Janszen zA2.1, Owner'S Manual

Page 1: ...Model zA2 1 Electrostatic Hybrid Loudspeaker Passive Version OWNER S MANUAL ...

Page 2: ...in PDF form in order to save trees and not burden people with even more paper than they are already barraged with If you d like a printed copy and do not have a color printer there are FedEx Office and Staples stores nearly everywhere that can do the printing job at low cost you can email them the file or bring it to them on a disk or thumb drive We hope this is alright with everyone ...

Page 3: ...baffles 8 Painted and metal surfaces 8 Grill cloth 8 Warnings 8 Quick Start 9 A good starting setup 9 Tips 10 Connecting and Powering 12 Binding Posts 12 Cables 12 Power Cords 12 Powering 13 Setup Details 16 Backward Tilt 16 Stereo Image 16 Room Compensation 17 Exaggerated Treble 17 Exaggerated Bass 17 Room Boom and Suck Out 18 Features and Specifications 19 Warranty 22 ...

Page 4: ...TE REGULATORY COMPLIANCE AND THUS RENDER THE SPEAKERS UNSUITABLE FOR HOME USE THIS INCLUDES KEEPING THE GRILLS INTACT WARNING JANSZEN SHALL NOT BE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY PHYSICAL DAMAGES OR INJURY THAT OCCURS AS A RESULT OF MISUSE DISASSEMBLY OR UNAUTHORIZED CHANGES OR MODIFICATIONS MADE TO THESE SPEAKERS WARNING CONTINUOUS EXPOSURE TO LOUD SOUND CAUSES HEARING DAMAGE WARNING AMPLIFIERS CAN DELIVER H...

Page 5: ...animals or children that may chew or otherwise damage the power cords 10 Liquids Care should be taken not to spill liquids onto the speakers 11 Foreign objects Care should be taken not to press poke or otherwise push foreign objects into the cloth grills such as pencils fingers toy airplanes cat claws etc 12 Cleaning Do not use abrasive cleaners Paint For removing dirt and finger marks the paint c...

Page 6: ...ut permanently It is also possible to damage your ears even without hearing ringing It is important to know No one notices the usual bits of hearing loss right away after each overexposure It adds up over time If you don t avoid exposure to loud sound then at a relatively young age music will sound dull or certain notes will be missing or you will hear constant noise in your ears and you will have...

Page 7: ...materials and techniques and are ready to bring you consistent unwavering performance for decades to come Please feel free to keep in touch with us letting us know anything you d like to tell about your listening experiences or about great amplifiers source gear or music that you have found suit you and the speakers particularly well We re also here to help with any setup challenges or other quest...

Page 8: ...thout mishap 1 Move the carton onto a carpeted area or lay a blanket bath towel or other soft material down onto the floor to use as an unpacking surface 2 Set the carton on its long side with the flaps up which matches the this side up markings on the sides of the carton and slice through the tape to free the flaps We ll call this side the top 3 Remove the power cord the bag of shim washers and i...

Page 9: ... to carpet spikes 1 Lay the speaker onto its face on a carpeted or other soft surface 2 Using a 3 Philips screwdriver remove the screws holding the feet in place 3 Locate the studs in the package of spikes 4 Screw the studs into the inserts in the speaker base The studs have a slot at one end to facilitate this 5 Screw the spikes onto the studs 6 If the spikes have been ordered for use on carpetin...

Page 10: ...pper foot on the base with your other hand 4 Lift using your knees Do not strain your back by lifting with your back 5 To get through doorways rotate the speaker onto your hip or up onto the hand that is grasping the foot Small movements When fitted with rubber feet the easiest way to move a speaker by small amounts is to tilt it onto two feet and walk it along by rocking it back and forth onto on...

Page 11: ...but do not spray anything directly onto the speakers Dampen a soft cloth with your solvent or solution of choice and wipe gently with that Grill cloth The grill cloth can be vacuumed directly with a brush attachment Warnings Do not spray anything near the grill cloth Any sort of cleaner or water mist can harm the speakers if it gets through the grill cloth The grills cannot be removed Any attempt ...

Page 12: ...stening position or slightly toed out from there so that their axes cross a foot or two behind you Positioned between 15 inches and 30 inches from the front wall and at least 2 feet from the side walls Tilted back the right amount for facing upward directly at your shoulders They ship set up for a listening distance of 2 5 to 4 meters 8 to 13 feet at a 1 meter 39 inch height Tweeter control set at...

Page 13: ... can also tailor the response but will produce changes that are more radical than from changing the toe in in particular a severe midrange dip will be created when significantly off the ideal tilt angle Also changing the back tilt away from a straight facing aim will degrade time alignment When there is too much deep bass and the only solution is to deviate from an equilateral triangle to get the ...

Page 14: ...S E T U P D E T A I L S 11 ...

Page 15: ... way posts on special order that will accept banana plugs Cables We recommend oxygen free stranded copper wire well terminated to high quality spade lugs according to the following wire gauge table Maximum Cable Length Gauge 7 5 m 25 16 gauge 10 m 33 14 gauge 15 m 50 13 gauge Heavier wire can be used of course Note that the resistance inductance and capacitance of zip cord of these gauges are at l...

Page 16: ...speakers must be powered to obtain sound from the electrostatic elements You may note that there is an on off power switch The speakers may be left powered on at all times without harm but if they will be left idle for an extended time or if the air often contains smoke or other contaminants it is best to power them off The speakers can be powered on at any time relative to the other equipment but...

Page 17: ...e speaker and the point source sound that reflects from the side walls is not strongly correlated with the line source direct sound As a result the sonic reflections from the side wall do not smear the image noticeably as would the off axis sound from a dipole or wide dispersion speaker The benefit is the same sort of airiness as with these more dispersive speakers but without the drawbacks Setup ...

Page 18: ...his means we are shipping airLayers with knobs that are not calibrated in dB but simply marked linearly from 1 to 10 or worse from 0 to 11 In the following image you can see the correspondence between two of the types of dial plate Here s a translation table showing dB of attenuation with the linearly numbered dial plate Linear dB Linear dB 1 16 6 3 5 2 9 7 2 8 3 7 8 1 8 4 5 5 9 1 5 4 5 10 0 ...

Page 19: ... feet with a nominal ear height of 1m 38 inches Since listening heights and distances vary you might benefit from some experimentation with the angle You can prop the front or rear of the speakers with books tableware whatever until the vertical centers of the speakers are fairly close to being aimed directly at your ears Shim washers are provided in a small zip lock style bag and you can make you...

Page 20: ...t seating area with uniform sound from both speakers Exaggerated Treble The upper treble might be exaggerated by reflections from the wall behind the listening position or by a generally lively room that is one with lots of hard surfaces and not many soft ones This can be counteracted by reducing the amount of toe in If the mid treble is exaggerated it will probably be best to increase the woofer ...

Page 21: ...mate solution but no one will blame you if you don t want to bother You can make some headway against these effects with no additional hardware by decreasing the setup symmetry This is done by placing each speaker a different distance from each side wall and rotating your entire listening triangle 10 or 15 degrees relative to the walls Fore and aft adjustment of the listening triangle will also ha...

Page 22: ...nce sensitive hearing region of 1 kHz 3 kHz entire midrange and treble carried by the electrostatic elements minimum phase operation through crossover region Secondary partial crossover 1st order limits upper treble from half width of ESL panel controls dispersion and flattens response without an electrical rolloff network airLayer rolls off 2nd order below 2 kHz 2 5 way WTW Woofer Tweeter Woofer ...

Page 23: ...r with force applied evenly over its whole surface no breakup Properly damped unlike see through electrostatics Introduces absolutely no midrange or treble coloration and distortion is far below audibility Will not lose its tension or degrade over time 1 5 way tweeter mid design controls horizontal dispersion and eliminates electrical EQ network Woofers o Two identical 18 cm 7 low mass alloy cone ...

Page 24: ...er cords worldwide o No transformer or oscillator high reliability and no radiated or conducted noise to affect your other components Weight 28 kg 62 lbs each with standard plinth Dimensions o Speaker enclosure 91 cm tall x 26 cm wide x 22 6 cm deep 35 9 H x 10 2 W x 8 9 D o Plinth 30 cm wide x 35 cm deep x 6 cm high 12 W x 14 D x 2 5 H Heirloom quality materials and finishes used throughout for l...

Page 25: ...t initially noted but is attributable to handling in transit the applicable claims procedures of the shipping freight company apply ii Details of the damage shall be reported to JansZen either verbally in text graphically or photographically as required to accurately convey the description iii At JansZen s sole discretion the damaged goods may be returned to JansZen for inspection or inspected on ...

Page 26: ...smetic damage or exterior finish accidents abuse neglect fire water lightning or other acts of nature fluctuations and surges failure to follow operating or maintenance instructions 6 This warrantee applies only to JansZen products sold directly by Janszen or by an authorized JansZen reseller 7 JansZen will be the sole determiner of whether a product is indeed defective 8 Replaced or repaired unit...

Page 27: ...ration for warranty If you have purchased your speakers directly from JansZen YOU ARE AUTOMATICALLY REGISTERED FOR THE WARRANTY If you have bought them from an authorized dealer or from another owner who has a valid warranty still in effect REGISTER YOUR PURCHASE FOR WARRANTY by visiting the following web site http www TBD XXX registration ...