Connection

The Viper I, Viper II and Viper Reference are bi-wired speakers. For maximum performance we advise bi-wiring. You can use our Blue Thunder speaker cable (see your dealer) or other high quality cable. On a temporary basis, the enclosed jumpers can be used for single wire speaker cables. On the rear of the loudspeaker, place a jumper across the two red posts and another across the two black posts. Connect the speaker cable from the amplifier to the MID/HF posts, red to red and black to black.

Note: some electronic equipment reverses the absolute phase of the signal. Check your owner's manuals. If this is the case, at the amplifier end, connect the red end of the speaker cable to the black (-) amplifier post and the black end of the speaker cable to red (+) amplifier post.

The two longer spikes with attached nuts are fitted to the underside front of the loudspeaker. The two short spikes without nuts are attached to the underside rear of the speaker. This will provide the proper tilt-back for the loudspeaker.

Viper Reference: Place the crossover box directly behind the loudspeaker with the crossover terminals facing the speaker terminals. Looking at the crossover box from the front, the LF terminals are on the right (with Blue Thunder, the thicker cable from the amplifier connects here). The MF/HF terminals are to the left (with Blue Thunder, the thinner cable from the amplifier connects here.) The leads coming from the crossover box now connect in the same order coming out of the box to the 6 speaker terminals. That is, from the front: the rightmost is LF- (black) then LF+(red) then Mid- (black) then Mid+ (red) then HF- (black) then HF+ (red) going from right to left.

Break-In

The Nola Viper loudspeakers require a break-in time of at least 100 hours for best performance. There will be a significant difference in the first 24 hours, with the sound becoming easier and more open. Use an amplifier of 100 watts or more at moderately loud levels with a dynamic movie sound track (such as Patriot Games) for fastest break-in. Use of low power amplifiers, while fine for listening, will generally extend the break-in time.

Placement

For most accurate sound staging, the loudspeakers should be placed firing straight out (no toe-in) at up to 1/3 into the room from the front wall. Experiment with placement to optimize the performance in your room. As you bring the speaker closer to the front wall (behind the speaker), bass will increase but depth and transparency will decrease. Allow as much distance as possible from the side walls. Often best performance is with the speakers along the long wall of the room. Due to the rear radiation of the dipole midrange and tweeter, a small amount of damping may be required on the wall behind the speakers. This could take the form of a wall hanging or of light thin drapes covering part of the wall. Too much damping will result in a dead, lifeless sound and too little will be bright and harsh. The loudspeakers should be placed so that the tweeters are on the inside of the pair.

Note: for maximum openness and transparency, remove both front and rear grilles.