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Sanders Sound Systems

Model 10b Electrostatic Speaker System

OWNERS MANUAL

Table of Contents

UNPACKING and ASSEMBLY ............................................................................... 2

POSITIONING ........................................................................................................... 4

ELECTRICAL CONNECTIONS .............................................................................. 5

ELECTRONIC CONTROLS ..................................................................................... 7

Level ............................................................................................................................ 7

Up/down Arrows ......................................................................................................... 8

Midrange ..................................................................................................................... 8

Bass ............................................................................................................................. 8

Loss of Power .............................................................................................................. 8

ESL/WOOFER PHASING ......................................................................................... 9

ADVANCED POSITIONING TECHNIQUES ...................................................... 10

LINE FUSE AND VOLTAGE SELECTOR ........................................................... 12

CLEANING / MAINTENANCE ............................................................................. 13

TROUBLESHOOTING ........................................................................................... 14

REMOTE CONTROL .............................................................................................. 17

SPECIFICATIONS ................................................................................................... 18

Summary of content (17 pages)

PAGE 1
Sanders Sound Systems Model 10b Electrostatic Speaker System OWNERS MANUAL Table of Contents UNPACKING and ASSEMBLY ............................................................................... 2 POSITIONING ........................................................................................................... 4 ELECTRICAL CONNECTIONS .............................................................................. 5 ELECTRONIC CONTROLS ...................................................................
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SETTING UP YOUR SPEAKERS Setting up your new speakers is a three-part process that includes the following:  Unpacking / Assembly / Positioning  Electrical connections  Adjustment of the balance between the woofers and electrostatic loudspeaker (ESL). UNPACKING and ASSEMBLY When you open the boxes, observe carefully how the packaging is arranged so you can repack items correctly in the future.
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2) Attach the steel beams to the front edges of the woofer cabinet. Each beam is held in place by four socket-head screws that are in a small bag with an Allen wrench you can use to tighten them. Note that the side of the beams with the Velcro faces towards you (when you are looking at the front of the cabinet). Install the screws by first mounting them on the end of the Allen wrench. Then insert them through the hole in the Velcro side of the beam.
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POSITIONING All speakers sound best when they are equidistant from you. Because the Model 10's imaging is so much more precise than conventional speakers, they will reveal errors in equidistant placement more than conventional speakers. The section of this manual called “Advanced Positioning Techniques” will assist you in obtaining the exact positioning needed. Aim the speakers directly at your listening location — do not place them parallel to the wall.
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ELECTRICAL CONNECTIONS The block diagram above shows how to connect the electronics to the speakers. The Model 10b is bi-amplified, which means that two amplifiers are required, one to drive the woofers and another to drive the electrostatic panels. So that you do not have to buy a n extra amplifier, Sanders Sound Systems supplies a very high quality, bass amplifier in the same chassis as the electronic crossover — which is why the unit is called a “Crossover/amplifier.
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COMMENTS ON CABLES Surprisingly, some expensive interconnects are poorly designed in that they lack shielding. Avoid these as they often cause buzzing sounds or even allow radio stations to be produced through your speakers. Properly shielded interconnects will have an outer covering made of fine braided wire that forms a metal shield around the wire(s) inside the shield. This is known as coaxial wire. Always used shielded interconnects.
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ELECTRONIC CONTROLS The Model 10 Crossover/amplifier has much greater adjustability than any conventional speaker. With it, you can best match the speakers to your room and personal preferences. Such a powerful tool can also be misadjusted and make the speakers sound awful, so please read the following information carefully: There is a m aster switch on the back panel that turns on the Crossover/amplifier. It is designed to be left on continually.
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Up/down Arrows These controls increase or decrease the level of the three functions to their left (BASS, MIDRANGE, and LEVEL). The digital readout shows the value you have selected. Midrange This is an extremely critical control. Adjust it so that the speaker's midrange is full and rich, but perfectly clear. If the speaker sounds too “thin”, you need to increase the midrange level. If the speaker sounds less than perfectly clear (“muddy”), then you have the midrange set too high — reduce it.
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ESL/WOOFER PHASING The ESL and woofer leave the factory in-phase with each other when the ESL is driven by a non-inverting amplifier. Most amplifiers are non-inverting (a positive input signal produces a positive output signal, not a negative one). As long as you connect the positive (red) terminal of the ESL to the positive (also probably red) terminal on your amplifier, and the red terminals on the bass amplifier to the red terminals on the woofer, the ESL and woofer will be in-phase.
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ADVANCED POSITIONING TECHNIQUES This section is to help you position Sanders Sound Systems speakers so they produce incredibly precise images — far more precise than any other type of speaker. To do this, the speakers must be placed exactly equidistant from you so that the sound from each speaker arrives at your ears at exactly the same time. Also, each speaker needs to be aimed at your preferred listening location.
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Sanders' speakers are deliberately made to be directional so that the sound quality is the most realistic possible. It is three-dimensional and has a “holographic” quality. Wide-dispersion speakers send most of their sound away from you into the room where it reflects off room surfaces before reaching you. You are actually listening to the room more than the speakers. B ecause these reflections travel varying distances before they reach you, they are delayed by varying amounts.
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How precise should you be? The wavelength of a 10 KHz tone is about one inch. An error of 1/2" will place this frequency a full 180o out-of-phase — just like you had reversed the wires to one speaker. S o ideally, the speakers should be within a quarter wave — for 10 KHz, this would be a quarter inch of being equidistant from you. NOTE: If your speakers do not sound balanced (left to right), the most likely reason is that they are not equidistant from you.
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The mains voltage can be selected so that the amplifier can be used anywhere in the world. To do so, remove the fuse drawer and look inside where the drawer fits. You will see a white plastic "star" that shows the voltage on it. Remove this star by pulling it straight out of the amplifier. You can do this by putting your little finger or a ball point pen or small screwdriver into the recess on the left side of the star and pulling it out.
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TROUBLESHOOTING The speakers are rugged and reliable, and problems are extremely rare. This section is included to just make it easy to correct problems if they arise. ELECTROSTATIC AMPLIFIER FUSE-BLOWING — may be of two types. The first is where the amplifier blows fuses on loud music. The other is when it blows fuses the moment you turn it on. This will not occur in amplifiers that have a turn-on delay circuit, and is rare in modern amplifiers.
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TUBE AMPLIFIER OUTPUT IMPEDANCE — should be set as low as possible. As a minimum requirement, you must use the amplifier's 4• connection. If a lower one is available, us it. If your amplifier doesn't have a 4• (or lower) connection, it probably will not be suitable for driving electrostatic loads as it will tend to roll-off the high frequencies. AMPLIFIER INSTABILITY — can be a problem if the amplifier was designed to only drive resistive loads, not capacitive loads like electrostatic speakers.
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It is almost impossible to blow a amp fuse while playing music. So a blown fuse suggests that the problem was caused by shorting out the speaker cables while the amplifier is on. It is hard to avoid touching the cables together when changing them, so make it easy on y ourself (and the amplifier) by turning off the amplifier and waiting for the lights to fade out before changing speaker cables. If an indicator light is out, then that amplifier module may have failed.
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REMOTE CONTROL The Crossover/amplifier may be operated by a remote control. operation. The remote comes pre-programmed for correct The “Bass”, “Midrange”, and “Level” function may directly be selected by the numbers 1, 2, or 3 on the keypad. Or you may sequence through them by repeatedly pressing the silver button in the middle of the upper cursor pad. The level of each of the functions may be increased or decreased by pressing either the Volume up/down keys or the Channel up/down keys.