Monoprice in-wall, in-ceiling speakers - Page 7

Hello everyone,

I've been a troll for quite some time, perusing the threads but never having entered an opinion. I wanted to take this time to do two things:

Firstly, I want to send my thank you to all of you who take the time to give back to the community. There are many of us who truly appreciate your input.

Secondly, I want to put my 2 cents in on this topic.

I just installed my Kevlar 2 way in-walls from monoprice. I love them so far. The sound is not so "in-your-face" as the Onkyo surrouns I had previously. With the speakers I had before, whenever there was sound in the surround speakers, I knew exactly where the sound was coming from. With these, the sound seems to bounce off the walls much better, thus, giving a true surround effect. Gunshots, missiles, bombs, glass shatters, birds, atmosphere, all sounded great on these. Very impressed!

I pumped some music into them and they seemed to hold up well. Sound is clear & without distortion up to high levels...and I still haven't broken them in! This test was done right after I installed them. Can't wait until they're broken in.

I took many pictures for those interested in seeing step-by-step installation. These were installed as surrounds in my bedroom which is 15x16x8.

http://picasaweb.google.com/mikemusi...reInstallation

Actually, you were a Lurker, not a Troll (at least not yet )and welcome to posting.

Anyone know how monoprice's 8" in ceiling speakers compare to the Yamaha NS-IW360C?

Thanks.

Oops! Thanks!

Hi,


Thank you to everyone for all of the information regading the Monoprice speakers. I found it very helpful.

It looks like they may have a new offering. Can anyone tell me the difference between Monoprices:

8 Inches Kevlar 2-Way In-Ceiling Speakers (Pair) - 80W Nominal, 160W Max

and

6-1/2 Inches Glass Composite 3-Way, Dual Voice Coil, Stereo In-Ceiling Speaker (Pair) - 40W Nominal, 100w Max


I realize one is 6 1/4" and one is 8" but what is the difference between the kevlar and glass? Which one would make a better in-ceiling read surround sound speakers?


Thanks!

These look great for my application. I was hoping someone could help me with a 5.1 design of an open aired patio. I keep going back and forth on whether to put in-ceiling speakers in or just mount a home theater in a box system. Here is what the patio will look like. There are no walls around the structure.




The structure is 28x16. Would these speakers be decent for my application? Could someone give me an idea of which size to install (rear, front, center, sub)? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I read the whole thread, great info. Some questions:


Also curios, in PHX, AZ area... ?



Ah, so the speakers I am seeing in all these high-end homes (I like to check out open houses for $2MM+ homes if I drive buy one) must be Speakercrafts. Is there a mount that I could put these speakers in or some other work-around?

The house I am buying has built-ins so I could put bookshelf speakers up from the fronts (not sure which ones, though, suggestions?) - however, it is wired for in-ceiling so I thought I would take advantage of that. Are these no good for fronts then? I would probably migrate my Polk CSi3 from my last budget HT setup along with my BIC sub. I'm all about best bang for the buck and doing the most on a minimal budget.

Edit: after looking at speaker craft's website, I am not seeing the speakers I've been seeing in high-end homes. The in ceiling speakers I am seeing are being used for front, center and rears and look like giant eyeball-type lights that you can point in a direction but come out of the ceiling, it's looks like half a sphere that the speaker sits in - does anyone know what these are and if there is a budget knock-off of these that sound good?

A couple questions, just got 6 of the 6.5" kevlars and will report back how it goes!

1. If the contractor blows insulation in on top of them, is it a hazard? I don't care to do the boxes and am not overly concerned with the sound quality in this instance. Do I just put a plastic bag over the back of them to keep insulation from getting stuck inside?

2. I'm using 12AWG monoprice speaker cable (CL2) and wiring in series. Do I just use one of the cables on the way down and the other on the way back? Or do I use twice the cable and leave one hanging the whole way? I've always wired in parallel before and not sure what is the best here.

Thanks for the help!

I, too, am wondering about the wall/ceiling insulation around the speaker. Because of the setup in my theater room, my L and R surrounds will need to be in-ceiling...while my rear surrounds are going to be in-walls...in exterior walls with blown-in cellulose (the grey stuff) insulation. Although the house is only a few months old, I didn't buy it until after it was completed...so I am going to retrofit the speakers...and of course, there is insulation about the ceiling and in the exterior walls. Since the Monos, and basically all IC and IW speakers do not have enclosures, I worry about the blown-in insulation falling down around the speakers (although it looks like some SUPER cheap Pyle speakers do have enclosures...anyone have any thoughts on these...I think Wallyworld sells some for $12...hard to believe that they would be very good...but then again, this year old thread has been about $25 speakers...so anything is possible.)

I will have one of my in wall speakers on the outside wall with blown in insulation. I read that the blown in stuff can get into the moving parts of the speaker, so you need to replace a little section with the regular insulation (not sure what its called). That's what I plan to do.

I'm not sure what speakers I"m getting, but I'm going to install 7 of them in my new home.

Cool, let me know how the installation goes in the exterior wall.

Great instructions mikemusic - you've given me something to think about!

My worry about installing speakers on an outside wall is breaching the vapor barrier. I think I might go with in ceiling surrounds for this reason.

Do all houses have this? I don't remember seeing one on mine (unless they did it the same day it was sheetrocked. I had never hear of this before.

I went ahead and purchased HiFi Works 6.5" Round Surround (dual tweeter) speakers for my HT surrounds. But, I did order a pair of 6.5" Monoprice stereo speakers for some whole house audio applications since I was getting some longer A/V cables at the same time. This is the dual voice coil version that accepts two channels. I will be using them in smaller rooms/areas of the house. It will be a few days before I get them, so I won't get to installing them until after the holidays.

I did not have a very large budget for the small (10.5'X12.5') home theater I built in my basement. Because of the size, I had to go with inwall speakers. After framing out the walls, installing the wiring and lighting, and buying the projector, I did not have much of a budget left (and still needed to buy seating, receiver and speakers).
I bought a Onkyo 606 receiver, moved my SVS subwoofer from my living room to my basement and bought three pair of the 6.5" Inwall speakers from Monoprice. I am using the inwalls for a 6.1 setup and have the two surrounds (but not the rear) speakers mounted in the ceiling with the other speakers in the wall below my 100" screen.
I would have to say the voicing of these speakers is very natural. In this small room they have enough bass that I can cross over to my sub at 80Hz seamlessly. They do not have the bass capability or the upper-midrange smoothness of my Paradigms (which I temporarily placed in my basement for comparison), but they are great for movies. I would have to say I am more than satisfied with the sound and the quality of the construction.

Not sure if all houses have one. I live in Ontario and they installed one when they built my house.

Nice work, mikemusic. Thanks for the info, and welcome!

A note for next time...you might want to consider a flexible drill bit. That is what I use so that I don't have to cut the drywall at the top of the wall. You just cut out for your speaker, then insert the drill bit along with a steering tool, and you can drill through your top plate. There is a hole in the tip of these drill bits so that you can attach the cable pull to it and pull the cable in as you pull the bit back out.

Here is a video that shows the bit and steering tool, although he is using it to drill horizontally, I think you will get the idea. http://www.taunton.com/finehomebuild...sed-walls.aspx

Of course this works better in empty wall cavities than with insulation to deal with.

Can anyone who's purchased these tell me the dimensions of the 6.5- and the 8-inch speaker grills? Thanks in advance.

I wouldn't...it's very likely that your boxes for your electrical outlets already breach the vapor barrier. You'd just want to be careful and try to make it a snug fit, but I don't think there'd be much problem. Otherwise, cut a hole in the drywall, cut the vapor barrier hole slightly smaller, and then get additional plastic and make a sort of vapor barrier "pouch" that you duct tape around the existing vapor barrier hole. The magnet for the speaker can fit into the pouch, and the duct tape should hold the vapor barrier sealed shut.

I was going to order some of these for the bedroom, but I'm holding out for a couple of weeks...It looks like we'll have the following additions available by the end of the year:

8 Inches Woofer In-Ceiling Speakers (Pair) - 15 Degrees Angled
5-1/4 Inches Center Channel In-Wall Speaker
5-1/4 Inches Center Channel Micro-Flanged In-Wall Speaker
10 Inches In-Wall Subwoofer
8 Inches In-Wall Subwoofer

All have an ETA of 12/30 for being in stock. Pictures of most of them are up on the site now.

This seems to be the biggest in-wall forum around, so I'll ask here.
Up front I have a sub with Polk RT20i bookshelves and an older Polk Center. (Just got the PA120 Premiere Acoustics Sub and love it as per recommendations here. Thanks!)

I want to do 5.1. My receiver can do eq on each speaker to some degree and it can vary by input source which is kinda nice so I think I can get away with cheaper in-walls in back. I'm getting the notion that I'd better do 8" if I want any bass at all.

First thing to point out, the couch is against the back of the wall where there is insulation. I cannot do in-wall speakers firing from the side since on one side is the hallway.

Secondly, the ceiling has no insulation but the back wall directly behind the couch has insulation (not an outdoor wall though). So since our heads would be less than 1 foot from in-wall speakers, would it be better to go with in-ceiling?

Thirdly, it seems there's a real shootout here at the bottom of the barrel. People here really like the monoprice models. What about them compared to Sonance HiFi Works which I can get really cheap? Also TSC as the new kid on the block has some interesting offerings.

If this was for the front, I'd splurge on the Polks, but is Polk worth it for the rear speakers?

Thanks in advance guys!

Bump

Ive been following this post, for your FYI

here is what appears to be the overseas manufacture-

highhit.net/eng/content2.htm

most likely other retailers offering same line in the states under various brands. Typical of speaker manufacturing. Still an awful good price point, condsidering features. I assume no one has tried any of the new subs etc listed on monoprice? It appears as they are no in stock yet, or are sold out.

Sorry for the late reply. Honestly, builders of even high-end homes often don't place speakers in the correct locations for home theater. Seriously...they get stuff that looks good but is out of the way just for the WAF. I seriously doubt any builder is going to spec Triads, Speakercrafts or even RBH's unless the buyer or integrator (another bunch of crooks) specifically requests it. Builders cut corners where they can even on the high end stuff.

Did you see the TIME series on Speakercraft.com under in-ceiling speakers? I have no idea of budget knock-offs of those.

Re: the outside wall stuff, I'm guessing it depends where you live. I have a bedroom with 2.5 walls to the outside. My right front, center and right surround will be on outside walls. I have 10 ft ceilings as well, so I have a LOT of header studs to deal with plus my lovely sloping roof. I'll let you guys know if it's not possible.

Anyone tried the new Monoprice in-wall subwoofers. I'm interested in the 10". I'm wondering if I could possibly build a boxed enclosure with a slotted vent around it (or possible even two of them) to take it nice and low/deep in my bedroom. There are no specs for the two subs on the site, yet. However, those two subs are ridiculously cheap. It makes me really wonder about the driver specs.

The problem with in-wall subs is the lack of LFE and they cause your windows and pictures to vibrate on the wall. Avoid an in-wall sub unless you really have to use it and then go with a brand like RBH, which has a very good rear enclosurer. Also put some damping material between the wall studs and the rear enclosurer to reduce vibrations. My $0.02.

i just purchased a pair of the 8" in-ceiling monoprice speakers. these will be mounted in the ceiling (duh) in our master bedroom for general music listening and will also be connected for TV/movie audio.

for listening in the bedroom where the music will never be played very loud (more for just getting ready for work in the morning), i could not push myself to pay much more for a set of speakers. while i love high quality sound and the products they come from, i could not imagine spending top dollar for such a low output soundstage.

i have been 100% satisfied with everything i have purchased from monoprice.com (including the new LCD mount i just mounted from them for the master bedroom LCD), and with the good reviews so far, i doubt i will have any issues.

i will be sure to have these installed shortly after Christmas and i will give a full report.

You're better off going in-wall than in-ceiling. If you listen to multi-channel music, you might be better off getting Polks (on sale at Fry's every other weekend) that compliment your fronts.

http://www.audioholics.com/tweaks/do...20installation