Building a home theater, including a "drywall" ceiling. I've decided to mount the speakers in the ceiling. They are going to be small ones, perhaps 4" FaitalPro 4FE32.
And I started wondering. Can I simply install them and add some soft material behind, making it an "infinitely large box", or should I do (vented) boxes?
Boxes would require quite a bit of work, but would it be worth it? Is there any benefit, sound quality-wise?
Edit: dang, turns out I should be celebrating 20 years on diyaudio 😵
And I started wondering. Can I simply install them and add some soft material behind, making it an "infinitely large box", or should I do (vented) boxes?
Boxes would require quite a bit of work, but would it be worth it? Is there any benefit, sound quality-wise?
Edit: dang, turns out I should be celebrating 20 years on diyaudio 😵
For a project as describes, it is now worth the effort as they don't need to be tuned as they are not main speakers, just background.
Sorry for noob questions, but my intention was to use these as satellites and center/voice speaker in a 5.1 system. Or should I look for something else? I'd like to stick with 4" though, max 5" + a large sub. The room is 50m2 / 500sqft and will have a 5" high "step" made of gypsum/drywall around the ceiling, so the drivers will be side-firing, not downwards, like in the usual ceilings.
Your goals are likely conflicting.
The 4FE32 will have very limited output capabilities at low frequencies (this is simply a function of volume displacement - Sd x Xmax). Since you mention a large sub, I assume you want more output than a high sensitivity 4-inch can provide in this scenario.
Larger full-range drivers tend to beam at higher frequencies. If I'm understanding your layout intentions, you will be way off axis. A co-axial or a different physical layout would probably make sense. Even a car co-axial speaker could be used if you want to keep the cost low. Most of those are designed for infinite baffle conditions.
If you have a small seating area, maybe you could deal with full-range beaming through equalization alone, but I'd test it before committing to the build.
Angling your "step" so the drivers face the listeners more would help if you really want a full-range speaker.
The 4FE32 will have very limited output capabilities at low frequencies (this is simply a function of volume displacement - Sd x Xmax). Since you mention a large sub, I assume you want more output than a high sensitivity 4-inch can provide in this scenario.
Larger full-range drivers tend to beam at higher frequencies. If I'm understanding your layout intentions, you will be way off axis. A co-axial or a different physical layout would probably make sense. Even a car co-axial speaker could be used if you want to keep the cost low. Most of those are designed for infinite baffle conditions.
If you have a small seating area, maybe you could deal with full-range beaming through equalization alone, but I'd test it before committing to the build.
Angling your "step" so the drivers face the listeners more would help if you really want a full-range speaker.