In wall speakers.

[Gingerbread Man]

My lounge is being changed about which doesn't really leave much room for the rear speakers. I'm used to having a 5.1 setup for the TV, but this will be a second watching room for day to day watching. I hope to once funds materialise, have a home cinema setup downstairs, but wanted to change the current 3.1 setup to a 5.1 with two rears when the lounge is complete.
Having speakers hanging from the vaulted ceiling isn't what I'm after, or on stands, so with the rear of the lounge roughly 1.8 from the rear wall, I thought about using two in wall speakers to complete the setup up here. The walls are all open, so I'll run the cable for now, but just wondering if anybody had any rough wise words?
The front speakers aren't anything special at the mo (Mordaunt Shorts), but they're much better than TV sound.

[psi310398]

It is hard to find very high quality in-wall speakers.

I installed some Naim in-wall speakers for my Naimnet system in my last place a few years ago. They are very high quality and the grilles can be painted to match the rest of the wall. IIRC they were designed to take the main stereo output from a 120W Naimnet amp, so I'd imagine they'd be fine for rear speaker purposes:

https://www.naimaudio.com/news/16962/naim-audio-la...

I ensured that there was a fair amount of acoustic wadding around the speakers to damp down any stray resonances but they are closed units, unlike most, and I've not heard of problems if you don't.

I'm not sure Naimnet has been a vast commercial success, and you might find a cheapish pair languishing in a Naim dealer's stockroom somewhere.

[mgv8]

https://www.themovierooms.co.uk/speakers/in-wall-s...

https://www.audioaffair.co.uk/speakers/custom-inst...

A few choices, should sound amazing but do call vendors for advice.

[tonyg58]

Loads of in-wall speakers available in various qualities from several manufacturers.
However if it's only for a pair of rear speakers i wouldn't spend too much on them.

You can get a pair of B+W CWM 362 for £250, they'll be more than adequate for the job with your current system.

[irocfan]

probably no help at all but when we had the house renovated I had the electrician channel out the wall for wiring and now I've got KEF 'eggs' mounted on the wall with, maybe, 3" of wire coming out of the wall and into the speaker. IMO it looks quite neat

[cerbfan]

I'm rebuilding my house at the moment and currently building these to install for front, centre and rear channels built into the walls https://www.madisoundspeakerstore.com/coaxial-spea... . Going with the fully upgraded crossovers for the front channels and standard for the rears, they should sound superb for the price point and being a co-ax design are meant to be excellent off axis and be superior to far more expensive in-wall speakers. This obviously takes a lot of work however to fit into the wall so won't be feasible for most people, the other thing I need to do is devise metal paintable grills so that sit flush with the wall to hide them as much as possible.

Hoping they will be unobtrusive and sound good for music and tv when finished especially if I can talk my Wife into letting me put the Paradigm Sub 15 in the room!

[clived]

I've heard a 5.1 system using the in-wall version of the PMC Wafer 2's. Worth a listen if you're serious about getting a half decent sound from an in-wall install.

[Magicmushroom666]

I had a system with these which was very good:
https://www.monitoraudio.com//en/product-ranges/co...

I made the walls with them in mind, and put 15mm ply behind the plasterboard, and plenty of lagging. Worked a treat and very discrete with the covers in place.

[Explorer1959]

I have a pair of Linn Diskreets in a second room. Can’t fault them.

Available square or round.

[VEX]

Just about to do a room with GoldenEar Single Point Source In-Walls. So I’ll let you know.

As others have said though, Monitor Audio, Kef, B&W, PMC etc everyone really claim to have high end inwalls, it just depends on your preferred sound as to which one you’ll like the best.

V.

[Gingerbread Man]

Was planning on insulating the walls with a Rockwall type insulation. Plasterboard inner and hardwood clad outer. Anything that helps or hinders the sound?

[VEX]

Speaker with Back-Cans will also help, so they project all thier sound forward and little back.

[Gingerbread Man]

VEX said:

Speaker with Back-Cans will also help, so they project all thier sound forward and little back.

Ok thanks. I'll do some research.
I'll look at some speakers for the patio while the walls open to run cables

[VEX]

I am one of a few dealers on here, so happy to help out sourcing kit if you need to.

V

[hyphen]

^^ Chris (Vex) is a top bloke. Will sort you out.

Magicmushroom666 said:

I had a system with these which was very good:
https://www.monitoraudio.com//en/product-ranges/co...

I made the walls with them in mind, and put 15mm ply behind the plasterboard, and plenty of lagging. Worked a treat and very discrete with the covers in place.

I have a sealed CP versions of these (WT260) in the loft (on my TODO list, i have a long todo list ).

Not a fair comparison ofcourse,, but when they arrived I hooked em up to a Naim digital all in one which normally outputs to a pair of PMC FB1+, wasn't that impressed.

Summary: Fine for rear duty if want in-wall, but (in my opinion) know it is a compromise and for the money, on wall will be better. So if fussy, spend more on in-wall then you would have for on-wall.

Edited by hyphen on Monday 24th June 23:39

[Gingerbread Man]

VEX said:

I am one of a few dealers on here, so happy to help out sourcing kit if you need to.

V

I'm down under, so that might put a spanner in the works, but a very kind offer.

[StescoG66]

Will declare an interest here - I work for Fyne Audio. We are about to launch a home install range based on both our 300 and 500 series drivers. Having heard the development mules they do sound good, particularly the isoflare models.