room there are a few things that can be cone to alter the
character of the bass.
On hardwood floors you can try setting the speakers on a small plush piece of
carpet or rug.
On carpeted floors you can putting a square piece of wood between the speaker
and the carpet.
Coupling the speaker to the floor properly can effect everything from the bass
to how smooth the treble is. Options are as follows:
A) Run the speakers with no spikes or feet, just the bare wood base making
contact with the floor.
B) Use small rubber feet on all 4 corners of the wood base to isolate the
speaker from the floor and raise it up 1/2 inch.
C) Use spikes to couple the speaker to the floor. For example, using the two
piece cone spikes, you can use the whole cone, use just the top half of the
cone or use just the bottom half of the cone. All three will create different
heights between the floor and the cabinet base.
AMPLIFIERS
These speakers are around 93 dB efficient with 1 watt at 1 meter. The ideal
amplification would be a tube amplifier between 6 and 30 watts. If solid state
amplification is used it should be ideally 100 watts or less. These speakers present your amplifier with a 4 ohm nominal impedance.
BREAK-IN
40 hours for initial / 200 hours for complete
Manufactured by Decware High Fidelity Engineering Co.
1202 N.E. Adams Street
Peoria IL 61603
(309) 671 2428
www.decware.com
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