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Housing Floorstanders in Cabinets

Does anyone here have any experience with housing floorstanding speakers in cabinets or behind sonically transparent cloth?

I am thinking about building a theater/music room and housing the speakers in a built-in cabinet designed to hide the speakers. Are there any rules of thumb for doing this such as building the cabinets just large enough for the speakers or conversely leaving a lot of room for them? Should the speakers by surrounded by isolating foam and mounted flush with the cabinet front(soffet mounting)?

I've seen several companies like B+W who make "architectural" speakers that are not meant to be seen. How are these typically installed? Should I ask a home theater installer for ideas?

My speakers are Linn Ninkas and a Trikan center if that helps.

Thanks in advance for any ideas.
bmdduck

Showing 1 response by martykl

martykl
3,578 posts
 
A soffit mount is intended to isolate the backwave (the soffit is effectively an extention of the speaker's front baffle), so it must be "flush" or "sealed". This will eliminate certain irregularities in bass response, but also has a broader effect on a speaker's sound that may (or may not) become an issue for any given listener. If you don't isolate the back wave, it's likely to be a mess. As an example, you could visit my den where Silverline Sonatinas are being mistreated by their in-cabinet location.

Good Luck

Marty
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