New in-wall speaker install

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  • Andrew Pratt
    Moderator Emeritus
    • Aug 2000
    • 16507

    New in-wall speaker install

    I thought I'd post a quick overview of my impressions so far on the new Pinnacle K60 in-wall speakers that I got from our new forum sponsor NextLevelAV on friday. First I must say I've been VERY impressed with NextLevel's owner Jim and his attention to his customers. If this is any indication of how he treats the rest of his clients rest assured you're in good hands when buying for him:T

    Anyway onto the in-walls. I have in-wall speakers upstairs in my livingroom where they function as the speakers for my second zone from the media room. These are BIC's that I got a few years ago and they were picked mostly from a form over function stand point as a stealth install was required for a number of reasons. Those have served me well for what they do but sound quality isn't as good as it maybe could be. That experience prompted me to spend a little more this time round on some higher end in-walls as I wanted something more approp for HT use in my media room. I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do this time round for my surround speakers but I knew that a change was required as my Paradigm ADP's just weren't doing it for me. One aspect of my room that I wish I could change is that its only 12' wide which means that the walk ways down the sides of the room are narrow and I was constantly worried about bumping my head into the side speakers. Obviously with in-walls that's no longer an issue:T From an athesteics view I'd become accusomted to the clean look of no speakers visible on the walls since I sold the paradigns before christmas so that was another reason I figured I'd give in-walls a try in the media room.

    On friday I drove down to the Fed-Ex depot and picked up a sizeable box with a nice big Pinnacle logo on it and managed to avoid a few accidents on the very icy roads. That night we decided to stay home as the roads weren't suitable for traveling which meant that I had a free night to do some installing :B Here's a photo of the hole I cut in the back wall where one of the 4 K60's was going to be installed.



    The K60's come in pairs and have a nice thick cardboard template that you simply tape to the wall and cut around with a dremel or a jig saw in my case. You need to make sure that there's no studs under where you intend to place the speaker and you should give some thought on how you're going to snake the speaker cable to them before cutting a hole in the wall. In my case with the false ceiling its very easy for me to pull cable to the install locations. I would also recomend using in-wall approved speaker cable. I got mine from Home Depot as its very reasonably priced and comes in a nice green protective sheath.

    Next I did a quick fit to make sure they would seat properly and that the hole I'd cut was big enough etc. The first hole was actually a hair to small but that was an easy fix and better too small then too big These speakes have 6 "legs" that swing out automatically when you turn the mounting screws on the sides. This IMO is a nicer installing method then the backing plate that the BIC's upstairs use. I will say that a drill is virtually mandatory for screwing these in place as its a long fine thread that would take you all day to secure with a screw driver...just be very careful not to snap the plastic legs when it starts to get tight.

    As is typical these K60's come in a white paintable plastic. Given my grey carpet walls I decided to paint them the same colour as my ceiling so they blend in very nicely. The side white plastic on the speakers paint easily. You'll need a couple of coats to get nice uniform coverage but it goes on well. The grills easily pop off and take paint ok. They come with a white thin felt backing that you will need to remove prior to painting but its not that difficult to remove. One thing to note is that when painting the grills spray paint would be easier then a foam brush as the brush tends to clog the pores on the grill. I simply blew through the wet paint when that happened to clear them. As with the plastic a few coats should do the trick. The paint I used will scratch off if you brushed against it but given the location of where mine are installed that shouldn't be a problem for me. I've given my grills a couple of light coats but for some reason they are a little blotchy when viewed from the side vs direct. Its hardly noticable and its only because I'm being picky that I mention it at all.

    Here's two pictures of the K60's installed with and without the grills on. The grill off photo shows what they looked like after the first coat of paint on the plastic. I gave them a second coat with them pulled slightly out from the walls which worked for me but might be difficult depending for you if you are putting these into drywall which isn't as forgiving as my similar coloured carpet is.




    I have only watched portions of some movies so far and I need to tweak some things yet (the tweeters swivel) but my initial impressions are that they'll make a very fine surround speaker. There's a matching MTM in the Kevlar line from Pinnacle that you would want to use as fronts if you were doing a whole in-wall install. I intend to give my rears a listen using then as redirected mains to see how they fair with music etc. They are much brighter sounding then my ultra smooth M8a's which may be an issue for me given my preferences but I'll report back my findings later once I've given them some break in time and I've listened to them longer.

    Attached Files
  • Glen
    Senior Member
    • Dec 2003
    • 867

    #2
    Very interesting. Great job on the install. Keep us posted on your impressions. :T

    Comment

    • Roxus
      Junior Member
      • Mar 2004
      • 22

      #3
      What other speakers were under consideration, and what were the reasons for the decisions you made ?

      I too am looking for in-wall speakers (12' wide room as well) currently having nothing in the surround position, and my old surrounds in the surround-back position (just becoz I had to put SOMETHING in the rear - but always knew I was going to get new speakers for the surrounds)

      Is there a URL for the new sponsor (the image link you posted is broken ?)

      Comment

      • Andrew Pratt
        Moderator Emeritus
        • Aug 2000
        • 16507

        #4
        Oops I fixed the link to NextLevel. Basically the reason I went with the ones I did was they seemed to be one of the best values available from Nextlevel and the reviews I found were generally more positive then those for the other brands.

        Comment

        • siberian
          Member
          • Dec 2004
          • 34

          #5
          I finally got my Definitive Technology in-ceiling speakers installed and am very happy with the quality of sound for both stereo listening and pro-logic. Great spread on the sound, very clean.

          I'm no expert though, shoot, I still run my Bose cubes in front

          Comment

          • Andrew Pratt
            Moderator Emeritus
            • Aug 2000
            • 16507

            #6
            I noticed last night watching TV that these seem to have a lot more presence then the old speakers I was running...which honestly isn't surprising given that these are direct rad's vs the bipoles I've traditionally being using in this room. What did surprise me though was that it wasn't nearly as distracting as I thought it might be...esp now that its being calibrated properly.

            Comment

            • David Meek
              Moderator Emeritus
              • Aug 2000
              • 8938

              #7
              Andrew, something to consider - since removing the in-walls sounds rather simple - is stuffing the void area between the studs, plates and sheetrock with a poly-wool or other sonically inert filler to minimize the "drum effect" of your speaker resonating in a large un-damped box.
              .

              David - Trigger-happy HTGuide Admin

              Comment

              • Andrew Pratt
                Moderator Emeritus
                • Aug 2000
                • 16507

                #8
                David three of the four walls are already stuffed and I'm going to be working on the forth wall shortly (its easy as its the common wall to the furnace room)

                Comment

                • David Meek
                  Moderator Emeritus
                  • Aug 2000
                  • 8938

                  #9
                  I knew you were a good man. :B
                  .

                  David - Trigger-happy HTGuide Admin

                  Comment

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