DIY in wall speakers

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Hello,

I am wondering if anyone has ever attempted to build their own in wall 2 ways. I am trying to build a 13.2 home theater setup and the wife wants them inside the walls.

So far it is between these two kits, the depth wont be be there because the depth of the walls (undetermined, need to measure) but I should be able to get the cu/ft correct. Not ideal but should be ok for a home theater setup with WAF.


Zaph|Audio SR71 Kit - Pair - Parts Only

Or

Seas Mimir 2-Way Speaker Kit - Pair - Parts Only


Any thoughts or ideas on DIY in walls?
 
Amended from a post by moderator Dave (planet10) from 2003:

"The issue with a shallow speaker is that the reflection off the back wall of the cabinet is sooner, and has not had as much chance to be attenuated by any damping, so there is a much greater chance of this reflection being transmitted through the cone causing a noticeable time-smear. This can be minimized with serious absorbant or a relective surface that redirects the impinging wave away from the back of the cone (I believe this is what Deflex panels do)."

http://madisound.com/pdf/deflex.pdf
 
My $.02. I tried to do this also, and it led to a whole bunch of complications with wavelengths, reflections, leakage into the walls, etc and I did not have the knowledge or the sophisticated tools and software to make it work. We moved and I sold off most of my definitive technology inwalls. I kept the LCR units and was thinking what to do with them as we just built a new house. I have the RLS II's with the larger mid/woofers. If you decide to go with a commercial set of inwalls, and decide on def tech, let me know, I may part with mine. Never been used.

Regards
 
Are your walls 2x4 or 2x6? Just asking because as stated above, shallow walls like 2x4 stud framing doesn't leave much room to work with (only a little better with 2x6). If you are looking for great sound then you really have your work cut out for you. If you just want the surround sound effect and are not too worried about great sound quality, then go for it. Just my .02
 
One of the problems with in-wall mounting is that the bass generated by the woofer excites wall rattles which can be difficult to control. Also, in-wall mounting excites the 'boundary gain' of the room in which the lower bass regions of your bass driver are emphasized. This can ill define the bass sounds you will hear which is often percieved as muddiness.
If you are going to in-wall mount your speakers keep them away from the corners of the room and make them well braced. I tried it once and found there were too many problems associated with it. Loudspeakers really need a lot free space about them to sound their best.


C.M
 
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Hello,

I am wondering if anyone has ever attempted to build their own in wall 2 ways.

Any thoughts or ideas on DIY in walls?

Greets!

Yes, though were quite large, requiring a ~300 ft^3 false wall add on, but the same principles apply.

First you build a box within a box for each speaker, i.e. open up the wall, add top, bottom framing or cut them out and create a box of framing if larger than the ~14.5"/whatever between studs. The speaker box will of course be a bit smaller, not critical, unless you need to add sound deadening around/behind it to isolate it from adjoining rooms.

Ideally you need to mass load the wall against spurious vibrations by adding one or more of layers of cement board, which will be what the speaker boxes will mount to. Add a plate or two to the back of the wall box if it's drywall. Some claim that a double layer of 3/4" MDF mounted to clips to 'float'/isolate this false wall spaced away from the room wall is better, but no personal experience, so YMMV.

If doing in ceiling Atmos, either of these would be a real pain, so my SWAG is do the 'box within a box' and maybe limit the mass loading to a one or two layer 4x4 MDF plate since any bass can be routed to the surround's, or main [if just one], sub system.

No clue about kits, though recommend this to guide you: https://www.dolby.com/us/en/technol...tmos-home-theater-installation-guidelines.pdf

GM
 
Amended from a post by moderator Dave (planet10) from 2003:

"The issue with a shallow speaker is that the reflection off the back wall of the cabinet is sooner, and has not had as much chance to be attenuated by any damping, so there is a much greater chance of this reflection being transmitted through the cone causing a noticeable time-smear. This can be minimized with serious absorbant or a relective surface that redirects the impinging wave away from the back of the cone (I believe this is what Deflex panels do)."

http://madisound.com/pdf/deflex.pdf
This problem might be cancelled by the corresponding frequencies being higher too (due to the smaller distance). Higher frequencies already are absorbed by less damping material.
 
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