Slim on-wall speaker recommendations?

Gilbers

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I'm looking into the possibility of mounting speakers behind an acoustically transparent projector screen, but I have the following limitations:
  • The speakers can't go in the wall, so they need to be an on-wall design.
  • The space behind the screen is very limited, so I want the slimmest design possible (ideally less than 10cm)
  • The speakers will be used at least as much for music as movies, so they need to provide reasonable hi-fi performance. My alternative is to mount traditional speakers with good vertical dispersion (e.g. KEF LS50s) below the screen, so that would be the benchmark I'm looking to approach.
I'm aware that such slim speakers will need a decent sub to reinforce the bottom end and I already have an SVS SB3000 for that purpose.

Room size: 3m x 5m
Budget: Up to £1000 per speaker

Candidates I have identified so far:
  • Lyngdorf MH-2/MH-3 (do these really need a Lyngdorf boundary sub to work well, or would they be ok with the SB3000?)
  • MK M70
  • MK MP950
  • Monitor Audio SoundFrame
  • KEF T-301 (although I've pretty much discounted these on the basis that some reviews say they are poor for music)
  • Tribe Totem II (only in-budget if I can find some second-hand)
Are any of these credible hi-fi speakers, or should I just go with the traditional speaker approach? Have I missed any better options?
 
No advice on particular speaker models...

But another option might be to look at in-wall speakers mounted in a shallow false wall. I do this with my in-walls which are mounted into a large sheet of MDF (cut to the same size as the screen) which sits about 10cm out from the wall, over which I hang the AT screen.

For example there are several MA in-walls that are only 100mm deep. As they will be mounted to the front of the MDF sheet the distance between the wall and the back of an 18mm MDF sheet need only be 82mm, which is roughly 2 lengths of 45mm timber sat on top of each other with a few mm of leeway.

You could either get in-walls with back boxes or design the false wall to act as an individual cavity/back box for each speaker. The pivoting tweeter on some of the the MA models may also be an advantage if you have a narrow room.

Whatever way you go, in-wall or on-wall, I can say that hiding them behind an AT screen is an approach that has worked well for me, so I don't think you should have concerns there. No one ever thinks my screen is floating in front of the actual wall as they can't really see the sides and straight on it just looks like the screen is flush mounted again the wall.
 
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Thanks @jamieu - that's definitely something to look into. Out of interest, how much gap have you allowed between the front baffle of your speakers and the fabric of your screen?
 
Thanks @jamieu - that's definitely something to look into. Out of interest, how much gap have you allowed between the front baffle of your speakers and the fabric of your screen?

Very little, I hang/mount the AT screen directly onto the MDF sheet, so pretty much the distance from the back of the screen frame to the front of the screen fabric.

Obviously this isn't the accepted ideal and in difference circumstances I may do it differently — there is (at least on paper) a risk of the screen being placed so close that it affects the dispersion pattern of the tweeters and the bass drivers blowing the screen fabric.

In practice I haven't found either to be an issue and if you think about it we never worried (too much) about it when placing fabric speaker grills in front of our traditional HiFi speakers, so why the obsession about it when using an AT screen. To me it's a trade off that gives significant benefits with little downsides, or at least downsides that I can say I have noticed from day to day use. If you're planning on placing huge subwoofers behind an AT screen that's another matter entirely.
 
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I know they are a bit thicker than 10cm (142mm), but have you considered the Dali Rubicon LCRs? Those would be firmly on my shopping list if I was looking for on-walls that are good with both music and movies.
 
I know they are a bit thicker than 10cm (142mm), but have you considered the Dali Rubicon LCRs? Those would be firmly on my shopping list if I was looking for on-walls that are good with both music and movies.
Thanks - they do look great, but unfortunately I can’t move the screen any further off the wall due to my PJ already being at max zoom.
 
The Soundframe 1's are a firm favourite here for customers that want great sound but also something that is discrete looking who don't have the inclination to build the walls out to support in-wall speakers.

We install these regularly and always keep a good volume in stock. My wife has the smaller units in her office with pics of the little one on them (as if they were a framed pic).

I was going to also propose the Opticon MK2 LCR or if your budget permitted, the same as Tolq with the Rubicon LCR's but they're 128mm and 142mm in depth which you can't squeeze in.

The SF1's are 88mm deep - you can run them with the grille off should you desire too. They're larger in overall surface area than the others but with this, a really controlled sound output.

Adjustable mid/HF units too which helps with the "toe in" on a flat-to-wall speaker.
 
Not those but we’ve got the Vertex 3 in-wall from ELAC in store in our demo room.

We love their ribbon and the sound is incredibly punchy throughout the wide dynamic range.

Thanks! The on-walls look like they use similar drivers to the Vertex, including the JET tweeter, so hopefully they sound similarly impressive. It's just a pity you don't carry that model because the form factor looks ideal for what I need.
 
As an ELAC dealer, we have access to the entire product set. We just don’t advertise every single product from every single manufacturer online.

If that’s a product you’re interested in - I’d be happy to get some quotes and lead times for you. Please feel free to DM me :)
 
Very little, I hang/mount the AT screen directly onto the MDF sheet, so pretty much the distance from the back of the screen frame to the front of the screen fabric.

Obviously this isn't the accepted ideal and in difference circumstances I may do it differently — there is (at least on paper) a risk of the screen being placed so close that it affects the dispersion pattern of the tweeters and the bass drivers blowing the screen fabric.

In practice I haven't found either to be an issue and if you think about it we never worried (too much) about it when placing fabric speaker grills in front of our traditional HiFi speakers, so why the obsession about it when using an AT screen. To me it's a trade off that gives significant benefits with little downsides, or at least downsides that I can say I have noticed from day to day use. If you're planning on placing huge subwoofers behind an AT screen that's another matter entirely.
Interesting do you have any pictures please?
 
Interesting do you have any pictures please?

These are some picture of the build before I painted the room, hopefully it gives an idea.

Not sure the Rockwool was needed or does anything useful, but as my speakers had their own back boxes I wanted to fill the empty void so picked up a roll while I was buying the wood for the back frame.

I built the wooden frame in such a way as to allow the MDF sheet — which has a strip of wooden baton running along it's back edge — to first hang into place. You can see the shelf / lip it rests on if you look closely at the top of the frame in the first three photos. Once in place the MDF was secured firmly with screws, but by adding that 'shelf' or 'lip' it made it much easier to first lift the MDF sheet into position.

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These are some picture of the build before I painted the room, hopefully it gives an idea.

Not sure the Rockwool was needed or does anything useful, but as my speakers had their own back boxes I wanted to fill the empty void so picked up a roll while I was buying the wood for the back frame.

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Interesting
 
As an experienced MK/Lyngdorf dealer I wonder if @Seriously Ltd can comment on the relative merits of the MK and Lyngdorf options I've listed in my first post? The tiny size of the Lyngdorf satellites in particular is appealing, but I'm concerned they will only work well when combined with boundary woofers and a RoomPerfect equipped amp (as opposed to the SVS SB3000 and Antherm MRX310 that I currently have.)
 
Hi Gilbers,

For cinema use we would choose the M&K over the Lyngdorf as higher output and neutral sounding speakers.

The M70 is a great speaker and very slimline.

The MP950 is a noticeable step up in performance. as it uses the same drivers for as the legendary M&K150 speaker system. If budget allows then this would be the way forward.

The M&K’s will outperform the other speakers mentioned. They will also have a wider dispersion.

They will require a subwoofer.

The SVS is great value for money and we do supply many of these. The M&K V10+ are awesome and will be available soon.

The pricing still to be confirmed.

Rich@SeriouslyCinema
 

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