Cavalli Audio Liquid Gold Bedienungsanleitung
Liquid Gold
Balanced Differential
Solid State Dynamic
Headphone Amplifier
®
Cavalli audio
Cavalli audioCavalli audio
Cavalli audio
Copyright © 2013-2015 Cavalli Audio, LLC
All Rights Reserved
®
Page 2 of 16 Copyright © 2013-2015 Cavalli Audio, LLC
Copyright © 2013-2015 Cavalli Audio, LLC Page 3 of 16
Congratulations! You’re now the proud owner of the Cavalli
Audio Liquid Gold
®
Solid State Headphone Amplifier!
Amplifier Brea -In
Most amplifiers eed at least 150 hours of co ti uous use, playi g music, to reach their full
sou d sig atures. We recomme d at least 200 hours for the Liquid Gold.
Your Liquid Gold® Amplifier has bee playi g music for at least ____________ hours at ear full
volume. Co firmed by _______________________________.
If this umber is less tha 200 hours we recomme d that, whe you’re ot liste i g, you leave
the amp o co ti uously with your CD player i loop mode for e ough hours to reach the 200
hour poi t. It is ot ecessary to leave headpho es attached. I fact, we recommend that you
disconnect your headphones whe ot liste i g duri g this break-i period.
At this poi t - a d ot before this poi t – will the amplifier reach the level of performa ce
e abli g you to accurately judge its sou d quality a d to determi e whether it meets your
critical liste i g sta dard.
Before you judge the sound quality of the amp please follow this procedure!
Return Policy
You may retur your Liquid Gold® amplifier withi 30 days of delivery. Retur i g the amp
withi this time period will i cur a 30% restocki g fee.
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Important points to remember about the Cavalli Audio Liquid
Gold
®
Solid State headphone amplifier
The Liquid Gold® is a fully differe tial, bala ced solid state Solid State headpho e amplifier. It is
especially desig ed with very high power levels for today’s hard-to-drive pla ar mag etic
headpho es, but it does well with almost a y dy amic headpho e. Its fully differe tial topology
takes adva tage of all the be efits of differe tial operatio , i cludi g high commo mode oise
rejectio . The differe tial circuit desig of the Liquid Gold disti guishes it from some other
bala ced amplifiers which operate two separate cha els co ected together (bridged) at their
outputs.
The amp has both si gle e ded (RCA) a d two fully bala ced (XLR) stereo i puts. The i put type
is selectable with a 3-positio fro t pa el toggle switch. The si gle e ded i put has a i ter al
solid state buffered phase splitter to create a bala ced sig al to drive the amp fully bala ced.
The amp has two gai setti gs to help with the wide ra ge of dy amic headpho e impeda ces
a d se sitivities. The high gai is 8X a d the low gai is 4X. The Liquid Gold® circuit allows you
to hot switch the gai usi g the fro t pa el toggle switch.
Liquid Gold® has 4 outputs: 4 Pi XLR, Pair (L/R) of 3 Pi XLR, a d two TRS (sta dard ¼” pho e
plug). O e of the TRS jacks (Low) has gai reductio resistors for situatio s where the
headpho e se sitivity is very high. These resistors should help i ma y i sta ces of low
impeda ce, high se sitivity headpho es, but may ot satisfy all co ditio s.
Power is co trolled by a sta dby power circuit activated by a custom made Piezo power switch.
Operatio duri g power up is i dicated by two LEDs below the power switch butto . The power
supply has a co trolled startup seque ce to protect the output devices a d their drivers from
high startup tra sie t curre ts.
Copyright © 2013-2015 Cavalli Audio, LLC Page 5 of 16
Operation
Your Liquid Gold® amplifier has bee operated for at least 50 hours for quality co trol a d to
give the compo e ts a opportu ity to break i . However, most amplifiers do ’t fully settle,
ope up, a d “relax” u til they are played for at least 100 to 150 hours of operatio . The Liquid
Gold® also follows this timeli e up to 200 hours (see page 3). Your ew amp will co ti ue to
improve with regard to bass impact, more ope sou d, warmth, a d “sweet ess,” so we
stro gly recomme d that you accumulate these importa t hours o your Liquid Gold® Solid
State headpho e amplifier by playi g it as much as possible so that you may fully e joy its
performa ce as soo as possible.
Your power i let has bee set for the voltage you specified.
1) I sert the power cord.
2) Flip the standby switch o the power inlet at the rear of the amplifier. The power switch
on the front panel should light white.
3) Pushi g the power switch tur s the amp o (see otes below about “The Power Switch”).
The white LED to the left a d u der the power switch will light red i dicati g that the amp
is o . This LED is marked “W” for “Wait.”
4) The power circuit will delay a ywhere from 1-2 mi utes depe di g o your li e/mai s
voltage before e abli g the outputs. Whe the first delay is fi ished the “W” LED will tur
from red to white.
5) The seco d LED, labeled “H” for Headpho es will light red.
6) Duri g this time the various se si g circuits will wait u til the DC offsets at the outputs have
stabilized to the poi t where o damage to your headpho es ca occur.
7) Whe these se si g circuits are ready, the “H” LED will light white. At this poi t the amp is
ready to use.
8) We recomme d that you let the amp warm up for about 15-30 mi utes before co ecti g
headpho es a d liste i g (although this is ot required).
9) You ca leave the amp i sta dby mode (power switch lit) for a y le gth of time.
Important - Power Supply Internal Protection
The Liquid Gold’s power supply has a automatic shutdow feature. The power supply
mo itors the li e/mai s voltage. If it drops too low for satisfactory operatio of the amp the PS
disco ects the headpho es. Whe it does this the “H” LED will go from white to red i dicati g
the disco ect.
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If your amplifier regularly tur s itself off u der ormal co ditio s this i dicates a problem. Do
ot co ti ue to cycle the power a d please co tact Cavalli Audio at support@cavalliaudio.com.
Power Cycling
The power circuit i the Liquid Gold will ot allow you to i sta tly tur the power off a d the
o agai . If there is power interruption at the line/mains the Liquid Gold will turn off and stay
off. This also protects the amplifier agai st rapid power glitches that ca otherwise damage the
electro ics.
Headphone Outputs
The Liquid Gold® Solid State Headpho e Amplifier is equipped with o e 4 Pi XLR output, two 3
Pi XLR outputs (Left/Right), a d two TRS (Pho e) jacks. The 3 Pi XLR a d TRS jacks are
co tai ed i two combi atio jacks o the fro t pa el.
4 Pin XLR
This jack supports headpho es wired with a 4 Pi fully bala ced co ector. This jack is
labeled above the jack with the letters “Bal.”
CA TION: do not connect headphones with a 4 Pin XLR which has a common ground (3
wire) connection to the headphones. This will absolutely damage the amplifier and
void your warranty.
3 Pin XLRs
Some headpho es are equipped with two 3 Pi XLR co ectors for i depe de t left a d
right cha el operatio . These are labeled above the jacks as “Left” a d “Right”.
TRS Jac s
There are two TRS jacks combi ed i to the 3 Pi XLR jacks (Neutrik combo jacks). These
are labeled below the jacks as “Low” a d “High”.
Jack High is co ected directly to a si gle e ded output of the Liquid Gold’s power
sectio . Use this jack for headpho es which eed higher power.
Jack Low is co ected through a set of resistors to reduce oise/power output for
se sitive headpho es to the opposite si gle e ded output. Use this jack if you have
se sitive headpho es a d ca ot get e ough rotatio o the volume co trol for useful
operatio .
Copyright © 2013-2015 Cavalli Audio, LLC Page 7 of 16
Recommended Mode of Operation
The Liquid Gold amplifier ca ru with si gled e ded i put a d
si gle e ded output or a combi atio of si gle e ded a d
bala ced. However, to get the best performa ce from this
amplifier we recomme d that you operate i fully bala ced
mode from i put to output
.
Extended On Time (please read this)
The Liquid Gold® amplifier will be efit from some warm up time, about a half hour to a hour.
We do not recommend, however, that you leave the amp o for exte ded periods of time
whe ot liste i g. Leavi g the amp co sta tly o will shorte compo e t life a d will ot
(after the i itial break-i period) be efit the so ic character of the amp. We do ot
recomme d, for example, tur i g the amp o Friday eve i g a d tur i g it off Su day eve i g
if you pla o liste i g for o ly a few hours each day.
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Front
Panel
Controls and Jac s
This diagram shows the power switch o the left, the power o wait LED (W), the offset detector LED (H),
the 4 Pi XLR Output Jack (Bal), the two Combo Jacks which provide 3 Pi XLR (Left, Right) a d S-E (TRS
Low/High) jacks. The gai switch (High/Low) a d i put selector switch (B2, B1, S) are o the right. TRS Jack
Low is for low impeda ce, high se sitivity headpho es.
Copyright © 2013-2015 Cavalli Audio, LLC Page 9 of 16
Rear Panel Jac s and Power Inlet
This diagram shows the i put jack arra geme t. The leftmost jack is the si gle e ded RCA i put, ext is
bala ced i put #1, the bala ced i put #2. Power i let has a sta dby switch.
Page 10 of 16 Copyright © 2013-2015 Cavalli Audio, LLC
The Front Panel Power Switch
Your Liquid Gold® Headpho e Amplifier is equipped with a Piezo power switch. Piezo switches
virtually ever wear out from either mecha ical or electrical failure. However, Piezo switches
operate differe tly from mecha ical switches a d touch switches. The actio of a Piezo switch
is somewhere i betwee a touch switch a d a mecha ical switch.
Touch switches require o ly a touch to the se sitive surface of the switch to cause it to
respo d. Touch switches, obviously, are se sitive to early a y ki d of touch a d will
sometimes activate eve whe you do ’t wa t them to. A mecha ical pushbutto switch
requires that you cause the switch mecha ism to make some amou t of travel as you push it.
A Piezo switch is similar to a touch switch i that there is o detectable mecha ical travel, but
there must be some small deflectio of the fro t face of the switch. Thus, a Piezo switch feels
like a touch switch where you must apply some small amou t of pressure to activate the
switch. This pressure is low, but ot zero. Take some time to u dersta d a d feel how your
Piezo switch works a d the it should operate without issues for the life of your amplifier.
Ventilation
The Liquid Gold® dissipates close to 50W of power. It is very importa t that you DO NOT
OBSTR CT THE AIRFLOW ARO ND THE AMPLIFIER, especially from the bottom to the top a d
i to the sides. Do ot put a ythi g o the top of the amp that blocks ve tilatio holes. Do ot
put the amp o a surface that might block ve tilatio or reduce airflow from the bottom. Do
ot restrict the airspace arou d the amplifier. Leave at least 10” at the top and 3” at the sides
if possible. The top cover of the amp will ru hot a d the volume k ob will be warm!!
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