Decware Zen Taboo MK IV Bedienungsanleitung

O W N E R S M A N U A L

Decware High Fidelity Engineering Co., East Peoria IL, USA www.decware.com

The Zen Taboo MK IV

Planar Headphone

MANUAL NO. 01 REV. DATE: 5/20/2017

MODEL TABOOMKIV

O W N E R S M A N U A L

INTRODUCTION!

The Taboo Mk IV is the end result of an ampliﬁer design whose evolution spans over

thirteen years. What made the original design as well as the current one unique, was

the feature called “Lucid Mode”. This feature took the single ended outputs from each

channel, an output stage employing a virtual ground and a inverted positive feedback

loop and combined them in such a way as to create a cross-feed effect that works

without any ﬁlters or additional parts. With the introduction of the Mk IV, this effect is

now fully variable with a bypass switch.

FEATURES!

•Single-ended class A fully balanced output for headphones between 2 ~ 600 ohms

•Can also drive conventional loudspeakers on the desktop or listening room

•Inputs for two sources with optional transformer balanced XLR inputs for each

channel

•Dual Volume Controls for exquisite balancing with analog meters for each output tube

•The world’s best cross-feed called “Lucid Mode” with full adjustable level and bypass

•Hi & Lo output modes to accommodate both efﬁcient and non-efﬁcient headphones

•Drives Planar Headphones and Dynamic headphones with 1700 mW per channel

•Cryogenically treated Beeswax Caps, UFO wide bandwidth output transformers and

NO circuit boards.!

Decware High Fidelity Engineering Co., East Peoria IL, USA www.decware.com

O W N E R S M A N U A L

START UP!

1. Install the tubes into the correct locations using the picture below:

When you ﬁrst get your Taboo Mk IV be sure to tube it up with the factory supplied

tubes. These have been carefully tested in the ampliﬁer and are reference quality.

NOTE: We may ship your ampliﬁer with a RECTIFIER tube made by ValveArt called a

274B. This is because we have found this rectiﬁer to be the best sounding in current

production. Do not confuse this tube with a New Old Stock 274B or one from TJ Full

Music Company as those tubes are not compatible with the Taboo or any Decware

ampliﬁers. The ValveArt 274B is just a ruggedized 5U4 that also happens to sound

better.

Decware High Fidelity Engineering Co., East Peoria IL, USA www.decware.com

OUTPUT TUBE!

EL84 or 6P15P-EV

RECTIFIER!

5U4

OUTPUT TUBE!

EL84 or 6P15P-EV

INPUT TUBE!

6922

O W N E R S M A N U A L

If you would like to experiment with other tubes to see how the sound changes, you

should know that the input tube is the one that makes the biggest difference. We

usually ship the Taboo with a 6N1P-EV which is a military grade Russian tube similar to

a 6922 but slightly warmer sounding and usually longer life.

Compatible Input tubes with the Taboo Mk IV

•6N1P-EV - warmest of all likely alternates, slightly lower resolution.

•6DJ8 - leaner bass, more exotic top end and overall clarity.

•6922 - more clarity, better dynamics.

•6N11 - more clarity, more speed.

The largest of the four tubes is an 8-pin tube also known as an octal tube. This is your

rectiﬁer. There is a centering pin with a locator on this tube so that the tube isn’t

rotated out of position. The centering pin is longer than the tube pins so use it to locate

the correct rotation of the tube and then insert the tube into the socket.

The remaining three tubes are 9 pin tubes and are located by a simple gap between

two of the pins. Simple observation makes it easy to correctly install these tubes. Just

make sure the smaller tube pins of these tubes are not bent because damage could

occur to the tube socket on the ampliﬁer.

If your 9 pin tubes have bent pins, they can be easily straightened with a tube pin

straightener occasionally available on eBay, or pins can be individually straightened

with a small needle nose plier.

Decware High Fidelity Engineering Co., East Peoria IL, USA www.decware.com

O W N E R S M A N U A L

START UP CONTINUED!

2. Install your sources using the picture below:

Your Taboo has accommodations for two sources.

Input A and Input B. When the Taboo is built with the

XLR option, the XLR and RCA jacks both share input

A assuming you will only use one or the other. For

example, you can have two RCA sources, or one RCA

source and one XLR source.

There is a source switch for each channel

located just in front of the RCA jacks.

Decware High Fidelity Engineering Co., East Peoria IL, USA www.decware.com

LEFT XLR !

INPUT A

LEFT RCA!

INPUT B

LEFT RCA!

INPUT A

RIGHT XLR !

INPUT A

RIGHT RCA!

INPUT A

RIGHT RCA!

INPUT B

SOURCE SWITCH

O W N E R S M A N U A L

START UP CONTINUED!

3. Install the power cord and speakers.

Insert the power cord and take a moment to notice the hidden door for the 3 amp fast

or slow blow 5x20mm fuse. It can be pried open with a small screwdriver to reveal the

fuse. There is also a spare fuse inside.

If you plan to use the Taboo to drive loudspeakers, hook them up to the speaker jacks

shown below. Red is + and Black is -.

Do not hook the two black speaker jacks together or to ground as the Taboo will not

work properly.

Decware High Fidelity Engineering Co., East Peoria IL, USA www.decware.com

POWER SWITCH

HIDDEN !

3 AMP FUSE HOLDER

SPEAKER JACKS

O W N E R S M A N U A L

START UP CONTINUED!

4. Turn on and watch meters shown in the picture below.

There is a meter for each output tube of which there is one per channel. Once you turn

on the power, all the tubes will begin to glow. It takes about 5 to 10 seconds or longer

to see the glow. How easy it is to see will depend on how dark the room is at the time.

Once the tubes begin to glow they will also start conducting current at which point you

will see the meters lift off zero and rise to somewhere between 20 and 40 on the dial.

These readings indicate milliamps. As long as each tube falls between these two

numbers it is ok to use. If a tube reads higher or lower it should not be used.

Average tube life is 3000 ~ 6000 hours. !

Decware High Fidelity Engineering Co., East Peoria IL, USA www.decware.com

O W N E R S M A N U A L

START UP CONTINUED!

5. Set Volume and insert headphones.

The Taboo has two volume controls, one for each channel. They are located directly

under each meter. In the picture these controls are shown with black chicken head

knobs, but there are many knob options so your knobs may look different.

Always have both volume controls turned all the way down (counter-clockwise) until

you connect your headphones, then slowly raise the volume controls.

The headphone jack is a 4 pin XLR. To the left of the jack is the HI/LO switch. It simply

adjusts how loud the headphones play relative to the volume control. If you hear any

hum, set the switch to the lower setting.

You are now ready to listen to music.!

Decware High Fidelity Engineering Co., East Peoria IL, USA www.decware.com

RIGHT VOLUME

LEFT VOLUME

HI / LO SWITCH

O W N E R S M A N U A L

OPERATION!

1. Lucid Mode controls are shown below.

To use lucid mode, you simply adjust the dial to the desired amount by using the

bypass switch to A/B the effect vs. no effect. That way you can clearly hear what it

does and quickly discover how the effect acts differently on different recordings.

When the dial is fully counter-clockwise the effect is difﬁcult to detect right away. When

the dial is fully clockwise the effect is obvious.

Decware High Fidelity Engineering Co., East Peoria IL, USA www.decware.com

BYPASS SWITCH

LUCID MODE DIAL

O W N E R S M A N U A L

HEADPHONE DETAILS!

The Taboo uses a 4 pin XLR headphone jack because the output of the Taboo is fully

balanced and if you combine the grounds together like is done in a 1/4 inch jack, lucid

mode will not function. With a 4 pin XLR jack the headphone cable has 4 conductors,

a positive and negative for each channel. This arrangement also typically sounds

better than a cable with only 3 conductors.

Below is the pin out of the Taboo 4 PIN XLR headphone jack.!

Decware High Fidelity Engineering Co., East Peoria IL, USA www.decware.com

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