Can someone give me an intelligent, informed comment on the starlet series inwalls by speakercraft. Please, if you do not know S^%T do not answer.
Are in-wall speakers worth considering?
We're adding a family room to our house. It would probably be the best room in the house acoustically, but there will be too much going on in there to set up normal speakers properly. Are any in-wall speakers capable of providing decent sound?
The room dimensions will be about 14'W x 17'D x 9' H. The listening couch would be on the long wall, and the speakers would be mounted on the opposite wall (that is, firing across the shorter length of the room) and would have to be almost 10' apart due to placement of doors and windows. The floor will be carpeted. I'm sure I could squeeze a subwoofer into the room.
Thanks for any suggestions!
The room dimensions will be about 14'W x 17'D x 9' H. The listening couch would be on the long wall, and the speakers would be mounted on the opposite wall (that is, firing across the shorter length of the room) and would have to be almost 10' apart due to placement of doors and windows. The floor will be carpeted. I'm sure I could squeeze a subwoofer into the room.
Thanks for any suggestions!
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To kinda get back on track here, there is another in/on wall worth looking at. Try the Legacy Harmony. I use them for the fronts in my HT, and every so often use them with the real music rig too. No need for a sub unless you are going to use them for HT. Take a look here. To kinda get back off tarck here, I won't let kids in the room, period. Matter of fact, I don't let a lot of adults in there either. The dog & cat have more respect for my modest gear than some of my friends! |
I had my audio system in the living room and my video system in the den and the children would run into the living room with my audio system. As you can see(my attached system) it is not a safe place for children to play around (cut/burn themselves on amps, get electrocuted by the special powercords with air isolators... etc... It only took two times for me to wise up and move my 2 channel into my bedroom, and leave the video system (inwalls for others...) |
For some perspective here - I'm 22, love kids, and haven't asked for or accepted any compensation yet for stereo damage. None of the agitation is directed toward the kids and most of the irritation comes from the fact that these incidents are generally easily preventable. In fairness, I am sure that many of the parents lack a comprehension for what these incidents actually cost in dollars. I am curious as to how others feel or react toward this kind of "ground damage". |
Well, this generated an interesting dialog! As they say: "I used to be a great parent until I had kids." As the father of twin 6-year-olds, my view is that it's unreasonable to expect kids to live like adults. Yeah, I suppose you could discipline children like you discipline dogs, but you'd be depriving them of a childhood. Our family room will be a kids room, so I won't be asking the kids to watch out for speakers, cables and turntables. They do like music, though, of all kinds. I'm going to check out some good in-walls, like the Niles, for the family room. But I'll keep my B&W's in a room set aside for adults. As for you single guys, you shouldn't expect visitors with kids to be able to have a good time in your listening room. Either the parents have to keep their attention 100% focused on the kids all the time (which destroys the social visit) or the kids will destroy your stereo. I'f you're going to invite kids to your house, entertatin them in some other room. --DZ |
Cyto and Wade these are nightmare stories and I'm not gonna be able to sleep tonight. I've been lucky only because my brothers and sisters know how fanatical I am about my stuff and I know they've talked to their children. I was not a model kid when young, but when I went to other peoples houses I knew not to touch anything! Its totally changed today. I'm serious, If I had kids that damaged something at a friends house I'd be down on my knees asking forgiveness while holding out an open check book. Sadly, times have changed. P.S. Wade, I too have a cat- first time she went near the audio gear, I said NO!- not one problem since! Cats have respect. |
I recently congratulated my aunt and uncle on having the only children to have not damaged my speaker cones.... Five minutes later while listening to the Graceland album with my uncle his son ran to the front of the room and distorted the left speaker driver with his fist! I am becoming quite skilled at quick driver replacements. Often times the damage isn't observed until after the guests depart the house - although I've watched the parents of some kids observe the damage firsthand as if nothing abnormal had happened. At this point I am unsure which is less painful to observe. At least with the first hand atrocity I have the option of pointing out the unacceptable behavior. I hate having to either akwardly inform guests of the value of my system in order to have it respected or the second option of replacing components on a regular basis. I think the first option is brought on by the fact that "expensive" to most of the public is $300 at Best Buy. If I can train my cat and dog to respect my equipment (and the personal space of my guests), why can't my guests prevent violent outbursts from their kids? My dog even knows not to enter the room with my equipment. If I acted as recklessly as these kids do, I probably would have received a beat down (perhaps overstating it a bit)! |
Classical1: well put, I'm single also, and I moved my Wilson Watt Puppies 7' out of my main room and into my master bedroom and went with inwall's because you can't control other parents undisciplined kids! My friend's 6 yr old son kept banging on the grill of my WP7 and I quickly asked the parents whom I had already discussed the value and the danger of being around my Class A rated amps, to notice their child. They responded quickly the first time but it became a nightmare for me as they didn't after the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and then I had to go in and address the little young man.... I don't want to tell a parent that their little junior just damaged a driver that is going to cost $500-1000 to replace after crating the speaker up and shipping it back or that the paint job of my speaker is going basically cost as much as ..... you get my point... Another example would be my ex-girlfriends parents over with their grandson and laughing as this rugrat threw my $400 pronto remote into the air, over the coffee table and almost hit my big screen but luckily it just bounced off the floor (carpet), it has never worked right since... Do I tell them that it will be $250 for a Refurb remote? Then he proceeded to bang on the screen (Thank god I bought the one with the glare screen protector...) This is what happens when you feed your kids coffee, coke, and mcdonalds from the age of 2????? WTF! The point is you can be a great parent, but you can't COMPLETELY control other parents children! (my friend that has young children had Martin Logans because the kids could hit the drivers, he just worried about them being pushed over) He has since switched to wilson's also but these are in his dedicated office and his children respect them and the tube amp but no other children go into that room. He was the one that helped me to simplify my once Full range HT (then realized that my high end equipment just revealed the $.02 that the DVD producers spent on the soundtrack... so there wasn't much of a loss to me and certainly not to anybody that visits) I miss it a little until I come to my senses and realized that my 2channel rig rocks because I only have one money pit to tweak! |
DBX..one more comment and I'll get off my soap box. I'm assuming you're into audio or you wouldn't be looking for advice on Audiogon. The above posters have excellent suggestions, however it appears that most of them use 'in wall' as background music or as a second system. As you say this new room will be the best acoustic room in the house - utilize it! Regarding your comment about .."to much going on in there", I take that to mean children. I love kids--yet everything today revolves around the kids! If you love audio, the children can be taught to be careful around your equipment. Again, this is all predicated on how much you are into the music. Sorry for the rant. Sincerely,, and good luck! (Disclaimer: I don't have childern, so maybe I'm wrong in saying they can be taught to respect your equipment :) |
Even three Niles across the front will sound good, and of course they will never replace a high quality 2 channel system but they some of the best inwalls I have heard and still image better than most stereo demos in shops I have visited. For surround the center channel and the sub are the most important speakers I also have a 2 channel in a seperate room dedicated room my master bedroom. Inwalls avoid the major battle and you can use the I'll do inwalls if I can have a 103" screen instead of a TV in armoir with 2channel speakers sitting two close to the wall. choice is yours |
You might want to check these out. They are not "in wall" speakers as much as they are "on wall" speakers. I know Klaus wouldn't sell them if they didn't sound good. Scroll down to the bottom of this link. http://www.shows.soundstagelive.com/shows/avtour2005/mtl_dly_apr03.shtml |
do you know any musicians that play inside walls? music is valid on any level.....so if the lifestyle issues are sufficiently important then in-wall is just fine. but there will be significant limitations to what the system can do. i have a full house B&O system with wall-mounted speakers......they are just fine for what they do......but they cannot replace any of my other systems for sound quality and are primarily for background (semi-elevator type) music. in many Home Theatres in-walls can work well for surrounds......but anywhere you want vocals or instruments to sound real...in-walls are not the best choice. |
Please don't do it. I liken it to going from a sports car to a mini-van. I had a buddy who was a audiophile who did this--his wife was thrilled, but to me it sounded like bose music. My comments are totally unfair as i have not heard the above systems that have been recommended, but the few inwall installations i heard were not even close to a dedicated 2 channel system. Be careful not to spiral into a midlife crisis! |
Yes I replaced my 5.1 full range system with inwalls Check out the High end Niles 8700 and 8500 nice three ways that actually have bass! And they aren't etched at all in the top. If you check out my systems you will see that I put my velodyne 18" behind the couch and now I don't even have to use my couch shakers for effects! |
