Advice on in wall speakers and setup for new build

steinybot

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Hi,

We are building a new house an my wife has said that my Wharfedale Diamond 10's have to go and that she only wants in-wall speakers in the new house.

Our lounge / media room is 3.95m x 3.81m. The TV will be mounted on the longer wall.

The issue I have is that the left wall has a big recessed sliding door and the right wall has floor to ceiling windows so I'm not going to get any in-wall speakers in either of those walls.

I'm guessing my only option is to go 5.1.2 with the surrounds in the rear wall and hope to get enough angle on them to be pointed at the listening position and be within the 90-110 degree range.

Screen Shot 2022-05-12 at 2.21.05 PM.png


I'll be using my Denon AVRX1600H which only supports 7 channels plus the sub.

Where is the best place for an in-wall subwoofer? The idea sounds ridiculous, I know I'm going to have significantly lower sound quality with in-wall but sadly that is not up for debate.

I also have no idea what in-wall speakers to look at. I really loved the Wharfedale's I had so maybe something from their in-wall range would be good. I don't want to spend too much and I'm in New Zealand so options can be limited.

I think I'm going to need something that can be directed for the surrounds. Do these exist?


Cheers
 
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In-wall subwoofers are terrible, performance wise. Maybe you could convince your wife to accept two smaller (regular) subwoofers instead of a bigger one? That would allow you to move them around to find the perfect spot. Or even if not, as long as they are relatively small you could hide them behind the sofa?
 
I'm not sure if your wife absolutely want the subwoofers hidden in wall but there are threads on avsforums with DIY in wall thinner subs, might be able to build a scale down version of some of the ideas?

 
You have some good options from KEF CI series to old school Dali Phantoms and a lot in between.

I'm guessing you have already accepted the in wall sub won't be as good as a stand alone but again depending on your budget...

I'm going to TRY AND convince the wife on Rel s218 in satin white to go with the decor. If that fails. It will be two in wall subs with a dedicated amp and ill wire for two more.. In an ideal world ill go for something like this for in wall subs.
Most likely it will be around the 3k mark for me for a sub



JL FATHOM IN WALL SUBS
 
Good in wall speakers will give many benefits over in room speakers without any detriment to performance.

Procella, M&K, Theory, Pro Audio Tech, L-Acoustics to name some.

There are also some excellent in wall subwoofers available.
 
Get a decent sub (such as the SVS PB200Pro, which I have) and find a way of making it multi-purpose? Such as stick in in the corner of the room with a nice potted plant on top. Or by the side of a sofa, to use as a coffee/side table.

The sub will make a massive difference, so if you can negotiate one compromise, make that it.

In terms of in-wall speakers, Monitor Audio make a great range with rotatable mid/tweeter modules, which could help with directing sound toward MLP, such as these:


I personally have Focal 300 series in-walls, which I am thrilled with. They are running off the same Denon AVR you have. I have achieved a better angle by recessing the mounting face at an angle, as you can see below:

1652826415797.png
 
Thanks for the responses.

I also had an idea about recesses for the in-walls to get a better angle. That idea was vetoed.

I'm having a meeting with the builder today to see if we can get some clearance for in-walls in the sides for the surrounds. The layout is:
Screen Shot 2022-05-24 at 12.03.46 PM.png


The walls are only 90mm thick so I need something with a minimal clearance. A custom housing is unlikely to work.

Regarding the in-wall subwoofer, it is proving to be a bit costly. There aren't many choices and they require a separate amplifier.

We are building a custom wall hung entertainment unit. I'm wondering if it is going to be feasible to add an additional section for a subwoofer. This will need to be down firing to suit WAF. I'd add a cutout in the bottom of the unit and some vibration pads. The unit is 200mm off the floor. Would this work?
Screen Shot 2022-05-24 at 12.06.28 PM.png



For a total system I was thinking about this:
  • 2x Polk Audio 265-RT (L/R)
  • 1x Polk Audio 255c-RT (C)
  • 2x Polk Audio RC85i (Surrounds)
  • 2x Polk Audio RC80i (Atmos)
  • 1x Polk Audio DSW PRO 660 wi (Subwoofer)
I have read a few things saying that Polk Audio in-walls are pretty good value for money.

Thoughts?
 
Recessing the front mounting face at an angle would give a hard reflection off the recess lip similar to a centre channel in the middle on top of a AV unit (ie not flush to the front edge of the AV unit)

The correct way to properly angle front L & R in-wall's (could also be done in the rear wall to angle your side surrounds if no space available on the side walls) is like Home Theater Guru who knows his stuff. Building angled pillars on the left and right of the front wall -
Screenshot_2022-05-24-09-13-56-61_7a4090f09f6554852d748ee9fd6f40d3.jpg

Screenshot_2022-05-24-09-14-33-11_7a4090f09f6554852d748ee9fd6f40d3.jpg

But I'm guessing you wouldn't get vetoed WAF for that either. Hopefully you and your builder can come up with some compromises. I'm sure the lounge/media room will still turn out really good.
 
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The Focal's IW6 range would be my suggestion with your Denon as they're one of the easiest speakers to drive which offer scale and presence. The woofer on the other hand will be a little more difficult but I would suggest a couple of the Monitor Audio IWS-10/IWB-10 and a single the IWA-250

As for placement, using the 300 IW6 speakers at the rear means you can swivel the tweeter allowing easier placement, so you shouldn't see this as a problem and for the front, the distance should be sufficient not to worry about required locations if that is worrying you at all

The other side about getting the best in-wall speakers you can afford is that when you upgrade your AV Receiver, you will never feel wanting as it's usually very hard to upgrade in-wall speakers at a latter date.

Another note about the Atmos side, just ensure you use the larger version of the speaker you are choosing. Many that go with the smaller option usually feel they should have gone with the next size up. So always look to the (approximately) 8" driver and don't feel you need to stay with the same brand as the rest of your speakers as this isn't necessary as differences from one brand to another shouldn't be noticeable unlike using the smaller option. If you are also looking at installing a .4 Atmos speaker system, you might as well get ready for the VOG setup and add a top centre making it a .5 in-ceiling speaker configuration then when you upgrade your AV Receiver in the future, this side should hopefully become mainstream across all atmospheric sound solution
 
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I have managed to make the sliding door smaller to allow some space in the cavity for mounting the surrounds in the side walls. I'm not worried about physically angling the whole mount anymore. An aimable tweeter might still be good as I don't have much freedom.

Thanks for the advice about speaker choice.

The Focal 300 series is very expensive to get here in New Zealand. For the 7 speakers (excluding the subwoofer) it is over $10,000 NZD. I could get the 100 series for about $4,500. I can get the Polks delivered to NZ off of Amazon for only $2,700. Even if the Focal 300's are 4 times as good, my budget won't go that far. I could go up to around $5,000.

As for going to .4 or .5 Atmos, it sounds great but I don't enough space behind the viewing position to get near the minimum 125 degrees required. The .2 will be have to be good enough for the foreseeable future.
 
Your right, that's a few pennies. I feel you'll have to go with your gut on this one as you know what's available within your budget.
 
Just use Kef uni q in walls and then angling them doesn't make any appreciable difference.
 
Would it be possible to change the wall hung unit for a floor mounted one? You could make it higher with the electronics at the bottom leaving a top section for three sealed units in which to mount in wall speakers. If you still want the suspended look, you could make it slightly longer to make room for everything in two tiers. In wall (or in ceiling) speakers make a very nice noise when you put them into a solid enclosure rather than a plasterboard wall, as I did here:
 
Thanks for the responses.

I also had an idea about recesses for the in-walls to get a better angle. That idea was vetoed.

I'm having a meeting with the builder today to see if we can get some clearance for in-walls in the sides for the surrounds. The layout is:
View attachment 1700627

The walls are only 90mm thick so I need something with a minimal clearance. A custom housing is unlikely to work.

Regarding the in-wall subwoofer, it is proving to be a bit costly. There aren't many choices and they require a separate amplifier.

We are building a custom wall hung entertainment unit. I'm wondering if it is going to be feasible to add an additional section for a subwoofer. This will need to be down firing to suit WAF. I'd add a cutout in the bottom of the unit and some vibration pads. The unit is 200mm off the floor. Would this work?
View attachment 1700628


For a total system I was thinking about this:
  • 2x Polk Audio 265-RT (L/R)
  • 1x Polk Audio 255c-RT (C)
  • 2x Polk Audio RC85i (Surrounds)
  • 2x Polk Audio RC80i (Atmos)
  • 1x Polk Audio DSW PRO 660 wi (Subwoofer)
I have read a few things saying that Polk Audio in-walls are pretty good value for money.

Thoughts?

My wife wanted all my speakers and subwoofers hidden. I have MK 950 in wall speakers built into unit and two MK V12 subwoofers hidden in the unit.

DC7087AF-8FC4-451A-B31A-211D0BB50DFB.jpeg


36724B8D-2956-42B2-A904-0C01FB68F6E0.jpeg


810489E2-CC53-4D8F-ACCD-6C46166F2422.jpeg
 

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