Specifications

OWNERS MANUAL

MANUAL NO. 01 REV. DATE: 2/2008

High Fidelity Engineering Co.

MORE INFORMATION ON THIS PRODUCT CAN BE FOUND ON www.decware.com

DECWARE

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CLIPPING

The first thing everyone is going to do when setting up a Zen amp with a given

set of speakers is find out what the max volume is going to be and if that volume

is enough. Because the clipping characteristics of this amplifier are so polite

it can be hard to hear exactly when the amp is beginning to run out of power

(clip) so here is a secret way to tell:

Turn off the lights and look into the output tubes. There are some small

square holes in the gray plate inside the tube where if you look through

them you can see a blue glow on the internal grid of the tube. This blue

plasma is your visual clipping indicator. Simply find the line of sight

that lets you see the blue glow, and raise the volume of the amp until you

see the glow start to flicker to the music. This is the max clean volume

of the amplifier without distortion. You’ll likely find this to be at

somewhere past 3/4 on the volume control and on some softer CD’s all the

way up.

BIAS SWITCH

This switch as seen in figure 1 is here for one reason only—to change the sound

of the amplifier giving you two possible sounds at any given point while listen-

ing. The switch changes the bias current of the input tube which results in a

more laid back signature vs. a more pronounced signature. There is no right or

wrong way to set this switch. Noone agrees on which way sounds best either, so

it is a function of the source and or preamp you use as well as the type of

speakers you have that determines which way will sound best to you.

This switch can be operated while listening without damage to the amplifier or

speakers even though you will hear a significant Tick, or Pop when the switch is

changed. At 2 watts the amplifier is incapable of blowing up a speaker (even

tweeters) On a similar note, the amplifier itself is impossible to blow up again

for the same reason—it doesn’t have enough power to hurt itself.