wall speakers for plasma tv - advice please

[jimbowley]

For aesthetic reasons i'd like to get rid of my front stand mounts and replace them with a speaker on the wall either side of my plasma tv.

I am capable of the manufacture but need someone to help me with the configuration and what drivers/crossover/enclosure volume to use.

I'm thinking an enclosure 600mm high, something like 300wide but this could increased or decreased, and only about 150mm deep although that could be increased also.(So that's about 20litres)

The speakers will be 1000mm apart with the screen between them. They'll be quite high up the wall so a tweeter at the bottom and 1 or 2 woofers above? They'll be used for mostly movies with the av amp mixing the centre channel in, and they will always be supported by a subwoofer. The amp is rated at 150W into 4ohm, but I don't get close to that even on 'demos'.

Suggested components that are available in europe would be ideal, a budget of up to $150 per speaker would be OK if justifed.

So what do you think?

thanks,
jim

[JonMarsh]

Not an easy set of specs, Jim, especially the shallow enclosure (which generally doesn't help with absorbind/controllering the rear wave), and the modest budget. Also, there are budget drivers available sometimes with special sales from one of our sponsors, Parts Express, which would help with the budget aspect, but Eurpean availability would be problematic. But you might take a look at their listings for kits and the projects showcase; that might give you some ideas using drivers that are similar or available in Europe- we don't have much insight into that.

If the Dayton RS series drivers were available in Europe, I'd suggest considering that project, if you can build cabinets inexpensively- driver cost is about $90, and with some care you might be able to do the rest in spec. But I wouldn't recommend building them into a 150 mm deep enclosure- the best sounding arrangements tend to be skinny and deep, not wide and flat. The crossover would need re-work, too, for different baffle step compensation.

You might be best off looking for an existing design configured as you want, or a commerical speaker in that configuration in your price range.

This one doesn't meet your specs.







But it does sound very good for $90 worth of drivers, and $50 worth of crossovers.

Good luck in your hunt- scanning the various forums will probably turn up someone doing something similar to what you want.

~Jon

[ThomasW]

Your best bet is going to be using a kit and getting them to change the crossover for wall mounting

http://www.visaton-bausaetze.de/hifi/index_en.htm?/hifi/bau_hh_en.htm

[Dennis H]

These NHTs are designed to work with a plasma. They sound pretty good for what they are and they're not much over your budget if you shop around here in the US. Probably more in Europe, though.

http://www.nhthifi.com/2004/products/product_detail.asp?ProductLineID=2&ProductID=85

[jimbowley]

Jon, My budget was just a guess really and didn't include the enclosure. What would happen if I used the same drivers as you in my wall mounted cabinets? What changes would you expect the crossover to need?

I can increase the cabinet depth. Should I have the baffles flush with the screen or proud?

I was hoping someone would say these drivers and this crossover will sound OK in a cabinet HxWxD.

[jimbowley]

Thomas, Will they do that for me? I'll give it a go.

What sort of design should I be looking at? Simple TM? MTM? Front ported ?

[jimbowley]

Dennis, yes I've seen a few products, in fact i think it's going to be a growth area. But I want mine to look like they were designed for my screen, ie same height and colour.

[cjd]

Is there any possibility that you can build into the wall? This would gain you some depth in the enclosure. . .

C

[jimbowley]

I don't want to cut into the brick wall, but I can increase the speaker depth. It's just a question of looks. I think 200mm deep look OK, but any deeper and it start to look like a pair of normal speakers fixed to the wall.

[cjd]

Brick?! uh, yeah. Probably don't want ot be cutting that.

Speaker design is always about picking your compromises. If shallow is one of them, so be it.

Wouldn't this be easier if you got one of those huge thick front projection TV's? THen you'd have 50-60cm to work with.

C

[ThomasW]

Thomas, Will they do that for me? I'll give it a go.

They're selling kits so it shouldn't be a big deal to remove the baffle step compensation circuit from the crossover. Obviously ask and find out the answer