What's new

Speakers - In-wall or hang? (1 Viewer)

nathanPL

Auditioning
Joined
Jul 21, 2006
Messages
5
Real Name
Nathan
After wiring my basement theater (15x23) for 7.1 I started thinking about hiding the 4 satellites in the floor joists so they would be flush with the drywall leaving only speaker grill exposed. Clearly this means they will be facing down rather than angled toward the seating, is this a problem?

Because it's a basement the ceilings are not very high and despite the rectangle size of the room the actual seating/veiwing area will be almost square. If I give careful consideration to speaker placement, will I still get quality sound with them mounted this way?

Or should I stick to low-budget convention for the best sound and wall mount them?
 

chuckg

Supporting Actor
Joined
Apr 27, 2004
Messages
921
I've seen flush-mounted surrounds and rears up in the ceiling before. Since they are not meant to be direct sound sources, but rather should add a diffuse sound field, I'd guess this would be okay.

You can try surface-mounting some speakers and see how it sounds, then build them in if you like it.
 

Bud Huey

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Jan 11, 2006
Messages
73
I think they will sound OK, unless you are trying to build an "audiophile" HT system. I would recommend hedging your bets by mounting them in the ceiling, but running wires for wall mounting too, just in case they don't sound as good as you would like. Just bury the wires in the wall where you can find them if you need to.

Good Luck,
Bud
 

Wayne A. Pflughaupt

Moderator
Premium
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Aug 5, 1999
Messages
6,818
Location
Corpus Christi, TX
Real Name
Wayne
Ceiling mounting might work okay for the rears, as long as they are no more than a foot or two behind the main seat.

Not a good idea for the fronts, though since they’re going to be 10-15 ft. away from the seating. Frequency response, resolution and imaging will suffer severely. Speakers simply are not designed to sound their best when you’re nearly 90 degrees off-axis.

Flush mounting is the best option from an aesthetics perspective, but never from a sound quality perspective, especially with the front speakers. If you must flush mount, do them in-wall, facing the seating.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt
 

Brian Osborne

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Sep 2, 2005
Messages
215
If your considering in ceiling, why not do in wall? Check out the link in my sig. I used my front speakers that I had and built them into the wall. Gave me a nice custom look without paying new money for good front inwalls. The rears and sides are from partsexpress.
FYI, most ceiling speakers you will have the ability to "aim" the tweeter at the very least, so you will have some flexibility on placement.
 

nathanPL

Auditioning
Joined
Jul 21, 2006
Messages
5
Real Name
Nathan
Thanks for the comments guys. I've decided for now to mount the surrounding speakers externally for maximum performance. The speakers are small and should they blow I have easy replacement access. I will flush mount the front speakers, but the back will be hung. They are small enough that I don't think they'll even be that noticeable.

I'll put up some pics down the road as I complete the room.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Latest Articles

Forum statistics

Threads
356,814
Messages
5,123,703
Members
144,184
Latest member
H-508
Recent bookmarks
0
Top