Sherbourn Technologies LDS-12.60, LDS-16.45 Owners manual

1

Thank you so much for your decision to purchase
one of our superb Sherbourn amplifiers. We take
enormous pride in the design and build quality of all
of our products and we are confident that our product
will provide you with many years of enjoyable and
trouble-free service. Should you have any need to call
upon our services please feel free to contact us at the
address shown at the end of this booklet; or, of course,
you can contact the dealership from which you
purchased the product.
Full details of the warranty coverage provided by
Sherbourn T echnologies can be found at the end of this
booklet.

Safety Instructions

1. Important Safety Instructions! Please read all the
safety and operating instructions shown in this
manual before operating this equipment.

WARNING

AVIS

2. The lightening flash within an equilateral triangle
shown above is intended to alert you to the presence of
uninsulated ‘dangerous voltage’ within the product’s
enclosure that may be of sufficient magnitude to
constitute an electric shock.

3. The exclamation point within an equilateral triangle
shown above is intended to alert you to the presence of
important operating and maintenance (servicing)
instructions in the literature accompanying this
appliance.

4. Sherbourn products are designed to comply with in-

these directives.

5. Please retain this manual in a safe place for future
reference about safety and operating matters.

6. Adhere to all warnings and follow all operating
instructions.

7. Warning: To reduce the risk of fire or electrical
shock, do not expose this equipment to rain or
moisture. There are no user serviceable parts inside.
Refer servicing to qualified personnel.

8. Caution: To prevent electrical shock do not use this
(polarized) plug with an extension cord, receptacle
or other outlet unless the blades can be fully inserted
to prevent blade exposure.

9. For added protection for this product during a
lightening storm or when it is left unattended and
unused for long periods of time, it is recommended
that you unplug the unit from the wall outlet. This will
prevent damage to the product due to lightening or
power line surges.

10. Do not use attachments not recommended in this
owner’s manual as they may cause hazards.

11. Locate the equipment for proper ventilation. For
example, the product should never be allowed to

SHOCK HAZARD - DO NOT OPEN

RISQUE DE CHOC ELECTRONIQUE

-NE PAS OUVRIR

ternational directives on the Restriction of
Hazardous Substances (RoHS) in electri­cal and electronic equipment and the dis­posal of Waste Electrical and Electronic
Equipment (WEEE). The crossed wheelie
bin symbol indicates compliance and that
the products must be appropriately re­cycled or processed in accordance with

operate while positioned on a bed, rug, sofa or any such
surface where proper ventilation is not possible. Nor

should the unit be placed in a built-in installation such
as a cabinet or armoire, etc. in such a way as to impede
the air flow. Always ensure adequate ventilation
openings - please see later comments regarding such
an installation.

12. Locate the product away from heat sources such as
stoves, heat registers, radiators or other appliances
including other amplifiers that produce heat.

13. Mount the equipment in a wall or cabinet only as
described in this owner’s manual.

14. Do not use the equipment near water; for example
near a bathtub, washbowl, kitchen sink, a swimming
pool, a wet basement, etc.

15. Do not place the product on an unstable cart, stand
tripod, bracket or table. The equipment is heavy and
should it fall, it could cause serious injury to a person
and/or serious damage to the equipment.

Caution for Installation

1. Your Sherbourn amplifier can be placed on any table
or shelf. It can also be custom installed in a rack, and/
or in a piece of cabinetry or furniture of your choice. It
is however, important that if the amplifier is going to
be housed in an enclosed environment, that you allow
for adequate ventilation. Despite the adequately sized
heatsinks built into the amplifier, it is still important
that good ventilation be provided. Do not install the
amplifier directly above another heat generating
component such as another amplifier without adequate
ventilation.

2. If your amplifier is going to be placed in an enclosed
space such as an armoire, it is essential that adequate
ventilation be provided. We strongly suggest that the
shelf on which the product is being placed includes a
cutout of at least twenty inches by twelve inches (50
cm by 30 cm) directly under the ventilation slots on
the bottom of the amplifier. A similarly sized cutout
should be made in the upper or rear wall behind the
shelf so that free air can flow from beneath the unit to
the outside atmosphere. Also allow a minimum of three
inches (7.5 cm) free space above the product and two
inches (5 cm) on either side of the product. This
combination of space will allow for a free flow of
circulating air to help keep the amplifier from
overheating. If your cabinet includes a number of
products, it may be advisable to install a quiet fan to
assist the cooling process.

3. The dealership from which you purchased the
product is an expert on custom installation procedures
and can provide invaluable advice to help you make an
aesthetically pleasing and trouble free installation.

Caution for Connections

1. Connect this equipment only to the type of AC power
source as marked on the unit. Always route AC power
cords so they are not likely to be walked on, or tripped
over, or where they may be pinched by items placed on
or against them. Always pay particular attention to
cords at plugs and/or convenience receptacles, and at
the point where they exit from the product.

2. Do not defeat the inherent design features of the
polarized plug. Non polarized line cord adapters will

2

Fig. 1. Rear Panel of LDS16-45 With Eight Zones

Fig. 2. Rear Panel of LDS12-60 With Six Zones - 3 and 6 are not operative

defeat the safety provided by the polarized AC plug.
If the plug should fail to fit, contact your electrician to
replace your obsolete outlet. Do not defeat the safety
purpose of the grounding-type plug. If you use this
product in a country which only has two slotted
receptacles in the house, you must use a three-pin
adapter plug to earth ground which is the “E” (earth
pin) of the power cord connected to this product.

3. Do not overload wall outlets, extension or integral
convenience receptacles, as this could result in a risk
of fire or shock.

Operating Voltage

The LDS16-45 and LDS12-60 amplifier is factory-set
for 110V/120V 60 HZ or 230V 50HZ AC operation,
according to the country for which the unit was
manufactured (230V in European Union countries, in
compliance with CE regulations). The operating voltage
cannot be changed by the user and any attempt to do so

may risk of causing damage to the amplifier and will
void the warranty.

Care of the Product

Clean the product by dusting with a dry cloth. Do not
permit objects of any kind to be pushed and/or fall into
the product through the enclosure openings.

Front Panel Description

The front panel houses the main Power ON/OFF
switch. A blue power LED will illuminate when the
LDS16-45/12-60 is ON and will dim when all zone
amplifiers are in the ‘Standby’ mode. The LED will
only extinguish when the Power ON/OFF switch is in
the OFF position or when the LDS16-45/12-60 is
disconnected from the electrical outlet.

Rear Panel Connections

The LDS16-45/12-60 has been designed to provide
multiple stereo zones with identical performance and

3

features. The following descriptions apply to all zones.
The connections of the audio signal between your
preamp/control center and your LDS16-45/12-60 will
be made discretely via cables from the outputs of your
preamp to the gold plated inputs of your LDS16-45/
12-60. Please ensure that the cables are installed for
each channel as described on the following pages.

Volume Controls

Two separate controls are provided for left and right
volume control. When functioning under the bridge-
mono mode, only the right volume control is used for
volume adjustment.

LDS Operation

Each time the power comes on, the LDS16-45/12-60
will perform the LDS (Load Detection System) test
sequence from zone-1 to the last zone amplifier.
Sherbourn’s LDS technology incorporated in these two
products will automatically detect a short-circuit in the
speaker wiring, and will also check for speaker(s) that
may be configured with too low an impedance of less
than 4 ohms typically. During the test sequence, observe
the rear panel LDS LEDs for the following test results.

The power should be off during your installation.
Once your installation is complete and the unit is
powered up, the LDS16-45/12-60 will automatically
perform the LDS Test Sequence described in the
previous paragraph. Please note that this Test
Sequence will be performed just once, immediately
after the unit is first powered up.

If LDS LEDs are all Green (the test results are
good)

If all the LDS LEDs are in green, bright or dim, it
indicates all speakers connected to the amp are greater
than 4 ohm, and no short-circuit exists in the speaker
wiring. The amplifier is safe to drive the speakers.
The LDS LED of a zone will be in full brightness, if
the trigger switch of that zone is set to ON, or to MUSIC
if the amp is receiving a music signal, or to 12V if a
12Vdc trigger input is fed to the trigger input jack.
Otherwise, it shall remain in low-level green.
For those zones with LDS LED in full brightness, their
speakers are automatically connected (by
internal relays); if an LDS LED is dim, the internal
relay of that zone amp does not get connected to the
speaker.

If any of the LDS LED are Red it is an
indication that on the offending zone(s) either

the load is too low or a short circuit exists.

Indicates the speaker connected to that zone amp either
has a short-circuit connection or speaker impedance
that is too low (less than 4 ohms typically) for the
amplifier. The amplifier repeats the LDS test on that
zone, and the LDS LED keeps flashing red. The
amplifier will not be connected to the speaker unless
the fault condition is corrected. See the troubleshooting
section on page 5 if you encountered this problem.

Input Selection Switches

The zone amplifiers of LDS16-45/12-60 are split into
two groups, A and B, with zone 1 to 4 being the A

group and 5 to 8 the B group for the LDS16-45; (zone
1, 2 and 4 for A and zone 5, 7 and 8 for B with the
LDS12-60). Except for zone 1, each zone contains an
input selection switch allowing it to receive either a
GLOBAL main signal or a LOCAL zone signal. The
group A amplifiers can thus receive a Global-A signal
(fed to the zone 1 RCA input) and the group-B
amplifiers can receive either the same group-A signal
by setting zone 5’s input selector to ZONE 1, or receive
its own global-B signal (fed to the Zone 5 RCA input).
With the input selection switch of a zone set to its own
zone, the zone amplifiers receive the signal via the RCA
jacks of that zone.

Trigger Mode Switch

On

Setting the trigger mode switch to the ON position
allows the LDS16-45/12-60 to stay ON all the time.
None of the amplifiers will enter the standby mode.
The power to the amplifiers can only be turned off by
turning off the front panel power switch or
disconnecting the power cord.

Music

Setting a trigger mode switch to MUSIC position, sets
the LDS16-45/12-60 zone-amps into auto-on-standby
power control mode. Each zone-amp can sense,
individually, a very low level music signal fed to its
signal input, which will turn the amplifier into an active
state and will play the music. When the music stops
and no further signal is received for more than 10
minutes, the zone-amp will turn into a standby mode,
which cuts off the power consumption substantially and
turns off the green LED of that zone. The zone-amp
will wake up from the standby mode, or sleep mode,
whenever the zone receives a music signal again.

12V

Setting the trigger mode switch of a zone-amp to 12V
allows the power-on-standby function of that zone­amp to be controlled by a 12V DC voltage connected
to the 12V input jacks of group A and group B
amplifiers. When 12V DC is present at the 12V trigger
input jacks, the zone-amplifiers will turn on, and when
the 12V disappears, the zone-amps will enter the
standby mode momentary. Under standby mode, no
music signal will go through that zone-amps and there
is no output sent to the speakers. The zone-amplifiers
will wake up from the standby mode whenever the zone
receives a 12V trigger input.
Note that the 12V trigger input jack of group A is not
internally connected to the 12V input jack of group B.
A cable must be connected from the trigger output jack
of A group to the trigger input jack of B group, if amps
in both groups are to be triggered simultaneously by
only one 12V trigger source.

Speaker Terminals and Speaker Loads

Each LDS16-45/12-60 provides one set of speaker
terminals per zone for left and right speaker
connections. When operating a zone amplifier under a
stereo or mono mode, use only a speaker of 4 ohms or
greater impedance for your installation. But when
operating in BRGD (bridge mode), use only a speaker
of 8 ohms or greater impedance.

4

Stereo/Mono/Bridged Switch

Stereo

Setting the switch to STEREO operates a zone amplifier, in a regular 2-channel, stereo mode.

Mono

Setting the switch to MONO sums the left and right inputs together and plays the same signal to both the left and right
speakers.

Bridging

Setting the switch to BRGD operates a zone amplifier in the bridged mode, which turns the output of the left channel
into the same signal as the right channel, but in the opposite polarity. Under this bridged mode, a speaker of 8 ohms
minimum impedance can be connected between the positive (marked “+”) polarity of the right speaker terminal and
the positive polarity (marked “+”) of the left speaker terminal in order to receive a two-times output voltage (for
higher power output). The positive polarity of the speaker shall be connected to the “+” terminal of the right

channel for the speaker to be in the correct phase.

Troubleshooting

Symptom Possible Cause Solution

No sound from Incorrect input setting Check setting of the Global/Local switch.
one zone

Bad speaker connection LDS LED in bright green, swap speakers

from other zone to identify the problem.

Bad input connection Swap inputs from other zone to identify

the problem.

Speaker output shorted, or too LDS LED shall flash red, turn off unit
low speaker impedance power, swap speakers from other zone,

then turn on the power again to identify
the problem.

Trigger switch set to 12V Feed a 12V trigger signal to turn unit on,

or set the switch to “Music” or “on”
position.

Level adjust pot set too low Turn both “L” and “R” level control up.

One channel out Can be any possibility above Check through above solutions.

Mode switch set at BRGD Only R-channel will output if speakers

are connected at left and right for
stereo mode listening. Set the mode
mode switch to stereo for correction.

5

678

Three Year Limited Warranty

Subject to the terms and conditions stated below,
Sherbourn Technologies, Inc. (Sherbourn)
warrants to the original owner that this model
LDS16-45 or LDS12-60 shall be free from
defects in workmanship or materials for a term
of three (3) years from its date of purchase from
an Authorized Sherbourn Dealer. Transfer of
this product by its original owner (the ‘Owner’)
will automatically terminate this Warranty
regardless of when occurring.

In the event of any defect covered by this warranty ,
Sherbourn shall provide all parts, materials, and
labor necessary to restore the Product to its original
specifications, and shall return the Product to its
owner at Sherbourn’s expense. In the alternative,
Sherbourn may at its sole option either replace the
Product without charge, or if its replacement is not
commercially practicable or repair or replacement
cannot be accomplished within a reasonable time,
Sherbourn may refund the purchase price of the
Product, subject where appropriate to reasonable
depreciation for actual use in accordance with
applicable laws, in full satisfaction of its warranty
obligations.

Sherbourn’s sole obligation under this warranty
shall be to repair or replace the product, or at its
option refund the purchase price, as provided for
hereinabove. Sherbourn does not warrant
against, nor shall it be liable for, any of the
following: removal or installation charges,
shipping expenses to Sherbourn or its authorized
service facility, loss of use, property damage of
any kind, or other incidental or consequential
damage or losses of any kind.

Note: Some states do not allow exclusion or
limitation of consequential damages, so the
foregoing exclusions may not apply to you.

Authorized Sherbourn Service Facility; and
Sherbourn shall have no liability or obligation of
any kind with respect to any of the foregoing losses
types of failures.

To obtain service under this Warranty, the Owner
must first obtain from Sherbourn a Return
Authorization Number, and must then, at the
owner’s expense (i) arrange for any necessary de­installation of the Product, and (ii) deliver or ship
the Product, properly packaged and clearly
identified with the Return Authorization Number,
prepaid, and insured, to Sherbourn at the address
shown below, or to an Authorized Sherbourn
Service Facility. In addition, the Owner must
provide evidence that the Product is at the time of
delivery within the scope of this Warranty, by
including the ORIGINAL dated sales receipt with
the Product when submitted for repair. Safeguard
your original sales receipt, as it may be required to
validate W arranty coverage

The owner is solely responsible for payment of all
expenses for removing the Product from its
installation, delivering it to Sherbourn or an
Authorized Sherbourn Service Facility, and
reinstalling it following repair, as well as for any
repairs made to Products which are subject to the
exclusions noted above.

In order to learn the name and address of the nearest
Authorized Sherbourn Service Facility, obtain a
Return Authorization Number and shipping
instructions, or obtain answers to any other
questions you may have concerning this W arranty ,
you may telephone Sherbourn between the hours
of 9:00 am and 5:00 pm Eastern Standard Time,
Monday through Friday at [phone], or write
to our Service Department at Sherbourn
Technologies, Inc., 19-3A Sterling Road, North
Billerica, MA 01862.

This warranty does not cover any of the following:
(a) cabinetry, trim, or other appearance items
(except where they are defective at the time of
original sale and the Product is delivered for repair
within the first thirty days (30) thereafter): (b)
failures arising from accident, catastrophe, misuse,
neglect, or failure to properly connect and operate
the product in accordance with the accompanying
instruction: (c) failures arising from improper
installation of the Product or incompatibility of
other components in the system of which the
Product is a part: (d) failures of any kind in products
(i) which have been purchased from other than
Authorized Sherbourn dealers, or (ii) which
evidence any tampering, alteration, or attempted
servicing by anyone other than Sherbourn or an

This warranty gives you specific legal rights, and
you may also have other rights which vary from
state to state.

If this product has been purchased outside of the
United States of America, you should contact your
local dealer or distributor to determine the warranty
coverage provided in your country .

Sherbourn

Sherbourn T echnologies, Inc.,

19-3A Sterling Road, North Billerica MA 01862

Tel [phone]

Fax [phone]

Web www.sherbourn.com

R