Considering Living Room In-Wall Subwoofers

[GFOviedo]

I wonder how long that fireplace brick will stay on the wall. I have a small living room and my Power Sound Audio XV15 rattles the windows and made some of the pictures on the wall fall lol. This only happens when I am home alone!

 

[Peter Loeser]

I wonder how long that fireplace brick will stay on the wall. I have a small living room and my Power Sound Audio XV15 rattles the windows and made some of the pictures on the wall fall lol. This only happens when I am home alone!

Good point. It will be best for my well being if the brick stays intact. If only I could accept a simple, pracitical solution for a problem like "my TV speakers sound like junk"... I can't really even enjoy a classic Disney movie with my kids if the sound isn't right. So here I am risking the structural integrity of our custom stone veneer fireplace...

Regarding the build... I went to glue up one of the enclosures last night only to find both bottles of wood glue had set up during the move/storage/etc. Picked up a bottle at lunch today so I'm hoping to assemble and test fit on the side I have already cut open. Still need to order driver mounting hardware.

Also, it turns out I'm pretty sure I sold the damaged SA1000 I had. Probably going to order a new SA1000 unless there are better options in the same price range. I like the simplicity of the SA 1000 and prefer to avoid anything with a cooling fan for this application. I'm open to suggestions though.

 

[Peter Loeser]

I wonder how long that fireplace brick will stay on the wall. I have a small living room and my Power Sound Audio XV15 rattles the windows and made some of the pictures on the wall fall lol. This only happens when I am home alone!

BTW the XV15 is a phenominal sub. No surprise it shook your pictures loose.

 

[Peter Loeser]

Slow progress lately due to family activities and a friend visiting from out of town. I got a little done this evening and did a quick test fit before I glue up the rest of the first enclosure. Some wiring and lots of mud/taping to get the wall straight again. But my (our) plan is coming together nicely.

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• Peter Loeser
• Sep 27, 2017

 

[Peter Loeser]

Quick test fit. Nice and snug. Front baffle is being glued now. Next step is fixing the box to the supports and studs and then attempting to blend it all together. Still deciding on an amp.

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• Peter Loeser
• Sep 29, 2017

 

[GFOviedo]

Looks good!

 

[tripplej]

I second it.. Looks good!

 

[phillihp23]

Looks like things are coming along nicely.

 

[Peter Loeser]

Progress today. I didn’t realize how far the rubber surround on the Ultimax protrudes beyond the front baffle of the box so I had to add a spacer (plywood) plus the half in Sheetrock to leave myself clearance for a grill.

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• Peter Loeser
• Oct 14, 2017

I cut a new section of Sheetrock to save myself a ton of patching.

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• Peter Loeser
• Oct 14, 2017

The driver is in for now and working. The kids are watching a movie at the moment so it’s on hold till bed time. Before I re-finish the wall I’d like to let it thump for a bit to check for rattles and buzzes in the fireplace and surrounding walls. I’ll probably remove the driver while I mud/sand/paint/etc. There’s a good local machinist I may ask to quote a ring/flange to make a flush mounted grill with.

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• Peter Loeser
• Oct 14, 2017

Stay tuned!

 

[tripplej]

Great progress. Keep it up!

 

[Peter Loeser]

I had a few minutes to listen to some music at a fairly low volume but initial impressions are very good. I’m definitely excited to see these guys really perform. I will be able to crank it a bit louder tomorrow. I haven’t ordered a proper sub amp yet so at the moment it’s just running off a stereo amp I had kicking around. We’re on a bit of a spending freeze so unfortunately the amp may have to wait. I have what I need to finish construction and installation so the amp will be an easy swap later.

I plan to post more updates and photos as the project continues but may take a break for a few days. Got some car projects that need to get done too.

 

[Peter Loeser]

The big drywall sections on either side of the fireplace are resonating enough to cause a bit of booming at slightly above normal listening volume for the setup. I'm thinking I can span a couple 2x4s between the two walls at the locations I've added supports for the shelving I'm building. I can still add some dynamat or something similar too. Any thoughts on dynamat sticking to the back side of the sheetrock? It's not serious, but enough to notice, and I either address it now or never. Any other suggestions are welcome. I've still got time and would like to do it right. Even still, overall I'm very happy with the results thus far. Mind you, I have not applied any room correction or EQ at this point, and one side still has a large opening cut into it, which maybe be acting like a large bass port at the frequencies that sound boomy. I'm very happy with the Dayton sub/box combo. Really an excellent package for the price. Highly recommended.

 

[Matthew J Poes]

This is looking good. Nice way to integrate and hide your subs.

dynamat or damping is actually not a good thing with subwoofer enclosures. When an enclosure is operating below its wall critical frequency it acts as a pressure vessel. What that means is that mass and damping have no effect on resonances or transmission loss through the wall. The purpose of the enclosure is to contain the back wave and pressure to provide a damping spring for the driver. Stiffness is all that matters for a subwoofer enclosure. Damping is counterproductive as it adds no stiffness but adds mass and thus lowers he critical frequency. You want to operate a subwoofer below the critical frequency so that the walls won’t resonate. That is why bracing is so critical.

May I ask, is that enclosure sealed on the inside. It looked like you built a shelf inside the wall cavity and tested a partially assembled subwoofer box inside the opening. Was the partially assembled subwoofer enclosure sealed or can the drivers backwave and pressure make use of that entire wall cavity?

The sound you hear may be an issue of the room more than enclosure. Measurements are always helpful to be sure of what’s going on. If you have that ability that would be great.

 

[Peter Loeser]

Thanks for the feedback. The sub enclosures are sealed. The cavity behind the fireplace will be sealed, aside from any gaps around the fireplace itself.

The internal bracing on the sub enclosures should be sufficient. I was thinking more in terms of damping vs bracing on the Sheetrock.

Also keep in mind only one sub is installed so far, and one side has a big opening, which could be adding some mud to the sound.

I’ve put the project on hold while I try to finish some car repairs before winter. Having lived with the one sub for a couple weeks I’m still pretty happy with it overall. When I can pick it back up again I’ll start with some extra bracing on the Sheetrock and try to find my measurement gear to get an idea of what’s really going on.

 

[Matthew J Poes]

Thanks for the feedback. The sub enclosures are sealed. The cavity behind the fireplace will be sealed, aside from any gaps around the fireplace itself.

The internal bracing on the sub enclosures should be sufficient. I was thinking more in terms of damping vs bracing on the Sheetrock.

Also keep in mind only one sub is installed so far, and one side has a big opening, which could be adding some mud to the sound.

I’ve put the project on hold while I try to finish some car repairs before winter. Having lived with the one sub for a couple weeks I’m still pretty happy with it overall. When I can pick it back up again I’ll start with some extra bracing on the Sheetrock and try to find my measurement gear to get an idea of what’s really going on.

I do think measurements would be good. There are a lot of variables in the fireplace enclosure, could also be a strange cavity resonance. May just need a little eq.

 

[Peter Loeser]

Well this project is really dragging on but I've finally had a chance to make some progress this week. The whole left side is nearly finished, with a few items yet to wrap up, but I'm close to moving on to the other side and repeating what I've already done here.

Floating shelves are up and the top and front are covered with reclaimed wood. The bottom of the shelves will also be covered, I just haven't cut those yet. The cabinet is also installed along with the top made from the same reclaimed wood. I also covered the face of the mantle (was a stark white) and will do the top, bottom, and sides of that as well.

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• Peter Loeser
• Nov 20, 2017

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• Peter Loeser
• Nov 20, 2017

And here's a view of the sub tucked away. I plan to have a grill made to make it a bit more stealth, but it doesn't look too horribly bad as it is for now.

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• Peter Loeser
• Nov 20, 2017

Very happy with the way this has turned out, and looking forward to having both sides done. All of my electronics are in the cabinet controlled by a Harmony Hub nicely concealed inside as well. The boss gets her rustic farmhouse aesthetic and I get my gadgets and sound quality . Although I still have a bit of room boom to take care of, just the single 12" kicks pretty hard in this space, so two should do a more than fine job.

 

[Matthew J Poes]

This looks realy awesome.

 

[Peter Loeser]

Final Result. This project has been done for a bit but I thought I'd post a few pics. Super happy with the way it looks and sounds. It took me a while but was well worth the effort. The room and system are used and enjoyed daily. If you're wondering there are two rocking swivel chairs out of frame that face the TV. These are the best viewing spots but watching from the couches is plenty comfortable too.

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• Peter Loeser
• Apr 27, 2018

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• Peter Loeser
• Apr 27, 2018

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• Peter Loeser
• Apr 27, 2018

 

[Matthew J Poes]

Looks awesome!

That’s really a cool idea. Much better in wall bass than you typically could achieve.

Did you ever take measurements Peter?

 

[GFOviedo]

Awesome job. Looks great.

 

[Todd Anderson]

Wow! That’s fantastic! Color me
Impressed!

Curious, does the bass shake your entire home? Or bleed into other rooms?

 

[Peter Loeser]

Thanks guys. I'm definitely glad I took the time to do full enclosures in the wall, performance has exceeded my expectations. To answer your questions...

I have not taken measurements yet, or even done any sort of EQ. I hoesntly haven't had the time to pull out my mic or setup REW. I'd like to because I'm confident I can get some really killer sound from this system. I need to get caught up on some of your articles and I think this would be a great opportunity to put the knowledge to good use. I got enough out of REW to get my old setup sounding pretty good, but I'd like to get to the next level.

We don't typically crank the volume in this room but it can be heard through the main part of the main floor - living room, kitchen, and dining room. The way the house is built (pre-fab/modular) the space between the first and 2nd floor is insulated, so the sound doesn't bleed upstairs much at normal or even slightly high listening volume. The kids room is above the living room but the insulation prevents it from disturbing bedtime. The potential for house shaking bass is definitely there. We'll see what it does when I give it some real power.

 

[Todd Anderson]

Cool. You're lucky there's some separation of sound between floors. That's one of the faults of our home: sound just seems to gain momentum as it goes up!

 

[Tonto]

Congrads on the new system, looks great!