Need to place speakers in a cabinet.. need advice

[niraj36]

Hi all.. as a pat of a home renovation. We are having a wall of custom made built in cabinets installed along the wall which will house the TV, speakers (2 floor standing towers and a center channel) and AV equipment..along with other stuff.

I know that placing speakers in a cabinet is not ideal, but I would like to get an idea of

1) how much will sound quality be impacted and

2) is there anything I can do to the design of the cabinet to minimize the impact on sound quality.

We do not have a large home so we need all this built in cabinet space for storage. Here is a rough drawing of what we are thinking. There will be open space around the tower speakers and the speakers will be resting on the floor.. not on the cabinet. I have Monitor Audio Silver RS for my speakers.

What are everyone's thoughts.

 

[jamie2112]

My thoughts are: If you use your current speakers they are going to sound a little strange.You need space behind and around your speakers for "breathing".I would suggest rethinking this one myself.Many companies make "in wall" speakers for just such an application as this.If you start taking floorstanding speakers and boxing them in you WILL lose a bit of acoustic energy. Just sayin...

 

[niraj36]

How much breathing room do you think is needed. The cabinet will be 2 feet deep. The speakers are 10 inches deep so there is more than a foot in the rear. I was thinking about 3 inches of space on the top and sides. Also.. I can always side the speakers out of the cabinet space if needed.

Thanks again!

 

[bpape]

I would fill the cavity around the speakers especially top and sides with absorption. I would design a recess in the front so you can put a grille on the front to hide the absorption and the speakers.

How much if any you do behind will depend on if the speakers are front or rear ported.

Bryan

 

[niraj36]

They are both front and rear ported and come with a plug which can be placed in either.

 

[bpape]

The plug I assume is an open foam so it's not completely sealing the port.

If you want to add some absorption in the rear, that's fine but I would keep the port open and clear of it.

Bryan

 

[niraj36]

Thanks for your advice. So it should not be a major issue if I add some sound absorbing material in the cabinet.

Will placing the front of the speaker so it is flush with the front of the cabinet help any?

 

[bpape]

Place it as far forward as possible and fill any cavities around the speaker at least to the depth of the speaker cabinet.

Bryan

 

[jostenmeat]

I would also consider putting the center on Mopads or something similar, in addition to the absorption.

 

[TLS Guy]

Hi all.. as a pat of a home renovation. We are having a wall of custom made built in cabinets installed along the wall which will house the TV, speakers (2 floor standing towers and a center channel) and AV equipment..along with other stuff.

I know that placing speakers in a cabinet is not ideal, but I would like to get an idea of

1) how much will sound quality be impacted and

2) is there anything I can do to the design of the cabinet to minimize the impact on sound quality.

We do not have a large home so we need all this built in cabinet space for storage. Here is a rough drawing of what we are thinking. There will be open space around the tower speakers and the speakers will be resting on the floor.. not on the cabinet. I have Monitor Audio Silver RS for my speakers.

What are everyone's thoughts.

Your biggest problem is that your speakers are far too close together.

The next issue is that your speakers have diffraction step loss compensation, so expect the bass and especially the upper bass to have overemphasis.

I suspect this is something like what you are trying to achieve.

However I designed the speakers to work in that location and they have no diffraction compensation.

So it can be done, that rig works very well.

 

[niraj36]

Yup.. looking for something like that. Just want to know if there will be any major issues with my equipment.
Thanks

 

[GO-NAD!]

Yup.. looking for something like that. Just want to know if there will be any major issues with my equipment.
Thanks

Major issues? Well, you aren't going to damage anything, if that's what you mean. But, as TLS says, the diffraction step loss compensation will definitely be thrown out of whack. So, the frequency response will likely be severely affected. As Bryan suggested, absorption material placed behind and around the speakers could help, but the cabinetry is still very close to the speakers. Don't expect it to be a miracle cure.

Some people have dedicated listening rooms and don't have to make compromises when it comes to room acoustics and equipment placement. Then there are those of us, like you, who have to live in the "real world" and there are certain compromises that we cannot overcome and we have to live with the results. That's life.

To learn with more accuracy, how your frequency response will be affected, you could get yourself a set of test tones and a SPL meter. Then before the cabinets are built, plot the FR you have now. Then after the cabinets are built, try it again. Then you will see to what degree, the FR is affected by the cabinets.

If you're like me, there is no way you will be able to determine the effects of the cabinetry by ear alone. Despite what some "Golden Ears" might say, aural memory is very short and you will have great difficulty conducting an accurate mental comparison between what "was" and what "is". If you have it plotted on a graph, you don't have to remember.

Good luck!