I’m in the process of building a new house. I use the Rotel RC-1590 preamp, and two Rotel amps (RB1582 MKii & RB1552 MKii, along with Bluesound Vault2 and PowerNode 2i. I have yet to finalize equipment placement. I love music, though I would not consider myself a true audiophile. Much of the conversation that goes on here is well above my audio aptitude.
Does anyone have any in-wall speaker recommendations (2 pr) for a somewhat small living room? Or, are in-wall speakers a serious compromise? I plan to connect them to the Rotel 1582 amp.
Unless they are really big, in-wall speakers are a serious compromise for music. (Just thinking about what is commensurate with the rest of your equipment.)
Thank you, Sir. I suspected that’d be the case. I was hoping to save on floor space, but not at the expense of good sound. That said, I shall begin my hunt for a decent pair of floor standing speakers.
Custom installer here, with many many pairs placed in various applications. Most were very ordinary and only suitable for background fill. You only get so much for $500 a pair.
Carefully installed in-walls WITH subwoofers (plural) can work really well. This does mean surgery - moving wall studs for correct spacing, back enclosures, structural damping, eq. etc. Not a two hour cut and place. At least a man day in a new construction space.
Most floorstanding speakers have issues too, and in walls properly placed skate around some acoustic issues with box speakers.
But expect the physical install, wire & materials to cost 50% of the components. Look at Sonance to get possible costing, Revel and JBL Synthesis for some options.
Every loudspeaker is full of compromises. When looking from an acoustical perspective : a boxed loudspeaker is much more compromised, than an in-wall well done. Won’t bother you with too much details… But a speaker box designer can only dream of the lack of diffraction problems, like a proper in-wall can offer.
In fact, this is generally the preferred way in recording studios. For acoustical reasons only.
Do know : you will need some experience to make the installation succeed. In other words : probably a professional should to the job, or at least advise you on site.
@Julian_Higgins is giving some great advice already.
A few other brands to look at, could be genelec, Kef, or paradigm. Would depend on budget too ( and know that installation would probably cost more, than the speakers themselves).
Ask about speakers and you get a lot of different responses. Without identifying anyone, I will say that I agree with some and not others. OTOH, I do have to admit that you can get good sound from in-walls if you make the kind of commitment that Julian Higgins describes. The problems are that you need to find the right people to do it and you need to commit without any real “home trial.” Doable but beyond my expertise.
Great recommendation @Philipp_Schaefer and here is a similar one (bit cheaper) by Dali:
I think that the advantage of the on-wall solution is that you avoid having to alter your walls and it is much easier to make changes to your living room / hifi further down the line. These on wall speakers can look discreet enough and more importantly they don’t ‘eat’ space in your living room the same way that rear ported speakers do. (On a side note, I recall when I was growing up that stereo systems at the time all came with big front ported speakers that could be placed flush on walls and looked like furniture. Most modern speakers come with rear ports and the need to be far away from walls.)
The advantage of the Genelec is that it comes with dedicated amplifiers and room correction dsp. It will certainly allow you tweak and adapt the sound to your liking.
Please note that I have not had the chance to listen to the above but I have considered them seriously as solutions to my small living room (I still do actually).
