Niles Audio PR6 User Manual
INSTALLATION & OPERATION GUIDE
MODELS
B LENDING HIGH FIDELITY
AND ARCHITECTURE
®
®
Congratulations!
Introduction
dens or living rooms; as main or surround
speakers in home theaters.
Features and Benefits
Thank you for choosing a Performance 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. To see the complete Niles
product assortment, visit us on the Internet at: www.nilesaudio.com
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION 2
FEATURES AND BENEFITS 2
INSTALLATION CONSIDERATIONS 4
LOUDSPEAKER 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 OF THE LOUDSPEAKER, SENSOR AND GRILLE IN NEW OR 16
EXISTING CONSTRUCTION
REMOVAL OF LOUDSPEAKER AND GRILLE 20
OPERATION 20
SPECIFICATIONS 21
©2008 Niles Audio Corporation. All rights reserved. Niles, the Niles logo, MicroSensor, Blending High Fidelity and Architecture
and Systems Integration Amplifier are registered trademarks of Niles Audio Corporation. BumpBack and MicroPerf are trademarks
of Niles Audio Corporation. Kaladex is a registered trademark of DuPont Teijin Films. 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. DS00279B
The PR or Performance group of
in-wall loudspeakers offers speakers
expressly designed for an optimum balance of performance and value. They
employ high performance components
and materials that make them perfectly
suited as primary speakers in bedrooms,
Features and Benefits
Talc-Filled Polypropylene Woofer with
Butyl Rubber Surround and Custom
Debris Screens
The Niles PR Performance series loudspeakers employ a high performance
woofer made of vacuum formed polypropylene with talc added for stiffening. The resulting cone offers low mass,
good damping and superb musicality.
Additionally, the woofer employs a Butyl
Rubber Surround for improved midrange
clarity as well as moisture resistance.
Custom debris screens prevent insulation
from coming in contact with the woofer.
3/4” Kaladex
Precision Adjustment Mechanism
The PR Performance 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
sion adjustment mechanism which permits
the tweeter to be accurately positioned
after installation for optimum performance
without the diffraction distortion endemic
to other speaker brands utilizing traditional
pivoting tweeters.
®
Tweeter housed in a
®
tweeter is housed in a preci-
®
A PR5/PR6 Speaker Kit; and the corresponding Bracket Kit (5 or 6) is
required to install one pair of PR5/PR6
in-wall loudspeakers in either new or
existing construction.
Antiresonant Wave Bracing
The PR 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 Performance 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 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 re-installation of
traditional designs. Snap-in baffles make
installation of Niles speaker baffles easier
and faster than other in-wall brands.
2
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 PR 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 PR
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 frame to the bracket,
sandwiching the drywall between them.
The speaker baffle attaches to the frame,
and the grille mounts over the speaker.
Three Stage Installation System for
Remodels or New Construction
You install only the parts you need for
a 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 frame and provide the rustproof
aluminum grilles to the painter so that they
can be painted to match the surroundings.
Only when construction is completely finished do you put the valuable speaker in
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
PR 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 MS110 MicroSensor
iature 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 (5 meters) away.
®
, a min-
New Construction Wings
Bracket
Frame
Installation Considerations
Recommended Amplifier Power
For satisfactory performance, we recommend an amplifier with a power rating of
ten to one hundred watts for the PR5; and
ten to one hundred twenty-five watts for
the PR6. 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). Volume controls are connected in line with the speak
Figure 1
Model HD8 Shown
Speaker Baffle
IR Knockout
®
style cover plates (just like your
Installation Considerations
Grille
3
4
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 PR 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
(25 meters) we recommend 14 gauge
stranded 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.
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 (6-10 meters) with any Niles
sensor placed in a wall, ceiling, on a cabinet or tabletop. However, when you place
a Niles MS110 MicroSensor behind the
perforated aluminum grille of a speaker
the effective range is reduced to 9 to 15
feet (3-5 meters).
Insulating the Wall Cavity
For best performance from your speakers
fill the wall cavity behind the speaker with
fiberglass insulation (e.g. R-19 unbatted
insulation). Try to keep the same amount
of insulation for each speaker, particularly in the same room, for consistent
bass response.
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
5
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 via 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 some of your Niles speakers.
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
TECH TIP
fourteen AWG.
Figure 2
10’
(3 meters)
Speaker
Placement
Zone
Speaker
Placement
Zone
5’
(1.7 meters)
10’
(3 meters)
6
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