swervyn Posted December 31, 2019 Share Posted December 31, 2019 Wondering what peoples thoughts are on using inwall speakers for the rear (l&r) surround speakers for home theatre setup? Most of the threads I can find seem to date back 4 or 5 years and no real help, so either people hate them and don't use them or are really happy with them and keep quiet about them! I am a bit stuck with positioning and they need to be mounted above a staircase about 3mt behind listening position. They will be mounted either side of a wall mounted a/c unit, I can spread them out a bit.. Not ideal but I have nowhere else to put them as is open plan behind the seating With the a/c unit already hanging off the wall I would rather something pretty discreet rather than boxes hanging into the room Have been looking at some B&W models as will be using this brand for other speakers (5.1.2), around the $900 mark for a pair: https://www.stereophonic.com.au/b-w-cwm663-in-wall-speakers-pair/ Then also spotted these on ebay: https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/8-Edgeless-Inwall-Speakers-Pair-Earthquake/163486854081?epid=14011380051&hash=item2610936bc1:g:TrQAAOSwcGhdVGPw&frcectupt=true Any thoughts please on either? Is $900 too much to spend on surrounds? I don't need top end, just something that will perform well for surround as is HT use only. Thanks for any advice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Syrot Posted December 31, 2019 Share Posted December 31, 2019 (edited) Hi swervyn, I have a full in-wall / in ceiling set up for my rears ( back and surrounds) and atmos speakers. They work as well as normal speakers so long as you make sure there are no huge open cavities behind them. Mine are all boxed in via the wall insulation. If you are limited to space for normal speakers this is a really good alternative option. The big hassle is running cables in the walls or ceiling space to the speaker locations. I spent quite a few weeks cutting channels and holes in plaster board and then patching and repainting to achieve a cable free look. As for pricing, you need to set a budget and decide on what compromise you want to make. Cheaper in wall speakers will sound crap and the high-end models can out do traditional designs. Typically $900 for a pair of in walls, should get you something decent. I use my surrounds for HT and normal listening duties. ( DVD-Audio). I also love to upmix live recordings to full Dolby surround as it makes it sound like I am really there at the concerts. I opted for some high speced Niles speakers, and are only a small step down to my fronts and centre. I have used in wall speakers from B&W, Niles, Speakercraft, Sonance and Bose. I rate the Speakercraft and Niles as the best for in wall, in ceiling from that list. Surprisingly the B &W were the least of my favourite, you can do a lot better for similar money. Edited December 31, 2019 by Syrot Grammar 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Syrot Posted December 31, 2019 Share Posted December 31, 2019 Fun time I had installing mine... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swervyn Posted December 31, 2019 Author Share Posted December 31, 2019 1 hour ago, Syrot said: Hi swervyn, I have a full in-wall / in ceiling set up for my rears ( back and surrounds) and atmos speakers. They work as well as normal speakers so long as you make sure there are no huge open cavities behind them. Mine are all boxed in via the wall insulation. If you are limited to space for normal speakers this is a really good alternative option. The big hassle is running cables in the walls or ceiling space to the speaker locations. I spent quite a few weeks cutting channels and holes in plaster board and then patching and repainting to achieve a cable free look. As for pricing, you need to set a budget and decide on what compromise you want to make. Cheaper in wall speakers will sound crap and the high-end models can out do traditional designs. Typically $900 for a pair of in walls, should get you something decent. I use my surrounds for HT and normal listening duties. ( DVD-Audio). I also love to upmix live recordings to full Dolby surround as it makes it sound like I am really there at the concerts. I opted for some high speced Niles speakers, and are only a small step down to my fronts and centre. I have used in wall speakers from B&W, Niles, Speakercraft, Sonance and Bose. I rate the Speakercraft and Niles as the best for in wall, in ceiling from that list. Surprisingly the B &W were the least of my favourite, you can do a lot better for similar money. Thanks Syrot, thankfully my install will be a lot easier than yours! Great space btw, I can see why you went inwalls I will check out those other brands, not too fussed on brand matching the rears, just not wanting to spend too much if I can avoid it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Syrot Posted December 31, 2019 Share Posted December 31, 2019 No need to brand match, I have never found this to be an issue ( some may not agree but in my experience its not a deal breaker in sound quality or performance). So long as the mains and centre are similar (mind you my mains are Monitor Audio and centre an Aperion speaker) the rears can be anything that suits your needs. Most modern AVRs will have room correction features which will balance out the sound in an HT environment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
betty boop Posted December 31, 2019 Share Posted December 31, 2019 brand matching certainly helps. ive found it helps quite a bit actually. at one stage i had different centre to mains to side surrounds to rears... getting a matching centre was a great move and then subsequently updating the sides and then rears. same goes with in ceilings too. we no longer live in the age of surrounds being just for effects. in modern object based audio mixes all speakers are used to pin point objects in space. if can do it... and most brands make speakers for whether in wall or in ceiling or on wall or conventional speakers and at a variety of budget so i see no reason not to brand match frankly. get this right and end up sitting in a bubble of sound which is just magic with way speakers just disappear and sound pans around the room. if have a set of mains that cant match go with something reasonably neutral like krix for all the rest. ps with regards in wall. my investigation found it just ends up requiring more effort and cost vs conventional on wall. but realise why folks do to achieve the less visually intruding aspect. probably best in wall setup of surrounds i have experienced is the ones made by M&K brand. that heard in audio trends some years ago in my demoing to determine what to do for 3D audio. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest niterida Posted December 31, 2019 Share Posted December 31, 2019 (edited) 15 hours ago, betty boop said: brand matching certainly helps. ive found it helps quite a bit actually. at one stage i had different centre to mains to side surrounds to rears... getting a matching centre was a great move and then subsequently updating the sides and then rears. same goes with in ceilings too. we no longer live in the age of surrounds being just for effects. in modern object based audio mixes all speakers are used to pin point objects in space. if can do it... and most brands make speakers for whether in wall or in ceiling or on wall or conventional speakers and at a variety of budget so i see no reason not to brand match frankly. get this right and end up sitting in a bubble of sound which is just magic with way speakers just disappear and sound pans around the room. if have a set of mains that cant match go with something reasonably neutral like krix for all the rest. ps with regards in wall. my investigation found it just ends up requiring more effort and cost vs conventional on wall. but realise why folks do to achieve the less visually intruding aspect. probably best in wall setup of surrounds i have experienced is the ones made by M&K brand. that heard in audio trends some years ago in my demoing to determine what to do for 3D audio. This is true - all 13 of my speakers in my 7.x.6 setup are identical (the same speaker - not just the same brand) and the difference it made was substantial. Absolutely seamless soundfield and probably the best "upgrade" I have made. And this was going from towers, large bookshelfs and smaller bookshelfs from the same manufacturer and same series to all of the smaller bookshelfs (including LCR). No you don't need to do it but IME it does sound better. Edited December 31, 2019 by niterida Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swervyn Posted January 1, 2020 Author Share Posted January 1, 2020 Thanks guys, brand match I will. Once you start having a serious look around there are so many brands, shapes, sizes & $$ of inwall speakers available it becomes mind boggling and it is doing my head in At least if I stick to B&W and have a set budget it whittles the list down to a couple of choice - much easier 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Syrot Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 (edited) Again audio is so subjective. My previous HT set up was all VAF speakers (DC and DC - X range) and yet my current set up sounds much better and balanced. Hardware driving the speakers is relatively the same. I would say the room acoustics now plays a much bigger part in the overall sounds as I can close the room off and I have applied a fair bit of a acoustic treatment to the room as well. Edited January 2, 2020 by Syrot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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