in walls, receivers, audyssey, etc...

[kenhoeve]

I finally visited a good friend of mine who purchased an urban loft and had the opportunity to lay out a built in system. I tried to intervene on his component selections while they were building out but I didn't get very far, actually I didn't get anywhere. He went with in walls for all of his surround speakers, a 6.1 system, with all components hidden in a closet on RF remote. I haven't had a chance to compare how my system sounds ever, but this made me thankful.

In short, the audio overall was painful. The front surround stage with built ins ends up very separate, dialogue does not seem to emanate from the TV screen, and the LR and center do not develop any cohesiveness. The really bad part was all the rear stage is mounted directly overhead. When rear stuff kicked in you wanted to look above you all the time and the sound never melded with what was coming from the front. The lack of concerted sound is both speaker positioning and leveling channels, but with in walls and a lower end Denon AVR with no automated setup, there is not much to be done. I would strongly recommend against in wall speakers to anyone without some serious professional guidance.

That said, I can't say enough about the Audyssey XT function and the Artison LCR speakers I got instead of built ins. The sound stage on my system is just seamless, you sit there and rather than look around the room at where sound is coming from, you simply sense that sound is moving around you while the front and rear come together seamlessly to form a large stage just in front of the listening position, easily tossing sound left, right, and diagonally. Nevermind the crucial difference a potent sub makes.

I guess I just wanted to say that a clean install can be accomplished without in walls, and don't underestimate the power of a great EQ leveling system like Audyssey. With so many channels and speakers we have nowadays, I think it is far more critical to think these issues out when laying out your system, especially when they are fairly permanent with the smaller spaces (and pre-wirings) that us urban folk are dealing with nowadays. By the time my friend was done paying people to pre-wire and install, he paid as much as I did and doesn't have one half the sound quality. Sad.

 

[Haoleb]

Some people have different priorities, In my 2 channel system and the 7.1 dedicated theater I setup for my parents, Audio and video performance and theater like experience is paramount. Yeah, there are big speakers, and the components arent tucked away in a cabinet somewhere baking themselves to death.

And then on the other end of the scale is what I routinely install at work which is a simple 47" or so LCD tv, an LCR bar, which is basically like glorified tv speakers, in ceiling rears, and a sub the size of a cereal box. And of course the gear is shoved off in a cabinet or closet of something. Are they very unobtrusive setups? yes. But they certainly cant even hold a candle to a respectable system that could have been put together with the same amount of money and traditional box speakers.

For the most part the electronics equipment we install is decent. But speakers is the major lacking area. Especially those LCR bars. Theyre rubbish!

 

[MDS]

It's all about trade-offs and what the user is looking for, isn't it?

My house came pre-wired for speakers in the ceiling. I asked for opinions about the in-ceiling speakers and got everything from 'They totally suck, don't bother' to 'Yeah, you can sort of tell the sound is coming from above but it's actually a decent effect'.

I guess it all depends on your experience and what you are looking for but also taking into account the myriad competing objectives like size, finish, cost, etc. It's just plain hard.

As for those LCR soundbar type speaker systems - I think that would be a great solution for a bedroom and would work great for my particular bedroom but under no circumstance will I pay the exorbitant cost for such a thing. When they come down to a 'reasonable' level like say $500, I'm all in.

 

[kenhoeve]

When I say LCR, I don't mean those bars, they are rubbish.

I mean these http://www.artisonusa.com/technology-dualmono.html

 

[davidtwotrees]

When F.L. Wright said, "form follows function" he didn't account for waf. Although I think he eventually demanded full run of the work from his clients.

I can just hear the builder telling the clients that you don't want to see those "ugly" speakers sitting all over the room. And as soon as most women hear about something "ugly" in their house, it's all over. My sister's install in Colorado was nice. The plasterers made niches in the wall for some of the components, including RLC and the TV. The stack was exposed in the room behind, the office, so my Bro in Law could mess with it. The only in walls were the surrounds in the ceiling. I wasn't an audioholic yet, so I really didn't pay much attention to the sound.....we didn't watch a movie, or hear any music. But it didn't look "ugly" and my brother in law could buy nice floorstanders and center channel, plus change the tv if he wanted to....

I like the look of my rig. I like my cables. My speakers look hot. There are pluses and minuses to being single. An upside is I don't have someone saying "you're going to put that there? it's ugly!"