Surround speakers up high on a wall

beelzerob

Senior Member
I'm very close to pulling the trigger on getting some in-wall speakers. We're tired of having the ugly speakers stands and ugly wall brackets, and want the nice clean look of in-wall speakers. In our greatroom, the inwalls will work great for front L/R (and we'll get a bookshelf center). However, I'm concerned about the surrounds.

They'll be about 10' off the floor on a wall, and about 10' back behind the listening area. It's the geometry of the room, it can't be helped. That means to have those speakers actually face the listening area, they'd have to be pointed down about 45 deg. (actually a little less, since the listening area isn't on the floor).

One thought I had was to get some Proficient audio ceiling speakers, since they have a fixed 15 deg angle and a swiveling tweeter. So, I could mount those in the wall and get a good 15 deg angle on the woofer, maybe more on the tweeter. I called Proficient to make sure in-ceiling speakers would work ok in a wall mount, and he said they would....however, he also said the thing I have to look out for is that in-ceiling speakers are deeper than in-wall. Sure enough, the ones I'd been considering have over a 4" depth. That won't work well with a 3 1/2" wall. So, here are what I consider my options to be:

1) Get the ceiling speakers and cut all the way through the wall, then create a box around the back of the speaker where it sticks through (the other side of the great room wall where the speakers will go is the master bedroom closet, so it'd be concealed).
2) Get the regular in-wall speakers which have swiveling tweeters and swivel them for all their worth..though the woofers will still be straight forward
3) Don't worry about the angle because it's just surround anyway
4) Get something smaller and surface mount it on a bracket (ick)

Any suggestions?
 
Yeah, the in-ceiling LCR speakers from Proficient are quite deep... here's a photo of the C870:

C870Back.jpg


Can you do in-ceiling speakers for the surrounds and get them closer to your listening position? If not, I'd just use an in-wall for the rear surrounds on the far wall and aim the tweeters down a bit. In reality, if the speakers are 10ft back, the sound will radiate out and pointing the tweeters will be much less critical than if they were located closer to the listening position.

I think using the deeper in-ceiling speakers in the wall will look funny and it sounds like way too much work to modify the closet wall and make back boxes!

Cheers,
Paul
 
Looks like a Gemini capsule lunar module.... :)

Well, unfortunately, putting the speakers in the ceiling would put them another 10 ft higher than the currently projected location! That particular wall starts at 9' off the first floor floor, and extends up to the 2nd floor ceiling...about 20 ft from the first floor (where the listening area is). So there was no place on the first floor to put any speakers. We'll put them as low as we can on the wall, but it'll still end up about 10' off the first floor.

Ya, I agree...it would be work, and have a slightly kludged feel if I had to build speaker boxes in the master bedroom closet. Plus it'd be some real negotiation to annex any of the closet area....that's sacred ground. :o

I guess I'll go with the LCR's in-walls then. Thanks for the tips and help!
 
pkoslow:

Are these things ok just sitting in the ceiling potentially touching the insulation? Seems like exposed life parts....no risk of fire?
 
Consider ALL of the aesthetics as well... Have you ever seen a round ceiling speaker in the wall? Not saying it can't be done, but typically ceiling is round and wall is rectangular.

Regular fiberglass batt insulation should be ok up against the speaker, but never leave an in ceiling speaker exposed to blown in insulation! I have blown in so I used speaker condoms.
 
Consider ALL of the aesthetics as well... Have you ever seen a round ceiling speaker in the wall? Not saying it can't be done, but typically ceiling is round and wall is rectangular.

Regular fiberglass batt insulation should be ok up against the speaker, but never leave an in ceiling speaker exposed to blown in insulation! I have blown in so I used speaker condoms.

Ya, I was just a little concerned about the aesthetics. I still think round speakers would look better than surface mounted ones. But I think I'm just going to go with the rectangular in-wall speakers and hope those little tweeters can pivot enough to make a difference...it is only surrround, after all.

I'm hoping my in-room ceiling speakers won't need to practice safe audio, as I took someone's advice here and put a piece of fiberglass insulation in the spot where the speakers will go. Hopefully that will prove effective in keeping the blown in out!
 
You know, if you win the lotto another solution would be a motorized speaker. There are just a few wall mounts ones (KEF makes one @ $500) but there are several round in ceiling ones to choose from. But that will certainly protrude into the closet. But the idea is the speaker will be flat on the wall when off and swivels into proper position when on.
 
pkoslow:

Are these things ok just sitting in the ceiling potentially touching the insulation? Seems like exposed life parts....no risk of fire?

As already mentioned, no problems placing these in walls or ceilings with batt installation. Proficient does offer MDF back boxes for all their in-wall and in-ceiling speakers that really helps to control sound bleed to adjacent rooms or through attic space when working with ceiling speakers, but they're not required for protection of the speaker or safety.

They also have fire rated metal boxes which are required in ceilings and adjoining walls in multi-dwelling units like condos, town homes, etc. These are also required by code in most areas for speakers that are installed in garages either in the ceiling or in the walls that join the living area.

Cheers,
Paul
 
You might also want to consider taking a less conventional approach and consider an induction speaker. Simply put, these speakers actually mount behind the drywall and are invisible. They are easy to install and are capable of handling 100 watts each with a frequency response of 60-15kHz. While that may not seem as though it would cover the entire audio spectrum that humans can hear, that is correct. Normally human hearing is from 20-20 kHz but there are no music producing instruments above about 7kHz!
While they're not exactly cheap, they work extremely well when combined with subwoofers. Try:
http://www.soliddrive.com/sd1.html or
http://www.homenetworksinc.com/proddetail.asp?prod=SDS-001
:)
 
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