Hi
It was hard to choose which forum to place this question in, I hope this is the best choice.
I am considering installing Inwall Speakers in our living room.
There is one thing that I wonder about tho:
Inwall Speakers indeed look better,
but does it mean that we lose on sound quality, because the speakers are inside the wall?
For comparison, assume that you can get regular Shelf/Floor speakers from company X which you love,
and that you can also get the same speaker drivers (from that same company X), but in an Inwall version.
So the only difference between the first and the second option,
is whether the speakers are made of wood and are out of the wall (Shelf/Floor),
vs the speakers do not have a wood box, and are Inwall.
I hope some people here have experience in order to shed more light on this..
Thank you very much
It was hard to choose which forum to place this question in, I hope this is the best choice.
I am considering installing Inwall Speakers in our living room.
There is one thing that I wonder about tho:
Inwall Speakers indeed look better,
but does it mean that we lose on sound quality, because the speakers are inside the wall?
For comparison, assume that you can get regular Shelf/Floor speakers from company X which you love,
and that you can also get the same speaker drivers (from that same company X), but in an Inwall version.
So the only difference between the first and the second option,
is whether the speakers are made of wood and are out of the wall (Shelf/Floor),
vs the speakers do not have a wood box, and are Inwall.
I hope some people here have experience in order to shed more light on this..
Thank you very much
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The best way to think of in wall applications is to treat them in the same way as car speakers insomuch as they are built to work in a variety of instalations and results will vary with no " fixed " parameters to work with such as would be the case using a box .
Sound will depend on the construction of the wall, gap behind them insulation etc . Prices vary enormously from a few pound for brands like e audio ( rubbish ) up to hundreds for B&W , Yamaha and other well known companies .
Some are housed in " pods " which enable them to work with a more defined " sound " but will still be affected by wall resonance and materials.
No doubt there are companies out there that can get a good sound out of them but would probably involve rebuilding your entire house around the speaker and cost enormous amounts of cash.
Having said that for non critical listening and a high WAF worth a bit of experimentation
Sound will depend on the construction of the wall, gap behind them insulation etc . Prices vary enormously from a few pound for brands like e audio ( rubbish ) up to hundreds for B&W , Yamaha and other well known companies .
Some are housed in " pods " which enable them to work with a more defined " sound " but will still be affected by wall resonance and materials.
No doubt there are companies out there that can get a good sound out of them but would probably involve rebuilding your entire house around the speaker and cost enormous amounts of cash.
Having said that for non critical listening and a high WAF worth a bit of experimentation
Interesting, thank you.
When comparing Inwall speakers installed in a Wood or Plaster wall, vs Inwall speakers installed in a Concrete Blocks wall,
will it be correct to say that the first option (Wood/Plaster) will generally sound better than Concrete Blocks?
And another thing:
I have seen many places that sell Inwall speakers,
but I have not seen yet the plastic "back" box that closes the speaker, from the internal part of the wall..
Are those sold too? If yes what is the name for that?
Are those the pods that you mentioned?
Are they made of plastic or wood?
When comparing Inwall speakers installed in a Wood or Plaster wall, vs Inwall speakers installed in a Concrete Blocks wall,
will it be correct to say that the first option (Wood/Plaster) will generally sound better than Concrete Blocks?
And another thing:
I have seen many places that sell Inwall speakers,
but I have not seen yet the plastic "back" box that closes the speaker, from the internal part of the wall..
Are those sold too? If yes what is the name for that?
Are those the pods that you mentioned?
Are they made of plastic or wood?
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I would assume concrete walls would be best as it would give the most solid structure around the unit with less chance of the surround material colouring the sound , i am no expert when it comes to wall speakers though . The pods are normally plastic and are included or sometimes sold as fire guards as an extra option. Most stuff i buy comes from Amazon so i would have a look if you are able , this is where i have seen this type of speaker / pod . Even if you can't buy from Amazon at least you should come across the type i am describing to get some visual indication and ideas.
Thank you very much for the answers and for this article.
It reinforced my intuition that leaving Inwall speakers with an "open back" is not a good idea,
and also that plastic enclosure will indeed be inferior to a wood enclosure
This will require abit more work than regular speakers, but will give a much neater result visually.
I will custom create a wooden box for the back part of the speakers.
It reinforced my intuition that leaving Inwall speakers with an "open back" is not a good idea,
and also that plastic enclosure will indeed be inferior to a wood enclosure
This will require abit more work than regular speakers, but will give a much neater result visually.
I will custom create a wooden box for the back part of the speakers.
Yes, isolating the speakers from the walls can be important but it can be done. One of the challenges of cabinet construction is coupling the drivers to the enclosure as vibration is transferred through the basket.
In wall can eliminate diffraction that would occur around a cabinet. Several advantages here compared to a plain box. It has to be done properly though.
Good to see in the link that reasonable looking speakers are shown. Typically available ceiling speakers are co-axial, but done poorly and that would be a deal breaker IMO.
In wall can eliminate diffraction that would occur around a cabinet. Several advantages here compared to a plain box. It has to be done properly though.
Good to see in the link that reasonable looking speakers are shown. Typically available ceiling speakers are co-axial, but done poorly and that would be a deal breaker IMO.
Do we want the vibration to be transferred, or do we want to prevent it?
(you are talking about the vibration being transferred to the enclosure? e.g. a wood enclosure that is fixed in the wall)
Yes, where the speaker meets the cabinet. By necessity that is usually the edge of the basket but it could be made to be the magnet. The cabinet should be inert and immovable but this is a big ask. Where the cabinet resonates, odd things happen with regards to where and how much sound finds its way about.
Broadly speaking it's good to mount solidly for bass, and loosely for midrange. On top of that some drivers are asked to produce both, and the cabinet resonances are often somewhere within this range. It can take some experimentation.
In your shoes I'd consider producing some or all of the box separately attached within the wall on damped mounts, but maybe I'm getting ahead of things. It was the thought of causing the whole wall to resonate that seemed most worth mentioning.
Broadly speaking it's good to mount solidly for bass, and loosely for midrange. On top of that some drivers are asked to produce both, and the cabinet resonances are often somewhere within this range. It can take some experimentation.
In your shoes I'd consider producing some or all of the box separately attached within the wall on damped mounts, but maybe I'm getting ahead of things. It was the thought of causing the whole wall to resonate that seemed most worth mentioning.
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Really interesting..
but I do not like strong bass, so I usually set the equalizer to have it mild.
So that means that the wooden enclosure would have to be loosely fixed to the wall?
So it means that the fixing material will not be concrete but something more flexible?
(Silicone glue? like used for insulation from water)
In my case I intend to use Full Range speakers,
but I do not like strong bass, so I usually set the equalizer to have it mild.
So that means that the wooden enclosure would have to be loosely fixed to the wall?
So it means that the fixing material will not be concrete but something more flexible?
(Silicone glue? like used for insulation from water)
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