Better In Wall Speakers (1 Viewer)

It has been about a year since I have looked for in wall speakers. It apprears to be a growing category for almost every manufacturer from Infinity to Polk to Klipsch to Martin Logan to DnyAudio.

Anyone know the latest? Who has the best sound for music and movies - something that I can have out of sight, but come to life when I power them up?

Thanks.

Triad and Snell are still considered the leaders in this category.

There is a recent article by Home Theatre magazine. They tested 8 inwall speakers. Its under "Recent Additions" on their website titled "Wall to Wall Sound".

J

IMO, RBH is the way to go.

http://www.rbhsound.com.

There are two distinct types of inwall speakers. The most common ones are those that are designed as a plate that installs directly into the sheetrock. These generally use the wall cavity as the enclosure. These units can be perfectly suitable for background music and non-critical listening as well as sometimes doing duty for surround use in HT. Ultimate performance is limited by the fact that the sheetrock chamber is quite resonant and the wall becomes a sound board.

The second type of inwall is fully enclosed in an enclosure which is then flush fit into the wall. Some of these are designed rather "thin" to fit in a deep wall or be mounted in columns or in custom front end cabinetry. Triad is certainly a leader in this field with many high quality models. We started building in wall versions of some of our free standing models several years ago for a local custom HT installer. At our customer's requests we've now added ten different enclosed in walls to our line.

Skip, Let me give you my experience so far. I am using Klipsch RF-7's and RC-7 up front, with RS-7's for my side surrounds in a 7.1 set-up. As a "wife compromise" I went with the Klipsch in-walls for the rear center (rear surround is what I call it). I originally purchased the new in-walls (R 5800) with the 8" woofers. Turns out that the manufacturing facility in China used the wrong plastic (too brittle) and there was a recall on them. (Afraid the ceiling mounted ones would fall out on someones head, I guess).

Anyway, being 2 months into remodeling my HT room, I have grown a little impatient and rounded-up a pair of the old models - the RCW-5's. Klipsch assured me that the specs for the new models and the old are identical, but that the new ones just have cosmetic differences. (new installation method, different type of switch for cutting bass/treble).

Since my HT is still in construction phase, I have not put them through their full paces. However, I was concerned about them being overpowered by the RF-7's up front. I am using a Denon 2805 to power them. I've tested them with a temporary hook-up for music and movies. I believe with proper calibration they will be just fine. I am quite happy with the sound and believe they crank-up very nicely.
My wife is now trying to sell me on replacing the RS-7's with in-walls as well. If I hadn't spent so much money on them, I would have seriously considered it. But, for my room arrangement, I think I'm better off with the dispersion speakers on the sides, and the direct radiating in- walls in the back.

I'm sure you can always find a better speaker. But, in making compromises, I don't think I will be sorry with the in-walls. They can rock if you want them to, and will do a great job with movies. Mine are mounted above a fire block in the wall, and have some insulation rolled-up, above the speakers. I was skeptical/ hesitant to go with them, but now believe it will be a good choice for me.
Good luck.

Hey mike are you going to dampen the sheet rock around the inwall speaker? The only reason i ask is will the wall have a effect on the sound since it is using the wall as the speaker box?

Sheldon, Not sure exactly what you are getting at. I haven't done anything other than some rolled-up batting/insulation tucked-in above the speaker. I am sure the wall has an effect on the speaker's sound, but so far I haven't noticed any negative results. I was concerned about vibration, but so far haven't noticed any problems.
(This is a wall shared by my garage, and it has a hole in it - where the prior homeowner had installed an exhaust fan to cool his AV equip. I ripped all that out and flip-flopped the room layout, but still have the hole - I guess you could say my in-wall [1 of them anyway] is "ported")
[I also stuffed that with some insulation and plan on covering it when I am done]

Anyway, if you have any other suggestions for what I might do with installation, I would surely be happy to hear from you. I haven't painted the grills yet, so still have some work ahead of me, and can still make some changes if necessary. I read that someone used some special adhesive for the drywall to the studs. If new installation, I would have considered the same. But, so far so good for my retrofit.

What a coincedence, I just posted here...

I have four in-ceiling speakers from Proficient Audio in my house. One pair used as surrounds, and two single point stereo speakers. I'm very happy with them, and recommend Proficient.

Mike the only reason why i ask about the dampening is because I heard that the inwalls bleed into other rooms. and I heard that dampaning them could reduce this effect?

Sheldon, I follow you now.:b Yes, you are right. I'm rather lucky because my back wall is connected to the garage and it is not an issue for me. My surrounds are to an outside wall and laundry room - so I never really considered it. I did hear my wife commenting about how loud it was in the garage when she came home the other night. So, you are definately are going to have some bleeding of sound with adjoining walls, unless you dampen it. My garage issue might be exaggerated a bit until I completely seal off that "port" hole I discussed above.
I don't believe the bleeding sound would be too excessive, but that could certainly vary with sound levels and construction. I think I have more of a problem with sound traveling through HVAC/return vents. That is when I'm forced to use my wireless headphones (ie when the kids are all asleep).

I haven't heard any yet but Energy has inwalls in the Veritas series now.

Triads are awfully good in the in wall category. I would check them out as well as the Polk LSI's which are also very popular.