After much research I am now a Deftech owner. I was a previous owner of SVS-SCS01 mains and RBH-815 in-ceiling surrounds. Loved the SVS speakers. However we moved, and we now have a big walkout basement (under construction). I have three kids age 5 and under and I was worried about kids tipping over speaker stands or floorstanders (the SVS speakers were tipped over several times and it drove me nuts). We have a 19' wall (the room is 32' long as well) and decided to go with a 120-125" acoustically transparent screen (DIY Seymour AV). The room is still being built (I am in the framing phase now).
I have been researching in-walls for sometime and the research pointed to buying enclosed in-walls that are engineered to be enclosed and not building enclosures for a speaker that was designed to be open baffle. See this article for more information as to why:
http://www.cepro.com/article/how_to_prevent_audio_loss_with_in_wall_speaker_systems
Because of the size of my room I want some efficient speakers (looking for speaker in the 91db sensitivity range and higher) and I want something that can sound closer to a floorstanding speaker vs a smaller bookshelf. And I needed to find 5 speakers within my $1500 budget.....
I listened and researched many speakers. From Sonace to RBH to Revel to Niles to Speakercraft, to B&W, to Atlantic, to DefTech. I liked some of the Revel speakers and Niles speakers (Sonace was pretty weak for me, not impressed) but the price was slightly high. Loved some of the higher end RBH speakers but they were way out of my price range. Did not listen to Triad (they are considered to be the leader in the in-wall business) but they were out of my price range as well (trying to keep it to $1500 for a 5 speaker setup (already have an eD A2-300 sub). I liked the B&W speakers as well but the speakers I liked the most from them that I thought would fill my room were way over the price range. Many speakers were ruled out because I wanted an engineered enclosure. The Speakercraft speakers were decent, but I thought they were more suited for a smaller room. Same with the Axiom in-walls. Atlantic Speakers were very stong contenders as well. I had those at the top of my list.
When I heard the Deftech UIW RLS II mains with the UIW RSS II surrounds I was very impressed. The speakers had solid imaging, female voices were very clear, the speakers could play loud without distorting or sounding fatiguing and they had good extension. I was impressed with the surround speakers, they were immersible and I could close my eyes and hear the surround sound all around me as if I was there. They have dual 6.5" woffers along with dual 6.5" passive bass radiators. These sounded much more like a floorstanding speaker to me. They are also quite efficient (92db anechoic) and will fill my room. Coupled with my sub (I am going to add a second eD A2-300 as well) I really like these speakers for the money.
I was able to get these speakers (UIW RLS II mains and UIW RSS III surrounds) on a very good deal and am very happy with the price I paid. I cannot wait to get the theater built and these speakers installed so I can blast some Blu-Ray movies (these speakers will be used almost exclusively for TV and movies).
Will report when these bad boys are installed and I have them broken in.
