Vienna Acoustics Imperial Series LISZT Owner's Manual

Imperial Series™ LISZT– Owners Manual

Thank you for your investment in one of the world´s most advanced loudspeaker
designs available. We have worked tirelessly to produce this loudspeaker system
and trust that you will enjoy the musical performance this product offers. To
achieve this new level of performance, special care has been taken in the
construction, the materials and the execution of this entirely new design. In
order to take full advantage of your new loudspeaker system, critical setup
attention must be taken to ensure that it performs as intended.

Please read this manual carefully and utilize the setup suggestions discussed.
Ultimately, the most important part of the process is to listen to music and
enjoy. Our suggestions are just that, suggestions. If you find in your listening
environment that a slightly different adjustment in setup results in a more
enjoyable sonic picture, then follow it. All rooms are different and thus, we
cannot give an accurate, single installation instruction guide that will cover all
possible environments. Please feel free to contact us or your local distributor
with any setup related questions. It is our collective goal to ensure that you
achieve the best possible performance out of this sophisticated product.

Thank you again and happy listening.

Sincerely,
Your Vienna Acoustics Team

Product Description

Technology

The Imperial Series™ LISZT loudspeaker features an extensive list of new
technologies. Beginning with the new patented Flat-Spider-Cone™ midrange
driver, special care has been taken with the choice of materials and crafting.
This driver is created from a compound of several thermal plastic polymers as
well as added glass fibers. This material composition offers both a considerable
stiffness to mass ratio while also possessing the necessary self silencing
necessary to ensure a lack of coloration in sound reproduction. That is, the cone
material itself is virtually silent eliminating the need for notch type filters in the
crossover. The goal is to eliminate the problem of cone resonances before they
begin. Added to the special material composition is the new flat design which
further removes the sonic signature of the driver by eliminating the cone
diffraction of the cone walls most often referred to as horn-loading. It is through
the process of concentrating on both physical construction or forming and with
special quiet materials that we are able to achieve this new level of performance
that is free of the normal mechanical limitations as well as resonances present in
most conventional midrange cone designs.

LISZT is the result of a many year development project working to further
advance our patented Flat-Spider-Cone™ coincident driver system first used in
our flagship model, The Music, as well as throughout the rest of the Klimt
Series™.
By concentrating on driver development, in both the mechanical domain and the
material domain, we are left with the ideal of a highly simplified cross-over. As
with our other designs, we begin with a first order cross-over. This we believe
allows us to achieve the most seamless integration of all of the drivers into a
single, cohesive whole. This is in part why we have chosen to offer only the
purest and simplest hook up interface of single-wire terminals. Special care has
also been taken with the formulation of the alloys used in these propriety Vienna
Acoustics speaker terminals to ensure the quietest connection interface between
speaker and speaker wire.
In addition to this entirely new flat midrange driver, we have installed a special,
hand crafted silk dome tweeter in its middle or pole location. Doing so allows for
a timing or phase correctness that cannot otherwise be achieved. Ultimately our
final complete coincident driver pairing is capable of reproducing the entire
human vocal range, and beyond, without any cross-over interference particularly
within the most critical human vocal range. The end result is a system that takes
on a presence which until now has only been available in compact monitors. A
further advantage of this design is the mentioned timing or phase correctness of
the overall combination. The complete assembly results in a dispersion
characteristic that creates much more of a “sweet area” versus the typical
“sweet spot” found in most designs. For this reason we prefer to describe this
entire assembly as the Music Center.

Construction

LISZT features a top section or head which is a completely independent module
of equal internal volumes. This construction allows us to control and carefully
position the critical Music Center. To eliminate the potential for extraneous
mechanical information to reach up from the bass cabinet, the Music Center is
similarly attached through one centered high grade aluminium turning
mechanism. The overall goal with this sophisticated design is to allow the entire
Music Center to be positioned at its optimal angle towards the chosen listening
position while also being completely isolated mechanically from the bass cabinet.

Caution: Under no circumstances should the speaker be carried or moved by
holding the Music Center. The result can be permanent damage to the
adjustment mechanism.

The bass cabinet of LISZT is sophisticatedly divided into two chambers. The top
woofer occupies its own cabinet with dedicated venting. The two additional
woofers share their own dedicated cabinet with venting port. The three Vienna
Acoustics proprietary X3P Spider-Cone™ woofers are then run in parallel with
the upper bass unit most directly extending the bass performance of the Music
Center and the two lower bass units aiding in further extending bass and overall
dynamics. This entire bass assembly acts far more like integrated subwoofers
compared to more typical bass units.

With a complete speaker system of such mass, it was also necessary to develop
special hardware that not only would allow for the fine adjustment in final setup
but one that is substantial enough to physically support it. Each individual spiked
foot features an oversized threaded center core with a large specially formed
head allowing for easy adjustment. Additionally, there are four lock ring nuts
that allow for the final locking of each spiked foot after proper setup has been
completed. In the event these speakers are installed on fine wood or stone
floors, specially created floor protectors are also supplied.

Caution: We strongly recommend to install the base hardware for optimal
performance.