Wisdom Audio Series S55i - Manual (Page 12)

12
Installing the S55i in a Wall
Your dealer has extensive knowledge of wall construction, and will customize
these installation instructions to suit the needs of your particular situation. These
these notes simply provide an overview of the process.
Note that the Regenerative Transmission Line opening that vents the low fre-
quencies into the room may be placed either up near the ceiling, or down
near the floor. In most rooms, these are largely equivalent positions in terms
of acoustics. The difference will usually be aesthetic rather than performance-
based.
The front board of the S55i is 5 ⁄
8
” thick, and presents a smooth, paintable finish
surface similar to dry wall. It can be butted up against the 5 ⁄
8
” dry wall, taped,
and spackled, and painted like any other section of wall. It will also readily
accept skim-coating if the construction calls for plaster walls.
The process of installing the S55i in a standard stud wall is quite straightforward.
1. Open the 2 x 4 stud bay to be used
The existing dry wall (if any) should be cut back so it covers about half of
the 2 x 4 on each side of the bay. The flange of the front board of the S55i
will cover the other half.
Obviously, there cannot be any plumbing or wiring in this area of the stud
bay, nor firebreaks. The S55i will use a bit more than half of the available
space in a standard eight foot 2 x 4 stud bay.
2. Stand the S55i in front of the bay in which it will reside; make the elec-
trical connections
There are two methods commonly used for making these connections.
If you have access to the adjacent stud bay, drill a hole through the 2 x 4
stud between where the S55i’s feet will be when it is in place, and feed
the pigtail through the hole. You can then make the connection in the
adjacent stud bay, where you will have plenty of room to work. You can
even put the connections inside a J-box for future serviceability if you so
desire.
Alternatively, sometimes it works out easier to bring the connecting wire
through the top plate or sole plate of the same stud bay in which the S55i
is located. If so, the connection can be made in the space between the
feet at the end of the S55i with the pigtail. If the signal is coming through
the attic and the top plate, the S55i will need to be “upside down” with
its feet at the top of the bay. This places the grille high on the wall, which
may be preferred aesthetically (since it can be mistaken as a surround
speaker).
The preferred method for making the electrical connection is to solder the
wires together and then insulate the connection with shrink tubing. If this
is impractical, use appropriately-sized wire nuts and wrap the wire nut