Stuff you need to know before installing in-wall and in-ceiling speaker systems

Perhaps, the seven cool hidden speaker systems post has convinced you to get one yourself. You know, getting your favorite music to resonate throughout the house is such a cool thing. But what are the things you need to know before buying that cool set you saw at your local audio-video store?

First and foremost, you need to have figured out already which rooms you would want the sound systems located. If your house or room is still under construction, the installation will be a lot easier compared to that of an already existing room.

After selecting the location(s) of your installation, you need to decide which type of installation to use. You have two choices: in-wall or in-ceiling. Both types of installations are good but in-wall speakers tend to sound a lot better in some aspects.

In-ceiling speakers are much easier to install compared to in-walls. More often than not, in-ceiling type uses round speakers, which integrate better with other ceiling fixtures. In short, they blend well with the surrounding and they are easy to integrate aesthetically into a room.

On the other hand, in-wall speakers are quite hard to integrate into a room. They usually come in rectangular shapes. They tend to take up space, which might be cumbersome if you want such space to be used for art or furniture instead. But of course, these problems will be avoided if you have planned out a good way to integrate the sound system without sacrificing aesthetics and functionality.

Once you have chosen your type of installation, proper placement of the speakers is the next thing to consider. Best practices suggest that speakers should be kept two feet or more from adjacent walls or impediments that can cause response problems. In-wall speakers should be placed in such a way that they are at, or close to, ear level.

If you are planning to build a multi-room speaker system, you need to decide if you are going to treat everything as a single unit or you treat them as multiple units. We call this single zone or multiple zone systems. In a single zone system, all the speakers play the same thing. There’s only one source. In a multiple zone audio system, every room has its own source; the units can play different music at the same time.

Obviously, multi-zone systems are more expensive because there is a need to ‘control’ the sound attributes on various locations. You need some sort of a remote control to set things up. You need to have a multi-room controller and amplifier and this will be additional costs. You also need to hire a professional custom installer to get all these things in place.

There are still more to know about installing speaker systems but it is safe to assume that with a tad of creativity and a lot of careful planning, installing in-wall or in-ceiling speaker systems might be tedious and expensive at first but you will find that it’s all worth the hassle considering its aesthetic appeal and superb sound production.