Dining room speaker placement

[3zones]

Hi all, I'm in the middle of installing whole house audio from scratch in my existing house. I'm at the point of attacking the dining room. Installation included impedance matching volume knobs and two speakers. I decided I'm really trying to avoid in ceiling speakers and have to deal with patching ceiling holes from running cable. I decided I'd buy inwall speakers instead. I picked up the Monoprice 8" three way, in Wall speakers. They just arrived and they are massive and almost seem like overkill. As an example the Crutchfield speaker placement guide told me exactly what I wanted to hear and explains that for a dining room, you generally want in wall and to install them at outlet height. The dedicated, formal dining room is 17 x 12 with hardwood floors and 9 foot ceilings large table in the middle. I'm hesitant to install speakers that low and so i'm wondering if anybody has any input before I go cutting large holes this weekend. Obviously the volume will be kept low at a conversation level and so I'm not certain it matters where the get placed.

 

[htgeek]

I've done hundreds of installs and have never done anything like that. It was common for us to go opposite walls, within a foot of the ceiling and in opposite corners for best coverage in the room. You are installing in room volume control so you set the musical mood for the room. Depending on the color of the room you may have to paint the grills and frames so they aren't obvious or distracting. Hope that helps.

 

[internetmin]

I've done just that--but a bit higher than outlet height. I did it with Atlantic Technology in-wall speakers. The Atlantic tech speakers allow for a 20 degree adjustment on the tweeter, so what I did was deliberately install them upside down so that the tweeter would fire up instead of down. It's for just the type of scenario you're describing. The problem you get with in-walls is that the sound is emanating from only a single wall/location. With in-ceiling speakers you can make it more of an ambiance-thing. I've used Monoprice in-ceiling in my kitchen for a DIY installation I did several years ago.

So, to your point, yes, you can indeed do the installation. For ambiance, low music, it's not really a big deal. You're not going for high-fidelity. I wouldn't think twice about doing it and just put the speakers where you think they look best aesthetically.

 

[3zones]

I've done just that--but a bit higher than outlet height. I did it with Atlantic Technology in-wall speakers. The Atlantic tech speakers allow for a 20 degree adjustment on the tweeter, so what I did was deliberately install them upside down so that the tweeter would fire up instead of down. It's for just the type of scenario you're describing. The problem you get with in-walls is that the sound is emanating from only a single wall/location. With in-ceiling speakers you can make it more of an ambiance-thing. I've used Monoprice in-ceiling in my kitchen for a DIY installation I did several years ago.

So, to your point, yes, you can indeed do the installation. For ambiance, low music, it's not really a big deal. You're not going for high-fidelity. I wouldn't think twice about doing it and just put the speakers where you think they look best aesthetically.

Thanks for both of the responses both of you. I believe these also have an adjustable tweeter as well. Good tip about mounting them upside down. It's against every fiber to install speakers, especially nice three way's, for the purpose of back ground, dinner discussion music but there would really be no time at which they would be played loudly to achieve anything specific. I figured the Monoprices are cheap enough that I'd just go for the gusto in each room and get their nicest ones even in the dining room. The dining room is close to the zone 1, Energy 5.1 system and so if I wanted loud music and bass for any reason, I suppose I've got it covered.


Thanks again guys, I'll update when I get the room completed.