Atlantic Technology SYSTEM10LCR, SYSTEM10SRD User Manual

System 10 InWall Speakers

System 10 LCR
System 10 SR Dipole Surround

Instruction Manual

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343 Vanderbilt Ave. Norwood, MA 02062 [phone]

www.atlantictechnology.com

System 10 InWall Speakers

Thank you for purchasing Atlantic Technology products. Our speaker systems ha ve been designed to deliver e xcep­tional sound and value. We hope you like what you hear from them, and are happ y with y our decision to buy them.

Please take a few moments to read these instructions. They’re intended not only to tell you how to mount the
speakers, but how to get the best performance from them.

Important Considerations Before Installation

Recommended Wire Sizes

The longer the wire run, the heavier the wire should be. Use the following recommendations as a guide for your
installation. And if you’re in doubt, remember that it never hurts to get the next heavier grade of wire. Also note that
lower gauge numbers equal heavier wire sizes.

Wire Run Wire Gauge
<15 ft. 18 ga.
15 to 30 ft. 16 ga.
30 to 50 ft. 14 ga.
50 to 80 ft. 12 ga.
80 to 120 ft. 10 ga.

Location, Location, Location

A major determinant of any speaker’s sound quality is the room and its location in it. With in-wall speakers there
are fewer placement options than with box speakers, so giving some thought to location can really pay off.
Additionally, the wall your speaker is mounted in will affect its sound. Our InWall Theater Systems ha ve been com­puter designed to minimize the detrimental effects wall mounting can have on sound, so they sound better than most,
if not all in-wall speakers.

Locations of Choice

Assuming that you’ll be using System 10 speakers for more than simple background listening, here are some place­ment recommendations:

Stereo Systems

For stereo music reproduction the speakers are best located at approximately ear level when seated, both on the
same wall, facing the prime listening location. A separation of approximately six to eight feet between the left and
right speakers is usually good. Ideally , the distance betw een the two speakers will be the same as the distance from
the speakers to the listening position. The speakers and the listening position will then form an equilateral triangle.
There is a benefit to mounting the speakers approximately the same distance from the side walls, so they both create
the same reflective patterns.

Hard surfaces create lots of sound reflections in the room while soft surfaces tend to absorb sound. Note the
speaker’s location in terms of proximity to glass and other highly sound reflective or absorptive surfaces. A
simple pair of curtains can make a major difference in sound quality and intelligibility! The more similar the speaker’ s
surroundings, the more consistent the sound will be. So placing one speaker directly adjacent to a glass wall, with the
other speaker by an open archwa y, will make for tw o dramatically diff erent sounding speak ers.

Note that as bass frequencies reflect within the room, some locations may be bass heavy while other areas may be
bass shy . With an external subwoof er, changing its placement within the room ma y reduce these effects. But when in­wall speakers are utilized full range, the only real option is to change the listening position, if you end up in a difficult
bass area.

Home Theater Systems

T oda y’s home theater systems require y ou to place six or more speakers in your room. Placement f or these speakers
is potentially more critical than with pure music reproduction alone.

theater isn’t to put you in the movie theater; it’s to put you in the movie!

the jungle, the restaurant, the office, or wherever the video scene is taking place. If you keep this goal in mind
throughout the system development process y ou’ll end up with a better home theater , f or sure.

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That’s because the goal of setting up a good home

That’ s right, we w ant you to belie v e you’ re in

System 10 InWall Speakers

Home Theater Locations of Choice

Left/Center/Right Locations

The front three speakers should be at ear height when seated, just as with as stereo speakers. Unfortunately, the
presence of the television tends to make this difficult, if not impossible to achieve. (Unless you’re using a front
projector and a perforated screen with the center channel speaker directly behind it). The closer you can get to this
ideal the better, however. Try to keep the left and right speakers within 3 feet to either side of the TV screen. If
possible, place the left and right speakers no more than 2 feet above or below the height of the center channel
speaker . The center speaker itself should be centered on, and directly abo ve or belo w the TV screen.

IMPORTANT: The System 10 LCR speaker was designed to be used in a vertical (portrait) orientation, if at
all possible. The dispersion characteristics of the speaker are optimized in this position.

The All Important Surround Speakers

In order to achieve optimum performance we strongly recommend Dipole surround speakers like the System 10
SR. The following placement recommendations apply to all Dipole surround speakers (whether the System 10 SR
or another model) Please try to follow them.

Dipole surrounds produce a wide, diffuse, relatively non-localizable sound field that projects to the sides of the
speaker. Directly in front of the speaker there’s a sound “null” or dead zone. When properly placed in the room,
with the apex null aimed at the listeners, this creates the illusion that the sound is coming from a large area to
both sides of the speaker! The result is that you’re immersed in the surround field and become one with the action
taking place up on the screen.

Surround Speaker Locations

The absolute best place for a Dipole surround is directly to the sides of the prime listening position (+/- 15 degrees).
They should be located no less than 18 inches above ear height when seated and at least 24 inches below ceiling
level. If the surround speakers must be located closer than 24 inches to the ceiling they should be turned upside down
to keep the tweeters as far as possib le from the ceiling. Please see the important note below.

System 10 SR surrounds are designed to mount horizontally, on the side walls. If the y m ust be placed on the back
wall or the ceiling, please follow these guidelines. On the rear wall, install the speakers horizontally at least 24 inches
away from the corner, and between 18 inches above ear level when seated and 24 inches down from the ceiling.
If installed in the ceiling, position them with the drivers facing the front and back of the room, with the Left speaker
on the left side of the room and the Right on the right side. As much as possible keep the null centered on the
prime listening position.

IMPORT ANT : Please note that there are dedicated left and right Dipole surr ound speakers and they are labeled
as such. This is done to ensure that the drivers facing the front of the r oom are in phase with the system’s
front speakers. Left and right refer to the left and right wall when you are seated facing the screen. If the
speakers must be mounted upside down on the side walls, as outlined above, be sure to swap them from
side to side in order to maintain proper phasing with the fronts.

In any case, please note that for the greater part of any movie you should not be directly aware of the surround
speaker’ s presence. The y’re there to create those en vironmental sounds of the location up on the screen. So in a rain
filled scene you should be thinking, “Is it raining outside my house?”, not “Hey, I hear the rain in the surround
speakers!”

Non-Dipole surrounds

If you decide to use a Monopole for the surrounds (like the System 10 LCR) keep the following in mind. With non­Dipole surrounds, the more directly they are aligned with your ears, the more localizable their sound. And since the
vast majority of surround information consists of sonic cues that aren’t supposed to be localized, this is particularly
undesirable. Generally then, non-Dipole surrounds should be placed well above ear level on the side or rear walls. As
opposed to Dipoles, Monopoles and Bipoles work best when placed on the side or rear wall, well above and not aimed
directly at the listening position.

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