I have been reading on this site for a while now and have looked at a lot of the systems, and I can't help but notice that almost no one is using In-walls. Is this because people just want to be able to move there speakers around if they want to, or because the floor standing speakers are just that much better. I am in the process of replacing my rear surround speakers and my center channel. I have a pretty good set of mains (IMHO) so I am going to use them for now, but my surround speakers are a little sub par for the rest of my system. The speakers that I have on order are the Def Tech UIW BPZ/A and the center is going to be the Def Tech CLR 3000. When I do replace my mains the ones I am thinking about are the UIW RLS IIs, am I missing something by not ordering floor speakers or is it just personal opinion? Thanks in advance and sorry for being so long but I've been doing a lot of reading and not a lot of posting.
The problem with in-walls is that, in my experience, so few companies really put forth a genuine effort in designing good ones. As an A/V integrator I have demoed, looked at, talked about, and tried many many many kinds of in-walls @ every price point imaginable. The one thing that I have found to be consistent is that nothing's consistent!
Over the years most companies have been taking the drivers from their box speaker line, throwing them into a plastic baffle, adding a cross over, and "BAM!" there's our "voice matched in-wall". This is changing, however. As the custom install markets demand for better and unique in-wall speakers is growing, so are the budgets for which manufacturers are willing to allocate to their design.
The biggest problem with on-line forums and in-walls is that people rarely, if ever, specify the information that would be needed to recommend in-walls. Are your studs evenly spread apart in the wall so everything can be symmetrical? Can you get wire there? It's just not something many people are familiar with and thus, there aren't a lot of comments or questions. Many people on forums seem to be looking to get by the cheapest way possible. They're bargain hunters who often times have low budgets and high expectations (which is strange to me because I consider audio equipment luxury goods). Good in-wall speakers can get expensive depending on your expectations. There are very good products across the price scale to be sure but they are wayyyyy tougher to find vs. box built product. These speakers are often from manufacturers that aren’t considered “mainstream” and thus, people shy away from any recommendation. Another point is that reviews on in-walls for us to discuss are sparse as well which doesn't help initiate curiosity.
Something else to think about is that in a strange way, with everybody's head being "hang the TV on the wall" people have shifted gears towards ON-WALL speakers. They're easier to install (less variables) with guaranteed performance results (again, less variables).
Being a more Theatre/Surround Sound oriented company when we review a manufacturer for possibly bringing on their line I absolutely look to see what in-ceiling and in-wall products are being brought to the table. Do you have in-wall &/or in-ceiling bi-pole/dipole surround's? Do you have anything that's built with a back box or is a back box available (not always a requirement for great performance, but it usually means better results depending on the brand)? Any In-wall sub options? It’s HARD to find companies that have a broad and flexible line but also offer quality across the board.
I guess my whole point is this: There are a lot of different things to consider when looking into in-walls and it's very challenging to properly prescribe something blindly over the forum.
