[driven]

I'm new to this site and extremely new to building and setting up a home theater. I'm almost ready to put the finishing touches on my basement/theater and need some help with speakers. Some quick specs

size of room 19x13

7.1 surround (planned location, 3 front, 2 ceiling mid room bulkhead and 2 rear. sub rear right corner.

Need to buy all speakers and sub. Planned budget is no more than $1500. I know this limits my options but second child will be here soon and trying to keep priorities in check.

I live in Canada, T.O area and would like to know if anyone has any suggestions for speakers that may fit my budget. With so many options and so many opinions I was hoping someone might have a place to start.

Thanks for any help provided.

 

[tonyvdb]

First of all welcome to the Shack!

Is there a reason you are going with in wall speakers? These are usually a big compromise in sound quality and with your budget your going to have a tough time finding any with good quality.
With you living in the TO area have a look at these speakers from SVS. You have a local internet direct company that sells them called Sonic boom audio I along with many others here have speakers and subs from them and are some of the best available.

 

[driven]

Yeah, Everything I've read bascially suggests that inwall is not the way to go. But when I started this it was just suppose to be a play area for the kids and inwall seemed the safest and cleanest route with the kids in the mix.

I don't need awe inspiring sound just something that will not sound like a train wreck.

Ideally I would like something with an enclosure (cause I hear you can't have decent sound without) but I'm also willing to go with just five for now and add the ceilings later.

I didn't see any inwall speakers on that site.

 

[drdoan]

Hi driven, welcome. Can't help with in walls, but, I would definitely look into SVSound subs. Have fun. Dennis

 

[tonyvdb]

If in wall is a must then you may need to do some searching at your local big box store to see what they have in stock. JBL makes some nice ones for a decent price but as i said above its going to be tough to find an in wall with decent sound for the price range you have as to get anything decent you usually have to pay about three times as much as a good bookshelf would cost.

 

[paints]

Just for kicks...I looked at some Infinity in wall speakers and while the salesperson in general doesn't like in walls. He did say the Infinity's have an adjustable tweeter in them. Curiosity got the cat and he opened one up for me and sure enough. The tweeter was mounted on a swivel and could be aimed at any point in front of it.

Luckily my wife was with me (she wanted unobtrusive too) and heard the part about it's sound zone being stifled and the trouble that some people have installing and getting good sound from them. I did notice that the stores clearance section had tons of in walls laying around marked down.

Good luck. Maybe you can find someone who went the in wall route and sample their system for yourself.

 

[tonyvdb]

Yes, The Infinity in wall speakers are a good choice as the swivel tweeter really helps with getting the highs aimed at where you sit.

 

[headknocker]

I never installed the M&S WG150 in-walls(which were intended for surround duty) which I picked up on ebay months ago but I auditioned them free-air in my primary HT with various material for around 30 minutes. I didn't have them blasting or anything like that but I have to say they sounded pretty nice at reasonable levels...smooth but detailed. I was impressed. I got mine for a killer deal of $55 shipped but the M&S WG line(WG stands for the waveguide tweeter) aren't run-of-the-mill in-walls. They usually run in the $200 neighborhood for a pair.

 

[driven]

Thanks I'll take a look. I'm really having second thoughts about the inwall thing. I just have to figure if I can pull this off another way. I guess the five p's (proper planning prevents poor performance) got me this time.

 

[headknocker]

I'll admit that I was kinda bummed-out when I discovered the M&S in-walls wouldn't work in the configuration of my secondary HT room. I didn't know in-walls aren't supposed to be installed in outside walls and that's where one of mine were going to go. As it turned out I was pretty much screwed on the other one as well as I eventually discovered there were two electrical lines running right in the middle of intended spot for the left rear surround.

I had never heard of M&S before but I came across them on ebay when I was doing a serach for in-walls. Their WG line are very attractive and they got my attention. After scouring the net for reviews(and I found a ton of positive opinions on them) I decided to make a move on them.

Like I said, they DO sound really good and I did contemplate installling them in the ceiling but in the end I didn't want to cut such large holes in the ceiling.