This weekend at the National Home Show in Toronto, I had a chance to briefly listen to Amina's plaster in-wall speakers. These speakers are embedded into the wall, and are hidden entirely from view (no speaker grilles).

I was surprised at how good the speakers sounded; but then again, they had the volume cranked up pretty high, so that may have masked some of the more subtle aspects of the test track.

Has anyone had any practical experience with these types of in-wall "hidden" speakers? Are they any good?

I think these speakers run 600CAD ea (or pair? 600 for in-walls seem expensive) for the 20W version? Not too sure since the sales guy was too busy talking to another couple instead of to me.

http://www.amina.co.uk/

http://www.aminatechnologies.com/

I've never seen these before. My first thought was how the hell do the highs go through 3/8" of plaster?
And only 20 watts?

My second thought was - WHY?

Read this thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=765269) on flat panel speakers for some (better) ideas.

We were remodelling the living room where I was running my B speakers-bookshelf celestions. Looked into the in-wall options as my wife never liked the look of the exposed speakers. She was moving them behind the chairs and I moved them out for the sound. Checked out the product at Great Met Sound in Toronto and bought them.

Immediately after installation I hooked them up to appraise the sound. Sounded great. The sound seemed to roll off the wall in a less directional manner than ordinary box speakers Then after the clean-up I hooked in a Yamaha subwoofer. The sound is just amazing anywhere in the room. if you want some background sound the aminas alone can work but if you want to kick it out then you need the sub. Notice they use very little power for the amount of sound generated. The speakers are not cheap but I would not give them back for twice the money.

I have been underwhelmed with other speakers like this, but I heard the Amina system at CEDIA, and the sound was quite good. In some installations, no speakers can be seen, and this system is the best I've heard, so far, for an invisible system.