Controls and connections, Connecting, 1 connecting from source – Bowers & Wilkins CDA-16 16-Channel 8 Zone Distribution Amplifier User Manual
Page 4: 2 connecting to speakers
 
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ENGLISH
3. Controls and Connections
Rear panel sockets and switches 
 
1. Power input socket (IEC C14)
 2. Link to global input 
 3. Bridge mode 
 4. Power mode 
 5. Zone outputs 
 6. Zone 1 – 7 inputs 
 7. Zone 8 input / Global in 
 8. Global out 
 9. 12 V trigger in / out 
Front panel controls 
 
1. Power LED
2. Zone status LEDs
4. Connecting
Connecting speaker wires or input cables 
while the amplifier is powered may cause 
electrical shock and could damage the 
amplifier. Unplug the power cord before making 
connections.
4.1 Connecting from source
CDA-16 accepts stereo line-level audio connections 
to its RCA Phono sockets. Each ZONE input will 
pass amplified audio to the respective zone speaker 
output. Alternatively, each ZONE can be linked 
individually to the GLOBAL IN (shared with ZONE 8).
 1. Connect the audio cable to the ZONE inputs 
 (1 – 8) RCA Phono inputs, see Diagram 6
 2. (Optional) Connect the audio cable to GLOBAL 
 IN (ZONE 8) and link speaker outputs to the 
 GLOBAL IN by moving the dip switch up for 
 that zone to the ON position.
4.2 Connecting to speakers
CDA-16 can power eight stereo zones of audio 
and has phoenix-style terminal blocks for speaker 
connections. Speakers can also be wired to bridge 
channels to increase the power available to the 
speakers.
To connect stereo speakers:
 1. Connect speaker cable to the phoenix 
 connector and reinsert into the amplifier, 
 see Diagram 7.
The common signal of these speaker 
outputs must not be connected together 
or to any other common signal. Do not 
connect the L – and R – (negative) terminals 
together. Doing so will result in a fault condition 
and the amplifier will either shut down or not 
work properly.
Check the polarity of the speakers and 
wires before connecting to the amplifier.
Diagram 4 
Rear panel
Diagram 5 
Front panel
Diagram 6 
Connecting from source
Diagram 7 
Connecting to speakers
1
2
5
7 8
9
6
3
4
1
2
RCA