Floorstanding vs In-wall speakers...

[Hocky]

In your opinions, are in-wall speakers capable of producing as good sound as floorstanding speakers? Why or why not? This is a discussion that I was having with a friend and was curious as to what other's opinions are.

From what I've heard in my friends multi-million dollar homes with big dollar in-wall theatre combos, they're decent, but they just don't cut it. Especially for music. I feel that all placements are a compromise and nothing is "right," no matter what the budget is. But, maybe I've just not heard the right combo. Now that I am used to listening to the dipole ESL's, it is hard for me to like anything that doesn't produce such good clairy and imaging, so those seem to be the first things that I pick out whe listening to other combos.

[Hocky]

No opinions? :-(

[Gordon Gray]

Hi Hocky,

The issue is how each individual defines "good" sound.

Most folks on this site clearly have a bias when making that determination.

One performance advantage, for those who prefer the ML sound, is the "out of the box" character of stats. This not only includes clarity and speed but the sense of dimensionality that panels offer.

I'm not saying an "in wall" speaker isn't capable of certain performance parameters such as playing clean, loud, etc. However, I would think that it would have a difficult time of producing a credible sense of soundstage dimensionality, particularly within the context of creating a facsimile of depth.

JonFo has heard the Wisdom Audio in wall and has made some very positive comments on this speakers performance. However, they are quite pricey.

So perhaps your question should be rephrased to discuss value (read musicality and connecting with the music) for the dollar versus what is "good".

GG

[twich54]

In your opinions, are in-wall speakers capable of producing as good sound as floorstanding speakers? Why or why not?

Never........if for no other reason than imaging.

[Dominick22]

I would think that the wall itself will always create limitations on the mechanics of the speaker itself unless the production process happens in reverse.

IE: The wall is built around the speaker instead of the speaker being built for the wall.


Dominick