Activation key procedure, User parameters, How to set everything – darTZeel Audio CTH-8550 User Manual
Page 9
darTZeel CTH-8550
User Manual, version 1.0
Page 9 of 15
7. Activation
key
procedure
Please remember that until you complete its 
registration, your CTH-8550 will operate only for 
the 
15 minutes
following each new powering on.
Registration procedure:
We provide a USB activation key with your CTH-
8550. This key is blank when you receive it. 
Ask your dealer to send you your activation-key data 
file. You will receive this by email in the form of a 
zipped (data-compressed) folder containing a file 
with a “dtz” name extension. 
How to proceed:
1. Unzip (decompress) the key-activation
software from the zip folder. Directly copy 
the “dtz” file onto the USB key, using your 
home computer. 
DO NOT ALTER THE
FILE NAME!
2. Insert the “loaded” USB key into the
rectangular USB port located in the rear 
panel of your CTH-8550. 
3. From the front panel, sequentially press the
following: Menu ► Parameters ► Diag ► 
DTZ. 
4. The file will be uploaded. 
5. Remove the USB key. 
At registration-inquiry time, please note that your 
owner name cannot exceed 14 characters 
maximum in length. So, please use “J.D. Smith” 
instead of “Jonathan Donald Smith”… . 
8. User
parameters
The section starting at chapter 10 is the largest part 
of this user manual. 
As there are more than fifty different display screens, 
you can see that we built a lot of features into the 
CTH-8550. 
Thanks to the intuitive menus, you will be able to 
access all parameters directly from the front panel. 
8.1. Main
features
For each input, you can adjust the following:
 Source Name 
 Input level 
 Balance 
 Mono/Stereo 
 Bypass mode 
The CTH-8550 offers a
pleasantly smooth mute
operation
, softly shutting off/resuming the music
being played. You can choose between a standard 
full mute or have only a -20dB or -40dB level 
reduction. 
The power-amplifier section can be switched off, in 
the event you would prefer to use the CTH-8550 as 
a stand-alone preamplifier. Doing so, the large 
power transformer will be shut down, further 
reducing power consumption, and improving the 
signal-to-noise ratio. 
Last but not least, a real-time clock, primarily 
implemented for memorizing internal CPU events, 
also permits automatic power-on and/or off of your 
CTH-8550. Quite a “luxury” alarm clock, but who 
can resist… . 
Sincerely hoping that those little touches will please 
you, let us go on to the next chapter… 
9. How to set everything
Everything? Almost…
The following four pages show how to set up your 
CTH-8550, by mean of schematic flow charts. 
We reproduce the actual display screens and explain 
how to proceed, exactly as if you were in front of 
your machine. 
Because there are more than 50 different display 
screens, we tried to compress this presentation a bit, 
yet without neglecting any important options. 
We are sure you will be able to find the small 
number of remaining “hidden” displays, once you 
have become accustomed to working with the menus. 
Important note
While already mentioned elsewhere, it is worth restating 
that the Pleasure Control knob can be used with the 
menu functions instead of the + and – keys. 
That is so you can set your machine up using both 
hands, thereby improving your speed as you try to 
break your previous score at setting a parameter. 
Now, as they say, a nice drawing is often much more 
useful than a longer-than-wanted explanation… .