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Help noob with recessed speakers?!?

post #1 of 8
2/12/12 at 7:56pm
Thread Starter 
Hello all,

I am in the process of finishing my basement and need some advice on how or whether or not I can recess my current speakers into the wall.

I currently have the following (maybe not be the best speakers but for my ignorant ears they have always sounded great!) :

JBL Northridge -
Front - E80
Center - E35
Rear - E10s
Sub - Dayton Sub 100

I am building the basement from scratch and I want to have the front, center and sub recessed into the wall (the rears will be framed in). On the wall with TV and speakers I am going to leave a 2' clearance from the stud wall to the foundation - my thought is to building a box to have each speaker sitting in so the the front of the speaker is flush with the drywall.

I dont think this will be a problem for the front & center speakers....but can I do it with the sub?

Does anyone sell covers that would mount to the drywall to cover the front of these speakers? (Mainly to avoid my kids sticking a toy through them)

I bought my entire system based on great advice from all of you a few years ago so I look forward to your replies. I appreciate all your help in advance.

Hope all is well,

DjHOj
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post #2 of 8
2/13/12 at 1:08am
It's not a good idea at all. The front of the speaker where the drivers are built into is called the baffle. They are specifically designed to work with the width of the baffle they were built with. If you mount them flush with the wall or even worse, recess them into the wall you will be messing with the sound dramatically. You will have all sorts of diffraction issues which makes the sound bounce off of the nearby surfaces. That will make the sound coming from the speakers sound smeared and indistinct because you are having the direct sound and reflected sound reaching your ears at different times. the only speakers that should be put into the wall are in-wall speakers.
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post #3 of 8
2/13/12 at 6:01am
Thread Starter 
Maybe I should restate my intentions -

I am NOT going to take any of the speakers out of the original box/tower/case that JBL built them into.

What I would be doing is taking the entire JBL speaker and setting inside a wall cavity that I built into the wall so they are flush. Would that change the sound? I would assume not since the speaker is designed to project sound out the front correct? Please correct if that is wrong

My main concern is the sub....can I set the entire premade sub into a wall cavity without hurting the performance or having other issues?

Thanks again for all your help
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post #4 of 8
2/13/12 at 6:09am
^^^

yes, it would change the sound... you are creating an infinite baffle that way...

also, even though the drivers are on the "front" of the speaker, that does not in any way imply that sound only comes from the "front" of the speaker...
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post #5 of 8
2/13/12 at 6:13am
Here's how the front baffle of a speaker works:

http://www.ehow.com/about_6643004_speaker-baffle_.html
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post #6 of 8
2/13/12 at 6:35am
Thread Starter 
The front or baffle of the speaker will not change at all - and there will nothing in front of them but open air -- they will just sit in the wall cavity in their original case with the left, right, and rear of the speaker inside the wall cavity....this will change sound and create an "infinite baffle"??
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post #7 of 8
2/13/12 at 7:02am
Quote:
Originally Posted by DjHOJ View Post

The front or baffle of the speaker will not change at all - and there will nothing in front of them but open air -- they will just sit in the wall cavity in their original case with the left, right, and rear of the speaker inside the wall cavity....this will change sound and create an "infinite baffle"??

Yes. Because the width of the baffle that the speaker was designed with is made to work with the drivers it has. You are in effect making the baffle the whole wall. So instead of the sound waves being allowed to propagate to the rear of the speaker once they get past the baffle of the speaker, they will bounce off the wall to the sides and will really mess up the way they sound.
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post #8 of 8
2/13/12 at 5:12pm
Thread Starter 
Huh -- well that's disappointing. But I am glad that I asked first!

Looks like I need to sell my current set of speakers and by some in wall speakers.

Thank you very much for your help. I really do appreciate the information.

Derrick Hoj
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