diff --git a/apps/fc-ttsreader/fc-ttsreader.yaml b/apps/fc-ttsreader/fc-ttsreader.yaml
index e04f81e..9d58115 100644
--- a/apps/fc-ttsreader/fc-ttsreader.yaml
+++ b/apps/fc-ttsreader/fc-ttsreader.yaml
@@ -173,18 +173,18 @@ spec:
             - name: TtsReader__Kokoro__TimeoutSeconds
               value: "120"
             - name: Speech__Alignment__Enabled
-              value: "true"
-            - name: Speech__Alignment__Backend
-              # speaches container on BLUEJAY-WS speaks the OpenAI-compatible
-              # /v1/audio/transcriptions contract; FasterWhisperAlignmentClient
-              # adapts the verbose_json response into the FlowerCore shape.
-              # Switch to "fc-align" once a native /align backend is deployed.
-              value: "openai-compatible"
+              # Off until either:
+              #   (a) a native /align backend is deployed inside the cluster, or
+              #   (b) the BLUEJAY-WS host exposes the speaches container on the
+              #       LAN-routable bind (10.0.56.20:9200, not just 127.0.0.1)
+              #       AND Common ships the openai-compatible Backend support
+              #       (currently on feat/shared-indexing, not on master).
+              # While disabled, /preview-with-timings still returns word timings
+              # via EstimatedAlignmentClient — slightly less accurate, but the
+              # UI can still drive word-level highlight playback.
+              value: "false"
             - name: Speech__Alignment__BaseUrl
               value: "http://10.0.56.20:9200"
-            - name: Speech__Alignment__Model
-              # Tag understood by speaches (faster-whisper-server).
-              value: "Systran/faster-whisper-base.en"
             - name: Speech__Alignment__TimeoutSeconds
               value: "120"
             - name: TtsReader__Ollama__BaseUrl