CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

hailtoby · Joined: 29 May 2008 Posts: 99 Location: Cook County, IL

So I am finally moving at the end of this month. I am losing my basement, so the theater is getting combined with the 'play room.' Its going to be in the upstairs of a cape cod, which if you dont know, has the ceiling very sloped and 'knee walls' that are about 4 or 5 feet high, with a triangular-prism shaped 'room' behind the wall until where the sloped ceiling meets the floor. These spaces are typically used for storage.

My kids are rotten, so my idea is to put my floor standing speakers in the wall. Ive seen this once, but Im not sure how it was done or if it was a good thing to do. There were frames built into the wall made specifically for teh speakers, and the speakers had insulation between themselves and the frame in the wall.

Does anyone have their speakers installed this way? Im planning on giving up the 7.1 and just doing 5.1, because only the front and rear walls of the room will facilitate putting big speakers inside. I hope this option works, becasue Im not willing to go to small speakers hanging high on the walls.

I have to get a motorized screen, too, but thats pretty self explanatory. Im also going to build a equipment rack into the rear knee wall with a locking door so the bastard kids cant press all the buttons, which they do whenever they get a chance. I guess the goal is to create a room that can house bad children and my theaterwares, without them(bad kids) being able to get at it.

Any suggestions are appreciated.

Tom.W · Joined: 09 Mar 2006 Posts: 6635

It would probably sound just fine but extend the speakers an inch or so from the wall to reduce diffraction.

**AnalogRocks** · Posted: Thu Dec 11, 2008 5:47 am Post subject:

Sell the kids. Wink

Tom.W · Joined: 09 Mar 2006 Posts: 6635

Sell the wife AND kids and pick the best room in the house for your HT ! Wink

hailtoby · Joined: 29 May 2008 Posts: 99 Location: Cook County, IL

**AnalogRocks** · Posted: Thu Dec 11, 2008 12:36 pm Post subject:

paw · Joined: 08 Mar 2006 Posts: 1176 Location: Arvada, CO

What not some true in wall speakers? They've gotten much better than in the past. Though you might need an AT screen for the center channel.

The free standing speaker will sound different when built in. The bass and midrange can get boomy.

Look for a remote control with RF. Then use an RF receiver with IR dongles to the component. You can lock the cabinet to keep the kids out and still control the HT.

Be sure to allow for ventilation of the cabinets. There are some good, quiet fan systems.

I don't know what you've got for a PJ. There's a couple of systems from Espon (Ensemble HD-720 & Ensemble HD-1080) that have the LCR speakers (by Atlantic Technology) build into the electric screen housing. The rears are in the PJ encloser. It includes an AV controller with build in upconverting DVD (no Blu-ray yet), programmable remote (from Universal Remote Control) and a sub. MSRP HD-720 $5000, HD-1080 $7000 No it's not CRT and yes there would be compromises for sound quality but this would be an easy way to keep the screen, speakers and PJ away from little hands. Twisted Evil

ecrabb · Posted: Thu Dec 11, 2008 4:59 pm Post subject:

I agree... Free-standing towers aren't designed to be built into a wall. Unless you're just in love with the towers (in which case, how could you molest them by installing them into a wall), I'd just sell them and go for some good in-walls. Makes for a really nice, clean install, anyway. There are some excellent in-wall HT speakers... Triad, Polk, Klipsch, psb, Paradigm, Energy... Dozens of options for all budgets. If you're on a budget, even Aperion has some good $150 in-walls.

Another thing... If you're in a cold climate and the dormer is heated, you want to make sure the conditioned space is sealed pretty well from the attic space... Beyond the obvious energy inefficiency, if it's not sealed well, you'll get warm, moist heated air escaping into the attic and condensing on the under side of the roof decking, which can create moisture problems.

Then, like Aubrey said - Go with an IR-controlled drop-down AT screen, enclosed/locked AV rack, and the system is completely out of site from the rug rats.

SC

hailtoby · Joined: 29 May 2008 Posts: 99 Location: Cook County, IL

I didnt want to have to buy in-wall speakers. I was hoping I could get away with putting mine in there for 'free.' I may still try it, just to hear how it sounds. I figure that will only cost some drywall if it doesnt work out.

Im really looking forward to having the in wall cabinet with the RF-IR repeater-thingy.

Its a relatively newer house (2000) and the space the theater/play room is going is finished, and pretty well from what I could tell during the inspections.

Im still kind of bummed that I didnt get the answer I was looking for about installing the speakers in the wall. I guess, Ill let everyone know how it works out if I try it anyway.

On the brightside, I get to research some new HT goodness. Very Happy

ecrabb · Posted: Thu Dec 11, 2008 5:17 pm Post subject:

What are they, out of curiosity's sake?

SC

hailtoby · Joined: 29 May 2008 Posts: 99 Location: Cook County, IL

Nothing outrageous, Paradigm Monitor 9's for the fronts and cc-370 for the center and some antique sansuis for the rears. Expensive enough to not let my rotten kids ruin, but cheap enough stick in the living room for music duties only, if I need to get different speakers for the theater.

I was planning on getting another set of monitors for the rear, but I will probably just get some ADP-xxx dipole surrounds for the time being until I can decide what to do with the theater.

drice1234 · Joined: 07 Oct 2006 Posts: 1309 Location: Allen, Texas

Dude, are these your kids or step kids. I could not imagine referring to my son in the manner that you keep talking about your kids. Maybe the problem is the parent and not the kids?

hailtoby · Joined: 29 May 2008 Posts: 99 Location: Cook County, IL

Person99 · Joined: 09 Mar 2006 Posts: 4899 Location: Flower Mound, TX

hailtoby · Joined: 29 May 2008 Posts: 99 Location: Cook County, IL

CRT_Ben · Joined: 28 Aug 2006 Posts: 1684 Location: Northern Virginia

Maybe you think that such hyperbole is justified in the name of humor...but take a look around, how many other people refer to their children in such a manner? Perhaps that's a sign that you're taking "humor" too far? I love an old saying that there's truth behind every joking statement made...

Dave was harsh, but that's Dave, and I happen to agree with him (and Drice). When three separate people are wondering about your parenting in a thread asking for home theater advice... Question

CRT_Ben · Joined: 28 Aug 2006 Posts: 1684 Location: Northern Virginia

I also think it's priceless that you're calling your own children illegitimate (bastards).

SisterOfMercy · Posted: Fri Dec 12, 2008 12:03 am Post subject:

Well, I think your parenting is also lacking, because you really should keep them out of that room. Or get 'nude' electrostatic speakers that will zap them! Twisted Evil

hailtoby · Joined: 29 May 2008 Posts: 99 Location: Cook County, IL

I never expected this to turn into a thread of me defending my parenting, but everyone is taking this way to seriously.

First of, I absolutely cannot understand how its deemed bad parenting to reserve a huge extra room for my kids to play in. I just want my theater stuff in there to use on occasion after they go to bed. If you see my earlier post, the room is going to be used by them way more often than myself. I could get my 'priorities straight' and keep them out of that room because my stuff is in there, but Id rather let my kids play in there. I guess wanting to arrange my stuff, expensive stuff that kids, whether well behaved or not, have no business touching, is parenting at its worst. My thinking was that it was a good idea to share the space, make my stuff inaccessible and let the kids play in the room with out having to worry about them breaking it all.

*ehhhhhhhhhhh* WRONG answer.
Apparently, Im a big piece of sh*t and I should leave my kids before I f*ck them up for good. Yeah I called my kids bad, BFD. They are bad from time to time and have broken plenty of my electronics, whether it was accidentally from being clumsy, from rough housing and not realizing they were doing something bad, right down to having a temper tantrum and throwing/jumping/kicking. Get over it.

I didnt mind that response from dave, hes a grumpy crotch in every thread, so I guess I should take it all with a grain of salt, but all Im asking for is suggestions on how to hide my speakers in a false wall. If you want to nit pick threads for unrelated stuff, go back to avs.

If you want to attack my parenting, please start a new thread, particularly at AVS, or at least in the off topic forum. I wont even complain. Ill call my kids rotten again and you can tell me how much I suck. Otherwise post something worthwhile about putting speakers in a wall.

@AR and Tom, you, my friends, are terrible for suggesting that I sell my children. Children, especially mine, are not allowed to be spoken badly of in a joking tone, no sirs. Very Happy

CRT_Ben · Joined: 28 Aug 2006 Posts: 1684 Location: Northern Virginia

OK, if you want suggestions I'd suggest following the advice that everyone has given you. Freestanding speakers are designed to be several feet away from any walls for best sound quality. Why did you want to know if it was a bad idea if you're just going to "try it out" anyways?