Can you turn bookshelf into in-wall speakers? (1 Viewer)

[Dennis Ho]

I have Aperion bookshelf speakers. I moved to a new house and now my entertainment room has to be re-configured. My wife does not like looking at speaker, anywhere. So I am trying to make everything as stealthy as possible.
I would like to know if I can turn these speakers into in-wall speakers. I have a wall that is about 2.5 feet thick the wall is hollow and lined with drywall. So I can cut out a hole in the wall and build a shelf in the hole to store the speaker. The hole/opening in the wall will be about 50% bigger than the speaker and there will be nothing but air behind the speaker. I can cover the opening where the speaker will sit, with speaker cloth, to hide the speaker. This will give the speakers a "built in" look.
Any opinions? Will this work?

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Yes, it will work. However, a common complaint of in-wall speakers (those designed specifically for that, at least) is that they image poorly, so I would expect the same thing if you flush-mount a regular enclosed speaker. But since yours wouldn’t quite qualify as “flush,” with the open area around them, it’s harder to say.

You can also expect to hear some tonal changes compared to when you used them normally; however, coming into a new place you could have expected that anyway.

But for all practical purposes it will work fine. As I like to say, "any surround sound is better than no surround sound!"

One thing I would do though, since you’re fabricating a new grill for the wall, remove the speaker’s grill.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[Drew Eckhardt]

You'll have an output boost of up to 6dB at lower frequencies, starting in the midrange.

If you must have in-wall speakers, buy or build something designed to go there which uses an MDF enclosure so it doesn't suffer from wall cavity resonances.

Or build a false wall covered in grill cloth a reasonable distance out from the "real" wall (4' is nice).

 

[Mitch_J]

I'm wondering if the fact that these are rear-ported speakers would have an unintended effect as to the sound coming from the back?

 

[Andy Goldstein]

rear ported? in a hole in the wall? 2 words: fer getit.

ag.

 

[Dennis Ho]

Thanks,
Any other opinions?