in wall rears to match these speakers... (1 Viewer)

[Kevin T]

i'm considering b&w cdm-9nt or nautilus 804 and the matching center for either. my question is which in walls perform best for rears with this combination. i know b&w makes in walls and i've looked at the signature 7nt but something in my head just says...don't spend $1300 on in wall speakers! i'm pretty much set on using in walls as i don't have room for stand mounted 1nt or 805's and the on wall matching versions leave me kinda cold. can anybody recommend a good pair of in walls for rear duty?

kevin t

 

[EricHaas]

You won't get too many responses here about in-walls, because most people do not have them and haven't heard them. However, I can make a couple of comments which you may or may not find useful.

1. Surround speakers do not really need to match the fronts. So your instinct about the lack of necessity to spend all that money on the B&W's is probably a good one. Personally, I would never spend $1300 on any pair of surround speakers, but that's me.

2. You cannot get in-wall dipoles for obvious reasons, so if you want dipoles, don't get in-walls.

3. In-walls are cheaper to buy than equivalent conventional speakers because you buy the drivers and cross-overs without the enclosure. But you will probably make up the difference in installation if you do it right. A really good installation should involve actually creating an enclosure inside your wall. Not a conventional cabinet, but a framed out area.

4. Paradigm has 3 lines of in-walls, which start at about $100 a pair and go up to about $600 for the largest in their Reference line. Home Theater Direct also has 2 lines of in-walls which are very inexpensive. For surrounds, even the HTD's might do fine in your system.

Good luck!

 

[Bob_A]

Eric, interestingly, Definitive Technology makes bipolar in-wall speakers. www.definitivetech.com

 

[EricHaas]

So it is. I stand corrected. I am skeptical that you can have the same sonic benefits of traditional wall mounted dipoles, because being inside a wall, the drivers will not direct the sound to radiate off the wall surfaces. Thanks for the link.

 

[Bob_A]

My pleasure Eric. Yeah, I also wonder about how effective the in-wall will be in such a configuration.

 

[Kevin T]

fwiw, i checked around on the b&w site and sure enough they have some dipole in walls. i dunno what i'm looking for though. my dealer has a couple pair of in walls set up so i may take a listen to a few and make my decision from that. i'm gonna try to stay in the b&w family though since i can probably get a better price on a package deal. thanks for the input guys.

kevin t