Pro-Ject Strauss User Manual
4. March 2004
CABINETS
Our speaker designs feature massive and inert cabinet
construction. Vienna Acoustics cabinets are designed with the
latest computer modelling techniques and use a combination
of amorphous materials in order to ensure that they are both
stiff and well damped. Additionally, our designs feature narrow
front baffles in order to promote accurate imaging. The
combination of precise build construction using furniture grade
finishing techniques and complex internal damping produce
designs capable of accurately rendering music.
CONNECTIONS
The massive Vienna Acoustics input terminals are designed to
accept banana plugs, spade terminals or bare wire connection. Make certain that all connections are well tightened
since poor contact between speaker cable and input
connector can lead to degradation of sound quality.
It is also a good idea to make a point of regularly cleaning all
connections in your system since oxidation will build up on a
regular basis. We use gold plated terminals which do not
oxidize, but contaminants or surface build-up on your speaker cables and connectors may degrade sound quality.
While it is popular among some audiophile circles to fit
duplicate sets of binding posts for "bi-wiring", we have chosen to follow sound engineering practises. Our crossovers are
configured as an organic whole, intended to optimize every
known aspect of driver integration.
It is our belief that with the high quality of wire currently
available, it is in most cases possible to obtain higher
performance from a single run of superior cable to two lesser
runs of cable. By keeping a single ground plane in our
crossover design, we are better able to control the many
variables that can be negatively affected by poorly executed
bi-wiring choices. The result for you is consistently superior
musical reproduction.
CABLING
We encourage and recommend the use of high quality speaker
cables and believe them to be an important tool for the
enthusiast in obtaining maximum enjoyment from their music
reproduction system. High quality cabling is a significant tool
in the finetuning of a system for performance. As with any
purchase, listen carefully and allow your ears to guide you.
It is beyond the scope of this manual to provide a useful
compendium concerning cables, or to make specific brand or
model recommendations. A number of high quality maga-zines
do in fact list cable recommendations.
AMPLIFICATION
Our speakers demonstrate outstanding sonic results with a
variety of amplifier types. They feature a combination of high
efficiency and gentle impedance curves that allow them to be
used with either solid state or tube electronics.
However, it is still important to select an amplifier with care
since the full potential of your system will only be revealed by
quality electronics. Amplifier designs do have distinct and
different sounds.
It is important to listen carefully to the match of amplifier and
loudspeaker to ensure that the combination works well
sonically for you. Though rated amplifier wattage bears little
correlation to either sound quality or drive capability the user
is cautioned that amplifiers of low wattage ratings, when
stressed beyond their limits will produce audible amounts of
distortion. This distortion can and will damage loudspeaker
components and will not be covered by warranty.
BURNING OR BREAKING IN NEW
LOUDSPEAKERS
Your loudspeakers contain a large number of precision built
moving parts. These parts require playing time initially to
develop their maximum smoothness and extension. Very
audible improvements can be observed during about 30 hours
of playing. Additional improvements will be evident after 100
hours of playing time, at which point the speakers have
reached their full musical potential.
POSITIONING
Room acoustics and positioning of the speakers within the
room have an important effect on sound quality. To find the
optimal position for your speakers we offer the following hints:
FREE AIR SET -UP
If the room is large and space permits, allow a minimum of 1
meter away from the rear wall (the wall behind the speakers). Small movements of the speaker forwards and
backwards will establish where a speaker sits most comfortably. Find the location that gives a full balance without
sounding heavy.
Remember, in a free air set-up the distance from the rear wall
determines how low the speaker will go in a room and also
determines depth of image. Positioning too close to a
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