Talisman SE
Reference Tower
Owner's Manual
Table of Contents:
Guarantee/Warranty
Specifications
Design Philosophy
Using your Speakers
Avoiding Damage
Hookup
…2
…4
…4
…6
…7
…8
Positioning the Talisman SE ...8
Break-In
…9
Troubleshooting
Warranty Registration
…9
…11
Audio Concepts, Inc.
901 South 4th Street, La Crosse, WI 54601 Phone: (608) 784-4570 Fax: (608) 784-6367
All Rights Reserved 2005
Sound that Satisfies…
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3
IMPORTANT NOTICE
All new speakers require a minimum of 60 hours break-in-time before
they sound the way they are supposed to. A speaker's performance improves significantly
once broken in. It is critical that you have at least 60 hours on your speakers before you
evaluate them. Don't worry if your speakers do not sound perfect the first time you play
them. This is normal until they are broken in. If you are having difficulty getting enough
hours on your speakers and your 30 day return privilege is getting near, call us. We will
work with you. Please give us the courtesy of breaking the speakers in before you
determine they don't sound right.
Many of our customers break their speakers in by:
A) Leaving them on at moderate listening levels when they are not home.
B) Leaving them on at moderate listening levels while they sleep.
C) Running pink noise through them.
These methods are not convenient for everyone and we understand this. But please
know that you are not giving yourself, your speakers or us a fair chance if you do not break
them in before critical evaluation.
THANK YOU!
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The Talisman SE
Thank you for your order and congratulations on becoming the owner of an Audio Concepts, Inc. (ACI)
speaker system. The Talisman SE is an audiophile quality system that will provide you with many years of
listening pleasure. Be sure and take a moment to register your warranty either by mail or on-line at
ACI is all that you have grown to expect and demand. We are music lovers first. We only design and
build speakers that we would desire to own ourselves. These principles comprise our foundation, and they
always will. Now, ACI is achieving at a level beyond what we have aspired to before. The potential of Home
Theater has inspired us to move further beyond convention and to rise above the status quo. The new
Talisman SE is the ultimate example of this perspective. It is at once powerful yet flexible, elegant yet bold. Its
internal woofer amplifier employs a fully discrete output stage and generates high current. The result is a
speaker equally adept at recreating the visceral dynamics of home theater and the essential musical purity
usually attained only by speaker that lack its ease of range.
As in all ACI products, the finest drivers are used with extensively engineered and tested precision
crossover networks. The cabinets are built to be extremely inert with extensive internal bracing. The midrange
chamber is specially shaped and damped. All design and quality aspects combine to yield absolute state-of-
the-art sonics. The use of the finest lacquers and hardwoods results in a cabinet of exceptional beauty and
durability.
Specifications
Frequency response: 20-20kHz ±3db
Nominal impedance: 8 ohms
Sensitivity: 87db 1 watt/1 meter
Bass-loading: Equalized, low Q, sealed alignment
Recommended RMS Power: 20-100 watts
Woofer Amplifier: 250 Watt RMS all discrete, U.S. made, class AB
Tweeter: 1” silk dome, ferro-fluid cooled
Mid: 5 ¼” cast-frame, rubber surround, double magnet, long-throw, shielded
Mid-Bass: 6 ½” cast-frame, rubber surround, long throw, shielded
Woofer: 10" extreme excursion, rubber surround
Dimensions: 48 1/8” tall, 9 1/4” wide and 16 1/8” deep
Weight: 115lbs
Recommended accessories: DH Labs Speaker Cables
Design Philosophy for the Talisman SE
Modern speaker design is a combination of science, art and sweat. A successful design such as the
Talisman SE requires thousands of hours utilizing computer modeling, several generations of prototypes,
precision testing, critical listening and many "fine tunings".
Our design goals for the Talisman SE were to produce a speaker that would set standards both for
two-channel and multi-channel use. The Talisman SE had to be the ultimate tower for full-range response. The
Talisman SE had to be an attractively proportioned and constructed speaker with smooth, uncolored, wide-
range response, three-dimensional stereo imaging, good sensitivity, high power handling and dynamics, see
through transparency, and the ability to convey the "soul" of music. We are pleased to have achieved and in
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5
some areas exceeded our goals by systematically engineering the Talisman SE to optimize performance.
Please note the following factors:
Frequency Response:
For a speaker to be considered "accurate" it must have a smooth frequency response that is free of
major dips, peaks, troughs or plateaus. The Talisman SE exhibits exceptionally flat response; ± 3db from 20Hz
to 20Khz and better than ± 1.25db from 50Hz to 10kHz! The ultra-throw side-firing woofer combined with
computer optimized equalization provides exceptional bass performance down to the cutoff frequency. The
front-mounted mid-bass coupler provides exception detail and resolution in the critical upper bass range.
Of nearly equal importance is the off-axis response of the speaker. This response from 15 to 45
degrees off the axis of the speaker determines the smoothness of the early reflections from the wall surfaces.
In video applications the off-axis response characteristics are extremely important for accurate voice and
special effects reproduction. In most domestic listening situations this energy is nearly equal to the on-axis
response in determining the balance of the system. The off-axis response should show a gradual decrease in
output with increased frequency. The Talisman SE has an exceptionally well controlled and smooth off-axis
dispersion pattern.
Tight quality control procedures are necessary to assure that your Talisman SEs sound every bit as
good as our lab samples. Incoming shipments of raw parts including cabinet materials, drivers and crossover
components are subject to extensive testing to verify that they meet our exacting standards. For example, the
industry standard for crossover component tolerance is usually 10%, sometimes as high as 20%. ACI’s
standard is tighter than .1%!
Dynamic range:
Dynamic range in a speaker requires;
·
Adequate sensitivity so that it may be driven to realistic levels with available amplification. The C-weighted
sensitivity for the Talisman SE is 87db.
·
An easy load for the amplifier. A speaker can have a high sensitivity number but may present a difficult
load for the driving amplifier. The impedance curve of the Talisman SE never drops below 7 ohms and is
an easy load for any receiver or amplifier. Equally important, the Talisman SE woofer is self-powered up to
150Hz. This means your amplifier will only be asked to deliver power from 150Hz on up. This effectively
doubles or even triples your available amplifier power!
·
Low distortion drive units are necessary to keep the music from becoming edgy or gritty as the volume is
turned up. The drive units used in the Talisman SE have very linear suspensions to reduce distortion
components to inaudible levels and contribute to the excellent sense of "clarity". The crossover used
keeps low frequencies out of the tweeter and protects it from over-excursion at resonance, which would
otherwise cause increased distortion. The high-quality, silk-dome tweeter by ScanSpeak of Denmark
provides excellent damping, smooth crossover transition, and excellent power handling. The midrange
driver actually can be used full range with good results. The unique mid-bass coupler helps the Talisman
SE successfully achieve extreme dynamic peaks without compression by allowing a 300Hz crossover to
the mid-range.
Delayed Resonance Control:
The ultimate control of delayed resonance required extensive use of Cumulative Spectral Decay
analysis coupled with accelerometer testing of the cabinet wall surfaces. This extensive testing allowed us to
develop the most cost-effective internal bracing to create the vault like solidity of the Talisman SE. The
midrange driver and mid-bass coupler each have their own separate inner chamber that is used as a part of
the cabinet bracing scheme. The entire cabinet is formed of an incredibly inert and well-damped medium
density fiberboard (MDF) specified at 49.3 pounds per cubic foot density, with solid hardwood panels added
over the MDF cabinet. Try to lift a Talisman SE and you'll be visiting the doctor. All drive units were designed
with effective resonance control in mind.
We've attempted to show you some of the important design considerations that go into the Talisman
SE system. To fully document the design process would require many hundreds of pages. We haven't even
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6
discussed the extremely high level of quality control that must be exercised in the drivers, crossovers and
enclosure to maintain the design standards. But the most important point is that the Talisman SE was
designed by and for music lovers. You must hear the Talisman SE system reproduce your favorite music and
or video soundtracks over a period of time to appreciate how fine these speakers are.
Using your speakers
Because of the size of the Talisman SE and its powered woofer section, there are several factors in
setup that you should consider first.
·
The Talisman SE connects to your system just like any other speaker. Gold-plated binding posts are
mounted on the rear channel for connection to your receiver or amplifier.
·
The power switch for the Talisman SE is on the rear amplifier panel. The Talisman SE amplifier draws very
little power at idle and may be left on continuously. In fact, we recommend that the Talisman SE be left on
rather than switched on and off.
·
·
Like virtually all speakers, the Talisman SE will yield the ultimate imaging and resolution when located out
into the room. In some setups this might not be possible. If installing the Talisman SE near a wall allow at
least 2-3" behind the speaker for adequate air circulation around the amplifier heat sink.
DO NOT install the Talisman SE in a position where the amplifier heat sink is in direct contact with any
combustible material.
If the rest of your system does not work properly or is not correctly connected you will not get the best
performance from your system. To eliminate problems we recommend the following:
1. Use the finest associated components you can afford. Turntables, cartridges, pre-amps, amplifiers
(receivers), CD players, DVD players, SACD players and cables all have profound impact on the sound of your
system. Accurate speakers let more detail through. You will hear more of the beauty of the music, but flaws in
your system and or source material may be more obvious.
Any good audio system is made up of matched components. You wouldn’t use bargain recap tires on
a new Porsche, and you shouldn’t use inferior components with a high quality speaker. Your Talisman SEs
perform like speakers costing two to four times their price. Keep this in mind when selecting the rest of your
system. Your Talisman SEs will work in systems with as little as 20 watts per channel. For maximum resolution
and dynamic range we recommend high-quality amplification of 50 - 200 watts per channel.
2. Know your source material. People often blame their audio gear for poor recordings. A great number of
popular recordings are of inferior sound quality. Unfortunately this applies to records, tapes, laser discs, DVDs
and CDs. Commonly poor recordings are rolled off in the low bass, and harsh and constricted in the mids and
highs. Good stereo image is rare. Many recordings are still done on 40-year-old studio monitor speakers that
are grossly inaccurate. Consider that some producers still mix recordings to sound best on cheap table and
car radios! This doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy these recordings, but you should try a few of the best audiophile
recordings just to see how terrific your system can be when fed a good signal.
3. Work at getting the best placement of your speakers in their environment. It is not unusual to be able to get
a 25 to 50 percent improvement in sound by careful placement of speakers and furniture. It may not be
practical to go all out, but the more you can “tune” your room, the better your system will sound. Refer to the
section on placement and room treatment.
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Avoiding Damage
Audio Concepts, Inc. speakers are designed for the purpose of accurate reproduction of music in the home.
We do our best to make our speakers rugged and reliable. However, ANY speaker or system may be
damaged under certain conditions:
·
·
·
·
Excessive power, particularly at certain frequencies or for prolonged periods of time.
Excessive distortion often caused by under-powered amplifiers or receivers.
Defective amplification.
Excessive subsonic energy.
Our systems are tested at high volume levels with a variety of amplifiers and receivers before a design is
approved. With many years of testing, we know it is virtually impossible to damage a component without the
system first giving audible warning in the form of distortion. We also know that true factory defects are
extremely rare, less than one in 10,000 drivers. Here are some considerations to keep in mind to avoid
damaging your drivers:
1. Even though a system may be rated for 100 watts or more it is very easy to damage it with a low
power receiver. When an amplifier runs out of power, it “clips”. This clipping produces large amounts
of distortion that sends excessive energy particularly to the midrange and tweeter. This clipping
distortion accounts for more than 80% of all tweeter failures. How do you know if the amplifier is
clipping? Volume knob placement does NOT indicate much. Some receivers reach full output well
before 12:00 on the dial. Use of the loudness button, bass boost and treble boost can all drive the
receiver and then the speaker into distortion at fairly low levels.
2. Many of today’s recordings including CDs and DVDs contain extremely powerful low bass. This low
bass can easily drive woofers into over-excursion or cause the amplifier to run out of power and clip,
causing tweeter or midrange damage.
3. Our systems are designed for accurate sound. Our rate of damage or failure is extremely low. We
could make the systems even more rugged if we were to compromise sound quality. Moving the
crossover points upward would protect midrange and tweeters better while causing a loss of detail,
clarity and imaging. The Talisman SE could have been designed to more rapidly roll-off the low bass
which would protect the woofers but this would lessen the low bass response and clarity. Protection
devices could be added in the crossovers, which would shut the system down when damaging power
or distortion was present but every one of these devices audibly degrades the sound!
You can protect your speakers by following a couple of very simple guidelines:
·
·
·
If it sounds at all distorted, turn it down. Distortion is a warning sign that should not be ignored.
Use tone controls with caution. IF you must use equalizers, monitor the system carefully.
Beware the party damage epidemic. Speakers are more often damaged during parties. All those
bodies soak up sound, requiring more output to sound as loud, bass and treble controls are
sometimes cranked up and nobody is listening for distortion!
·
Watch out for energy put out by the amplifier in the range below 20Hz, which is not music. Examples
include record warps, DC current and subsonic noise in the recording. These signals can take up a lot
of amplifier power which means the amplifier runs out of steam very early. These signals can also
overload a speaker even though you can’t hear them. If you have ever watched a cone “flap” you
know just what we mean.
·
·
·
Vented speakers are particularly sensitive to signals below their F3 point. The average vented box that
can handle 100 watts at 50Hz may handle less than 5-10 watts below 25Hz! Sealed box speakers with
low Qts. numbers have a similar characteristic although not as severe. Low organ or synthesizer notes
may cause an otherwise excellent woofer to bottom out at relatively low input levels.
Keep an eye out for excessive cone movement that is not producing music. Find the source of the
problem and eliminate it, play at low levels, or use a subsonic filter (usually in your pre-amp) which will
filter out energy below 20Hz. However, use of a subsonic filter may take away from the naturalness of
bass sounds. We don’t recommend it for extremely critical listening.
In over twenty-eight years of daily evaluation of all types of speakers on everything from 10 to 1000
watts and with all kinds of music, we have never damaged a driver without first hearing audible
distortion. If it sounds bad, turn it down and you will never damage a speaker.
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Hookup
Your speakers are furnished with high quality five-way type binding posts. You may choose to utilize
spade lugs, banana jacks, pins, or bare wire. It is important that the positive and negative leads do not touch. If
you use bare leads, be sure to twist them tightly and insert through holes in such a manner that they do not
fray or short out against each other. Good connections are important, so make sure any ends are tightly
crimped and preferably soldered to the wire ends. Speaker wires should be kept as short as possible, (long
wires add excessive resistance and color the sound.) The use of quality wire is recommended. Audio
Concepts, Inc. stocks and recommends DH-Labs cables. Make sure you hookup the speakers in the correct
polarity. The red (positive) terminal on your amp should hook up to the red binding post, and the black
(negative) terminal should be connected to the black binding post. Keep this the same for both speakers in a
stereo pair, and all three front speakers in a home-theater setup. A way to check the correct polarity is to play
music with a lot of bass. The correct hookup will yield the greatest amount of bass.
Positioning your Talisman SE
Placing the speakers in your room:
As mentioned, the proper placement of speakers in your room will easily improve the sound. Because
all of our rooms and tastes are different, it is impossible to specify a “correct” placement. Instead, let us
present you with some acoustical facts, then you can optimize placement in your room.
It helps to visualize sound waves as behaving very much like water waves. The sound we hear is
made up of two types of waves. Direct sound waves come right from the speaker and are not changed in any
way. Reflected waves come to us after bouncing (diffracting) off the speaker enclosure itself, or walls, ceiling,
floor or furniture. If you want to see how much these reflected waves affect the sound, move your speakers
outside and hear the difference.
Sound waves come in different lengths; the lower the note, the longer the wave. Extreme low
frequencies such as the lowest organ pedal notes are over 60 feet long! If your room is not big enough, the
wave can’t develop fully. But the biggest problem with bass notes is the phenomenon we call standing waves.
In effect the waves more or less “pile up”. This creates big peaks and dips in the bass response. If you put a
certain frequency through the speakers, you can usually walk around the room and find places where it is very
loud, and places where you perceive virtually nothing.
Just as the room affects the bass response, so it affects the mid-treble sound of the system. In the
mid-treble range, the sound waves are shorter and have peaks and dips, most of the affects (peaks and dips)
occur from enclosure edges, furniture, walls, or the floor. The Talisman SEs present the deepest image when
placed away from walls and furniture. The shorter wavelengths of the mids and highs are more easily
absorbed than the longer wavelengths of low frequencies. This is why a bare room sounds so harsh compared
to a room with a lot of stuffed furniture, carpets, drapes, etc.
An ideal setup for sound would be achieved if you could:
·
Choose a room with width, height and length dimensions that are not multiples of each other. (A cube
would be the worst!) Good numbers might be something like, height = 8 feet, width = 15 feet, and
length = 26 feet.
·
·
Choose a room that has an irregular shape, non-parallel walls cut down on standing waves.
Place the speakers so that the woofer cones are at irregular distances to the floor, walls and ceiling.
This can be difficult. Use a tape to measure the distance from the center of the woofer to the room
boundaries. Move the woofers around till you have cut down on the number of related distances. (You
don’t want distances like 12 and 24”, but more like 12 and 22”). Use the distance from the woofer to
the boundaries to increase or decrease bass output. Sticking the speaker in the corner or close to
walls will give more bass output than putting the speaker out into the room. You can use this to get the
best balance between bass output and upper range output.
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·
·
In most rooms we find that the Talisman SEs perform their best with the woofers firing out. However,
in rooms where the Talisman SE may have to be placed too near a corner, the woofers will usually
perform better firing toward each other. We recommend trying both options to find what gives the most
balanced response in your room.
Use absorbent materials to help smooth upper-range response and improve transient response and
clarity. Why? Let’s take the sound of a bell for example. First you will hear the direct sound from the
speaker. But some of that sound bounces from wall-to-wall, ceiling-to-floor, off furniture, etc. before it
reaches your ears milliseconds later. Because the time difference is short, you don’t hear an echo, but
the sound of the bell is stretched out from something like a “ding” to a “ddiiinngg”. Some speaker
engineers have begun to realize this and are addressing the problem in their latest designs. This is
why we are now seeing very directional designs. This controlled directionality increases the amount of
direct sound in proportion to reflected sound.
·
·
Use padded furniture and drapery when possible to cut down on reflections. Furniture has the added
bonus of helping to break up standing wave patterns in the bass.
Use a symmetrical placement of the speakers in the room. Of course the distance between the
speakers is also important. In general, the further back your listening position, the farther apart should
be your speakers.
·
In most rooms, you will want left and right Talisman SE speakers to be placed between five and eight
feet apart. Experiment! Too much distance will smear the image and it will seem like there is a hole in
the middle. Too small a distance will compress the image. Experiment with facing the speakers
straight into the room or toed in toward the listener. If your sitting area is relatively far back from the
Talisman SEs they may actually perform their best when toed in so that they "cross" in front of your
listening position. For video applications the left and right speakers should be close to the edges of the
screen.
Speaker Break-in ****Important!!!
Allow at least 60 to 80 hours of playing time before your new ACI speakers will sound their best. The
adhesives and materials used in manufacturing must stretch and flex properly before a speaker will sound its
best. After break-in the bass will be tighter and go lower, imaging and transparency will improve and the
midrange and highs will sound smoother and more natural.
Suggestions for quicker break-in:
·
·
Play the Talisman SE at medium volume while away from home. A CD player on repeat or FM radio
works fine.
Place a pair of Talisman SE grill-to-grill and reverse the polarity on ONE of the speakers. Wiring them
out-of-phase like this will cancel much of the sound and allow you to break them in when the sound
would otherwise be obtrusive.
Troubleshooting
Occasionally we get a call from someone who feels there is a problem with his or her ACI speaker. At
least a couple of times a year we will get a call or email that goes something like this: “Speaker not working
properly, can’t get enough sound even with the volume turned way up.” The problem may be different, but with
this little information to go on it is almost impossible to trouble shoot the problem “long distance”.
The following checklist may help:
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1) Are all system hookups properly connected, not partial shorted wires, or reversed connections,
etc?
2) Did you try the rest of your system with other speakers to determine if the problem exists with the
speakers?
IF for any reason you aren’t satisfied with the sound you’re getting from your speakers we want to know about
it. Make sure the speakers have had adequate break-in time. Before you call, write or email please try to
narrow down the problem and eliminate other factors. If you contact us we will need to know:
·
·
·
·
·
The size of your room
Where you have the speakers placed
What other equipment is in your system
Have you tried other speakers (which ones, and did they eliminate the problem)
Any other specific symptoms or information you can provide
Our Customers are #1 with us, and we want you to be completely happy with your ACI speakers!
The Company
Audio Concepts, Inc. (ACI), has been satisfying discerning music lovers since 1977. Our goal has and
always will be to provide exceptional product and service to music enthusiasts around the world. Audio
Concepts speakers are an expression of dedication to our customers and their desire for accurate musical
reproduction. We believe you must audition speakers in your own home and in your own system. Please see
the warranty statement for details.
After listening, please fill out and return the warranty registration. This warranty registration is
important. It allows us to reach you in the event of future upgrades. The comments you make on the warranty
help us to continually improve our products and customer service. Thank you!
Specifications and design are subject to change without notice due to our continuous research and development program.
Handcrafted with pride in the U.S.A.
Audio Concepts, Inc.
th
901 South 4 Street
La Crosse, WI 54601
Phone: (608) 784-4570 Fax: (608) 784-6367
All rights reserved Audio Concepts, Inc. 2005 Rev. 09/05
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Warranty Registration, Please Return
ACI div. Audio Concepts, Inc.
901 S. 4th Street, La Crosse, WI 54601
[email protected] (608) 784-4570
Congratulations on becoming an ACI speaker owner. Completing this registration enables us to
contact you regarding future upgrades. Your information helps us provide the best possible products
and service. If you need additional room please continue on the back. You may also register your
Name: ___________________________________________________________________________________
Address: _________________________________________________________________________________
Main reasons you purchased from ACI: _________________________________________________________
Where did you first hear about ACI: ___________________________________________________________
System(s) purchased: _______________________________________________________________________
Date received: _____________________________ Invoice Number: _________________________________
Condition received in: ______________________________________________________________________
Comments or suggestions regarding our staff or service: ___________________________________________
Other audio equipment used: _________________________________________________________________
Do you have a home-theater system? ___________________________________________________________
Do you plan to purchase other speakers within the next two years? _____ If so, what types of speakers are you interested
in purchasing, (Tower speakers, satellite speakers, subwoofers, wall speakers, outdoor speakers, home-theater speakers,
etc.) __________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
All speakers require at least 60-80 hours of playing time to sound their best. After your speakers have had time to
break-in and you've done some serious listening please tell us:
Features you like most about your ACI speakers: _________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Areas of performance or appearance you'd like to change: __________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Other comments or suggestions: ______________________________________________________________
Will you recommend us to others? ________ (Over 1/2 of our customers were recommended to us by testimonials on
computer data bases or referrals from someone they know. We put the money we save on advertising into the highest
quality products at the lowest possible cost to you.) We would appreciate being able to use your comments in future
advertising. Please sign here to allow us that privilege.
Name: _________________________________________
Date: ___________________
Thank you for taking the time to complete and return this registration!
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