Niles Audio CM6MP, CM8MP, CM5MP User Manual
B LENDING H IGH F IDELITY
AND
A R CHITECTURE
®
INSTALLATION & OPERATION GUIDE
®
© 2003 Niles Audio Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Niles, the Niles logo, and Blending
High Fidelity and Architecture are registered trademarks of Niles Audio Corporation.
MicroPerf is a trademark of Niles Audio Corporation. Kaladex is a registered trademark of
DuPont Teijin Films. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Because we constantly strive to improve our products, Niles reserves the right to change
product specifications without notice. The technical and other information contained herein
is not intended to set forth all technical and other specifications of Niles products. Additional
information can be obtained on-line. Printed in Taiwan. DS00289CTW
MODELS
MULTIPURPOSE
CM5MP
MULTIPURPOSE
CM6MP
MULTIPURPOSE
CM8MP
www.nilesaudio.com
Niles Audio
Corporation
12331 S.W. 130 Street
Miami, Florida 33186
Tel: (305) 238-4373
Fax: (305) 238-0185
Printed in Taiwan
Congratulations!
Thank you for choosing a Multipurpose Ceiling Mount 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 3311 6-0818
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION 2
FEATURES AND BENEFITS 2
INSTALLATION CONSIDERATIONS 4
SPEAKER PLACEMENT 6
INSTALLATION FUNDAMENTALS 9
INSTALLATION IN NEW CONSTRUCTION 13
INSTALLATION IN EXISTING CONSTRUCTION 14
FINAL INSTALLATION IN NEW OR EXISTING CONSTRUCTION 1 5
OPERATION 17
SPECIFICATIONS 18
WARRAN TY REGISTRATION CARD 21
LIMITED WARRANTY 22
2
Features and Benefits
The MP Multipurpose group of ceiling
mount loudspeakers offers speakers
designed for utility and flexibility. These
are quality "general purpose" speakers.
They function well as primary speakers in
bedrooms, dens or living rooms; as main
or surround speakers in home theaters; or
in large arrays in commercial applications. Their superb value makes them
perfect for a wide variety of applications.
Introduction
Features and Benefits
High Output, Talc-Filled
Polypropylene Woofer
The talc-filled polypropylene woofer utilized in the MP Multipurpose series is
optimized for low distortion and efficiency. The talc-filling adds stiffness to the
cone without adding weight. This allows
the speaker to deliver high output levels
with low distortion when using as little as
five watts of power.
3/4" Fluid-Cooled Ultra-Wide
Dispersion Kaladex
®
Tweeter in
Custom Pivoting Coaxial Enclosure
The MP Multipurpose series Kaladex
®
Tweeter employs DuPont’s latest material
technology to produce a dome tweeter
with exceptional frequency response and
low distortion. Highs are crystal clear and
extended without the harshness often
associated with polycarbonate designs.
The Kaladex
®
tweeter can pivot up to 20°
within its mount. This allows for perfect
alignment of the high frequencies and optimum performance without the diffraction
distortion endemic to other speaker brands
utilizing traditional pivoting tweeters.
Moisture, UV Resistant Construction
The MP Multipurpose series loudspeakers
are suitable for use in high moisture environments. The drivers are resistant to moisture and UV exposure; the grille is made of
powder-coated aluminum. However, the
speakers are not waterproof and direct
contact with water should be avoided.
Engineered for Ceiling Placement
The MP Multipurpose series speakers have
been specifically designed and tuned for
optimum performance when mounted in a
ceiling. The custom designed low diffraction tweeter housing is mounted coaxially
to avoid the “venetian blind” effect common with ceiling speakers that employ
sub-baffles as tweeter mounts. The 20°
tweeter pivot angle ensures optimum
high-frequency coverage.
MicroPerf
™
Grilles
The MP Multipurpose series speakers
employ Niles exclusive MicroPerf grille
construction. The exceptionally tight hole
pattern provides acoustic transparency at
all audio frequencies and enables the
speaker elements to remain invisible.
MicroPerf grilles can also be painted to
blend seamlessly with the surrounding
decor.
contined on next page
Easy Installation
The MP Multipurpose series speakers
employ a bracketless mounting system in
existing ceilings. Simply cut a hole in the
mounting surface, remove the grille from
the speaker, connect the wires and place
the speaker in the hole. Then tighten the
four mounting “dogs” via the front panel
screws. The dogs first swivel 90°, then
clamp the speaker frame to the drywall as
you tighten the screws.
Hole Saving Bracket
Available as an optional accessory, CM5
Series, CM6 and CM8 Series New
Construction Brackets can be installed as a
“hole-saver” before the drywall goes up.
The drywall contractor cuts the holes as
the drywall is installed, reducing installation time and minimizing the chance for
lost wires.
Installer Selectable Acoustic
Fine Tuning (CM8MP Only)
Installers can select to de-emphasize the
bass or treble by 2dB to accommodate
reflective surfaces and corner loading.
This selection is accomplished via bafflemounted controls that are accessible after
the speaker has been installed.
Features and Benefits
3
Recommended Amplifier Power
For satisfactory performance, we recommend an amplifier with a power rating of
five to 60 watts for the CM5MP, five to 75
watts for the CM6MP and five to 100
watts for the CM8MP. 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 large amplifier will play at the same volume without
distorting. See the section on operating the
speakers for more information about clipping distortion.
Installation Considerations
4
Figure 1
The illustration shows how a
typical CM loudspeaker
mounts into a ceiling.
Installation Considerations
New Construction Bracket serves as a
“hole saver” when drywall has not
been applied. It is not necessary when
retrofitting to existing ceilings.
Knockout wire tie allows the wire to be
secured to the bracket throughout the
new construction process. It knocks
out cleanly when the speaker is
installed.
New construction wings
instantly snap into the
bracket without screws.
Wings are scored for
easy size trimming.
Brackets and wings
attach to the ceiling joists
with nails or screws.
Dogs swivel 90°, then
clamp the speaker
frame to the drywall.
Frames are molded with a
slight texture to assure
good paint adhesion.
Mounting screws tighten the
“dogs”, clamping the speaker
to the drywall.
Rust-proof aluminum grilles make the CM
series perfect for moist environments.
20°
The MP Multipurpose tweeter is
housed in a custom designed, low
diffraction enclosure which pivots
up to 20° to provide optimum high
frequency coverage
Figure 3
6
Introduction
Although the MP Multipurpose speakers
have extensive ability to compensate for
unusual placements with their unique pivoting tweeters, placement is still the primary tool for satisfying your particular listening needs. In the following section, we
discuss how speakers should be placed
and how tweeters should be directed and
how the acoustic fine-tuning switches
should be set for different purposes.
Placement for Critical Listening
If you like to imagine that the band or
orchestra is playing in front of you as you
listen to music, or you are very conscious
of clarity, detail and the textures of the
individual instruments, or you listen critically to movie soundtracks or music
videos in your home theater, you will
need your speakers placed so that they are
optimized for critical listening. 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 location 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 place-
ment zone for music. For example; if you
are ten feet back from the speakers, the
speakers should be between five and ten
feet apart (See Figure 4).
Tweeters should be directed at the listening position.
Speaker Placement
10'
5' 10'
Figure 4
In this example,
the speakers
could be
placed from
five to 10 feet
apart, since the
listener is 10
feet back from
the speakers
Direct tweeter
towards listener
Direct tweeter
towards listener
Critical
Listening
Position
Speaker Placement
Incorporating a Local Volume Control
In a multiroom system there is one indispensible device for true convenience— a
local volume control. It enables you to
adjust the volume of the speakers without
leaving the room.
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
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 2-conductor speaker wire when connecting MP Multipurpose speakers to your
receiver or amplifier. For most applications, we recommend you use 16 or 18
gauge stranded wire. For wiring runs
longer than 80 feet we recommend 14
gauge stranded wire. The no-strip terminals of the MP speakers will accommodate 12 to 18 gauge wire.
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 Remote Control
If your stereo system operates with a wireless Infrared (IR) remote control, consider
the advantages of installing a Niles Infrared
Extender System. Niles manufactures a
number of congealable IR sensors and wall
mounted keypads which send a copy of
your hand-held remote command via a
wire to your main equipment location,
where it is repeated to your stereo system.
The wire is typically installed with the
speaker wire, since the speaker signal and
the IR signal will not interfere with each
other. This makes almost no difference to
the installation time, and the cost of the
recommended IR control cable (West Penn
D291 or equivalent) is reasonable.
The correct routing for IR control cable is
to home run an IR control cable from the
main equipment location beside the
speaker wire to the planned volume control location; and then on to the proposed
sensor location. The combination of IR
control cable and speaker wire enables a
programmable Niles IntelliPad
®
to be
installed at a later date (the IntelliPad has a
convenient speaker mute feature in addition to automating and controlling your
stereo system). An IR sensor is best placed
where it is convenient for you to point the
hand-held remote. Both an IntelliPad and
an IR sensor can be connected in one
room with one home run IR control cable.
Insulation Behind The Speaker
For best performance from your speakers
lay a batten of fiberglass insulation
(example: R-19 un-batted insulation) on
top of the speaker. Try to keep the same
amount of insulation for each speaker,
particularly in the same room, for consistent bass response.
5
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. 12 AWG is physi-
cally larger than 14AWG.
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