Niles HD-CTRBX Installation Manual

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B LENDING H IGH F IDELITY AND A RCHITECTURE

™

INSTALLATION & OPERATION GUIDE

HD•CTR

HIGH DEFINITION

MODEL

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Congratulations!

Thank you for choosing a Home Theater Loudspeaker from Niles. With proper installation and operation, you'll enjoy years of trouble-free use.

Niles manufactures the industry's most complete line of custom installation components and accessories for audio/video systems. For a free full line catalog write: Niles, Catalog Request, P.O. Box 160818, Miami, Florida 33116-0818 or

visit our website at www.nilesaudio.com.

© 1998 Niles Audio Corporation, Inc. All rights reserved. Because Niles strives to continuously improve its products, Niles reserves the right to change product specifications without notice. ® Blueprint Series In-wall Loudspeakers is a registered trademark of Niles Audio Corporation, Inc. ® Dolby is a registered trademark of Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corporation. ® Decora is a registered trademark of Leviton Manufacturing Co., Inc.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION 2

FEATURES AND BENEFITS 2

INSTALLATION CONSIDERATIONS 3

SPEAKER PLACEMENT 4

OPERATION 9

SPECIFICATIONS 9

LIMITED W ARRANTY 10

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Features and Benefits

Dolby Digital®Ready

The HD•CTR

is specifically designed for Home Theater. It exceeds the specifications set forth by Dolby Laboratories for the accurate reproduction of Dolby Digital encoded sources.

Directed Sound Field Geometry™ (DSFG)

The HD•CTR

employs Niles’ Directed Sound Field Geometry (DSFG). With DSFG, the tweeter is offset from the center of the dual woofers. The resulting acoustic interaction between the woofers and the offset tweeter results in the flattest frequency and phase response approximately 15° off-axis from the tweeter. This gives optimum performance to a seated listener even if the HD•CTR

is mounted above

or below a TV or screen.

Mica Filled Polypropylene Woofers with Inverted Butyl Rubber Suspension

The unusually stiff and light polypropylene cone is filled with mica to enhance its rigidity for the fastest, most accurate response. Additionally, the use of an Inverted Butyl Rubber Suspension offers substantial benefits including: increased movement without mechanical limitations; weather resistance; and improved midrange damping for better detail and clarity.

ElastoDynamic™Hybrid Dome Tweeter

Constructed from a composite matrix of elastomers and natural fiber substrates, the ElastoDynamic™ tweeter offers extended high frequency response without any harsh ringing or overshoot.

Video Shielding

The HD•CTR

utilizes special video shielding to enable it to be installed in close proximity to a video monitor without negative effects on picture quality.

Acoustic Fine Tuning

The HD•CTR

features rear-panel mounted Acoustic Fine Tuning Controls. The HD•CTR

’s controls enable optimization of the high frequencies and dialog with 3dB of Treble Cut and 3dB of Dialog Enhancement.

DSFG™Defeat

The HD•CTR

features a rear-panel mounted switch which enables the installer to switch the Directed Sound Field Geometry feature ON or OFF. (It is useful to switch it Off when the speaker is installed at ear level, for example, behind a perforated screen).

BumpBack™Woofer Magnet(s)

Niles engineers have utilized a unique magnet construction allowing far greater “throw” or voice coil excursion. This allows a new level of deep bass performance to be achieved.

Introduction

The HD or High Definition group of Niles Home Theater Loudspeakers offers speakers expressly designed for superior sonic quality. They employ advanced technology components designed to extract the subtle nuances in recorded music or the thunderous action in a movie. They are perfect anywhere that quality of sound is the most important consideration.

Features and Benefits

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Recommended Amplifier Power

For satisfactory performance, we recommend an amplifier with a power rating of ten to one hundred fifty watts. Curiously, most speakers are not damaged by large amplifiers but by small amplifiers. If your system is playing loudly, a small amplifier will run out of power very quickly. When an amplifier runs out of power it creates damaging “clipping” distortion. A more powerful amplifier will play at the same volume without distorting. See the section labeled Operation on page 9 for more information about clipping distortion.

Speaker Wire

Use 2-conductor speaker wire when connecting HD speakers to your receiver or amplifier. For most applications, we recommend you use 16 or 18 gauge wire. For wiring runs longer than 80 feet we recommend 14 gauge wire. The five-way binding post connection terminals on the rear of the HD•CTR

will accommodate up to 12 gauge wire directly. Larger sizes can be accommodated via pin connectors.

When you run wire inside walls, special jacketing (CL-2 or CL-3) is required to both protect the wire and for fire prevention. In some areas conduit is required. For a trouble-free installation, low voltage wire such as speaker wire must be run in accordance with the National Electrical Code and any applicable provisions of the

local building code. If you are unsure of the correct installation techniques, wire jacket or type of conduit to use, consult a professional audio/video installer, your building contractor, or the local building and inspection department.

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 control all of the functions of your system even if the AV equipment is hidden or located in another room. Niles makes a number of IR sensors which install in the wall, in the ceiling, in cabinetry, or on tabletops.

An IR sensor requires that a 2-conductor shielded wire (West Penn D291 or equivalent) be home run from each sensor location to the main equipment location. This wire is normally run beside the speaker wire at the same time. Typically, the sensor is placed in a location that faces your listening position. Most remote controls will have an effective line of sight range of 18 to 30 feet with any Niles sensor placed in a wall, ceiling, on a cabinet or tabletop.

Installation Considerations

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.

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Placement of the Front Left and Right Speakers (HD•LRS) Left Right Surround In-Wall Loudspeaker

In a home theater, the intelligibility of dialog and action reproduced by the front speakers is paramount! The position of the speakers plays a very important role in how clear the sound is and how a stereo image is created. Here are some guidelines to make the process of placement quick and easy.

Make sure the sound will not be blocked or reflected off of furniture or other objects. You should have a direct line of sight with the front of the speaker. To determine the best position, measure the “listening” distance between the ideal listening position (your favorite chair or couch) and the wall in which you plan to install the speakers. Try to place the speakers so that they are equally distant from your listening spot and

at least one half of the listening distance apart (this maintains a large pleasant stereo “image”). In home theater applications where there is a center channel you may choose to space the left and right main speakers farther apart for a “bigger than life” sound with Dolby

encoded movies and TV shows. However, for combined music and movie usage stay within the good placement zone for music. For example; if you are ten feet back from the wall, the speakers should be between five and ten feet apart (See Figure 2).

The front left and right speakers should be placed on either side of the picture source at a height that allows their tweeters to be not more than 24 inches above or below the tweeter in the center channel speaker (See Figure 3). Be careful that you do not place the HD•LRS too close to a direct

Speaker Placement

Speaker

Placement

Zone

Speaker

Placement

Zone

10’5’

10’

Figure 2

Speaker Placement

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view TV monitor as they may cause picture discoloration the Niles HD•CTR (video shielded) in-wall may be substituted for an HD•LRS in such an installation). In general, try to keep an HD•LRS at least 24 inches away from the TV. With larger CRT screen sizes, you should test for picture degradation before installing.

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. The Niles HD•LRS features a front baffle-mounted adjustment switch labeled “Bass Cut” which enables you to compensate for the boundary effect by reducing bass output by 3dB.

Placement of the Center Channel Speaker (HD•CTR

)

The center channel speaker is the workhorse in a home theater system. It handles all of the critical dialog so it’s vitally important in creating the illusion of sounds emanating directly from the picture.

The HD•CTR

is specially optimized for this important job. Its dual magnetically shielded woofers enable it to be placed directly adjacent to a direct view television without affecting picture quality. In a typical installation, the HD•CTR

will be placed horizontally, directly above the television or projection screen. Try to insure that the center channel speaker is not placed too high relative to the left and right speaker. (See Figure 3).

For installations where a perforated projection screen will be used, optimum performance can be obtained by placing the HD•CTR

, either horizontally or vertically, behind the screen at ear level. (See Figure 4). When placed at ear level, the HD•CTR

’s crossover configuration switch should be set to “DSFG Defeat”. (See the section on Defeating DSFG on page 8 for more details).

Speaker Placement

HD•LRS

HD•CTR

Not Greater

than 24"

Figure 3

For an HD•CTRBXplaced above a TV, install the speaker with the tweeter up. For an HD•CTR

placed below a TV, install the speaker with the tweeter down.

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Placement of the Rear Channel Speakers (HD•LRS) Left Right Surround In-Wall Loudspeaker

In a home theater, the goal is to reproduce the experience of a great movie theater in our homes. The biggest difference between your home and the theater is the surround speaker array. In a commercial theater, it is not uncommon to see twenty or thirty speakers around the audience. 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” sound-

track. 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 HD•LRS 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. (See Figures 5 and 6). If you mount the speakers as far away as you can from the listening area, more reflections will occur. However, all

Speaker Placement

HD•LRS HD•LRS

Perforated Screen

HD•CTR

Figure 4

Figure 5

If the primary listening position is towards the back of the room as depicted in figure 5, place the rear speakers high up on the side wall or in the ceiling as pictured.

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Speaker Placement

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. (See Figure 7).

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 HD•LRS 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.

Figure 6

If the primary listening position is towards the center of the room as depicted in figure 6, place the rear speakers high up on the rear wall or in the ceiling as pictured.

Figure 7

If you use multiple rear speakers or have an irregularly shaped listening area as shown in figure 7, place the speakers high up on the rear and side walls or in the ceiling as pictured.

Figure 8

The switches on the rear panel enable you to utilize the HD•CTR

’s Treble Cut, Dialog

Enhance, and DSFG features.

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Speaker Orientation for Directed Sound Field Geometry™

The Directed Sound Field Geometry (DSFG) provides optimum off axis phase and frequency response due to the acoustic interaction between the woofers and the tweeter. The flattest response will be obtained approximately 15 degrees off axis in the direction opposite the tweeter. Therefore, the orientation of the speaker is important for optimum performance. For an HD•CTR

placed above a TV, install the speaker with the tweeter up. For an HD•CTR

placed below a TV, install the speaker with the tweeter down. For HD•LRS’s placed in the front, install the speakers with the tweeters facing out.

Acoustic Fine Tuning

The rear-mounted switches on the HD•CTR

enable the speaker to be optimized regardless of positioning or room acoustics by providing 3dB of Treble Cut and 3dB of Dialog Enhancement. (See Figure 8). Start by listening to the speaker with the Treble Cut switch in the “Flat” position. If the sound seems to have too much treble move the switch to the “-3dB” position. Next, listen to the speaker with the Dialog Enhance switch in the “Normal” position. If you desire to make the dialog in a movie more pronounced move the Dialog Enhance switch to the “Enhanced” position.

Defeating DSFG

A switch on the rear panel of the HD•CTR

enables you to defeat the Directed Sound Field Geometry (DSFG) feature. This is useful when the speaker is mounted at ear level directly in front of the primary listening position as would be the case when the speaker is mounted behind a perforated screen. To eliminate the DSFG feature simply set the DSFG switch to the “Defeat” position.

Speaker Phase

Speaker wire has two conductors. One conductor is attached to the negative (-) terminals and one conductor is attached to the positive (+) terminals of both your speaker and your amplifier. Usually, the wire is marked for your convenience. There are different ways wires are marked: 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.

If you make a mistake, one speaker will be playing “out-of-phase” with the other speaker. An out-of-phase pair of speakers work against each other and the sound of the two speakers playing together will be lacking in bass and be “phasey” sounding. If you suspect the sound is not right and you cannot see any markings on the wire, try this simple test:

1. Connect the HD•CTR

to your amplifi-

er’s center channel output.

2. Play some music in Prologic or Dolby Digital surround mode.

3. Listen to the richness of the bass and the loudness of the sound coming from the center channel.

4. Turn off the amplifier and reverse the connections.

5. Repeat the listening test with the same setting of the volume control. When the sound has a richer bass and is slightly louder, the center channel speaker’s polarity is set correctly.

Speaker Placement

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Operation & Specifications

Operation

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 “clip- ping” 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 ultra-high-frequency sound spikes which will quickly damage any fine loudspeaker. You are much less likely to damage a speaker with a large amplifier because it will be very loud indeed before it produces any clipping distortion.

Cleaning

You can clean the speaker enclosure with a dampened soft cloth or paper towel.

Specifications

Model HD•CTR

Driver Compliment (2) 5-1/4” Magnetically Shielded Mica-Filled Polypropylene Woofers

1” ElastoDynamic™ Hybrid Dome Tweeter with fluid cooling

Design Principle Acoustic suspension with a tuned port. Directed Sound Field Geometry™ for optimum phase and frequency response

Recommended Amplifier Power Ten to One Hundred Fifty Watts per Channel

Nominal Impedance 8 Ohms

Frequency Response 45 Hz to 21,000 Hz, plus or minus 3 dB (on axis)

Sensitivity 90 decibels for 2.83 volts of Pink Noise, measured at 1 meter on axis

Overall Exterior Frame Dimensions 21” L x 7-1/4” W x 9-3/4” D

Weight 18 lbs.

Wiring Requirements We recommend 16 to 18 gauge for up to 80 feet, 14 gauge for up to two hundred feet. Connectors accommodate 12 to 22 gauge wire.

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Limited Warranty

Niles Audio Corporation, Inc. ("NILES") warrants its loudspeaker products to the original purchaser to be free of manufacturing defects in material and workmanship for a period of two 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, INC.

P.O. BOX 160818, Miami, Florida 33116-0818.

Please fill in your product information and retain for your records.

Model____________________________________________________________________________________

Serial No._________________________________________________________________________________

Purchase Date_________________________________________________ ____________________________

Limited Warranty

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Niles Audio

Corporation, Inc.

12331 S. W. 130 Street

Miami, Florida 33186

Tel: (305) 238-4373

Fax: (305) 238-0185

www.nilesaudio.com

Printed in Taiwan