# My poor speakers to be located within wall unit



## Rambo4 (Jan 25, 2008)

Well the time has come, my loved JMLab 716V's are going to be placed inside our new family room wall unit on either side of the fireplace. They'll be located inside a custom built space 53" high and 16" or so in depth, behind pocket doors that will be open and tucked in when I want to listen to audio etc.

My question, knowing that I am breaking countless acoustics rules in this location, and knowing the WAF has made this necessary, is how can I minimize the detrimental effects of this large wall unit? What products can I use to either line the cavity where the speaker will live, or some sort of feet to decouple the speaker as much as I can from the unit ( mainly built of quality thick MDF and oak.) 

One thing I am happy about is the fact that these speakers are at least "front ported" and my family room is part of the first floor, which is very open ( no doors ) measuring about 50 X 50 ft. Still the resonance and the confinement of that airy sound I so love about the Focals may be lost.

Any ideas/condolences?


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## robbo266317 (Sep 22, 2008)

I just looked them up on the web and they are a nice looking set of speakers, It's a shame to hide them away... :sad2:
I'm guessing that removing the WAF problem isn't going to be considered? addle: :innocent:

Oh well, we must compromise. :dontknow:


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## Rambo4 (Jan 25, 2008)

robbo266317 said:


> I just looked them up on the web and they are a nice looking set of speakers, It's a shame to hide them away... :sad2:
> I'm guessing that removing the WAF problem isn't going to be considered? addle: :innocent:
> 
> Oh well, we must compromise. :dontknow:


I know, it's a real shame. :hissyfit: I can only make the best of this situation. My other thought was for serious listening I may move the speakers out of the cabinet onto the floor. Inconvenient, but if I can't tame down the resonances that may arise inside the cabinet using Dynamat or foam or something, it may be the only option.

As a side note. I agreed with this WAF mainly because she didn't mind me buying a new pool table for the rec room. Can't have it all....yet. :sneeky:


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## bpape (Sep 14, 2006)

Line the cabinet with absorption and then cover that with a dark cloth so it still looks nice. This will minimize the acoustic impact the best you can. There will still be bass issues in an enclosed space but at least it'll be somewhat contained.

Bryan


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## inter_voice (Oct 18, 2010)

Well, I have the same problem as yours. My speakers are also located in the wall cabinet and wost of all my speakers are rear ported.

What I did was to put two base traps at the corners of the cabinet behind the speakers and completely covered the front walls behind the speakers with acoustic tiles of 2" thick. What I can say and having used REW to check the frequency response they are considered acceptable.

Regards
Willy


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## Rambo4 (Jan 25, 2008)

bpape said:


> Line the cabinet with absorption and then cover that with a dark cloth so it still looks nice. This will minimize the acoustic impact the best you can. There will still be bass issues in an enclosed space but at least it'll be somewhat contained.
> 
> Bryan


Thanks Bryan, can you buy the material in sheets to cut to fit or order them that way?


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## Rambo4 (Jan 25, 2008)

inter_voice said:


> Well, I have the same problem as yours. My speakers are also located in the wall cabinet and wost of all my speakers are rear ported.
> 
> What I did was to put two base traps at the corners of the cabinet behind the speakers and completely covered the front walls behind the speakers with acoustic tiles of 2" thick. What I can say and having used REW to check the frequency response they are considered acceptable.
> 
> ...


Sounds like the route I am looking to take. What type of bass traps did you use? Any space issues fitting them in?

Cheers


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## inter_voice (Oct 18, 2010)

Rambo4 said:


> Sounds like the route I am looking to take. What type of bass traps did you use? Any space issues fitting them in?
> 
> Cheers


I bought 2 triangular foam type bass traps of 3ft X 1 ft X 1ft from eBay and placed them at the inside corners of the wall cabinet behind the speakers. I also used foam type acoustic sheets of 2" thick to cover the rest of the area between the two bass traps. There is no fitting issues as the foam are easily trimmed to the size you want.

Willy.


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## bpape (Sep 14, 2006)

For cabinet use, I'd probably do acoustic cotton. It can be purchased in 2'x4' sheets. No worries about fibers. In fact, you can even get it in different colors and not bother covering with cloth if you choose.

It's more expensive than 703 but you're not looking at needing that much.

Bryan


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## Theresa (Aug 23, 2010)

http://www.atsacoustics.com/ makes such panels. I just bought three. I used to have my Vifa and then Focal home builts in a wall unit when I was married. One thing I did was fill the area around the speakers with books and keep the speakers flush with the books. This is to reduce the "cavity effect." Then you would need to modify the crossovers to get rid of "baffle compensation" unless they don't have any to begin with. I've never had a good listening room with a good place to put speakers. I just make the best with what I have which the panels went along ways to do. I doubt if they will help your situation though.


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## fractile (Mar 15, 2009)

What is the primary effect of in-wall installation on the speaker cabinet response? It turns the system into a 1/2 space instead of suedo free space. I don't know much if anything about this. I'm about to install my speakers in a freaky version of this, sort a between racked and soffeted. There are ideals, but on the surface I'm thinking to avoid edge diffraction. This is highly avoided in the original post.

I guess it's adding acoustic isolation and crafty soffetting to the racked and angled boxes.

My impression is that in-wall installation effectively increases the diameter of the bass driver, making the wall and speaker appear as a unitary structure.

This then goes against the distance from wall law. In this case there may always be compromises.


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## inter_voice (Oct 18, 2010)

Hi,

You can see my thread in this forum in the following link for reference:

http://www.hometheatershack.com/for...-if-my-living-room-good-hifi-listening-2.html

Willy


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