Open up the top and take out the top packaging. Needle nose pliers to pull the staples and a knife for the tape will make this easy.

Take out the top packaging. Place the carton gently on its side and open the bottom. Make sure flaps are spread out and raise the carton to an upright position. 

 Lift off the main carton and pull out the corner posts and take the cabinet out of the inner carton. 

Lay the cabinet on its back on the Ethafoam pad and line up the predrilled holes with those on the bases. Use a Phillips bit to  tightly fasten the bases to the cabinet bottoms. 

Note that the base must be attached securely to the bottom of the cabinet before the tall, heavy Ribbon is mounted, otherwise the system will be unstable.

Screw in spikes (if required) after the final location in the room is determined. Note that the inserts on the bottom of the bases are not flush so they will scratch a hard floor surface. Keep the speakers on pieces of carpet when moving them on hard surfaces. 

Need to spike on a hard surface? Look at http://www.superspikes.com

 Cut the tape around the seams of the carton. 

Open the hinged (R30) lid. In the case of R45, the top comes off completely.

 The Ribbon carton holds 2 ribbons in the case of the R30 and one in the case of the R45. The ribbons are heavy and slippery. Hold them firmly from the back and the bottom and avoid putting pressure on the front screens.

The hardware is all in one Ribbon carton and consists of: 8 spikes (¼" - 20 thread), 8 base mounting screws (1 ½" #10 wood screws), 4 small Ribbon bolts (10-24) and 2 large Ribbon bolts (5/16" - 18) plus 2 Nordost Flatline Gold Ribbon interconnects. 

 Insert the two smaller bolts (10-24 machine screws) in the lower holes and line up with the keyhole slots in the bracket on the mid-bass.

Insert the heads through the slots and then insert the larger bolt through the open slot in the top of the bracket and screw into the Ribbon back. Snug the larger bolt with your fingers but use only light pressure. The lower bolts do not need to be tightened as they are there for alignment. Also, they are tricky to get at due to the binding posts behind them.

Fold the flat conductors of the Nordost cables over each other and slide them into the holes in the 5 way binding posts on the top of the enclosure and tighten the plastic hex nuts with your fingers. Run the cables up to the binding posts on the Ribbon and repeat the procedure. 

Attach your amplifier cables to the binding posts on the rear of the midbass enclosure and you are ready to play music!

Low Waste Packaging!  Please Reuse and Recycle!

The cardboard boxes and the corner posts as well as the bracket tube are recyclable. The Ethafoam packing can be extremely useful for other uses. For instance, the bottom pads given that they are waterproof and insulating make excellent seats at outdoor events. 

The Break-in Procedure 

Breaking the speakers in will result in a smoother sound and greater bass extension and openness. Typically there is a noticeable improvement after 3 or 4 days will full breakin occurring in 3 or 4 weeks. Breakin time is a function of volume and time played.

 If you are 5' 2" tall, this is how you look against the R645.

 If you are biwiring, the top set of binding posts is for the Ribbon and the bottom for the midbass drivers. 

Take the gold grounding straps off if you are biwiring or biamping. Note how they are aligned, as the straps are tricky to get on again.

One of the most popular tweaks is upgrading the capacitor to Hovlands or Thetas type. The new capacitors will be attached directly to the positive Ribbon binding post and the positive lead from the amp. This bypasses the standard Ribbon crossover inside the enclosure. This is an easy tweak to do if you are biwiring.