Wall & Ceiling Surfaces; Speaker Wire Paths; Cloth Décor & Paintable Grilles; Cutting Holes For The Speakers - B-I-C America FORMULA FH6-C Installation And Owner's Manual

WALL AND CEILING SURFACES
Now that we've covered where you should
put your speakers, let's consider where you
CAN put them.
B . I . C FH6-C speakers require at least 3
depth (measured from the outside surface of the
wall). This means that they can be installed in any
wallboard-and-2 x 4 stud wall. In fact, the dense,
rigid nature of plasterboard or (lath and plaster
in older homes) acts as a superb speaker baffle.
You can also install B . I . C ceiling speakers in
stud walls covered with thick wood paneling or
in wallboard/plaster ceilings.
However, avoid:
• Stud walls covered only with thin veneer
paneling – the surface isn't rigid enough and
can cause annoying vibrations and buzzing.
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• T-bar "drop ceilings" with very thin
fiberboard panels which can buzz and
vibrate. If you suspect this will happen,
reinforce the drop-in panel with wood or
particle board.
• Any wall which can't provide proper depth
(clearance) for the back of the FH6-C
speakers to protrude. This includes brick
or concrete walls where the wallboard or
paneling is attached to thin furring strips.
• Walls where you know that there are pipes,
heating ducts and ESPECIALLY AC wiring in the
general vicinity. For example, if there is an
outlet along the baseboard, there is often a live
wire running partly up the wall at that point.

SPEAKER WIRE PATHS

The last consideration is the obstacle course
that lies between the speakers' hoped-for
mounting positions and your stereo system.
Wire can be run through crawl spaces that lie
above your ceiling or below the floor, through
basements of second stories, or simply along the
perimeter of your listening room. We cover each
of these options in detail in the "Running con-
necting wires" section of this manual.
In general, you should pay particular attention
to the following areas:
• Avoid running speaker wires close to house
electrical wiring for any distance. If you have
to run them parallel, make sure to space the
speaker wires at least two feet from the AC
line. It is, however, OK for speaker wires to
cross paths with AC line or go through the
same hole together with house wiring if they
separate before and after.
• Make sure that the entire path between
speakers and amplifier is clear and not
obstructed by a major floor or ceiling joist
or masonry wall which you won't be able
to drill through.
• Remember that the other end of the wires
has to come out somewhere to connect
with the amplifier. Confirm ahead of time
that you can drill an outlet hole easily and
in an unobtrusive spot.
C
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CLOTH DÉCOR &
PAINTABLE GRILLES
If you like the designer white finish, we
recommend you use the white cloth décor
accesory grilles included with your new FH6-C
speakers. But if you want your speakers to
completely blend in with a colored wall or
accent the surface, paintable metal grilles are
also included with your new FH6-C speakers.
The speakers' outer surfaces are primed to
accept ordinary latex wall paint or aerosol spray
paint. Because the surface behind the perforated
grille should remain black, you will need to
mask this area off before you begin painting.
1. First the speaker's grille must be removed.
From the back of the speaker, use the
mounting legs to push the grille off.
2. If you are going to use standard, canned, wall
paint so your speakers will match the wall
color, you will need to thin the paint to nearly
the consistency of water. This is critical since
paint with any thickness will plug the holes in
the grille which will impede the sound from
getting to the room. Once you thin the paint it
may take several coats to get good consistent
color coverage without plugging the holes in
the grille. One trick to use is to blow air
through the grille holes as you are in the
painting process to keep the holes open.
Paint the outer speaker frame and grille
separately. A medium nap roller or fine brush
will work OK if you take your time and are
careful. If you're using spray paint, make
sure that you achieve the same coverage on
both grille and frame. Take care to use very
light coats on the grille to avoid plugging the
holes (perforations). Also, be sure to spray at
different angles to achieve good even coverage
of the perforations and edges. You must take
A. Trace template
outline
extreme precautions when painting the grille not
to get paint in the holes of the grille. There's no
need to replace the grille at this time since you
will need access to the inner speaker surface
during installation.
D
CUTTING HOLES
FOR THE SPEAKERS
Wallboard is an easy surface in which to make
a relatively neat hole. Actually, the hole doesn't
even have to be that neat, since the speaker's
outer frame will cover it. Just make sure you
don't make it any bigger than the template. In
the following steps, you're going to locate a
section of ceiling between the woodframing or
in the wall between two studs, mark the outer
boundaries of the hole, drill a small hole in
the center to confirm your location and then
cut the main hole.
1. First you must determine the location of your
ceiling supports or wall studs so that the
speaker can be approximately centered
between them. There are several ways to go
about this:
• Tap on the surface and listen to the result-
ing "THUMP". When it's deeper, you're
between studs. When it's sharper and more
flat-sounding, you're close to a stud.
• Use a stud-finder, a simple little device
which works by locating the studs behind
a wall.
• Identify wall studs by the position of elec-
trical outlets or switches. There will be a stud
either directly to the left or right of an elec-
trical fixture. This gives you a point of mea-
surement, since studs are either 18 or 16
inches apart in newer houses, 12 inches
apart on pre-WW2 homes.
B. Drill 1 inch C. Probe with wire
pilot hole for stud clearance
DRAWING 5
D. Cut speaker
hole along outline