Niles CM8SW Installation & Operation Manual page 18

Painting the Speakers
All models may be painted. The plastic will
readily accept most paints.
The speakers must be masked prior to
painting them. The inside circular portion
of the hole template can be used as a
paint mask. Remove the outside portion of
the template by gently pulling along the
perforation. Affix the mask to the front of
the speaker by frictionfitting the mask into
the bezel.
The grilles should be painted before they
are installed. For all models, the best
results will be obtained by using a spray
gun or airless sprayer, thinning the paint
(prevents clogging of grille holes), and by
applying several light coats instead of one
heavy one.
SpeakerlSubwoofer Phase
Speaker wire has two conductors. One
conductor is attached to the tnegatrve (-1
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 col-
ors 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
yoct
might make a mistake.
Ii you make a mistake, there are three pos-
sibilities:
1. Subwoofer Input Phase Reversai
The Left Input of the Subwoofer is out of
Phase with the Right Input. if this is the
case, you will hear almost no output out
of the subwoofer when playing a loud
bass passage. Try reversing one of the
subwoofer inputs. If the sound gets a
great deal louder, that was the problem.
If bass sound was reduced return the
connections to their original state.
2. Subwoofer/Satellite Relative Phasing
An acoustically out-of-phase sat/sub
combination works against each other
and the sound of the overall system will
be lacking in bass. This might be
because of the position of the subwoofer
rather than an error in wiring. Try revers-
ing the phase of both the left and the
right outputs of the subwoofer. Make
sure you evaluate (listen) from the prima-
ry listening position.
3. Satellite Left-Right Phase Reversal
If the right satellite is reversed in phase
from the connections on the left satellite,
you will hear reduced bass and a
"phasey" diffused vocal image. If you
suspect the sound is not right and you
cannot see any markings on the wire, try
this simple test:
a. Stand half way between the two satellite
speakers.
b. Play some vocal music with the amplifier
or radio set to Mono.
c. Listen to the apparent placement of the
VOCdlS.
d. Turn off the amplifter and reverse one of
the connections on the subwoofer.
e. Repeat the listening test wrth the same
setting of the volume control. When
the sound has a richer bass, is slrghtlv
louder and the vocal image is
"focused" the satellites are working
together or "in-phase".