in wall flush surround speakers

[rem888]

I have an onkyo htx-22hdx (40 watts per speaker, oms 6-16) 5.1 surround system, which is low end but gives great sound so i dont want to spend a fortune on new speakers.

I want to have the 4 surround speakers and centre speaker mounted in wall and flush to wall. cant find anywhere or on internet in thailand. Tried Numchai in Pattaya (Currys equivalent in UK), they dont stock.

Anyone know anywhere in Bangkok or Pattaya. I could bracket my existing speakers but prefer flush if doable

Found these in the US which look ok:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/191388643432?euid=5542673eb8b74a2686c4b0d79de0a6db&cp=1

Does that spec look compatible with my system? my concern is if they dont work well there is a bit of work channeling out of wall for the fixing bracket that the next speakers will not fit. Also would one of these suffice as the centre speaker? Would appreciate advice.

[IMHO]

What are your walls made out of, and how thick are they? Standard Thai wall construction uses brick/blocks and is only 10CM thick including rendering - not enough even for tiny speakers.

For this reason, in-wall speakers just aren't popular Thailand. At the cheaper end of the scale, you're probably not going to find an in-wall speaker that's actually self-enclosed either - they're more than likely going to need/expect a cavity wall (i.e. drywall on studs construction) to form the "box" and won't sound right without this.

Ceiling speakers are another option, but again they're not very popular here, so it's either cheap and nasty sounding, or decent sounding but $$$$. There's another problem with these too - because most ceilings in Thailand are suspended types with C-Line and drop-wires, they are very prone to rattling. I tried it for my Dolby Atmos height speakers and the rattles and resonances were just terrible. In order to get them sounding right, I'd need to re-engineer the whole ceiling support structure from solid welded steel(!).

It also sounds like you don't want to spend too much money - so a wall mounting bracket for your speakers is probably the best overall option. These can be found for a few hundred Baht/pr on websites like Lazada.

In the end, this is what I was forced into doing..

[rem888]

you are correct, most of the in wall speakers require 4 inch depth and the fixing bracket is designed for dry lined walls not blocks. Looks a no go so i will conceal the speaker cable and mount my existing brackets and speakers to the wall.

thanks for the advice.

any ideas for best place to get 100m of speaker cable?

[AJBangkok]

you are correct, most of the in wall speakers require 4 inch depth and the fixing bracket is designed for dry lined walls not blocks. Looks a no go so i will conceal the speaker cable and mount my existing brackets and speakers to the wall.

thanks for the advice.

any ideas for best place to get 100m of speaker cable?

I ordered my speaker cable off Ebay. 200m of pure copper 12 gauge for less than 10,000 including tax and shipping. Delivery took about week from the states using he global shipping program. The local dealers here were trying to charge me 80'000 for some "hi tech" wire which to be honest looked to be lower spec then the stuff I bought on eBay.

[IMHO]

you are correct, most of the in wall speakers require 4 inch depth and the fixing bracket is designed for dry lined walls not blocks. Looks a no go so i will conceal the speaker cable and mount my existing brackets and speakers to the wall.

thanks for the advice.

any ideas for best place to get 100m of speaker cable?

Amorn sells sufficiently good speaker wire, without the hyped up prices:

http://www.amorngroup.com/en/branches.php

Use the table here to make sure you get the sufficient gauge for the length of the runs, and speaker impedance:

http://www.audioholics.com/audio-video-cables/speaker-cable-gauge

And this table to convert from AWG to mm2:

http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/awg-wire-gauge-d_731.html

Edited January 26, 2016 by IMHO