Specifications
OPERATION MANUAL  MODEL : ZMA - ZEN MYSTERY AMP!  REV 1 MAR 2014 
BURN IN 
When you receive your Mystery Amp, it will have approximately 72 hours on it, in 
some cases more. This is accomplished during multiple testing cycles during the 
QC process. Since this amplifier uses such large capacitors it takes longer than 
average to fully burn in. 
As you listen to it, it will continue to improve noticeably for the first several hundred 
hours and then less noticeably for many months if not years as it continues to 
season. This is a nice switch from amplifiers that sound worse with age. 
The best way to burn the amplifier in is to listen to well recorded music at normal 
volumes. Burn in CD’s will train the capacitors to sound good reproducing 
waveforms that are alien to music and therefor accomplish little as the capacitors 
will still need to be trained on music afterwards. 
A great way to speed up the burn in processes is to play the amplifier for 5 hours 
followed by 5 hours off repeated 5 times. That said, the amp sounds so good out of 
the box that you should be able to just use it with the knowledge that things will 
improve in the coming weeks. 
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WARNING 
Do not leave your amplifier unattended while it’s on for long periods of time or 
overnight. The ZMA is fully operationally warm an in the zone within 30 minutes so 
there is no need to leave it on. 
!
HEAT 
The ZMA is designed to generate heat. The black top plate will become hot to the 
touch around the output tubes because it is absorbing infrared heat from the output 
tubes. This is normal. The power transformers (A5 and B5) will also run warm to 
hot depending on the length of time the amplifier is on and how high the tubes are 
biased. When tubes are biased between 50 & 60 mA, the temperature of A5 and 
B5 will typically be around 120 degrees F after several hours of operation. This is 
normal. If your transformers run hotter than this, you may have issues with your 
AC power at the wall outlet or your tubes are biased higher than 60 mA. 
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