Niles Audio HD6, HD8, HD8.3, HD5 User Manual

INSTALLATION & OPERATION GUIDE

MODELS

B LENDING H IGH F IDELITY

AND A RCHITECTURE

Congratulations!

Thank you for choosing a High Definition In-Wall 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.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION 2

FEATURES AND BENEFITS 2

INSTALLATION CONSIDERATIONS 4

SPEAKER PLACEMENT 6

INSTALLATION FUNDAMENTALS 9

INSTALLATION OF BRACKETS, FRAMES AND GRILLES IN NEW CONSTRUCTION 13

INSTALLATION OF BRACKETS, FRAMES AND GRILLES IN EXISTING WALLS 15

INSTALLATION OFTHE SPEAKER, SENSOR AND GRILLE IN NEWOR EXISTING CONSTRUCTION 16

REMOVAL OF SPEAKER AND GRILLE 20

OPERATION 20

SPECIFICATIONS 21

NOTES 23

©2008 Niles Audio Corporation. All rights reserved. Niles, the Niles logo, Blending High Fidelity and MicroSensor, System Integration Amplifiers are registered trademarks of Niles Audio Corporation. BumpBack and TCC are trademarks of Niles Audio Corporation. Dolby is a registered trademark of Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corporation. Decora is a registered trademark of Leviton Manufacturing Co. Because Niles strives to continuously improve its 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 at www.nilesaudio.com.DS00282B

Introduction

The HD or High Definition group of In-Wall 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

Features and Benefits

Injection Molded TCC™ (Talc, Carbon and Ceramic) Woofer with Butyl Rubber Surround Vented Pole Piece, Vented Pole Piece and Custom Debris Screen

The Niles High Definition series loudspeakers employ a newly developed cone material that combines injection molded polypropylene with talc, carbon and ceramic stiffening agents. The result is a cone that offers extreme stiffness and light weight for accurate, dynamic response. Additionally, the woofer employs a vented pole piece for increased bass linearity and a Butyl Rubber Surround for improved midrange damping and clarity as well as moisture resistance.

1” Teteron Tri-laminate Tweeter Housed in a Precision Adjustment Mechanism

The HD series Teteron Tweeter employs a tri-laminate design consisting of an inner textile layer which forms the dome, a high damping layer to kill unwanted resonances and an outside layer of urethane to add stiffness and prevent breakup modes. The result is a transparently clear, sweet, natur al sounding tweeter which still maintains extended frequency response.

This advanced tweeter is housed in a precision adjustment mechanism which permits

thunderous action in a movie. They are perfect anywhere that quality of sound is

most important consideration.

the

An HD5/HD6/HD8/HD8.3 Speaker Kit; and the corresponding Bracket Kit (5, 6 or 8) is required to install one pair of HD5/HD6/HD8/HD8.3 In-Wall loudspeakers in either new or existing construction.

the tweeter to be accurately positioned after installation for optimum performance and without the diffraction distortion typical of traditional pivoting tweeters.

Antiresonant Wave Bracing

The HD speaker’s baffle design employs specially molded ribs that increase the rigidity of the baffle and raise the resonant frequency so that less “out-of-phase” cancellation takes place. Equally important, the ribs are curved and crossed to further shift vibration modes away from low-bass canceling frequencies. This keeps bass tones rich and dynamic.

Front-Mounted Bass & Treble Controls

Niles High Definition speaker models feature baffle-mounted tone controls for Bass and Treble that enable instant fine tuning after the speakers are installed. This feature helps to lessen the effects of less than perfect placement or other room acoustics anomalies.

Snap-in Baffle Assembly

This proprietary Niles design enables installers to attach Niles loudspeaker assemblies to previously installed frames without additional hardware or tools. Niles' Snap-in design makes it easy to upgrade

Niles' speakers after installation without the hassles associated with removal and reinstallation of traditional designs. Snap-in baffles make installation of Niles speaker baffles easier and faster than other in-wall brands.

Features and Benefits

BumpBack™ Woofer Magnet

Niles engineers have utilized a unique motor construction enabling far greater “throw” or voice coil excursion. This allows a high level of bass performance to be achieved.

Moisture Resistant Construction

The HD loudspeakers are suitable for use in high moisture environments. The drivers are impervious to moisture; the grille is made of powder-coated aluminum, and all exposed hardware is made of stainless steel. However, the speakers are not waterproof and direct contact with water should be avoided.

Absolutely Flush to the Wall Appearance

The unique mounting system of the HD 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 bracket to the frame, sandwiching the drywall between them. The speaker baffle attaches to the frame, and the grille mounts over the speaker.

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 the aluminum can be painted to match the surroundings. Only when construction is completely finished do you put the valuable 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!

Low Diffraction, MicroPerf™ Aluminum Grilles

HD speakers include 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 MS-110 MicroSensor miniature infrared sensor. The MS110 installs discreetly behind the aluminum grille and therefore minimizes wall clutter in your home. When you want to control your equipment, you simply point your remote control at the speaker from up to 15 feet awa

frame and provide the rustproof

grilles to the painter so that they

speaker in

Three Stage Installation System for Remodels or New Construction

You install only the parts you need for a

Model HD8 Shown

New Construction Wings

Bracket

Frame

Speaker Baffle

Figure 1

IR Knockout

Installation Considerations

Grille

Installation Considerations

Recommended Amplifier Power

For satisfactory performance, we recommend an amplifier with a power rating of ten to one hundred watts for the HD5; and ten to one hundred twenty-five watts for the HD6, and ten to one hundred fifty watts for the HD8 and HD8.3. 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.

Incorporating a Local Volume Control

In a multiroom system there is one indispensible device for true convenience—a local volume control. It allows 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 light switches and dimmers). trols are connected in line with the speak-

style cover plates (just like your

olume con

Installation Considerations

er, 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 HD 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 HD 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 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 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 HD speakers.

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. However, when you place a Niles MS110 MicroSensor minum grille of a speaker the effective range is reduced to 9 to 15 feet.

Insulating the Wall Cavity

For best performance from your speakers fill the wall cavity behind the speaker with fiberglass insulation (e.g. R-19 unbated insulation). Try to keep the same amount of insulation for each speaker, particularly in the same room, for consistent bass response.

behind the perforated alu-

TECH TIP

Wire size is expressed by its AWG (American Wire

umber. The lower the number, the larger

)

ire, i.e. twelve AWG is physically larger than

fourteen AWG.

Speaker Placement

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, you are a critical listener.

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).

Speaker Placement

Figure 2

Speaker

Placement

Zone

10 ’

Speaker

Placement

Zone

5’

10 ’

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 two or three 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 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 Home Theater Rear 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. 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 HD 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 HD 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 make them uniquely suited to enhance a good surround sound system. Consult your local Niles dealer for more information.

with proprietary features that

Speaker Placement

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