Niles Audio RS8Si Sandstone, RS8Si Granite User Manual

INSTALLATION & OPERATION GUIDE

MODELS

RS8Si

GRANITE

RS8Si

SANDSTONE

RS8Si

Weatherproof Rock Loudspeaker

B LENDING H IGH F IDELITY

AND A RCHITECTURE

CORAL

CONGRATULATIONS

Thank you for choosing a Rock Loudspeaker from Niles. With proper installation and operation, you’ll enjoy years of trouble free use.

Niles’ manufacturers the industry’s most complete line of custom installation components and accessories for audio/video systems. For a free full line catalog write to: our website at

Niles, Catalog Request, P.O. Box 160818, Miami, Fl 33116-0818 or check

www.nilesaudio.com.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION 2

FEATURES & BENEFITS 3

INSTALLATION CONSIDERATIONS 5

INSTALLATION 11

OPERATION 18

SPECIFICATIONS 19

WARRANTY REGISTRATION CARD 21

LIMITED WARRANTY 22

© 2003 Niles Audio Corporation. All rights reserved. Niles reserves the right to change product specifications without notice. Niles, the Niles logo and Blending Technology and Architecture are registered trademarks of Niles Audio Corporation. ConeForward, GeoRealistic and MicroPerf are trademarks of Niles Audio Corporation.

INTRODUCTION

The RS8Si series of weatherproof rock loudspeakers are designed to provide unparalleled listening satisfaction and GeoRealistic™ styling. The extraordinary sonic performance of the proprietary technology with advances in cabinet assembly techniques. They are designed and built to withstand the environmental stresses placed on an outdoor loudspeaker. They will sound good and look good no matter what Mother Nature does to them.

The

RS8Si series loudspeaker is a two-way stereo input loudspeaker in an acoustic suspension enclosure. The loudspeaker can be wired to play stereo from one cabinet or act as a wide dispersion single channel loudspeaker. The cabinet is styled to look like a rock. It is supplied with a security bracket and cable to insure it stays where it is placed, reducing the chance of theft and unauthorized movement of the loudspeaker. For the first time, serious listeners will be able to enjoy the music in their backyard as much as their living room and the speakers will blend into the landscaping.

RS8Si was achieved by harmonizing Niles’ unique and

INTRODUCTION

FEATURES & BENEFITS

Looks Natural, Sounds Great

Traditionally, rock speakers have looked like ornaments and not like rocks. Each RS8Si style has unique textures and colors that are fashioned after natural rocks. Shaped grilles match the features on the front of the rock, making them blend into the cabinet. All of this extra attention to detail leads to a GeoRealistic™ style that enables the noticed is the great sound not the loudspeaker.

Weatherproof Construction

The cabinet is made from fiberglass, it utilizes double seals on the tweeter, woofer and enclosure cover, the woofer drains water away from it, the grilles are painted aluminum and the drivers are made from weather resistant materials. The passed the most stringent environmental tests devised. Surviving over 5 years worth of temperature cycling and still having seals that pass a 24-hour submersion test. It has passed the test requirements for Salt Fog, Operating Temperature, Storage Temperature, UV Exposure and Humidity per military test standard 883. Whether you are considered about salt-air, rain, freezing rain, snow, extreme temperatures, high humidity, direct sunlight or combinations of these conditions, the proven itself to withstand the harshest conditions Mother Nature can throw at it.

8" Injection Molded TCC Woofer with Dual Voice Coils

The unusually stiff and light injection molded TCC (talc, carbon, and ceramic-filled) polypropylene cone, the butyl rubber surround, and the substantial magnet and motor structure are optimized for large excursions of the woofer. In this way, the 8" woofer can create superior bass output. Since it has a dual voice coil, it has the added advantage of playing in stereo. In the end, the woofer design combines deep rich bass and outstanding weather resistance capabilities with the ability to play in stereo.

RS8Si to blend in with other landscaping and disappear. All that will be

RS8Si has

Dual 1" Teteron Tweeters

In the past, rock speakers have used a co-axial tweeter design that has disappointed listeners with a fatiguing and harsh treble sound caused by tweeter ringing. The RS8Si’s dual 1" Teteron tweeters utilize 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 transparent clear, sweet, natural sounding tweeter, which still maintains its extended frequency response. Having two separate tweeters allows the cabinet to play in one-speaker stereo mode or two-speaker stereo mode.

Tweeter Placement Improves Coverage and Dispersion

The tweeters are angled twenty degrees up from the woofer. They are also angled twenty degrees from each other. This means that they are “aimed” at the listener and not at the ground. They are aimed away from each other to improve stereo imagining, if the loudspeaker is wired in the one-speaker stereo mode. If it is wired

in the two-speaker stereo mode, it has ultra-wide dispersion. These features improve the high frequency coverage of the loudspeaker and ensure that all the benefits of the 1" Teteron Tweeter are heard and not lost in the surroundings.

Dual Precision Crossovers

A customized electronic dividing network inside the cabinet precisely distributes the music to the woofer and each tweeter, keeping the two channels completely isolated from each other. The three pole two-way design of the provides excellent stereo imaging into each channel, low distortion and superior sonic performance.

ConeForward™ Design

Other rock speaker manufacturers mount their drivers from inside the cabinet. This moves the front of the driver inside the cabinet creating a tunnel for the driver to play through. This tunnel adversely affects the sound quality by making the loudspeaker sound “narrow” and “far away”. Niles’ engineers have used a patent-pending ConeForward™ design technique that moves the woofer and tweeter as close to the grille as possible. Combining the ConeForward™ design technique with tight quality control leads to unparalleled sonic performance and imaging from an outdoor rock loudspeaker.

Rigid Acoustically Inert Cabinet Construction

Niles’ utilizes a unique 4-layer cabinet construction to achieve superior nonresonance of the loudspeaker cabinet. This insures that all you hear is the music and not the cabinet ringing.

RS8Si crossover

FEATURES & BENEFITS

Low Diffraction Microperf™ Aluminum Grilles

The aluminum Microperf™ grilles on the RS8Si have hundreds of precisely sized perforations, creating an acoustically transparent grille. The aluminum construction resists oxidation enabling years of trouble-free operation in the harshest conditions. We paint both sides of the grille for added protection.

Dual Connection Cables with Water Resistant Wire Nuts

Connecting the loudspeaker’s cable to the cable running from the house is always a point of concern for the installer. If this connection is not done right, the cable will corrode and the connection will fail. To make sure this connection is trouble-free, we provide two three-foot connection cables rated for burial underground and specialized waterproof wire nuts. Our wire nuts are filled with a waterproof sealant. Just insert the wires and twist them together. Then bury the cable. The connection will be protected from the elements.

Security Bracket and Cable

Using the security bracket and cable supplied with the loudspeaker provides a simple but effective method to protect the loudspeaker from theft or unapproved movement. You can easily upgrade our standard security mounting method to provide even greater security, if you require it.

INSTALLATION CONSIDERATIONS

Tools and Materials Required

• A wire stripper

• 1/2" PVC conduit (optional)

• PVC conduit glue and cleaner (optional)

• PVC cutting tool

• Trench digger or shovel

• Tube of silicon sealant (optional)

• Cable (length and type determined by installation site – see “

Speaker Cable”

Selecting the number and location for your speakers

The RS8Si loudspeaker can be installed directly on the ground, in a flowerbed, on a wood deck or on a concrete/stone patio. There are three considerations for placing the loudspeaker; connecting each cabinet in one-speaker stereo mode or twospeaker stereo mode, ease of running the cable to the loudspeaker and coverage of the loudspeaker. The diameter, in front of the speaker.

When choosing the location for the loudspeaker, take into consideration the slope of the land in the area the speakers are going to be placed. The flatter and more level the area, the better. The woofer should be straight up and down or tilted forward a bit to assist in drawing water away from it. Never chose a place where an automatic sprinkler will be aimed on or near the loudspeaker. While the loudspeaker is weatherproof, continuous streaming water will shorten the product’s life.

)

RS8Si loudspeaker will cover an area of a circle with a 22-foot

Choosing the

Single Speaker Stereo Mode

In one-speaker stereo mode, each connection cable of the RS8Si loudspeaker is connected to a separate amplifier channel and each loudspeaker cabinet plays in stereo. This configuration gives you the benefit of covering a larger area than the two-speaker stereo mode. The loudspeakers can be spaced 11 feet from the sides of the listening area and 22 feet from each other. The row spacing between speakers should be less than 38 feet. These loudspeaker spacing rules are the recommended maximums; placing speakers at a greater distance apart will negatively affect sound coverage and produce spots within the listening area where the sound quality will be poor.

Figure 1 shows how this would work for a square area of 44 feet by 38 feet and

RS8SI

using the pattern is shown in the diagram.

RS8Si’s in the one-speaker stereo mode. The loudspeaker coverage

Figure 1 Stereo Coverage 4 speakers

INSTALLATION CONSIDERATIONS

With the loudspeakers wired in the one-speaker stereo mode you can cover large areas with the highest quality stereo imagining available.

Two-speaker Stereo Mode

In this mode, each loudspeaker will have one amplifier speaker cable connected to both loudspeaker connection cables and it will take two loudspeakers to play in stereo. To obtain the best stereo imagining possible, use stereo outputs from the amplifier and alternate the speakers, in your layout. You should place speakers less than 11 feet from the sides of the listening area and 18 feet from each other. The row spacing should not be greater than 28 feet. These loudspeaker spacing rules are the recommended maximums; placing speakers at a greater distance apart will negatively affect sound coverage and reduce their stereo effect. Placing speakers closer together will improve sound coverage and produce more stereo coverage.

INSTALLATION CONSIDERATIONS

Figure 2 shows how this would work for a square area of 35 feet by 28 feet

and using stereo signals. Using our spacing rules as shown in

Table 1, leads to the need for four speakers. The loudspeaker coverage pattern is shown in the diagram.

Mode Sources Spacing from Sides Spacing Between Spacing

Single Speaker Stereo 11 ft 22 ft 38 ft Stereo 3.4m 6.7m 11.6m

Two Speaker Stereo 11 ft 18 ft 28 ft Stereo 3.4m 5.5m 8.5m

Note: These are maximun recomended distances, sound quality improves if you use smaller spaces

Speakers within a row

Between Rows

Table 1 Summary of spacing rules

Figure 2 Two-speaker Stereo Coverage – with 4 speakers

Figure 3 shows the same area as Figure 2, however the number of speakers has

increased by 2. You can see a greater area of stereo coverage and this would also have a more even sound level across the listening area. This illustrates the fact that not using the maximum spacing allowed leads to improved sound quality.

Figure 3 Speaker Stereo Coverage – with 6 speakers

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