Boston Acoustics RK5, RK8T2, RK6T2 User Manual

RK5 RK6T2 RK8T2

Voyager® Series Weatherproof Rock Speakers

Speciﬁcations Voyager RK5 Voyager RK6T2 Voyager RK8T2

Frequency Response 70 – 20K Hz, ±3dB 60 – 20K Hz, ±3dB 50 – 20K Hz, ±3dB

Recommended Amp Power 5 – 100 Watts 10 – 150 Watts 20 – 200 Watts

Nominal Impedance 8 ohms 8 ohms 8 ohms

Sensitivity (2.83V @ 1M) >89dB >89dB >89dB

Bass Unit 51⁄4” 61⁄2” 8”

Tweeter

Overall Dimensions (WxHxD) 124⁄5” x 10” x 111⁄5” 16” x 123⁄5” x 111⁄5” 181⁄2” x 144⁄5” x 132⁄5”

Weight 9 lbs 12.5 lbs 16 lbs

⁄4” soft dome Dual 1” soft dome Dual 1” soft dome

Description

Thank you for purchasing the Boston Acoustics Voyager® Rock series speakers for your outdoor entertainment system. These speakers combine the famous Boston sound, weatherproof design and enclosures designed to blend into the surrounding environment. Enjoy exceptional sound on your patio, in your garden or around your pool.

All the Voyager Rock models are true two-way designs housed in rugged enclosures with a natural stone appearance. The Voyager RK5 is a mono speaker that features a 51⁄4” (135mm) woofer and a Boston-built 3⁄4” (19mm) soft dome tweeter. The Voyager RK6T2 is an integrated stereo loudspeaker that uses two 1-inch soft dome tweeters set at an angle to enhance sound dispersion and create a sense of stereo separation. Its rugged 61⁄2” woofer has a double-wound voice coil so it can reproduce both channels of a stereo output. The RK8T2 builds on this design concept and also uses a pair of 1-inch soft dome tweeters and matches them with a potent 8-inch woofer.

All the parts of the Voyager® RK series speakers are manufactured from high-tech plastics, rubbers, and other materials that have been extensively tested for durability.

Additional Key Features

• The Voyager RK speakers are “voiced” for outdoor performance. Their sound is contoured to provide the best performance in open air environments. They blend perfectly with the other Voyager series models.

• The woofers have mica-ﬁlled copolymer cones with butyl rubber surrounds. The tweeters have soft domes.

• The woofers have a stepped woofer basket that sets the cone forward to prevent “tunnel effect” and preserve smooth, natural midrange sound.

• The drivers are angled upwards 20 degrees to deliver great sound when they are placed at ground level.

• All have completely weatherproof with rustproof hardware and grilles. (IEC 60529, IPX4. IPX5)

• The enclosures, grilles and drivers stand up to weather and temperature extremes and are UV protected.

• Integrated six foot underground-rated connection cable is included.

• Waterproof speaker wire connectors are provided.

• Internal mounting posts for an optional 70/100 volt transformer for use in commercial applications or home audio systems where many speakers are used or where speaker wires must be run over long distances.

Speaker Placement

The placement of outdoor speakers follow a different set of priorities from those used for indoor speakers. Speakers used indoors in music or AV systems are placed to achieve the best possible stereo or surround sound image. You typically listen to them from a certain location while enjoying music or AV programs. But outdoor listening is usually part of more active forms of recreation. So considerations such as stereo imaging or proper surround sound are not the main concern. For outdoor speakers most often the main goal is to provide good sound coverage over the area where you enjoy your outdoor activities.

The basic guidelines are quite simple, although they differ slightly for the RK5, a mono speaker, compared to the RK6T2 and RK8T2 which can be wired as mono or stereo speakers.

When deciding where to place your speaker, you should ask three interrelated questions:

• Where are you going to be when you want to hear the speakers?

• What are you going to be doing while listening to the speakers? Will you be actually listening to the speakers or will they be providing background while you’re doing something else?

• How important is traditional stereo imaging? Do you want normal stereo imaging or is good balanced coverage of all the sound more important?

An outdoor environment places special demands on a speaker system. You do not have the advantage of an enclosed, deﬁned area. So you must try to place them were they will give you the sound coverage you want, and be in a good location for sound reproduction.

For example, when selecting outdoor speaker locations, it is usually best to have a solid surface behind the speaker. Such placement helps reinforce bass output. Bass sound is by nature omni-directional. The bass sound energy a speaker produces will spread out in all directions. Outdoors, where there are no walls to contain the bass energy, placing a speaker with its back to a solid surface – the wall of a house, a solid fence, etc. – will help focus and direct the bass sound the speaker produces.

The illustration below shows how you might place your speakers. There are two main listening areas – around the table on the patio (a) and the lounge chairs (b) out in the yard.

Two speakers are placed against the walls of the house, facing in toward the patio. This provides good coverage to the area where the table and chairs are.

Another pair of speakers are placed against the fence facing the lounge chairs to provide sound coverage for that area.

In these examples the RK5, being a monoonly speaker, would have normal stereo separation. The RK6T2 and RK8T2 could be wired for mono to produce normal stereo separation. Or they can be wired so both channels are reproduced by each speaker, sacriﬁcing stereo imaging for more even sound distribution of both channels.

Speaker Wires

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After the speaker locations have been chosen, you must run wires from the speakers to the ampliﬁer that drives them.

You must select wire that is suited to outdoor usage. Look for wire that is rated for burial. It will stand up to the requirements of outdoor usage. Outdoor rated wire is typically at least 14 gauge. That is good enough for runs up to 50 feet or so. For runs of more than 50 feet use heavier 12 gauge wire.

If the wire must be run more than 75 feet or if more than 4 speaker channels are used, a high voltage distribution system is recommended. Such systems use a special ampliﬁer that has a “70V” (or in some countries, “100V”) output. This allows the relatively small gauge speaker wires to be run over great distances without signal degradation. Speakers used in a high voltage system require a transformer. An optional transformer is available from Boston Acoustics. The RK series speakers have provisions for mounting the transformer inside a cover located on the bottom of the speaker where the wires emerge. Contact a custom audio system installer for more information.

Speaker Connection Polarity

It is important that all the speakers in a system are hooked up with similar polarity or “in phase.” The speaker terminals on ampliﬁers are color coded and marked for polarity – typically red is + and black is –. The RK series models have “pig tail” wire leads that extend from the bottom of the cabinet. The wires are color coded in the usual way – red is + and black is –. In the case of the RK6T2 and RK8T2 there are two wire leads. The wire lead for the “right” side has red and black leads. The “left” side wire lead has yellow and black wires. All you have to do is make each connection the same way. This is particularly important with the RK6T2 and RK8T2. If they are conected improperly, they will produce almost no sound.

Connecting the Speakers

The “pig tail” leads from the speakers are connected to the speaker wires with the supplied wire nuts that are ﬁlled with sealant. To connect the wires from the ampliﬁer to the lead extending from the RK speaker, strip off 3⁄8” to 1⁄2” of the wire insulation. Twist the wire stands into a neat bundle. Loosely twist together the two wire leads. Push one of the supplied wire nuts onto the ends of the wire and turn it until it is ﬁrmly set.

TIP: If you want to give the wire conections an extra measure of protection, apply silicon sealant in the open end of the wire nut and the wires. Do not do this until you have tested the system and are sure all the connections are correct.

Basic Stereo Speaker Wiring

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The illustration below show a basic stereo speaker connection for the RK5. Simply use the color coding of the wire to be sure that positive goes to positive, and negative goes to negative, at all the connection points.

Wiring the RK6T2 and RK8T2

The RK6T2 and RK8T2 are essentially a pair of stereo speakers in one enclosure. They have two tweeters and a woofer with a double-wound voice coil. They can be wired to operate as a single speaker or as a “pair” of stereo speakers. How you use them depends on the physical layout of your area.

Using the example in the speaker placement illustration, you might connect the speakers facing the patio area as stereo speakers. They are placed so that they will not produce a typical stereo image. Wiring those speakers so that each is a self-contained stereo speaker will provide the next best option – the best overall sound coverage from both channels.

In contrast, the speakers on either side of the fountain facing the lounge chairs are well placed to produce a

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good stereo image. Those speakers could be wired so each one reproduces just one channel of a stereo signal.

Multiple Speaker Connections

Sometimes you may want to conect more than one speaker to a given channel of an ampliﬁer. This can be done with certain limitations. The main concern is that the impedance (or electrical “resistance”) expressed in ohms, of the combined speaker load must be within a range common ampliﬁers can handle. The following information describes basic common multi-speaker connection schemes. For the sake of clarity and space the connection diagrams will show common schematic symbols instead of speaker images.

There are two basic connection methods-parallel (A) and series (B). The parallel connection is shown on the left, the series connection on the right.

The diagram also shows the impedance at the ampliﬁer with the two types of connections. Two 8-ohm speakers connected in parallel produce a 4-ohm impedance. (Note: This is electrically the same as the diagram at the top of the page showing both inputs of the RK speakers connected to one channel of the ampliﬁer.) Most ampliﬁers can handle a 4-ohm impedance load. Impedance loads lower than 4 ohms can trigger amplifer protection circuits or, in some cases, cause over heating.

Two 8 ohm speakers in series produce a 16 ohm impedance. This is an easy impedance for an amplifer to handle. However it will result in somwhat lower power ouput.

A B

NOTE: RK6T2 and RK8T2 are stereo speakers in one enclosure and should be treated as 2 channels

Connecting three speakers to an amplifer channel is generally not recommended. But if is done, it should be

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done using a combined series/parallel connection. This type of conection is illustrated below. Two speakers are connected in series with a third speaker connected in parallel with them. This produces an impedance of about 12 ohms.

For any system installation more complicated than this, you should consult a trained installer for advice on appropriate equipment, and to be sure the system is connected for best performance and reliability.

Listening Levels and Power Handling

The listed power recommendations assume you will operate your system in a way that will not produce distortion. Even these rugged speakers can be damaged by a modest ampliﬁer if it produces distortion.

If you hear a harsh, gritty noise, turn down the volume. Prolonged or repeated operation of your speaker with a distorted signal from the ampliﬁer can cause damage that is not covered by the warranty.

Limited Warranty

Boston Acoustics warrants to the original purchaser of our RK series speaker that they will be free of defects in materials and workmanship for a period of 5 years from the date of purchase.

Your responsibilities are to install and use them according to the instructions supplied, to provide safe and secure transportation to an authorized Boston Acoustics service representative, and to present proof of purchase in the form of your sales slip when requesting service.

Excluded from this warranty is damage that results from abuse, misuse, improper installation, accidents, shipping, or repairs/modiﬁcations by anyone other than an authorized Boston Acoustics service representative.

This warranty is limited to the Boston Acoustics product and does not cover damage to any associated equipment. This warranty does not cover the cost of removal or reinstallation. This warranty is void if the serial number has been removed or defaced. This warranty gives you speciﬁc legal rights, and you may also have other rights which vary from state to state.

If Service Seems Necessary

First, contact the dealer from whom you purchased the product. If that is not possible, write to: Boston Acoustics, Inc. 300 Jubilee Drive Peabody, MA 01960 USA

Or contact us via e-mail at: support@bostona.com We will promptly advise you of what action to take. If it is necessary to return your RK series unit to the factory, please ship it prepaid. After it has been repaired, we will return it freight prepaid in the United States and Canada.

This symbol found on the product indicates that the product must not be disposed of with household waste. Instead, it may be placed in a separate collection facility for electronic waste or returned to a retailer when purchasing similar product. The producer paid to recycle this product. Doing this contributes to reuse and recycling, minimizes adverse effects on the environment and human health and avoids any ﬁnes for incorrect disposal.

300 Jubilee Drive Peabody, MA 01960 USA

978.538.5000 bostonacoustics.com

142-002634-0

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