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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 profession-
al 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 (See Figure 5).
You can make listener position still less
critical by using mono rather than stereo.
This can be difficult to achieve with nor-
mal stereo amplifiers. However, Niles
manufactures
Systems
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 infre-
quently 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 pat-
tern of two speakers. You can also com-
promise between direct sound (for detail
and clarity) and reflected sound (the ambi-
7
ent or "all around you" effect). The speak-
ers can be placed near corners to create
more reflected sound. By directing the
tweeters to point away from the listener,
so they create as much reflected sound as
possible, you emphasize the ambient
effect. The more reflected sound there is
in the room the stronger the ambient
effect at low volumes. You should use
moderation, however, otherwise the com-
promise 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" sound-
track 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
Integration
"in the middle of your head" just like
headphones!
A single pair of CM5PR or CM6PR
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 placing
the speakers near a corner so that the
adjoining walls will act as a powerful
reflector. Direct the tweeters so that sound
is pointed away form the listener creating
Figure 17
Tightening the
mounting "dogs"
9. Setting the Bass and Treble cut switch-
es. Listen to a well-recorded piece of
music at the user's favorite listening
position. a) Listen for bass boominess,
particularly when the speaker is placed
near a corner. Use the -2dB Bass cut to
correct. b) Listen for treble harshness or
ringing, particularly when the speakers are
placed in a room without carpet/ Use the
-2dB Treble cut switch to correct.
10.Install the grille into the speaker. The
grilles should fit snugly. If you have diffi-
culty fitting them in, try loosening the
mounting dog screws (excessive tighten-
ing can distort the shape of the frame
holding the grille in place).
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 using a piece of tape. Fold the
tape onto itself to form a double-sided
loop. Affix the tape to the tweeter and
place the mask onto the speaker.
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 the grille holes), and
by applying several light coats instead of
one heavy one.
Speaker Phase
Speaker wire has two conductors. One
conductor is attached to the negative (-)
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
you might make a mistake.
If you make a mistake, one speaker will be
playing "out-of-phase" with the other
speaker. An out-of-phase pair of speakers
work against each other and the sound of
the two speakers playing together will be
lacking in bass and be "phasey" sounding.
If you suspect the sound is not right and
you cannot see any markings on the wire,
try this simple test:
1. Stand half way between the speakers.
2. Play some music with the amplifier
or radio set to Mono.
3. Listen to the richness of the bass and
the loudness of the sound.
4. Turn off the amplifier and reverse the
connections on one amplifier chan-
nel only.
5. Repeat the listening test with the
same setting of the volume control.
When the sound has a richer bass
and is slightly louder the speakers are
working together or "in-phase".
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