Has anyone tried In-Wall speakers?

I know this is off the wall, but I caught sight of a sale on some Definitive Technology in-wall speakers. Normally I would never have considered such a thing, thinking of dull, 'Muzak', store type sound, but these were expensive ON SALE! So I looked and they claimed something like 26Hz to 30kHz range with a coaxial speaker. This got me to thinking, that if one was short of space to set or mount speakers, would these work? A quick check on Def-Techs offerings showed an amazing array of combinations available, as well as other manufacturers. So I ask, has anyone tried 'em?

~Scott

Hi Scott,

I have Def Tech in-walls installed as rear surrounds in my home setup and for "presence" speakers in our church Hauptwerk installation underway. They work quite effectively for this purpose. For the main speakers, I have Def Tech SM 65s both at home and at the church.

I'm not sure I'd use in-wallls for the main speakers in a system.

How does the sound differ? In other words, what makes them inadequate?

~Scott

Hi Scott,

I can't comment on the likely physics behind why in-wall speakers don't reproduce organ tone quite as cleanly as bookshelf or other free-standing speakers. There are probably some here who can? My suggestion would be for you to find someone near you who has implemented in-wall speakers with Hauptwerk and do your own assessment of whether they perform to your expectations. That would save you some potential disappointment.

Have you seen this thread from a few years ago?

http://forum.hauptwerk.com/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=10333&p=76037

I've purchased a few Monoprice products, mainly cables and have been impressed with their quality. I also like their philosophy of offering quality products at a cost of 50%, or close to it, of comparable name brand products. They have a line of powered studio monitors 5" or 8" woofers whose specs compare the M-Audio BX8. Of course this thread is about in-wall speakers.

I think in wall speakers is a neat concept. It certainly has an aesthetic appeal. Now that MOTU has an interface of 24 separate output channels (which can be bridged to add even more), whats missing is a corresponding multi-channel amp. At least I'm not aware of any. The author of the thread that I pasted in found a way to build a multi-channel amp to fit this need. Would love to hear any updates on that project.

Danny B.

Hi Scott,

I can't comment on the likely physics behind why in-wall speakers don't reproduce organ tone quite as cleanly as bookshelf or other free-standing speakers. There are probably some here who can? My suggestion would be for you to find someone near you who has implemented in-wall speakers with Hauptwerk and do your own assessment of whether they perform to your expectations. That would save you some potential disappointment.

Hey Chris, good suggestion, only there is NObody near me with a Hauptwerk setup!!! In fact, there is nobody near me at all! To top it off, I don't know anyone in any of the big cities that have built in speakers, or plays organ, or.....

That is why I keep asking questions. All I can do is research stuff on the internet, but that isn't the same as auditioning the real thing. Heck, the little town I live close to has graffic signs to say "No Riders on Horseback" on all the drive-thrus! (In case they can't read!) Oh, but they DO have BOTH kinds of music! Country and Western!

~Scott

It looks like the mounting of the speakers was either calculated or serendipitously provided the speakers with the proper space to act as an 'enclosure. A wall mounted speaker with no consideration of the enclosure space needed would probably not sound so good.

viewtopic.php?f=21&t=10333&p=76037

Studio monitors sound good I expect because the speaker, enclosure and amplifier are all contributing to the desired responses.

Thomas

Two considerations, 1 - vibration and 2 - resale of home as in removing and patching (holes).

Rgds,
Ed

Hi all, no, there was no specific calculations for the speakers, I just followed the manufacturers suggestions for installation. While these speakers are designed for very little space behind them, if installed individually they generally do have space above and below them. In my instance, I was concerned having multiple speakers in the same enclosure, so I 'insulated' each speaker from its neighbour's with regular household insulation (rolls) that I got at homedepot.

While I am extremely happy with my results (about 4 years now), I did go through about 8 or so different brands before I settled on these. All the other brands sounded very much the same (lifeless in my opinion), even to the point the rest of my family could tell the difference. And they all cost around the same, as I remember - around $25 each, which is $50 a pair (in bulk quantities).

In my instance there were no holes etc. made in the walls. I created a false wall in front of the house wall, and it is the false wall that the speakers are mounted in. If I remember correctly, the false wall holds its self up, so I just used 2 screws (one on each side) to anchor the false wall to the original

I have since expanded the system, so in the next few days I'll Try and update my original posting with the additional info.

Regards,
Mel

Mel- we would all love an update! There are a few people floating around the forum that have what I would call "benchmark" or "If only..." type setups. Yours is one of those

Some have raised the concern over sound bleed into the walls. There are in wall speakers that are designed in a sealed fashion to prevent this. I haven't looked at all the def techs to see if they are the same.

I've always wanted to build my own home. If I do, there will be a formal music room with two in-wall def tech subs and possibly many more in-wall speakers arrayed over one wall, or at least a high shelf or beam to place some of their bi-polars. I do think it a mistake to assume that just because a speaker is "in-wall" that that doesn't mean high quality sound. There are many premium speaker builders who specialize in-wall designs for high-end homes. Clearly there is something to it.

I've always wanted to build my own home.

If you do remember to get the sub-woofers in first: http://www.martinloganowners.com/forum/ ... here/page5

Regards,