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User Guide
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To the owner
We would like to thank you for investing
in a Wilson Benesch Loudspeaker.
Please return your completed Guarantee
Registration Card or use the electronic
registration within two weeks of purchase.
For electronic registration please refer to
the Wilson Benesch web site to take
advantage of the Customer Guarantee
Registration. You can access the
registration area via the ‘Owners Section’
on the ‘Home Page’ of:
www.wilson-benesch.com
The purchase of a Wilson Benesch
loudspeaker is merely the beginning of a
long term relationship. The Wilson
Benesch Square Series loudspeakers are
guaranteed for two years.
The guarantee on
this product is non transferable and cannot
be transferred to a second owner.
To the music connoisseur
The Wilson Benesch badge denotes more
than just a loudspeaker. The company has
earned a global reputation that is second
to none in the field of high performance
sound reproduction. Uniquely, this
reputation has been won largely through
word of mouth. Behind every design, is a
creative strength that has won critical
acclaim and countless awards.
You now own a product that will provide
year after year of pleasure for the owner,
and all who come across it within the
comfort and security of your own home.
The care and attention offered by the
Wilson Benesch dealer network matches
the high quality systems that we
manufacture. Should you require any
further advice about cables, room sighting,
upgrades or any other matters relating to
audio or AV systems, then the dealers are
more than able to respond to and deal
effectively with any of these concerns.
Unpacking and set up
instruction
Important Points before Setting
up
During installation two or more people
will be required, as the speakers are quite
heavy. Never attempt to unpack or install
the speakers without assistance as this
could result in damage to the speaker or
personal injury.
Please observe normal procedures for
lifting and correct posture when handling
the speakers. Soft fabric gloves are
recommended to prevent damage to the
high quality finish. Also, it is strongly
recommended that all watches and
jewellery be removed prior to unpacking.
Patient and careful setting is essential to
obtaining the maximum performance
from this system.
• Move the speaker within its packaging
to the intended listening position. For
further information on positioning,
see the Loudspeaker Positioning
section below.
• Making sure the top of the box has
been fully opened and the hardware
pack has been removed.
• The speaker is now ready to be
removed from the box. Have an
assistant help you lift the speaker clear
of all the packaging. Stand the speaker
on the floor, taking care not to
damage the foot. The protective
polythene bag can be slippery, so great
care must be taken at this stage.
• Once both speakers have been stood
up, the bags can be removed and the
packaging stored for future use, as it is
essential for shipping the system
safely.
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Wilson Benesch is distributed by the
world’s finest distributors and dealers, if
you have any problems they should be
able to help you.
You can also contact our customer care
service by e-mail at any time.
The subject of room
acoustics
Acoustics is a complex subject and this
text should be treated for what it is, a
simple but for some, informative guide.
For a more in-depth understanding you
would need to refer to a whole range of
texts on the subject. The most important
outcome of this should be the greater
appreciation of the role, played by the
room on the overall sound of the audio
system.
The air contained within the room is the
link between the output of the
loudspeaker and your ear. How air
behaves is dependent upon the attributes
or character of the room. It follows that a
better understanding of basic acoustics
and what facets cause the most influence
in the room will assist in making decisions
about the way in which the room and
subsequently the system can be improved.
Room types fall between two extremes. A
room can be “dead” on the one hand
(full of highly energy absorbent materials
and complex diffusing structures) or very
“lively” on the other (few reflective
surfaces and a high proportion of very
reflective, hard, non absorbent surfaces).
As so often is the case, a balance of
materials is commonly preferable to one
extreme or the other. The correct balance
is the goal for the end user.
Room attributes which can be
easily changed
The contents of the room impact greatly
upon its overall acoustic character. As you
would expect, hard surfaces like glass and
concrete tend to reflect a broad band of
acoustic energy. Complimentary materials
that are soft and thick in section such as
heavy natural fibre curtains will tend to
absorb a broad band of frequencies.
What are Standing waves?
Sound waves reflecting between two
parallel walls set up resonance modes
when one half, or a whole multiple of
one-half, the wavelength of the sound
wave is equal to the distance between
the walls.
These resonance modes are referred to as
“standing waves”. In loudspeakers with
parallel walls these waves will cause
distortions. The standing waves in your
room will distort the frequency response
of your system sympathetically boosting
certain frequencies.
If a certain standing wave frequency is
acoustically isolated from its modal
neighbours, its effect is more likely to be
audible and problematic. This can
compromise the accuracy of any
loudspeaker.
Middle and High Frequency
Room Characteristics
The middle and high frequencies are
affected more by room contents rather
than room shape. The surfaces and how
they reflect, absorb or diffuse the acoustic
energy will tend to describe the “sound”
of a room. Like all energy, acoustic energy
cannot be destroyed; it can only be
converted into something else or
reflected. The shape of the surface will
determine how it is reflected and the
material will determine whether it is
absorbed. All rooms have a particular
sound, and to appreciate what influences
are present in your room you should be
aware of how the objects in your room
will respond to sound.
Sound waves behave in the same way as
light waves or "rays" and so imagine the
driver to be a floodlight.
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Reflection: acoustic energy is not
converted but reflected in an orderly,
predictable fashion.
Diffusion: acoustic energy is dispersed in
a random and or disordered fashion.
Absorption: acoustic energy is converted
into kinetic energy or heat. All or a
majority of the sound energy is "soaked
up" or disposed of by the object surface
or room boundary.
Bi-Amping
The power that is delivered to your
loudspeakers will have a direct effect upon
the sound of your loudspeakers. You
should select the best that you can afford.
Separating the systems will deliver benefits
that can easily be detected. We would not
recommend using different amplifiers on
different drivers.
Bi-Wiring
Improvements can be heard through
separating the energy from each filter in
the crossover. Cables vary in construction
but a good quality cable should be low in
impedance, inductance and capacitance.
Do not use cables, which act as additional
crossover components. Experimentation
is crucial in this situation and a cable that
works well in one situation / room / with
a given amplifier, may not always perform
as well when one of these variables are
changed.
Two channel loudspeaker
positioning
There are no objective criteria that can be
used to state precisely where loudspeakers
should be positioned. Should any
individual or company suggest that there
is, they should be regarded as special
people and treated with a great deal of
caution. In the global scenario, our
loudspeakers are driven by unique systems
that are selected by the owner because of
particular virtues. Every listening room is
as individual and unique in character as
the owner. Compound this complex
picture with the combination of different
equipment. Consider the changeability of
Rooms: If the room is dressed with
heavy curtains simply changing the
curtains position can alter the whole
balance of the system. The only rule is
that there are no rules. Like producing
good wine, it is the goal that is the only
guide. The owner is the pivot in this
subtle balancing act.
The goal of high performance audio
systems is accurate reproduction. The
information, be it in groove or pit format
should be transcribed, amplified and
converted back into sound energy without
the additional views of the audio
equipment designer being combined with
that translation process.
In order to make the task of positioning
the loudspeakers less complex we would
like to make the following suggestions.
That most valuable commodity, time, is
the most important ingredient in this
process. Be prepared to make small
changes over longer periods of time.
Select four musical passages that you are
familiar with, that can fulfil the following
tests.
• They should all be stereo recordings.
• Select one with a distinctive and easily
heard human voice. Spoken voice is
ideal.
• Select one passage with a full
orchestra like The Pines of Rome.
• Select one that is very emotional for
you.
• Select one that has a strong rhythm as
in the case of dance music.
You should appraise the performance of
the loudspeakers according to your needs
based upon the tests above.
Cinema Systems
There is no industry standard for the
positioning of speakers for home cinema,
but there are some facts that should be
considered when creating such a dedicated
environment.
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