# in-wall speaker mounting best practices



## Andoskyy

Hi All,

I'm starting to build my basement HT room, and have the drywall stage coming up this weekend. I plan to create in-wall boxes for the front and center speakers, then cover with the stock grills.

my question is, should i carpet the inner walls of the boxes, or can i leave them drywalled and plastered?

I'm getting SVS STS-01's which are sealed speakers, and they wont be recessed into the boxes any more than a half inch...so i don't think and echo would occur.

anyway...just wanted some best practice suggestions.

Thank you,

-Andrew


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## glaufman

I'm afraid, those boxes will act like tuned cavities and resonate, creating some very weired acoustic artifacts... I would ask over in the acoustics forum, but I would pack those boxes with dense insulation... better still, if the speakers are only going to be recessed 1/2" or so, why bother?


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## eugovector

I think he's saying 1/2 beyond the speakers face, so the grill is flush with the wall.


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## glaufman

Well, that would be a different story...


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## the colors

I am no expert but I would think if the box your putting the speaker in is very close to the dimensions of the speaker box and maybe using a little backer rod which is a round foam sealer to make it a tight seal,,,, that might work????:dontknow:


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## Andoskyy

eugovector, that's correct. the speaker box will almost exactly match the dimensions of the speakers and i'm trying to get them flush to the wall.

my guess is that there will be no echo and i may be over thinking this a bit.

thank you for the input.

-Andrew


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## glaufman

I would highly recommend asking about this in the acoustics section.


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## DougMac

Andoskyy said:


> Hi All,
> 
> I'm starting to build my basement HT room, and have the drywall stage coming up this weekend. I plan to create in-wall boxes for the front and center speakers, then cover with the stock grills.
> 
> anyway...just wanted some best practice suggestions.
> 
> Thank you,
> 
> -Andrew


Why are you going to recess them into the wall? The only advantage a can think of is aesthetics, but if you're building a dedicated HT room, having the speakers in the room shouldn't be that big of a problem. 

I think any advantages of a recessed installation is considerably outweighed by a number of disadvantages. Here are some:

You'r locking yourself into specific speaker placement. You can't tune the room until it is complete. Often when setting up your speakers relatively small placement changes can eliminate nulls or peaks. It can also make a big difference in imaging. You've lost any flexibility in adjustments to improve the sound.

When you mount the speakers flush, you effectively make the entire wall the speaker front. This may cause significant diffraction problems. Bookshelf speakers are designed to be freestanding and will sound best if used that way.

The SVS speakers you're considering are fine speakers, but maybe in the future you might want to move from the S series to the M series. (Upgraditis is a serious home theater owner disease!) Oops! You' can't fit the M's in the resess designed for the S's!

Bes practice is to not use wall recesses for your speakers.


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## the colors

DougMac said:


> Why are you going to recess them into the wall? The only advantage a can think of is aesthetics, but if you're building a dedicated HT room, having the speakers in the room shouldn't be that big of a problem.
> 
> I think any advantages of a recessed installation is considerably outweighed by a number of disadvantages. Here are some:
> 
> You'r locking yourself into specific speaker placement. You can't tune the room until it is complete. Often when setting up your speakers relatively small placement changes can eliminate nulls or peaks. It can also make a big difference in imaging. You've lost any flexibility in adjustments to improve the sound.
> 
> When you mount the speakers flush, you effectively make the entire wall the speaker front. This may cause significant diffraction problems. Bookshelf speakers are designed to be freestanding and will sound best if used that way.
> 
> The SVS speakers you're considering are fine speakers, but maybe in the future you might want to move from the S series to the M series. (Upgraditis is a serious home theater owner disease!) Oops! You' can't fit the M's in the resess designed for the S's!
> 
> Bes practice is to not use wall recesses for your speakers.


Those are very good points and that would deter me from putting them into the wall for sure.:T


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## Andoskyy

while all very valid points, I still prefer the aesthetics of an in-wall speaker. 

Although not to the degree you're taking about, but I will be able to angle the speakers to some degree. The cutouts are a hole in the wall with a platform for the speakers are put on...the speakers are not locked in. There is a grill covering the entire opening.

I'm building this in the basement of my condo. I am extremely familiar with upgradeitis, but the next upgrade will be to a single-family home.

also, if upgradeitis does strike early, i'll make the boxes bigger. one benefit of being a do-it-yourselfer.

Thank you, i really appreciate the feedback


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## DougMac

Andoskyy said:


> Thank you, i really appreciate the feedback


Looking good! Best of luck on your project. I had a blast building our HT.

Tell me about your screen opening. What do you plan to use for video?


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## Andoskyy

thank you, i'm having a blast too. nothing like building something you love!

the screen opening is for a mitsubishi DLP...73". I was considering a projector, but i actually get a lot of natural light in my basement and to get a projector good enough to overcome that would cost me considerably more than the $1,900 DLP.

i have an IR repeater on the way, and that'll be the only other item on that wall.

i was thinking of cutting out a box for the subwoofer right below the TV. I'm going with the PB12-NDS from SVS. Do you think it would be better there, or tucked away where the ladder is in the picture. It'll be a pretty good subwoofer corner, as the blue tarp will be the wall running all the way to the back.

i think the subwoofer would look better below the TV, but acoustically, would it be better in the corner?


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## bambino

Looks like it's gonna be an awesome theater.


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## DougMac

Andoskyy said:


> thank you, i'm having a blast too. nothing like building something you love!
> 
> the screen opening is for a mitsubishi DLP...73". I was considering a projector, but i actually get a lot of natural light in my basement and to get a projector good enough to overcome that would cost me considerably more than the $1,900 DLP.


I think that's a good choice given your situation. I built our HT on the interior side of our daylight basement. That gave me total light control. I have a relatively inexpensive projector and light control is a must for best IQ.



Andoskyy said:


> i was thinking of cutting out a box for the subwoofer right below the TV. I'm going with the PB12-NDS from SVS. Do you think it would be better there, or tucked away where the ladder is in the picture. It'll be a pretty good subwoofer corner, as the blue tarp will be the wall running all the way to the back.
> i think the subwoofer would look better below the TV, but acoustically, would it be better in the corner?


I would suggest the ladder location only if that buys you some ability to move the sub. Otherwise, it's a shoot between the two locations and I'd lean towards under the screen for the aesthetics. The good news is that the PB12-NSD is front ported. I think you'll be pleased, it's the sub I'm using. I've measured the in room response and it's pretty much flat down to 17hz! I have a closet in my HT because of the downstairs A/C unit. The closet has two doors and I had to install foam insulation to keep them from rattling from the sub. I know you don't want to hear this, but even small changes in placement can make a difference. I had a null that I smoothed out just by moving the sub 6 inches forward.

How are you handling your surrounds? It may be too late, but I heartily recommend using conduit for your speaker wire runs. This will give you some flexibility later, for instance if you want to bi-wire at some future point. I went ahead and did two runs for my L/C/R in case I decided to bi-wire in the future. I did a 7.1 setup and ended up running over 250' of speaker wire!


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## Andoskyy

Thanks, i think i will start out in the ladder location and see how that works out. it'll be out of sight anyway. I can always move it under the TV at a later point.

that is impressive performance for a $600 sub...i cant wait! How do you like your SCS-01's? I decided to go with the STS for the front and SBS for the rears, but the STS may be overkill for my size room (no problem with overkill). how many cubic feet is your HT room? mine is 3,100.

as for the rears, the ceiling was already insulated and drywalled, it just needed a skim coat of plaster...which is now done. My options are limited under-carpet wire. If this were a house i'd be living in for more then 3-5 years, i would be doing things a bit different and would likely run conduit to the rear.

thanks again!


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## DougMac

Andoskyy said:


> How do you like your SCS-01's? how many cubic feet is your HT room? mine is 3,100.


There might have been a little confusion on my speakers. Although I went with a SVS sub, I chose Ascend Acoustics for my other speakers. I'm running their CMT-340 speakers for L/C/R, their CBM-170 for side surrounds and their HTM-200 for rears. It was down to either Ascends or SVS, I think it was a matter of a coin toss. I've been pleased with both my Ascends and my SVS sub.

Our HT consists of two areas. The main HT is 16wx20d. As you face the front of the room, there is another area 8x10 to the left. We use it for overflow seating and to display movie related memorabilia. To the left of it is a small kitchen I built, complete with sink and fridge. The only thing it doesn't have is a stove.

When we built, I made them pour 12' high basement walls. That allows me to have 9' ceilings even with a dropped ceiling with plumbing and electrical runs above. That makes our total cubic feet 3600 for the HT.

Here's a link to photos: http://forum.blu-ray.com/home-theater-galleries/122100-doug-debbys-home-theater.html


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## Andoskyy

ah, ok....i saw your pictures on another thread and they looked like SVS.

you have a great looking room...i'll be sure to post more progress pics of mine along with the finished product.


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## Syd26147

In my case of my in wall install - I built inner enclosures in the wall and lined it with carpet.

Syd


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