Niles Audio HDLRS Speaker Placement, Incorporating a Remote Control, Insulating the Wall Cavity

Installation Considerations

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.

Incorporating a Remote Control

If you are planning to use a stereo system with a hand held IR remote control, con- sider the advantages of installing a Niles IR Repeater system. You are able to con- trol all of the functions of your system from the room with the remote pair of speakers. Niles makes a number of IR sen- sors which install in the wall, in the ceiling, in cabinetry, on tabletops, or even behind the grille of your Niles HD speakers.

An IR sensor requires that a 2-conductor shielded wire (West Penn D291 or equiva-

lent) be home run from each sensor loca- tion to the main equipment location. This wire is normally run beside the speaker wire at the same time. Typically, the sen- sor 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 with any Niles sensor placed in a wall, ceiling, on a cabinet or tabletop. However, when you place a Niles MS-1 MicroSensor behind the perforated alu- minum grille of a speaker the effective range is reduced to 9 to 15 feet.

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 insu- lation). Try to keep the same amount of insulation for each speaker, particularly in the same room, for consistent bass response.

Speaker Placement

Placement of the Front Left and Right Speakers (HD•LRS)

In a home theater, the intelligibility of dia- log 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 guide- lines 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” dis- tance 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 exam- ple; if you are ten feet back from the wall, the speakers should be between five and ten feet apart (See Figure 2).

The front left and right speakers should be placed on either side of the picture source at a height that allows their tweeters to be not more than 24 inches above or below the tweeter in the center channel speaker (See Figure 3). Be careful that you do not place

Speaker Placement

TECH TIP

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 fourteen AWG.

	Speaker
	Placement
	Zone
10’	5’	10’
	Speaker
	Placement
	Zone
Figure 2

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