Design ideas for in-wall version of Dynamic 4T /4CC

[zacjones]

A friend of mine has asked me to help him put together a high impact 5.1 in-wall system with a $3500 budget for mains and surrounds.
arty:

Commercial in-walls would definitely be the easy way out, but I've always had an eye on the Dynamic series at Clearwave. If we could find a way to squeeze the 4T / 4CC / 1S into a functional in-wall design that would be fantastic.
:sn

I'm thinking of sealed enclosures 84" x 14.25" x 4" for the 4T's and 60" x 20" x 4" for the 4CC. I don't see any way around building out of 1/2" MDF here. Lots of bracing will be needed. I'd also like to sandwich the baffle from the original design onto the gigantic enclosure as well to give extra support and more mounting depth. Not sure if that's OK though to have varying thicknesses on your front baffle. Couldn't be too much worse than running 4 RS180's on a 1/2" baffle though. :twisted:

That's about 0.4cf for each RS180 and 0.15cf for the mid/tweet enclosure. A little on the small side but could be made bigger if need be. Could even do slot ports if we decided to go big. Just means we'd have to put in a longer header.
:beer2:

Is this even doable in such a shallow enclosure? Will the drivers be able to function in that environment?

Thanks you guys. Your comments and feedback are always very much appreciated.

[Jed]

Hi Zac,

Feel free to shoot me a PM/email.

Jed

[zacjones]

Thanks Jed. I'll do just that.

[zacjones]

Encouraging words from Jed. Sounds like it can be done. If I end up doing it I'll be sure to share the experience with the forum.

[Rick Craig]

With the enclosure being so shallow you'll run into some coloration with the mids and woofers. I would consider going with a dome mid like the Morel MDM-55 or similar.

[zacjones]

Thanks for your input Rick. I figured there would be some issues there, so I'm trying to figure out a way around the extremely shallow enclosures. I'm still working out the details with my friend on the overall design.

It may be doable to create a false wall for the L / C / R front stage. That would solve a lot of issues by adding another 4" of mounting depth and nearly tripling the available enclosure volume. Ported enclosures would be an option with a false wall.

A false wall is not going to be an option for the surrounds, but maybe a semi in-wall speaker would be. I think that the ideal surface mounted speaker to blend visually with the mains would be a dipole speaker, but unfortunately there is no dipole design out for these drivers, so another good option would be a 2T or even a 1S for each surround, stacking three or four of the 3/4" baffles (from the original design only a little wider) onto the fronts of the large in-wall enclosures. Doing this would allow for more breathing room to the back of the enclosure, but would require a considerable chamfering job behind the cutouts and also a large 2.25" chamfer on the sides of the extruded baffle.

It looks like this is project is going to be a go, so I'm looking forward to it. The house is completely empty so it's the perfect time to tackle a large drywall project.

[Jed]

Hi Zac,

I'm receptive to your ideas and I should be able to get something to work well for you. I have an onwall 1S drawn up already that someone else is building that I can send you. He's doing a floor to ceiling "pillar" 1S.

The false wall would absolutely solve the issue for the mains and center channel. It'll give you more room for the woofers to breathe. Think "wall of speaker" and that should help you visualize it :-).

If you have something drawn up just shoot me an email so I'm on the same page.

Jed

[Rick Craig]

Thanks for your input Rick. I figured there would be some issues there, so I'm trying to figure out a way around the extremely shallow enclosures. I'm still working out the details with my friend on the overall design.

It may be doable to create a false wall for the L / C / R front stage. That would solve a lot of issues by adding another 4" of mounting depth and nearly tripling the available enclosure volume. Ported enclosures would be an option with a false wall.

A false wall is not going to be an option for the surrounds, but maybe a semi in-wall speaker would be. I think that the ideal surface mounted speaker to blend visually with the mains would be a dipole speaker, but unfortunately there is no dipole design out for these drivers, so another good option would be a 2T or even a 1S for each surround, stacking three or four of the 3/4" baffles (from the original design only a little wider) onto the fronts of the large in-wall enclosures. Doing this would allow for more breathing room to the back of the enclosure, but would require a considerable chamfering job behind the cutouts and also a large 2.25" chamfer on the sides of the extruded baffle.

It looks like this is project is going to be a go, so I'm looking forward to it. The house is completely empty so it's the perfect time to tackle a large drywall project.

Adding the depth will really help. Shallow enclosures always have resonances that are difficult to minimize.

[zacjones]

Jed you beat me to it! I was just about to send you an email. I couldn't agree more you are very receptive to my ideas and leave no stone unturned in your responses. It's very much appreciated. That saves tons of time for me and leaves none of my ideas unanswered. And you're so quick to respond that I don't even have time to email you after posting here! Awesome communication.

I probably should have waited to start this thread until we had worked most of it out, but thinking about speakers tends to get me in a tizzy, and I guess I just got a little excited. Thanks again Jed.

[Jed]

Thanks again Jed.

You're welcome!

[horibatech]

1s?

Hi Zac,

I'm receptive to your ideas and I should be able to get something to work well for you. I have an onwall 1S drawn up already that someone else is building that I can send you. He's doing a floor to ceiling "pillar" 1S.

The false wall would absolutely solve the issue for the mains and center channel. It'll give you more room for the woofers to breathe. Think "wall of speaker" and that should help you visualize it :-).

If you have something drawn up just shoot me an email so I'm on the same page.

Jed

Hi all, new to the forums... I'm in a similar boat here. I'm about to close on a house with a pre-finished basement, but nothing in it yet. I am finally ready to make the jump out of Surround-in-a-box system (a decent Onkyo 7.1 channel) and into DIY high end audio. Is this 1S an in wall sub? I like the idea of bumping the wall out by 4"s to give more room for speakers and potentially subs. I think I can lose the room space (though my not yet bought projector may loose a few inches of diag...). What more info do you have on this or other in wall speakers using your designs?

Thanks all!

Jeff

[Jed]

Hi all, new to the forums... I'm in a similar boat here. I'm about to close on a house with a pre-finished basement, but nothing in it yet. I am finally ready to make the jump out of Surround-in-a-box system (a decent Onkyo 7.1 channel) and into DIY high end audio. Is this 1S an in wall sub? I like the idea of bumping the wall out by 4"s to give more room for speakers and potentially subs. I think I can lose the room space (though my not yet bought projector may loose a few inches of diag...). What more info do you have on this or other in wall speakers using your designs?

Thanks all!

Jeff

Hi Jeff,

I just recently built a wall around my Dynamic Series 4t/4cc to develop an inwall design. In would be a "false" wall design so that all the drivers are mounted flush to that wall, which is about 6-8" in front of the wall of your home. I also measured with the baffle protruding out of the false wall by about 3" for an "on wall" type baffle system. So I have crossovers for both variations. As for surrounds, the 1S now has an onwall crossover as well but not an inwall crossover. The idea would be a 1S column that protrudes into the room by about 6" or so. It's all good fun so feel free to PM or send me an email.