In-Wall Speaker Reviews

In-wall speakers without the in-wall sound.

In-wall loudspeakers, specifically those with open backs, can yield unpredictable results because their sound quality is highly dependent upon the wall cavity in which you install them. Typically, the wall cavity's volume doesn't load the woofer correctly. Plus, the wall can introduce rattles and vibrations, which obviously degrades sonic performance (and can be very annoying). Critics cite these problems as reasons to reject in-wall models for serious consideration as high-end speakers. Increasingly, manufacturers are seeking to overcome these performance issues by designing in-wall speakers that include enclosures—sort of like a bookshelf speaker in a wall. Atlantic Technology is one of them. Their new IWCB-626 speaker comes in a closed-back enclosure. An enclosure eliminates the wall cavity as a variable and ensures more consistent performance. It also makes installation easier and brings the sound of in-wall speakers closer to that of freestanding speakers. In-wall speakers are popular with homeowners because they are less visible and don't take up floor space—many homeowners want audio without speakers and wires cluttering the room. But homeowners also demand good audio performance, and a sealed-box in-wall speaker can potentially come closer to achieving both goals.

Price: $17,800 At A Glance: Excellent clarity and transparency • Great system value • Awesome bass

Pure Magic

As a contributing writer for Home Theater magazine, I’m often the go-to guy for reviewing large in-wall speaker systems that other writers can’t or won’t review, usually for lack of adequate space. I have enough space, and I enjoy listening to new speakers, especially high-end types. It’s a lot of work and it disrupts an otherwise orderly living room, but I’m not complaining.

Extreme audio: a new standard in transparency, definition, and detail.

I've reviewed many excel- lent in-wall speakers, but none quite like the new Radia R-800 in-wall speaker from BG. With 24 drivers in each speaker, this giant stands almost 7 feet tall and is clearly designed for extreme listening—extremely satisfying listening, that is. Each speaker has two 8-inch woofers mounted at the top and bottom, six Neo10 planar-ribbon midrange panels, and 16 Neo3PDR planar-ribbon tweeters in a vertical-line array pattern. An outboard amplifier, the BGA-2500, which is included with a pair of Radia R-800s, powers the two woofers.

PRICE $7,250 (10-piece system as reviewed)

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Rotatable pleated tweeter for horizontal orientation
2½-way design
High performance-to-cost ratio
Minus
Horizontal installation requires modification of wall stud

THE VERDICT
With the Invisa Signature Point Source in-wall speakers, GoldenEar Technology has introduced an in-wall speaker with a performance-to-price ratio that rivals in-room competitors.

Just as not everyone prefers to eat turkey on Thanksgiving, there are some people who don’t like to have tower speakers standing at attention (and drawing attention) in their family’s living room. At our family’s traditional Thanksgiving chow-down (at Christmas, we have a ho-ho-hoedown), we serve baked ham as an alternative to the delicious, funny-looking bird the rest of us enjoy. (Those who don’t like either choice get bread and water.)

PRICE $4,500 (plus installation)

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Enclosure designed for walls with standard 2 x 4 construction
13.5-inch low-profile driver
1,000-watt external amp with Automatic Room Optimization
Minus
Retrofit install can be difficult
Expensive

THE VERDICT
This subwoofer system does the seemingly impossible in an impossibly seeming way by hiding an amazingly shallow, high-excursion 13.5-inch woofer, along with the 70-inch-tall cabinet it requires, inside a wall having standard 2 x 4 construction, with only a driver-hiding grille screen as evidence—and it does this surprising feat without causing excessive wall vibrations. Even better, it does all that while performing like a top-end in-room sub.

If I needed additional proof of how much Rob Sabin, our esteemed editor-in-chief (and part-time male stripper for the visually impaired) dislikes me, this would be it. He asks me the other day if I’d want to review another JL Audio subwoofer, one similar to the company’s ginormous Fathom f212, which I reviewed in 2012. I have fond memories of, bruises from, and a partial hernia caused by that 220-pound behemoth.

• $2,395-$4,895/ea. Depending on configuration
• 320: Two-way with one 6.5" bass driver and one ribbon tweeter
• 330: Two-way with one 6.5" bass driver, one 8" passive radiator, and one ribbon tweeter
• 350: Two-way with two 6.5" bass drivers, two 8" passive radiators, and one ribbon tweeter

Meridian's 300 Series in-wall/on-wall speakers use 6.5" bass drivers and ribbon tweeters and rigid, non-resonant cabinets and a white paintable grille and frame with rough-in boxes. And they come in a few different flavors. The 320 includes just a single bass driver and ribbon, while the 330 adds an 8" passive radiator and the 350 has two bass drivers and two passive radiators to complement the ribbon. Like the 200 Series these speakers are configurable as conventional passive designs set up for bi-wiring/bi-amping, or as "remote active" units that operate with Meridian's proprietary powered crossover/amplifiers.

Getting Morel of a good thing.

Released from the boxes of thousands upon thousands of plasma and LCD TVs was a nasty disease that's induced feverish thoughts of flatness and smallness in the minds of otherwise good and decent people, making them forget how important audio is to a home theater system. (That rumbling sound is Paul Klipsch rolling over in his grave.) For these poor, deluded folks, speakers are not much more than a flat-panel-TV accessory.