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In-wall speakers also called architectural speakers have lots of advantages.
And just about as many drawbacks.
Monitor Audio’s Creator series in-wall speakers (shown) can be painted over to match your room’s color scheme
Architectural or in-wall speakers for brevity, Ill call them IWS from here on live under a big tent.
But lets lay out those pros and cons, so you might make a more educated choice.
Its not difficult to appreciate the clutter-saving nature of flush-mounted speakers and concealed wiring.
Monitor Audio’s Creator series in-wall speakers (shown) can be painted over to match your room’s color scheme
Plus, if needs or room usage change, youre left with, yes, a hole.
Plus, because the speaker wiring all terminates at a fixed location, you cant readily relocate your equipment.
Con: Theres no downside here: yay!
Con: Same again: double-yay!
And even more so in smaller rooms where multiple free-standing subs would simply overwhelm the space.
Savvy IWS engineers and custom installers use this knowledge to promote accurate system response.
In-wall speakers such as Monitor Audio’s Creator series models (shown) can be used as surround and height speakers in a Dolby Atmos home theater system
Sound leakage is a reality you must consider in any IWS setup.
These can reduce sound leakage substantially, but rarely eliminate it.
As usual, an experienced custom installer is the best weapon here.
JL Audio’s Fathom IWSv2-SYS-113 in-wall subwoofer
The payoff: you need less amplifier power (fewer watts) to achieve a given loudness level.
If well-engineered, the back-box also referenced above, can address both issues.
In Conclusion…
Knowledge is power, but the more you know, the less simple life becomes.
But its much,muchbetter to know the challenges and rewardsbeforeyou grab the hole-saw than after.
