In-wall Speaker Help (1 Viewer)

[erikk]

Alright so I'm moving into a new home and part of this will be putting a 5.1 system into the great room/family room with a TV over the fireplace. I know almost nothing about the current gen of in-wall speakers so I need some advice on what's going to be best for my situation.

This room has 2 story ceilings with openings all over the place; I know I'm not going to get good acoustics, I've resigned myself to that. Also because of the openings all over I am probably going to have to put all the speakers except for the center at the second floor, floor level height. There's no back wall on the first floor and I don't think the front wall has space for speakers either (you can see the floorplan here: http://ekroner.net/floorplan.htm). The room will be mainly used for watching TV and movies and background music.

So what are the best inwall speakers to use in a situation like this? Obviously I'm not looking for sub advice (read my sig if you don't understand).

I would imagine that ones that can be pointed would be better than ones that can't (especially because of the fact that they are going to be so high) but from what I hear, the majority of them are pretty crappy. I heard this from a friend who is a custom installer but at the same time his experience is somewhat limited to the brands that he works with. He agrees that pointed speakers would be better but dislikes any of the ones he knows of and recommended just going with the Canton Ergo 180 in-walls (which he likes) even tho they aren't directional.

Budget is somewhat flexible; I can't go nuts on these but because I'm not going to be able to build my home theater for at least a year or two I liquidated all my HT gear and can use those funds for these. Also with these being in-wall and everything I don't want to have to upgrade them anytime in the foreseeable future. I'd say my max budget would be something like $5000 and I'd have to be getting some amazing sound out of them to even consider that level (but don't let that keep you from recommending something that is $5500, but don't recommend something that is $15000). At the same time I'd love to spend $1000 if I could really get good speakers for that.

Anyway I hope I rambled enough to get my point across. Let me know if there is anything else you need to know and thanks in advance for any suggestions.

 

[Blaine_M]

Any chance you can hang something for the rears? From a cable or something that would look nice? Personally I wouldn't want my rear speakers that far up. Is the home theater room on that floor plan actually goign to be your home theater? Or is it the rec room?

 

[Blaine_M]

There were also some good reviews of in wall speakers a few months back in HT magazine.

 

[KenLeBlanc]

I have 2 pairs of Polk Audio RC60i's in my bedroom/ensuite bathroom and I like them. They are not used for Home Theatre but just stereo listening. They do have aimable tweeters which might be nice for your situation.

Anyway I'm no expert but just thought I'd let you know that I like my Polks.

http://www.polkaudio.com/home/products.php?category=9

P.S. Nice floor plans. Looks like they pay you too much at SVS :wink:

 

[Allen_N]

I think Triads are directional aren't they? I would check those out as I've seen some very good reviews on them.

 

[Allen_N]

Also, nice house! I love that library with the 2 sided fireplace.

 

[erikk]

Blaine: the HT room in the basement will be my eventual HT room but when we get the house the entire basement will be completely empty (not even any walls). In case this wasn't clear, when I say they're be on the second floor level, I meant at the floor height of the second floor (9-10 feet up). Hanging anything down would only gain me a foot or two at most before it starts getting in the way of people walking.

Ken: I wish I could say SVS was doing THAT well but unfortunately I have to give the credit where it's due; my wife is still the big paycheck winner. That and the fact that our current house appreciated over 50% in less than 2 years is the only reason we can move to this house.

Allen: yeah we fell in love with the floorplan and had to have it, once we walked through the model. The Triads do seem to be very good speakers but I thought the only directional ones they have are designed to be in-ceiling? Can they be used in-wall? The angle on them seem pretty extreme, can you adjust that?

 

[KenLeBlanc]

Alright well if you feel like you need to spread the wealth I would accept the donation of an SVS subwoofer. I hear they are great but even with the new entry level sub, it's beyond my means. "B stock" is fine too ! Even though I am a charity case I will not however be able to provide a tax receipt. PM for shipping address if interested.

Good luck with the new house and the whole HT set-up. I'm sure you'll have many years of enjoyment in the new place.

 

[Jeff Aguilar]

Hey, I'll give my opinion.

There are three different brands of in-walls that I would suggest.

First, the ones I have heard...

KEF. Kef has what they call a Uni-Q driver. It has a tremendously wide dispersion angle. Really quite incredible. I have heard two all KEF in-wall systems and they really sounded incredible. They are not your run of the mill sounding inwalls. They even have some REALLY cool powered speakers that power out. This might be very useful for your setup. You can actually set them so they come out of the wall at a certain angle. They really sound good, did I mention that they sound really good? This year they introduced a powered di-pole speaker too!!!

Here is a link to the KEF website.

I have personally heard the reference speakers - Ci 2000's for main and center channel, the Ci 200.2's, the Ci 130's and now I put in my house the dipole inwalls - Ci 130DS.

I think that these speakers sound fantastic.

Now, if I was going to build a new house and put inwall speakers in I would want the new in wall speakers by Martin Logan. I do not think that they would work for your install situation but I really like the Martin Logan sound. I am biased, because I have floorstanding ones up front.

Martin Logan would be my first choice, but then I would want to hear the Energy Veritas inwalls compared to the KEF stuff. Prior to having Martin Logans, I had Energy Veritas for my 5 main channels. I really liked the sound of them. Now Energy has released an in-wall version.

I would look at those three models to see if they might work for you. If you had room for the fronts, I might look into the Martin Logan for the front three and then look at the kef for the rear. I understand KEF is coming out with a ribbon type inwall this year too.

Jeff Aguilar

 

[Shane Martin]

For in walls, I really like the New Polk LSI and Triads.

My friend uses a mixture of Monitor Audio floorstanding with in walls. I liked what I heard there too... Along with the SVS he bought to go with it

 

[Allen_N]

Hmm... I looked at Triad's site and they do have inwall fronts. It appears that they don't pivot though so I guess those wouldn't work. I would defintely want to get ones that were directional for my LCR.

 

[MikeNg]

Erik,

Nice layout! Do post pics when it's all done. I'd love to see what you do with it.


Do also consider inwalls/in-ceilings by RBH Sound. These guys have been around for many years (I think since the 70's) and have really great stuff. I'm outfitting my family room with the MC series inwalls for all the surround channels. I'm going with tradional boxed speakers (also from RBH/Status Acoustics) for the front channels to do double duty for 2-channel audio. As far as I know, they don't do much retail in B&M's, so they have something in common with SVS! Maybe your installer-friend has heard of them. What does he think?

IMO, the only other set of inwalls that better their MC line that I've heard is the B&W Signature line, but I don't have that kinda buget. PLUS, I haven't heard them all, so this is my lowly opinion of what I know.

Something to also consider is to ceiling mount the speakers (if you get ones that let you aim the tweets). The effect is pretty impressive (when done correctly).

Good luck with whatever you decide on...

Mike