Niles Audio BG525 User Manual
I N S T A L L A T I O N & O P E R A T I O N G U I D E
®
M O D E L
BG525
B A C KG R O U N D
®
B L E N D I N GH I G HF I D E L I T Y A N DA R C H I T E C T U R E®
Congratulations!
Thank you for choosing a Blueprint Series®
Niles manufactures the industry's most complete line of custom installation components and accessories for audio/video systems. For a free
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION | 2 |
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FEATURES AND BENEFITS | 2 |
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INSTALLATION CONSIDERATIONS | 4 |
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SPEAKER PLACEMENT | 6 |
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INSTALLATION FUNDAMENTALS | 8 |
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INSTALLATION OF BRACKETS, FRAMES AND GRILLES IN NEW CONSTRUCTION | 13 |
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INSTALLATION OF BRACKETS, FRAMES AND GRILLES IN EXISTING WALLS | 15 |
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INSTALLATION OF THE SPEAKER AND GRILLE IN NEW OR EXISTING CONSTRUCTION 16 | |
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OPERATION | 18 |
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SPECIFICATIONS | 18 |
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LIMITED WARRANTY | 19 |
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WARRANTY REGISTRATION CARD | 20 |
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Introduction
The BG Background group of Blueprint Series® Loudspeakers offers a product expressly designed for quality background music reproduction. This speaker is perfect for hallways, laundry rooms, entryways or other areas where critical listening is unlikely and cost is a major influence in the purchase decision.
A complete, installed pair of
1.
2.525 Bracket Kit
3.525 Frame/Grille Kit
Features and Benefits
PointSource™
The PointSource driver of the
The
Absolutely Flush to the Wall Appearance
The unique mounting system of the BG loudspeakers powerfully clamps the frame to the bracket, sandwiching the wall material between them. Because the clamping action is totally uniform around the frame, there are no shadows or gaps between the wall and the frame. Additionally, the Niles mounting system is carefully optimized to stiffen the surrounding drywall and prevent it from resonating. You hear only the music, not the drywall.
Easy Retrofit Installation in your Existing Home
Designed for ease of installation, the Niles mounting system makes retrofit installations simple and fast. A supplied template assures fast and accurate hole cutting. The bracket slips behind the drywall and the screws secure the frame to the bracket,
Benefits and Features
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Benefits and Features
sandwiching the drywall between them. The speaker baffle attaches to the frame, and the grille mounts over the speaker.
Three Stage Installation System for Remodels or New Construction
You install only the parts you need for a particular stage of construction. When the framing and wiring are finished, you install the bracket. After the drywall is up, but before the painter begins to paint, you install theframe and provide the rustproof aluminumgrilles to the painter so that they can be painted to match the surroundings. Only when construction is completely finished do you put the valuablespeaker in the wall. You don’t have to mask or prep the speaker for painting, and worries about theft during the final phases of construction are never an issue!
Eight Ohm Impedance
The speakers are designed to be placed in
Low Diffraction, Paintable Aluminum Grilles
BG speakers are available with aluminum grilles. The painted aluminum grille has hundreds of precisely sized perforations, creating an acoustically transparent grille.
Infrared Sensor Mount
The speaker baffle has a locator designed for the Niles
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Figure 1
New Construction Wings
Bracket
Frame
Speaker Baffle
IR Knockout
Grille
Considerations Installation
Installation Considerations
Recommended Amplifier Power
For satisfactory performance, we recommend an amplifier with a power rating of five to fifty watts for the
Incorporating a Local Volume Control
In a
Plan to wire the system so that each pair of speakers has its own volume control built into the wall (think of a volume control as a dimmer switch for sound).
Niles makes a wide range of high performance indoor and outdoor volume controls. They are available in Standard or Decora® style cover plates (just like your
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Considerations Installation
light switches and dimmers). Volume controls are connected in line with the speaker, so you must connect the wire from the amplifier to the volume control and then from the volume control to the speaker.
Speaker Wire
Use
trol all of the functions of your system from the room with the remote pair of speakers. Niles makes a number of IR sensors which install in the wall, in the ceiling, in cabinetry, on tabletops, or even behind the grille of your Niles BG speakers.
An IR sensor requires that a dedicated
TECH TIP
Wire size is expressed by its AWG (American Wire Gauge) number. The lower the number, the larger the wire, i.e. twelve AWG is physically larger than fourteen AWG.
When you run wire inside walls, special jacketing
Incorporating a Remote Control
If you are planning to use a stereo system with a hand held IR remote control, consider the advantages of installing a Niles IR Repeater system. You are able to con-
sor placed in a wall, ceiling, on a cabinet or tabletop. However, when you place a Niles
Insulating the Wall Cavity
For best performance from your speakers fill the wall cavity behind the speaker with fiberglass insulation (e.g.
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Speaker Placement
The Boundary Effect
Corners can affect the bass response of the speaker powerfully! This is called the boundary effect. You will emphasize particular bass frequencies and cancel out other bass frequencies when you place speakers close to the wall/ceiling boundary or a corner wall boundary. This can make the speaker sound excessively boomy and inaccurate to some listeners, while to others it just seems like more bass sound. A good rule of thumb is if you always listen to your current pair of speakers with the bass turned up, you’ll enjoy corner placement. If you keep your tone controls at neutral, try to keep the speakers at least one or two feet from the boundaries of the room.
Placement for Varying Listening Positions
If you want the freedom to sit anywhere in a room facing any direction, and/or find that you prefer the “all around you” sound of some car stereos to a conventional “sound stage” facing you, consider the speaker placement techniques professional installers use in restaurants and bars. They place speakers in an array around the listening area, so that the music is always surrounding you, regardless of the direction you face.
The rule of thumb is to add one pair of speakers for every 100 to 200 square feet of listening area. Curiously, this is not so that you can play the music louder, but so that you can play it softer! When you have only one pair of speakers in a large room you will notice that when the sound is perfect in one part of the room, it is too loud near the speakers. By placing more than one pair in the room you will avoid these “hot spots” of loud
sound and you will create still more sonic ambiance while maintaining clarity and a rich sound everywhere.
You can make listener position still less critical by using mono rather than stereo. This can be difficult to achieve with normal stereo amplifiers. However, Niles manufactures Systems Integration Amplifiers which enable one room to be wired in stereo while other rooms are wired in mono. Consult your local Niles dealer for more information.
In smaller rooms or rooms that are infrequently used, you typically can’t justify the expense of more than two speakers. Try to bracket the room with the two speakers. Diagonal placement is a very effective way to stretch the coverage pattern of two speakers. You can also compromise between direct sound (for detail and clarity) and reflected sound (the ambient or “all around you” effect). By trying to place the speakers so that they create as much reflected sound as possible, you emphasize the ambient effect. They can be up high in the wall or even down low at power outlet height, in the ceiling, near corners, or directed at reflective objects and walls. The more reflected sound there is in the room the stronger the ambient effect at low volumes. You should use moderation, however, otherwise the compromise becomes too one sided and at high volumes the sound will be blurred and less distinct.
Placement for Rear Home Theater Applications
In a home theater, the goal is to reproduce the experience of a great movie theater in our homes. The biggest difference between the two is the rear or surround speaker array in a commercial theater. Here, it is not uncommon to see twenty or thirty speakers around the audience.
Placement Speaker
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Placement Speaker
This huge array of speakers assures that you will feel completely surrounded by the ambient soundtrack of the movie. Film makers try to use the “surround” soundtrack to envelope you in the environment on screen. They will place background music, rain sounds, traffic noise, etc. on the “surround” soundtrack. In a home with a single pair of speakers it is easy for the jungle sounds to sound like they are “in the middle of your head” just like headphones!
A single pair of BG Loudspeakers, properly placed, can create a very convincing simulation of an array of speakers. If you place them near a hard reflecting surface you can make one pair of speakers sound like several. Create as many reflections as possible by mounting the speaker up high in the wall so that the ceiling will act as a powerful reflector. If you place the speakers near a corner, wash the sound down a wall from a ceiling location, or mount the speakers as far away as you can from the listening area, more reflections will occur. However, all of these placement techniques require that you work your surround sound amplifier channels harder. If the surround sound system you are using has a small five or ten watt amplifier for the rear speakers, stay within five to eight feet of the listening location. If you are using a 25 to 50 watt amplifier you can mount the speakers 10 to 15 feet away from the listening location and still achieve reasonably high volume levels.
Of course, the best way to emulate the sound of multiple speakers is to use multiple speakers. In large or unusually shaped rooms this might be the only way to achieve a good effect. If you like to listen to music surround modes which emulate concert hall acoustics, more than two surround speakers will prove extraordinarily effective. With Niles BG loudspeakers it is easy to add another pair without affecting the decor of the room. However, you will need to use a much more powerful amplifier than that which is built into a typical surround sound receiver or amplifier. Niles makes a number of Systems Integration Amplifiers with proprietary features that make them uniquely suited to enhance a good surround sound system. Consult your Niles dealer for more information.
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Installation
Fundamentals
Running the Speaker Wire in New Construction
If you have doubts about whether you are capable of installing a Niles Blueprint Series speaker in your walls, consult a Niles dealer or professional installer. They have special tools, techniques, and experience to make the impossible possible. The installer can provide you with an estimate before any work is done.
Scheduling and Preparation
Plan to schedule the speaker wiring after the electrical wiring is finished. That way you can avoid wire routes which could potentially induce hum over the speaker wire. The basic rules are:
•Never run speaker wire through the same hole as an electrical cable.
•Never run speaker wire into the same
•Avoid running the speaker wire beside the electrical cable. Keep it at least three or four feet distant from any electrical
Figure 2
Before you drill any holes, mount the speaker brackets in the desired speaker locations and mount
Safety First!
Wear gloves, safety goggles and head protection when drilling. Avoid nails, they ruin bits and they can create injury. Pay particular care when using
Drilling
Use a bit that is large enough for the wires you plan to run. An auger bit is the preferred bit for
important.
the holes in the center of the have to notch the stud or drill closer than one inch from the stud, protect the wire with a
Figure 2).
holes in ceiling joists, drill of the joists and try to locate the end of the joist. DO through a “gluelam” or any beam without the direction
contractor.
Fundamentals Installation
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Fundamentals Installation
Try to line the holes up perfectly, because it makes pulling the wire much easier. A good technique is to snap a chalk line across the face of the studs or against the bottom of the ceiling joists. Then work backward so that you can always see the holes you have already drilled. Paying careful attention to this will save you a lot of time later on!
Pulling the Cable
Pull the cable in sections (from the stereo to the volume control, from the volume control to the speaker). Start with the longest sections and use left over wire to complete the short sections. If you plan to pull many rooms at the same time through a central route, walk off the distance to each destination, add a generous fudge factor for turns and other obstacles, then cut off each section so that you have a bundle of wires you can pull at once.
Whenever you run the wire further than four and one half feet from a hole in a stud or joist (open attic space, going up walls, etc.), fasten the wire to the joists or studs using cable clamps or appropriately sized wire staples. The wire should not have large sags in it, nor should it be too tight. Try to protect the wire from being stepped on in attics or other unfinished crawl spaces. There are guard strips, raceways and conduits which can be used to protect the cable. Consult the local building code for special requirements in your area.
Concealing Speaker Wire in Existing Walls
This is actually a fairly simple task if you restrict your choice of speaker locations and wire routes to the interior walls or ceilings of your home. Interior walls in almost all North American residences are hollow, so that it is easy to flush mount speakers into them and route new speaker
cable around the house. What you see when you look at the painted wall board, plaster, or paneling is only the skin of the wall. Behind the skin is the skeleton;
Exterior walls are different. They must insulate the house from the heat and cold outside, so they are stuffed with insulation. The national building code requires that the hollow wall space in exterior walls be broken by a horizontal stud placed between the vertical studs. This “fire blocking” makes it very difficult to retrofit long lengths of wire. In some areas of the country the exterior walls are constructed of solid masonry, and have no hollow space for speakers or wires.
Start by examining all the possible routes you might take to run the speaker wire from the speaker to the volume control and back to the stereo. Use a stud sensor or other device to locate the internal structure of the wall. You want to avoid all studs or joists. A typical route would be: from the speaker location up the inside of the wall to a new hole drilled into the top “plate” (horizontal
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Speaker | Volume | |
Location | Control |
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| Location | |
Stereo
Figure 3 Location
Identify where all of your electrical, phone, and TV wiring is likely to be and plan to route around it all. You can accidentally induce 60 Hz hum on your speakers if you run your speaker wire right beside electrical wire for more than a few feet. Try to keep speaker wire running parallel to power cables at least 3 feet away. To find exactly where an electrical cable is routed, try inspecting the inside of the wall by turning off the breaker for a particular power outlet or switch, removing the
cover plate and switch or receptacle, and shining a penlight into the wall. If you have access to an attic or basement space you can quickly see which part of the wall space the wire is free of obstructions (See Figure 4).
When you don’t have access above or below the wall, try to estimate the existing wire and pipe locations from the positions of electrical outlets and plumbed fixtures on both sides of the wall. Take a look at the outside of your house too, sometimes
Fundamentals Installation
Unobstructed space for speaker wiring
Figure 4
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Fundamentals Installation
conduit, vents or drain pipe will be visible that give useful information. Choose the route with the fewest potential obstacles.
If your house is built on a slab or you are wiring between two finished floors, look for baseboards which could be removed and replaced with the wire behind them. Doorjambs can be removed and often have enough space for speaker wire all the way around the door (See Figure 5).
Sometimes, an
Figure 5
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Figure 6
Fundamentals Installation
In traditional wood stud/drywall construction you can cut the hole for the speaker and utilize the large hole to auger holes across, up or down the wall for as far as your drill bit will take you. If you have matching paint and take reasonable care in patching you can cut a hatch in the drywall at each stud, run your wire, and patch and
When you are dealing with the unknown because of the structure of your home, or with difficult to patch wall materials like plaster, lath and plaster, faux finishes, wallpaper etc., be patient. A careful study of the potential problems before you start the job will pay off.
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Construction New in Grilles and Frames Brackets, of Installation
Installation of
Brackets, Frames
and Grilles in New
Construction
Stage One: Before Drywall is Hung Insulating the Wall Cavity.
If feasible, fill the wall cavity with insulation at this point.
Attach the wings to the bracket by snapping them into the sides of the bracket. The wings can be shortened by breaking them along the scored lines if their length will interfere with a corner or eaves. You can mount the bracket horizontally or vertically (See Figure 8).
Figure 8
Screw one side of the assembled bracket with wings to the stud using one of the supplied screws. Level the bracket. Screw the other side of the bracket to the stud. Two screws on each side makes for a very secure installation. Attach the wire to the bracket at the indicated wire tie points
(See Figure 9).
Stage Two: Before Paint
Screw the frame to the installed bracket using the supplied screws. Do not overtighten the screws. This will distort the frame and the grille will not fit (this is not permanent, just loosen the screws and the grille will pop in) (See Figure 10).
Painting the Aluminum Grilles
The grille is important to the sound of the BG loudspeakers. Do not fill the holes of the grille with paint. The grille is construct-
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Figure 9
Figure 10
of aluminum with a perfectly even powder coat overall. This powder coat is
ideal primer.
Remove the grilles before painting. If you are spray paint, use two thin coats without primer. If you are using a compressor and spray gun, use the finest, most diffuse setting. Practice first on some paper if you no experience painting with spray paint.
you are using an applicator or brush, and can of paint, thin the paint first. You do want to have to poke hundreds of
in your beautifully painted grilles.
Construction New in Grilles and Frames Brackets, of Installation
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Walls Existing in Grilles and Frames Brackets, of Installation | Installation |
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Figure 12
Figure 11
from a hole about an the center of your proposed
(See Figure 11).
movement is obstructed by a fill the hole (s) with spackle compound and try
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the final location of
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the drywall section can be replaced cleanly if there is an unseen obstruction behind the wall. BE VERY CAREFUL NOT TO SAW THROUGH EXISTING WIRES, PIPES, OR STRUCTURE. IF YOU FEEL ANY EXTRA RESISTANCE AS YOU ARE CUTTING, STOP.
4.If you are cutting into lath and plaster walls, use masking tape to outline your penciled marks, drill the four corners with a 1/4” bit and use a razor to score the plaster down to the lath beneath. Then use a chisel to remove all of the plaster within the taped outline. Finally, insert a metal cutting blade into a sabre saw and very slowly and carefully saw the lath. Sawing the lath can easily vibrate plaster off the wall. If you have the patience, use a pair of tin snips to slowly nip away at the lath instead. There is no risk with this method, it is just time consuming.
5.Fill the wall cavity with insulation at this point. Remember to use equal amounts of insulation for each speaker.
6.Slip the mounting bracket through the hole and pull it toward you so that its front edge slides into the hole and stops in place.
7.Attach the frame to the bracket by screwing the frame to the bracket using the supplied screws. Do not overtighten the screws, this will distort the frame and the grilles will not fit (this is not permanent, just loosen the screws and the grille will pop in). The screws should pull the frame and bracket together (sandwiching the drywall) so that the frame is absolutely flush with the wall surface. There should be no gaps between the wall and the frame (See Figure 12).
Installation of the Speaker and Grille in New or Existing Construction
Setting the Acoustic Fine Tuning
Setting the switch located on the rear of the loudspeaker to the “NORMAL” or “PRESENCE” position changes the overall tonal character of the sound.
The speaker is shipped in the “NORMAL” position. This is most appropriate for rooms with typical reflective painted or wallpapered walls and ceilings, and normal amounts of furniture and drapes. You might prefer the “PRESENCE” position if you are placing the speaker in a very large, or very absorbent room (lots of drapes and upholstered furniture or textured fabric wallpaper).
Installing a Niles
There is a 1/2" round molded "IR Sensor Knockout" on the face of the speaker baffle. To prevent damage to the crossover network you must remove the knockout from the rear of the speaker. Do not attempt to remove the knockout with the speaker face up. Lay the speaker face down on a clean carpet or rug. Put the tip of a screwdriver into the center of the round "knockout" and sharply tap the screwdriver handle as necessary. Install the
Construction Existing or New in Grille and Speaker the of Installation
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the of Installation
Construction Existing
Installing the Speaker
If the grille is already installed, remove it by using a bent paper clip or the tip of a corkscrew and pulling it away from the frame (See Figure 13).
1. Separate the speaker wire so that at least two inches of each conductor are free.
a stripe on one wire, a ribbed area of one conductor you can only feel, different colors of metal wire on each conductor, or there might be a fabric strand or string wound into one of the conductors. Of course, there are some wires which appear completely identical. Be careful, or you might make a mistake.
2. Strip one half inch of insulation |
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| Figure 13 | bass | and | be | “phasey” |
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| markings on the wire, try this | |||
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5. Place the speaker baffle in |
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secure it with the |
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screws. If you find that the |
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smoothly fit the frame, |
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mounting screws that hold |
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bracket. |
| amplifier and reverse the | |||
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6. Carefully fit the grille |
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that it is barely in place. |
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corner, go around the
grille in a little bit each time. You should
listening test with the same
be gentle, the aluminum grille can be easi-
setting of the volume control. When the
ly bent out of shape. The speaker will have
sound has a richer bass and is slightly
an absolutely flush appearance when it is
louder the speakers are working together
fully in place.
or
Speaker Phase
Speaker wire has two conductors. One conductor is attached to the negative
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Operation | Specifications |
Listening at Higher Volumes
It requires more power to achieve a reasonable volume of sound in a large room than it does in a small room. It is possible (even if you are not a teenager) to turn the volume so high that the amplifier runs out of power. This creates “clipping” distortion.
Clipping distortion makes treble sound very harsh and unmusical. When you hear harsh sounding treble from any good speaker, turn the volume down immediately! Those harsh sounds are masking some much more powerful
Cleaning
You can clean the speaker with a dampened soft cloth or paper towel. If the speaker is mounted high up on a wall or ceiling, use a broom to gently brush it off.
Model
Driver Complement
5 1/4” woven fiber
Design Principle
Infinite baffle for large and varying air volumes
Recommended Amplifier Power Five to Fifty watts per channel
Nominal Impedance
8 Ohms
Frequency Response
100 Hz to 12,000 Hz, plus or minus 5 dB (on axis)
Sensitivity
89 decibels for 2.83 volts of Pink Noise, measured at 1 meter on axis
Overall Exterior Frame Dimensions 7 1/8” x 9 7/8”
Depth Behind Wall
1 7/8” (Assumes 1/2” drywall)
Wall
Wiring Requirements
We recommend 16 to 18 gauge for up to 80 feet, 14 gauge for up to two hundred feet. Connectors accommodate 14 to 22 gauge wire.
Specifications
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Warranty Limited
Limited Warranty
Niles Audio Corporation ("NILES") warrants its loudspeaker products to the original purchaser to be free of manufacturing defects in material and workmanship for a period of five years from date of purchase.
This Warranty is subject to the following additional conditions and limitations. The Warranty is void and inapplicable if NILES deems that the product has been used or handled other than in accordance with the instructions provided by the manufacturer, including but not limited to damage caused by accident, mishandling, improper installation, abuse, negligence, or normal wear and tear, or any defect caused by repair to the product by anyone other than NILES or an authorized NILES dealer.
To obtain warranty service, take the unit to the nearest authorized NILES dealer, who will test the product and if necessary, forward it to NILES for service. If there are no authorized NILES dealers in your area, you must write to NILES and include your name, address, model and serial number of your unit, along with a brief description of the problem. A factory Return Authorization Number will be sent to you. DO NOT RETURN ANY UNIT WITHOUT FIRST RECEIVING WRITTEN AUTHORIZATION AND SHIPPING INSTRUCTIONS FROM NILES.
If the above conditions are met, the purchaser's sole remedy shall be to return the product to NILES, in which case NILES will repair or replace, at its sole option, the defective product without charge for parts or labor. NILES will return a unit repaired or replaced under warranty by shipping same by its usual shipping method from the factory (only) at its expense within the United States of America. THERE ARE NO OTHER WARRANTIES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, WITH RESPECT TO THE PRODUCT.
REPAIR OR REPLACEMENT AS PROVIDED UNDER THIS WARRANTY IS THE EXCLUSIVE REMEDY OF THE CONSUMER/PURCHASER. NILES SHALL NOT BE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES EXCEPT TO THE EXTENT PROVIDED (OR PROHIBITED) BY APPLICABLE LAW.
Some states do not allow the exclusion or limitation of incidental or consequential damages, so the above limitation may not apply to you. This warranty gives you specific legal rights, and you may also have other rights which vary from state to state.
For the name of your nearest authorized NILES dealer contact:
NILES AUDIO CORPORATION
P.O. BOX 160818, Miami, Florida
Please fill in your product information and retain for your records.
Model__________________________________________________________________________________
Serial No._________________________________________________________________________________
Purchase Date_____________________________________________________________________________
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