Quadral AURUM 170 User Manual [en, de, fr, es]

USER INSTRUCTIONS
BEDIENUNGSANLEITUNG
NOTICE D´UTILISATION
MANUAL DE INSTRUCCIONES

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2

3

Contents/Inhalt/Sommaire/Índice

Safety notes 3-4
Setting up 5-6
Stands and wall mounts 6
Connecting up your amplifier 6-9
Beware of clipping 9
Tips for better acoustics 10
Care of loudspeakers 11
What to do if your speakers don‘t sound right ? 12

Sicherheitshinweise 13-14
Aufstellung 15-16
Stative und Wandhalterungen 16
Anschluss an den Verstärker 16-19
Vorsicht Clipping 19
Tipps für eine bessere Akustik 20
Pflege der Lautsprecher

21

Was tun in Störungsfällen ? 22

Sécurité 23-24
Installation 25-26
Pieds et suppor ts muraux 26
Raccordement 26-29
Attention au «clipping» 30
Conseils pour une meilleure acoustique 30
Nettoyage des haut-parleurs 31
Que faire en cas d’anomalies ? 32

Seguridad

33-34
Disposición 35-36
Soportes de pie y de pared 36
Conexión al amplificador 36-39
Cuidado con el Clipping 39
Consejos para una mejor acústica 40
El mantenimiento de las cajas acústicas 41
¿Qué hacer en caso de avería? 42

First of all, thank you for deciding on AURUM loudspeakers.
It is to satisfy the high expectations of music lovers and connoisseurs such as you that
we build loudspeakers of a class that is well above average. Even though you may
already be familiar with them, we list below a few ground rules that will enable you
to make optimal use of your loudspeakers.

Safety advice for passive loudspeakers

Please take time to read through the manual carefully and follow all the steps
describing how to set up and operate the loudspeakers. Keep the manual
somewhere you can quickly access it should you have any questions later on.

• The stability of loudspeakers (especially large units) depends on the nature of
the surface on which they stand. Carpets are often very poor for stability. Even an
average bump can cause a loudspeaker to fall over and be a hazard for persons
or pets in the vicinity. Stability can be significantly improved by using “spikes”, but
care should be taken during assembly as the sharp points can cause injury and
the spikes can damage the floor. On smooth floors, the loudspeakers can be
stabilised with Velcro or double-sided tape. Loudspeakers should never be used
as a seat or as a substitute for a ladder!

• Use only wheeled furniture, stands or wall mounting systems and other devices for
attaching and installing the products, which are available from the manufacturer
and are sold for or with the product. To avoid damage or injury through tipping
over, please be careful when moving table devices or stands on which the
speakers are mounted. If wall-mounting the product, take special care that all
components are securely screwed! Additional securing equipment (chains, etc.)
should be fitted.

• The location for the loudspeakers should be dry and not too cold. Constant high
humidity or strong sunlight (UV radiation) can cause your loudspeakers to age
prematurely and consequently affect their functioning.

• Very high volume levels for long periods of time are not only annoying for your
neighbours, but can also be harmful to the health of the user!

• When loudspeakers are overloaded with very high volume levels, there is a risk
of individual components in crossover circuits or individual speakers burning out.
In particularly bad cases, it is even possible for fire to break out inside a speaker.
Speakers operated at these extremes should therefore not be left unattended.

• At high volumes, voltage levels of 30–50 V can be present at speaker terminals
and components. Be very careful not to touch uninsulated terminal contacts of
speakers when in operation. To avoid injury, never put hands or arms into sound
outlets (bass reflex tubes). Children and pets, in particular, are at risk from this.

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4

Setting up

To obtain optimal sound results, it is generally necessary to try out different set-ups.
Since the room conditions have a major effect on sound reproduction, we suggest
below a few useful approaches for positioning your AURUM loudspeakers.

Main speakers (front)

Where the speakers are positioned in the listening space has a decisive effect on
their sound. Placing the speakers near the corners of the room will essentially give
you loud bass reproduction but with little outline. On the other hand, speakers
positioned well away from the walls sound precise, but also very bright and thin. The
best solution is to place the speakers with at least 30 cm between their backs and
the nearest wall. To avoid loud wall reflections, the distance from the side walls of the

room can even be 50 cm or more. Bookshelf speaker units sound best on a speaker
stand or shelf, with the tweeters arranged at ear height. The cases should be angled
and slightly tilted to achieve this.
Ss far as possible, the speakers should be equidistant from the listening position, while
the distance of the speakers from each other can be rather less than the distance
from the listener.

Front centre speaker

The centre loudspeaker is magnetically
shielded, therefore causes neither colour
faults nor distortion in the TV picture and
should if possible be placed directly on
the TV. If this is not possible, place the
centre speaker horizontally beneath
the TV, with the distance to the floor
being at least 20 cm.
Apart from the above, we recommend
angling the centre speaker so that the
tweeter is aimed at the listener in order
to enjoy its full sound potential.

• For safety reasons, we generally forbid the opening of loudspeaker cabinets
when in operation or connected since, as explained in the above paragraph,
voltages of up to 50 volts can be present inside.

• Improper handling of mains voltage can cause fatal injury!

Passive loudspeakers must on no account be connected to the electricity

supply!

Speaker terminals may only be connected to the appropriate output terminals

of the amplifier. You should never connect these terminals to the electricity supply
(230 V/115 V) in any way since that will otherwise also immediately destroy the
loudspeaker and all connected products. Avoid fitting plugs to ends of speaker
cables that could even remotely be confused with mains supply plugs.

• Loudspeakers that are not magnetically shielded can affect the colour of the
TV picture or cause distortion. A distance of 50 cm is generally sufficient to avoid
problems of this kind. Avoid placing items such as credit cards, diskettes, audio or
video cassettes or other magnetic media on the loudspeaker. This could destroy
the information stored on them. Similarly, avoid operating magnetic tape devices
in the immediate vicinity.

CENTER

FRONT

TV

FRONT

SUBWOOFER

REAR

REAR

50 cm

>
–

REAR

CENTER

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Rear centre speaker

In contrast to 5.1 surround sets, 6.1 systems have an additional rear centre speaker
that should be placed behind and slightly above the typical listening position.

Rear speakers

Whether you direct the rear speakers toward the listening position is a matter of taste.
Also, many listeners prefer the rear speakers to be positioned above ear height. This
can be achieved by mounting the units on a sturdy wall bracket, a high speaker
stand, a sideboard or shelf.

Stands and wall brackets

To obtain optimal positioning of the front and rear speakers, quadral offers suitable
stands and wall brackets. Some speaker models also have a keyhole-shaped cut-out
in the back of the speaker for wall mounting.
Should you have any questions, please contact us on tel.: [phone],
e-mail: [e-mail]

Connecting to the amplifier

Before connecting the speakers to your hi-fi or surround system, make sure the
amplifier/receiver is switched off and its status LED is not lit. To connect the speakers,
you will need a two-core speaker cable for each speaker. Make sure these are of
sufficient length and don’t shorten the cables before checking they are long enough
to hide behind furniture or under the carpet. For cables longer than 5 metres, we
recommend a cross-sectional area of at least 2.5 sq mm per core in order to avoid
unnecessary power loss. Strip the insulation of the cores to a length of around 10 mm
at both ends of the cable so that they are bared for good contact.

Screw terminals

For connection, the speakers are provided with colour-coded screw terminals on the
back of the cabinet. Loosen the screw terminals and feed the stripped end of the
core into the hole that is now free. The two cores of speaker cables have different
colouring or shape for recognition. Connect one core to the red, positive terminal
– the remaining core to the black terminal. Tighten the screws hand-tight. To ensure
correct polarity, check that the core connected to the red, positive terminal of
the speaker is also the core that is connected to the red, positive terminal of the
amplifier and that the other core is connected to the black, negative terminals of
both the speaker and amplifier.

With the AURUM loudspeakers, you can choose between three modes of
operation.

a) Conventional mode
Do not remove the jumpers,
connect the speaker cable
as shown in the illustration.

b) Biwiring mode
Open the jumpers after loosening the four
screw terminals on the back of the speaker
and connect the cable as shown in the
illustration.

c) Biamping mode
Open the jumpers and connect
the cables as shown in the illustration.

In the biwiring/biamping mode, the bass frequencies are controlled via the two
lower terminals – and the midrange/treble frequencies via the two upper terminals.

Make sure you use the correct polarities in these modes and that you remove the
jumpers on the speaker terminal to avoid damaging your amplifier.

















HI

LO

+

+

-

-

HI

LO

+

+

-

-

HI

LO

+

+

-

-









HI

LO

+

+

-

-

HI

LO

+

+

-

-





HI

LO

+

+

-

-

Amplifier/
output
stage

Tweeter/midrange

Woofer

Jumper

Amplifier/
output
stage

Amplifier/
output
stage

Amplifier/
output
stage

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Operation with a surround amplifier

Once you have positioned and connected your speakers as shown in the illustration,
you should perform the necessary settings in the bass management system of your
surround amplifier.
Make sure you read the user manual supplied by your amplifier’s manufacturer
before doing this.

Since bass management primarily depends on the loudspeaker configuration, we
give only typical settings below.

a) Small and very small satellite speakers must be operated in “small” mode.
Perform the setting on your amplifier as follows:

Front: small
Centre: small
Rear: small
Subwoofer: yes

b) There is no definitive formula for the settings for compact speakers. In this case,

the suitable mode may be “large” or “small”. This depends on the volume level
you prefer or the sound effect you wish to obtain (refer to the section “Caution,
clipping!”).

The settings on your amplifier can optionally be configured as follows:

Front: large/small
Centre: large/small
Rear: large/small
Subwoofer: yes

c) Floorstanding speakers or large bookshelf speakers that are suitable for powerful

bass reproduction should be operated in “large” mode.

Perform the setting on the amplifier as follows:

Front: large
Centre: large
Rear: large
Subwoofer: yes/no

For the special AURUM centre speakers, we generally recommend “small” mode.

Subwoofer

If your surround amplifier has a “line subwoofer” output, you can make use of this
by using the Y cable shipped with the subwoofer (see illustration). In this case, you
connect the front speakers directly to the front speaker terminals of your amplifier.
Refer to the connection diagram for wiring your surround system.

Refer to the user manual of the active subwoofer for the necessary settings on your
subwoofer!

Caution, clipping

Even if the rated output of an amplifier is significantly less than the load rating of
the connected boxes, the speakers can easily be damaged by improper operation.
This is because the rated output merely indicates how many watts the amplifier
is capable of supplying to the speakers without distortion. When an amplifier is
overloaded, it not only delivers a lot more power but also mixes in destructive direct
current as well as high-frequency oscillations. This phenomenon is known as clipping
and can be heard in the form of harsh distortion during loud passages. If you hear
distortion, reduce the volume immediately to avoid damaging the speaker units.
Amplifier clipping is a typical overload phenomenon that always occurs when you
turn the volume and/or tone controls up too high. Even in the middle setting of the
tone control, normal amplifiers reach their limits when loud pulses occur if you move
the volume control significantly past the 12 o’clock position.

Subwoofer

Low Level

connection

Surround-amplifier

Left

right

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Tips for better acoustics

1. To achieve better acoustic isolation of the loudspeakers from the floor, some
floor-standing speakers are designed to accept spikes. Use of the spikes can be
advantageous, depending on the living room / floor.

Fitting the spikes

The AURUM floor-standing speakers are fitted at the factory with isolating rubber

dampers between speaker cabinet and base plate. If required, you can swap
these rubber dampers for spikes, which are located in the front parts of the
polystyrene packaging.

Mount the spikes as follows:
a) Lay the speakers on a soft surface

and undo the four Allen screws
holding the base plates using the
supplied Allen key.

b) Remove the base plates and

rubber dampers; unscrew the
corrugated bushes from the four
supplied spikes,

d) Screw all spikes hand-tight into the

threaded sockets provided for this
on the bottom of each speaker
cabinet,

e) Place the base plates in their final

position in the listening area,

f) Insert the four round support discs

in the recesses provided for them
in the base plates,

g) Place the speaker cabinets on the base plates so that the tips of the spikes sit in

the central holes of the support discs.

h) Adjust the lock-nuts of the spikes to achieve precise and equal height

adjustment!

i) Keep any not needed accessory materials safe together with the manual for

possible later use!

2. For better acoustic isolation of centre or bookshelf speakers from the surface on
which they stand, some of these loudspeakers are shipped with 4 self-adhesive
rubber feet.

Care of loudspeakers

Your AURUM loudspeakers are best cleaned with a soft, dry cloth. The aluminium
housing is best wiped in a longitudinal direction with a damp cloth. Do not use
solvents.
You should only clean the loudspeaker systems (woofer, midrange units, etc.)
when they have become very dirty (small amounts of dust have no effect on the
acoustics). Use a soft, dry cloth or a soft brush with very gentle pressure, otherwise
there is a risk of damaging the diaphragms.
We generally advise against cleaning the tweeter diaphragms because they are
extremely sensitive to pressure!

If the silver front frame becomes dirty, spray dry foam cleaner (such as Centralin spray)
onto dirty areas, leave to work in, then simply remove with a vacuum cleaner.
Do not brush off black front frames, instead tap off or remove the dirt carefully with
adhesive tape. On no account clean using anything damp!

The technical details for your product can be found on the back of the speaker
cabinet or on the packaging!

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Fault

Audible distortion even at low
volume

No sound

Slender, bright sound.
Sounds distant and
unrealistic.

Bass notes too powerful

Lack of treble

Cause

a) Fault in the electronics

b) Fault in the speaker

a) Cabling incorrect
b) Amplifier switched off

a) Incorrect polarity

b) Unfavourable set-up

a) Unfavourable speaker
set-up (e.g. in the corner
of a room)
b) Bass control on amplifier
set high

a) The tweeters are not
properly aligned

Rectification

a) The fault lies in the
electronics if the problem
affects both speakers.
Swap over the left and
right speakers if only one
speaker is affected. If the
problem is still on the
same channel, your
electronics are faulty.
The speaker is faulty if
the problem is now on
the other channel.
b) Please contact your
dealer or our service
(tel. [phone]).

a) Check the cabling.
b) Switch on the system.

a) Check to see if a terminal
marked with + on the
amplifier has been
inadvertently connected
to a terminal marked
with - on the speaker or
vice versa.
b) Set up the speaker closer
to a wall, but maintain a
minimum clearance of
5 cm between the back
of the speaker and the
wall.

a) Move the speaker further
away from the adjacent
walls.
b) Set the bass control on
your amplifier to a
neutral position.

a) Position the speakers so
that the tweeters are
facing directly towards
your listening position.

Zunächst danken wir Ihnen dafür, dass sie sich für AURUM Lautsprecher entschieden
haben.
Es sind Musikliebhaber und Kenner wie Sie, für deren hohe Ansprüche wir Lautsprecher
einer Güteklasse bauen, die weit über dem Durchschnitt liegt. Auch wenn Sie vieles
vielleicht schon wissen, führen wir im folgenden einige Grundregeln auf, die es Ihnen
ermöglichen, Ihre Lautsprecher optimal zu nutzen

.

Sicherheitshinweise für passive Lautsprecher

Lesen Sie bitte die vorliegende Bedienungsanleitung sorgfältig durch und befolgen
Sie bitte alle Schritte, die für die Inbetriebnahme angegeben sind. Deponieren Sie
diese Anleitung so, dass Sie bei späteren Fragen schnell zur Hand ist.

• Die Standfestigkeit (insbesondere die großer Lautsprecher) ist stark von der
Beschaf-fenheit des Untergrundes abhängig. Teppichboden verringert, z.
T. erheblich, die Standfestigkeit. Schon ein mittelstarker Schlag kann einen
Lautsprecher zum Umfallen bringen und birgt daher eine Verletzungsgefahr
für in der Nähe befindliche Menschen oder Haustiere. Die Standfestigkeit kann
durch den Einsatz sogenannter „Spikes“ deutlich verbessert werden, jedoch
Vorsicht bei der Montage, da hier eine Verletzungsgefahr durch die scharfen
Spitzen besteht oder auch eine Beschädigung des Untergrundes erfolgen
kann. Auf glatten Böden lassen sich Lautsprecher mittels Klettverschlüssen
oder doppelseitigem Klebeband befestigen. Lautsprecher dürfen keinesfalls als
Sitzmöbel oder Kletterhilfen (Leiterersatz) benutzt werden!

• Verwenden Sie bitte ausschließlich Rollmöbel, Stative oder Wandbefestigungen
und andere Geräte zum Anbringen und Draufstellen der Produkte, die beim
Hersteller erhältlich sind und für oder mit dem Produkt vertrieben werden.
Beachten Sie bitte, dass Tischgeräte oder Stative, auf denen die Produkte platziert
werden, sehr vorsichtig zu bewegen sind, um Schäden oder Verletzungen durch
ein Umkippen zu vermeiden. Bei einer Wandmontage ist besondere Sorgfalt auf
eine ausreichend sichere Verschraubung aller Komponenten zu legen! Zusätzliche
Sicherungseinrichtungen (Ketten, etc.) sollten montiert werden.

• Es sollte ein Standort für die Lautsprecher gewählt werden, der trocken und nicht
zu kalt ist. Eine dauerhafte hohe Luftfeuchtigkeit oder starke Sonneneinwirkung
(UV-Strahlung) kann Ihre Lautsprecher vorzeitig altern lassen und somit die Funk­tionsfähigkeit beeinträchtigen.

• Sehr große Lautstärken im Dauerbetrieb werden nicht nur von Ihren Nachbarn
als störend empfunden, sondern können auch für den Anwender zu
gesundheitsschädlichen Auswirkungen führen!

• Bei einer Überlastung der Lautsprecher durch sehr große Lautstärken ist das
Durchbrennen einzelner Bauelemente auf den Frequenzweichen oder einzelner
Lautsprecher nicht vollständig auszuschließen. In besonders ungünstigen Fällen

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