# install in-wall speaker in an outside wall



## informel (Jun 21, 2011)

In order to have everything clean in the leaving room, i wanted to get rid of the old floor standing speaker (old Sansui speaker, still sound good) and install in-wall sepaker.

My problem is that the wall where the speakers are to go is an outside wall and might not be a good idea to cut hole in this wall (insulation, water vapor barrier).

So i can build a false wall in front of it, doing so enable me to reuse my old speakers if i build the new wall far enought ( 1 foot), or I can buy new in-wall speaker, but wuld like the quality to be at least the same.

My wife did not want that unless... I put new decorative stone on that wall, but I affraid of bad effect it might have on the sound.

What do you think?


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

In wall speakers rely on the wall cavity to reproduce some of the lower frequencies, Exterior walls have insulation, vapor barrier and possible other issues so this is not going to work very well Particulalry in your climate. You should never cut vapor barrier as this will introduce condensation into the speaker and wall cavity causing mold to grow and damaging the speaker.


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## informel (Jun 21, 2011)

That is why I want to build a new wall. As for the base, I have a Velodyne DD-15 that I want to keep (it is the only piece of equipment I owned that is worth mentioning). but would still want the in-wall to go down to 80 hz (-3db)


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

A false wall is your only option or cut a 14" sonotube in half and use it as the cavity, it will look like a pillar in the room if you go floor to ceiling.


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## informel (Jun 21, 2011)

tonyvdb said:


> A false wall is your only option or cut a 14" sonotube in half and use it as the cavity, it will look like a pillar in the room if you go floor to ceiling.


What a brilliant idea!:T
Would not fit in my actual decor; but I will keep the idea for my next house.


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## racer69 (Mar 6, 2012)

I know this is an old thread, but when googling "in wall speaker vapour barrier affect sound" this came up and i found some of it useful.

I wanted to contribute by showing what i did. i pre-wired a media room for 7.1 surround in my new house being built, and there are 3 in wall speakers going in exterior walls. I've read on other threads that in walls don't sound as good, can have wall vibration issues, etc, but wifey wanted the clean look so not like i had a choice right (whip lashes in background).

I was in a real time crunch and had stupidly not thought about vapour barrier issues, and I had no time left to order backboxes which are available and meant for this purpose. I also didn't like the idea of the back boxes anyways because of their smallish size, thinking how the fact that a smaller sealed box would most likely affect the lower sound range. My in walls are 3 ways with an 8" woofer - bought from Monoprice - yes they are cheap, but the reviews appear to be genuine and are very good. I'm not a high end audio snob, nor am i wealthy enough to be one, lol. I appreciate good equipment but also know that good design and mediocre speakers can often sound surprisingly good.

so i went to a big box hardware store to look and see what is available, and found the pink rigid foam board - seemed like a good idea because:

it is closed cell foam, so it can form part of the vapour barrier
it is rigid, so you can build a (somewhat) sturdy box with it.
it is super easy to work with, all i needed was a blade and straight edge
it is insulation, so the room will be better insulated than other options
finally, it's pretty cheap, used 4 2'x8'x1/2 inch sheets at about $8 each along with 4 tubes of pl300 foam board glue for sealing.


after completing, both my construction supervisor and the insulation guys gave it the thumbs up saying it would be a sufficient vapour barrier and should be no code violations. the insulation guys are going to overlap the foam board and goop it with accousti-seal and tuck tape.

my big assumption here is that by creating a very large box, there should be minimal or no effect on the lower bass notes. i am fully aware that i bought "infinite baffle" or "open air" in wall speakers and wanted to minimize any change in it's performance.

added some pics to show how it was done...I hope this helps someone struggling with the same issues. no idea if anyone has ever done it this way, but hey i like to be creative and save $$

will try to remember to post a follow up to mention if it seems to affect sound in any way...


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## Mopar_Mudder (Nov 8, 2010)

Thats funny because here in WI they have changed the code and you are not allowed to put a vapor barrier on a basement wall like that. It has changed over the years from putting it on the concrete before the wall, to putting it over the insulation before the sheetrock, to none :rolleyesno:

I know for my inwalls I used Triads that have their own encloser and don't require a cavity. So in theory you could run the poly behind the box. Leave enough loose poly so that it would push back behind the box.


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