Looking for suggestions on in wall side surrounds

just in case you missed it, there was a recent thread on pros and cons re: matched vs mismatched surround speakers.

Home Theater > 1411326766

Comments in general

Because:

(a) the rears and surrounds are primarily just a "manufactured" and "fill-in" soundtrack without the critical soundstage cohesion and sonic matching expected and required along the L-C-R fronts, and

(b) you are already looking for in-walls with their unavoidable sonic compromises and inherent limitations because of the in-wall build and installation nature in general; and

(c) All in-wall choices are going to be third party OEM brands anyway with a sonic signature different from the 3 fronts anyway , but just a non-critical matter w/o prejudice to te AGON thread highlighted above.

(d) you are going to have to use a lower grade fire-rated in-wall speaker cable anyway (compared to your fronts I'm guessing) for the surrounds and rears, or you will void you house insurance for non-code speaker wires behind the drywall. That also falls in to the overall "compromises" alchemy highlighted herein.

the available fill-in speaker selection choices are large and the system performance ability that will yield your satisfaction is primarily governed only by the time honoured homily that you generally get what you pay for in this hobby.

IN DETAIL:

From personal experiences,

(1) high-end Martin Logan in-walls will do the job admirably.

(2) FWIW, quality-build on-wall mounts can fit the bill with a better performing product that in-walls but are just as easy to install
- e.g high-end Martin Logans (used older model e.g Frescos and Vignettes are sensational...google the reviews [these are hybrid that are very very good] or
- TOTEM TRIBE on-walls

I believe that KEF also make some very good in-wall speakers. However, I do not believe that you are soleley limited to in-wall speakers.

Gallo makes some *very* good speakers that are quite small and are made for on-wall mounting. Looka at their Reference AV and Strada speakers for examples. I have the Gallo Ref. AV on-wall speakers and will attest to their very high sound quality and superb build....

Hello and thank you for the replies, I am kind of forced into in-walls due to the way I designed the room. I framed out 2x4 columns and they are in the aisle to the soon to be second row of theater seating. You would walk into conventional on wall surrounds. I will check out the speakers both of you recommend. Is the compromise as big using in walls that are built into a box already? (Speakercraft and Niles are a couple I looked at. I have a pair of Paradigm AMS 350 I was going to use but cant find the in wall brackets, grills and one crossover isn't working

Check out Legacy Audio's in-wall speaker selection (Silhouette model), I've heard them a couple of times over the years and they pack alot of near full-range performance (42Hz-28Khz I think) into a well-built and builder-friendly. Induction Dynamics also has a large speaker line of quality products that sound great, at least two of them are in-wall designs, the largest of which is a 4-way in-wall tower equivalent....

Great thank you Zephyr, I will check those out as well