My first thought is that your room has considerable volume and your speakers will need to move some serious air. Wall mounting sounds like an excellent idea, both parentally and sonically, but given the Magnepan reputation for needing watts, I wonder if your planned 320BEE will not be working too close to clipping.
I have had great success with wall-mounted speakers, using the Smarter Speaker Support distributed by May Audio. I've done it to little boxes like the NHT Model One, the PSB Alpha Mini, an Energy 2.1 and a few more, but these were all in small or medium-small rooms. (And with 5-inch woofers at most, they could all use a sub. I've seen wall-mounted subwoofers, and maybe you could consider that.)
In a much larger room, with a high ceiling like yours, an older pair of Mission 761i worked well when driven with a NAD L40 of all things: only 20 watts. These Missions are four times the volume of the others I've mentioned, though, with 8-inch woofers, and are rated 91 dB/w efficient.
Right now I'm working on wall-mounting a pair of AR2ax in a large room. These vintage boxes need power, and I'll be driving them with a 100 w/ch Chinese integrated. They have 10-inch woofers and I expect the lower end to be quite good.
Hope this is useful! Let us know what you wind up doing, if you get the chance. |
The Dunlavy WL-1 speakers were very rich sounding and could fill a room of moderate size fairly well. I think they went down to 50 hz or so. You could use five, or seven, in a room that size if theater or multichannel music is your plan.
They can be difficult to find on the used market, but do come up here occasionally. They are fairly attractive (depending on the beholder's eyes, I guess) and certainly good sounding for anything on or in a wall.
I have heard a few that people have made their own versions for themselves, friends and family since Dunlavy stopped producing them. Those knock offs are actually a bit better due to better components inside. |
I use a pair of "the original" Duntech PCL-15, the larger of two wall-mount loudspeaker designs in the first line they exported to the U.S. When driven by my Aronov LS960I tube integrated amp, a similar, large space fills with great sound, including bass that emulates a small sub-woofer (don't ask me how it can hit real blues, and jazz electric bass notes, while hanging up on a wall, but it does). I bought these in the late 1980's when Audio magazine positively commented on them. These were from Australia, and according to the installing dealer even came with a genuine sheepskin for placement behind the speaker, to reduce wall vibrations.
I subsequently added floor-hugging Duntech Thor sub-woofers, affectionately(?) described by my tolerant family as "the coffins". These are surprisingly good self-powered sub-woofers for stereo, considering their antiquity, really fleshing out the sonic depths.
I think that if DIY'ers can really outdo Mr. Dunlavy's WL-1, then this talented, original Duntech designer apparently did not maintain his original perfectionistic approach when he migrated his wall-speaker concept to the later Dunlavy line of loudspeakers. But, I have never heard the WL-1, so don't personally know how it compares to his original Duntech.
If you see this older model for sale, it should work for you, but I have never encountered another owner. Anyone out there? We could start an exclusive wall-speaker club.
I have been in record/CD shop where regular box loudspeakers were mounted on wall, and in another shop from the ceiling, and the sound can be surprisingly good, but these were each smaller sized rooms, with less ambitious performance goals for the speakers. |
I think wall mounting the kids is a great idea!
Kidding of course. I have a great three year old running around on whom I absolutely dote. Luckily, he's good about not fussing with any of my gear, though I am afraid he will sense my nervousness and do it just to get a reaction! |
I think you're over-reacting by selling the system and getting everything off of the floor. But that's not my place to change your mind. 30x45 is a lot of volume indeed. I agree that the NAD probably won't have the power to push MMG-Ws to fill that large of a space. How far back will you be sitting from the speakers? More than 10-12 feet?
Another option - You *can* wall mount some of the larger speakers, like the Magnepan MMG, which reach down to 50Hz, give or take. That would be "more full range" than the MMG-Ws. But depending on your SPL requirements wall mounting the next speaker up in the line might be a better bet. the MG-12/QR. or faiing that, it's forerunners the MG-0.5/qr or MG-0.6/QR. The frames of those speakers are a little less flimsy than the MMG or MMG-W, and as such are better suited to higher SPL duty.
You might also consider something with higher sensitivity, like a wall mounted horn or maybe a wall mounted Gallo Acoustics speaker (but the Gallos will need a sub).
One other thing you might consider if taking your existing digital and analong front ends, build from DIY bookshelf speakers with one of the Fostex drivers (inexpensive), and switching to some inexpensive tube-based SET components. You may find your bedroom may be the only place you'll get peace and quiet to relax to the rig, plus it will be out the children's way completely. I have a friend doing just that with his first baby on the way. |
I am in the same boat and I think you are right on track with getting everything out of the reach of little hands, here is what I have done:
I built a pair of very substantial shelves which I bolted into studs on the back wall with three 2.5" lag screws each. They support a pair of GMA Europas, which are very heavy and honestly a stretch for wall mounting, but great speakers that are worth the extra work. They like to be out in the room a bit, which wasn't possible, so I treated the back wall with ProFoam from Silentsource.com. Profoam is reasonably priced, has a fairly attractive appearance, and really made a difference in my room.
I installed my gear and music in a nearby closet (Consonance b2000x integrated and a Sony 222es SACD changer) and ran my cables under the floor. I have a 'powermid' (around $50) which allows me to use remote control while my gear is mounted in the closet.
The only real downside is a long cable run, but its well worth it to have my gear tucked safely away.
The results have been excellent, if not ideal, it takes up 0 sq. ft. of floor space and is safe from my toddler (and more importantly, my toddler is safe from it!). |
What about the Blueroom Minipods? You could a multi-channel / ht system in 5 or more different bright colors. Watching the Teletubies might never be the same? They sell per each on Ebay at affordable prices. |
May be more than you want to spend, but Thiel Viewpoints sound great, as well as Sounus Fabers WALL speaker. |
I just purchased some Audio Note speakers without grills knowing we will someday have kids. My idea is to have a friend who makes quilts make me a pair of nice looking speaker covers that I can slide on most of the time and slide off to enjoy the music. Not sure how realistic this is, but it might work. I've also purchased some locks for my Salamander rack to keep the doors locked. My only concern is the access to the rear of the rack but I'll come up with a plan for that too when the need comes. |
You should really dedicate a room to your audio system with a feature that is not that expensive. It is called a "door". You take this device and "close" it so that the children cannot go in and upset the expensive speakers. Wow! What a concept!!! I should market an audiophile door that not only keeps the little ones out, but makes your system sound better all at once.
Oz |
Oz, that's a great idea. Only a few companies have tried it but they seem to do OK.
I have a unique concept myself, though, and I think it goes one better. It's an audiophile door that comes with a listening room attached. You saw it here first, remember ;o) |
I think the child's parent's bedroom would be sufficiently "off limits" and toddler safe. I know my mom's room was when I was growing up. I would put the stereo in there and "maybe" build an "in wall" or "on wall" HT multi-purpose system in the family room. That's what I would do, at least. And of course if you could dedicate another room for the task , so much the better. |
B&W makes a wall mounted version of the N805.
Worth considering. |
Had same dilemma. I didn't end up with wall mounts; instead I opted for Martin Logans. As a speaker, the mls are pretty kid proof. Kiddos can do nearly anything to it--"short" of sticking a metallic object into the front--and little harm will come to the speaker.
As for electronics and rack, I went the other way: an open rack with exposed tubes. Hey, they've gotta learn somehow!
(I kid; to an extent...) |
A wall mounted SCM (Nautilus805) is on ebay right now in the Signature finish.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=14996&item=5746685631&rd=1 |
