To in-wall or not to in-wall, that is the question...

[head_unit]

I'm running Infinity TSS, the longer ones, plus the sub. I know the designers, and they are well designed, but due to the skinny form factor and little drivers, there is just a level of clarity missing.

I'm thinking about cleaning up the appearance of the whole business, and changing to a nice Parasound in-wall 8" 2-way (1" dome).

Heresy, I know. But big box speakers will never happen for a variety of reasons, and I feel the 8" 2-way probably will have clearer sound than the Infinity skinny towers.

BUT.

I know of course wall vibrations are a problem. My previous experience was it was not a huge problem, and somewhat counterbalanced by elimination of early reflections. A bigger problem is sound bleeding out the rear drywall, which would mean into a hallway with the bedrooms --> could be a problem watching a movie late at night.
- WITHOUT tearing out the whole drywall, what can reduce this problem (and the wall vibration problem)? Any coating goop? Absorbent foam or fiber? Or will those not make much difference?

P.S. If I changed to the in-walls, I could mount a center channel, which at the moment I don't have due to no spot for it...

[speaker dave]

At PSB we designed an accessory cabinet that went into the wall and gave a proper cabinet and better issolation. We tested bleedthrough into the next room and got huge improvement, perhaps 30dB better issolation?

Foams and such won't make a difference for bleedthrough. Adding an extra layer of MDF or drywall might help a little but your are much better submerging a full cabinet into the wall. Once sound gets into the regular wall cavity it goes up and down the channel, through the studs, etc.

Noise killer yellow (web search for it) and a secondary layer is also worth a try.

Good luck

[head_unit]

Hmm, I could look and see if there is an accessory cabinet. Otherwise, somewhat cumbersome to install. Possible, but then again it would end up with air volume too small for an 8" (I'm talking about something that would fit through the grille cutout; I'm not going to remove the whole wall at this time...)

My brother is in a similar situation. He doesn't have to worry about rear bleed-through (outside stucco wall) but would want to reduce wall vibration without redoing the whole drywall...)

[whgeiger]

You will degrade the value of your real estate investment by installing loudspeakers in that manner; instead, design and build a thin depth, wall mount enclosure(s) to house your drivers. Example follows:

6moons audioreviews: Cornu Compact Spiral

Regards,

WHG

[Cal Weldon]

I'm glad Bill posted the Cornu. I've not heard them but read many reviews, all positive. Tough build but most good things take time and effort, no?

[head_unit]

Originally Posted by whgeiger

You will degrade the value of your real estate investment by installing loudspeakers in that manner; instead, design and build a thin depth, wall mount enclosure(s) to house your drivers. Example follows:...

Where the heck is that? Some kind of demo room? Are those little computer speakers?

I mentioned building shallow enclosures, but the reaction was "I'll NEVER get around to that." And while the point about real estate is true, in this case there will be a good several decades in this house-no desire to move at all-so it's not really a big problem.

I'll look up those speakers, if painted piano black they could look good with a black TV...

[head_unit]

Originally Posted by whgeiger

You will degrade the value of your real estate investment by installing loudspeakers in that manner; instead, design and build a thin depth, wall mount enclosure(s) to house your drivers.
WHG

Ya know, I looked at this again. I was originally gonna say "no way will something like that happen here."

However you're inspiring me to think outside the BOX ha ha.

That picture does not look too attractive as-is, no offense meant. BUT if the TV was on a kind of shelf/mantel (actually hung to the studs, but seeming to rest on a shelf), the shelf/mantel could be a nice excuse to place shallow boxes up on top, which could be build sturdily.

The only thing is, depth would probably be even more of a problem than in-wall, given how shallow TVs are getting...

[mdocod]

Most TV wall mount systems put the TV at least a couple inches out from the wall... A shallow encloser could be made to match the tv panel position and angle on either side, making for a reasonably seamless appearance.