Any reasonable on-wall speakers out there?

[yossarian]

Hello ASR members. Longtime lurker here, looking for some advice).

I am trying to build a reasonable-sounding stereo system for my main room. The issue is, the room layout was built few years ago when I did not care that much about sound, and it is terribly hard to adjust now. Between the established use patterns and custom made furniture, there is no way to fit any bookshelf speakers, not to mention towers. I have almost gave up the attempt to have a decent sound, but then I found that on-wall speakers exist. I am able to fit a speaker up to 12cm (4.5 inch) deep. I am looking for something decent, hoping to spend up to $600 a pair. I am able to fit one sub - this would be required given the limitations of the on-wall form factor. The room is medium-sized (4m x 5m, with adjacent hallway and kitchen), and I will be listening at medium level, not very loud. It will also be used as a source of music while engaged in other activities in the room (that is, not limited to a single listening position) and for occasionally watching movies (no high sound-effect expectation here, and no desire to go beyond 2.1).

What I am stumped by is a complete lack of measurements for this kind of a speaker. Are they so bad that it is not worth to bother? Or maybe I am not the target audience? I am trying to build a reasonable-sounding set for a tolerable price, and I am mostly interested in measurements because I am a geek and enjoy learning. Maybe hardly anyone in this market segment actually bothers?

Anyway, I am struggling with a way to select the speakers. Listening in-store is problematic - most of those are not available in locations, and my listening skills are not good enough for in-store comparison. Should I go by the company reputation (if they produce some well-measuring speakers, there is a chance that others are OK as well? By looks? By subjective opinions (even those are lacking in this market segment)?

Anyway, I have a preliminary list of candidates. I have been picking ones marketed to be used as main speakers:
- Dali Oberon on-wall: https://www.dali-speakers.com/products/oberon/oberon-on-wall/
- Kef T301: https://international.kef.com/products/t301-satellite-speakers?_pos=1&_sid=b4278223e&_ss=r
- Canton GLE 417.2: https://www.canton.de/en/products/hifi/gle-series/gle-417.2-onwall?number=03887
- Revel Concerta M8/M10 (I can get them at list price only, so M10 at $500 a piece is kinda expensive for me).

Anyone has any experience wth those, or some other recommendations?

 

[outlookrt]

Giving this thread a bump as I'm looking for something similar for a possible on-wall based 2.2 system.
Thinking small, shallow, sealed, speakers on the wall (or attached using a bracket).

A few more options I've come across to add to this list:

- Arendal Sound '1961 Bookshelf' - a small sealed speaker using a big waveguide. Arendal making a name for themselves in HT more than music
- M&K m50 - Another well known home theatre brand
- Lyngdorf MH-2/3 - Lyngdorfs whole system phylisophy is built around on-wall speakers and 'boundry subwoofers'. Designed to be used with their all in one amplifiers using Room Perfect correction and stereo subs crossover high, but should work in other systems too...

 

[antennaguru]

Check out Anthony Gallo Acoustics. A pair of their Strada2 mounted on the wall, with one or two of their powered subs are a surprisingly musical combination. We had a busy room that needed wall mounting, and I gave them a shot because of the home trial money back guarantee. The Strada2 are higher than your budget, but let's cut to the chase - we started with their best simple single driver spheres as the mains and one subwoofer and they were attractive and nice sounding. However a few years of enjoyment later our situation allowed me to try an upgrade to the Strada2, and there was no going back. The spheres went to the master bedroom flanking a flat screen TV.

 

[abdo123]

practically any front ported speaker works, as long as you control the bass with DSP.

 

[antennaguru]

Reading the recommendation of a front ported speaker just jogged my memory. Back in the mid '80s I was on a London trip, and in one of my shop visits I heard an amazing little inexpensive two way speaker with a rear port. The shop had the speakers firmly mounted on a steel speaker shelf with the speaker back (and port) one inch from the front wall of the room, and they sounded so good that I had to buy a set and lug them home on the plane. They were the Wharfedale Diamond II speakers and a pair came packaged in one pretty small box with a handle on top that I was able to bring home as checked luggage. I made myself a set of small sturdy shelves that fit them exactly, and mounted the shelves to the front wall of our TV room, with the CRT TV in the middle. Then I stuck the speakers down to the shelves with double faced adhesive mounting tape. That little rear port was one inch from the wall and using the the front wall as a sounding board really gave those little speakers surprisingly good bass response for their tiny size. We had numerous guests over to watch music videos who were amazed at the bass response of such small speakers. However, this was back in the days of small competing Mission and Linn speakers that were designed to be placed up against the front wall on stands or shelves.

When we moved house my Dad asked me for those speakers, which my folks used for years. My Dad passed away a few years ago and I got them back - like a boomerang. Now they are in my workshop...

 

[pjug]

I bought a pair of Polk OWM5 a few years ago for my parents house in the mountains (Maine). I happen to be there right now listening. They really don't sound bad with a sub and the price is good if you decide to go budget. I like that they have threads in the cabinet so you can swivel mount like I did. I'm sure there are better ones if you want to pay more, though. Here is a snapshot with white grille off.

 

[outlookrt]

I think the issue with ported speakers is usually they are bigger than their sealed counterparts and most modern designs use a narrow baffle so the speaker is quiet deep which doesn't lend itself to a discreet on-wall position. (plus the driver isn't as close to the wall to improve SBIR).
That said, genelec are ported and seem well suited to wall install if actives are an option.

I suppose this could be a place where DIY could be a good option as it would allow you to customise it to your space both for sound but also aesthetics. I have a pair of Seas T18 Coaxials I'm thinking I'll use along with 1 or 2 SVS 3000 Micros for a pretty discreet system....

 

[jhaider]

To think a little out of the box, if you can EQ the Revel M55XC reviewed here would IMO be a good choice. Another solid choice IMO are the Tannoy AMS DC line.

 

[richard12511]

The

To think a little out of the box, if you can EQ the Revel M55XC reviewed here would IMO be a good choice. Another solid choice IMO are the Tannoy AMS DC line.

That was my first thought, too. Not great out of the box tonality, but the directivity is probably the best Revel we've seen. Should take well to EQ.

 

[jhaider]

That was my first thought, too. Not great out of the box tonality, but the directivity is probably the best Revel we've seen. Should take well to EQ.

There's also a newish JBL model, Control X, that may or may not be decent but are certainly inexpensive to start and go on deep discount periodically. There may be a pair in Amir's queue.

 

[rynberg]

Revel S16 as an easy choice. Subwoofer will be required, but that's true for any of these types of speakers

 

[Doctors11]

Aperion Audio Novus Slim. These might work for you.

https://www.aperionaudio.com/collec...5-2-way-slim-lcr-wall-surround-speaker-single

 

[mkawa]

axiom m3 on walls should fit perfectly

https://www.axiomaudio.com/m3-on-wall-speaker

 

[BenB]

I haven't listened to any of these speakers, but I like the form factor of the m3. When the baffle is very wide compared to its depth, you can avoid (or minimize) the interference problems caused by front wall reflections. The speaker baffle acts like a waveguide, projecting high frequencies forward. If the low frequencies that wrap around the baffle are reflected back to the listener soon enough (compared to the wavelength), then it's pretty much like the diffraction and reflection never happened. I typically aim for a speaker that's 4 times wider than it is deep to make this happen effectively. Many of the speakers listed on this page will experience significant interference problems from the front wall reflections. I think the revel has the worst (lowest) width/depth ratio.

 

[Wader]

A bit higher in price, unless you buy used / refurb:
MartinLogan SLM (SLM XL)
Definitive Tech XTR-40 (XTR-50, XTR-60)
GoldenEar SuperSat 3 (SS 50, SS 60)
I'm on the search for the same thing but trying to stay <$1200 for L/C/R. Already have Rythmik F12 sub to match up with.

 

[BenB]

Another issue that needs to be considered with on-wall speakers is the dispersion. Since these wont be listened to on-axis (they wont be toed in to the listening position), the developers ought to be making sure that the dispersion is wide horizontally. Even a 1 inch dome tweeter will start to have some beaming at the highest frequencies, and a 0.75 inch tweeter would be better from a dispersion point of view. Also, the woofers need to be crossed over low, before they start beaming. These two issues make it a poor compromise to even attempt this with a 2-way speaker. A 3-way with a small tweeter, small mid (2-3 inches) and woofer in the 5.25 - 6.5 inch range would be better.

 

[Doctors11]

Another issue that needs to be considered with on-wall speakers is the dispersion. Since these wont be listened to on-axis (they wont be toed in to the listening position), the developers ought to be making sure that the dispersion is wide horizontally. Even a 1 inch dome tweeter will start to have some beaming at the highest frequencies, and a 0.75 inch tweeter would be better from a dispersion point of view. Also, the woofers need to be crossed over low, before they start beaming. These two issues make it a poor compromise to even attempt this with a 2-way speaker. A 3-way with a small tweeter, small mid (2-3 inches) and woofer in the 5.25 - 6.5 inch range would be better.

Some of these suggestions could be wall mounted with brackets that can be aimed toward the MLP like these.

https://www.aperionaudio.com/collec...perion-wall-mount-pair-bookshelf-and-surround

And some wall mounted speakers are actually angled to again aim at your position.

https://totemacoustic.com/product/kin-flex/

 

[BenB]

Some of these suggestions could be wall mounted with brackets that can be aimed toward the MLP like these.

https://www.aperionaudio.com/collec...perion-wall-mount-pair-bookshelf-and-surround

And some wall mounted speakers are actually angled to again aim at your position.

https://totemacoustic.com/product/kin-flex/

Adding a wall mount that moves the speaker farther from the wall just makes it harder to avoid the interference issues with the front-wall reflection.

The kin-flex doesn't have a very favorable width/depth ratio.

However, I do like the idea of a wide, on-wall, wedge-shaped speaker aimed a bit toward the listening position. For reference, I have attached 2 pictures of my own DIY on-wall, wedge-shaped line arrays.

 

[Wader]

Another issue that needs to be considered with on-wall speakers is the dispersion. Since these wont be listened to on-axis (they wont be toed in to the listening position), the developers ought to be making sure that the dispersion is wide horizontally. Even a 1 inch dome tweeter will start to have some beaming at the highest frequencies, and a 0.75 inch tweeter would be better from a dispersion point of view. Also, the woofers need to be crossed over low, before they start beaming. These two issues make it a poor compromise to even attempt this with a 2-way speaker. A 3-way with a small tweeter, small mid (2-3 inches) and woofer in the 5.25 - 6.5 inch range would be better.

The MartinLogan SLM XL uses a Folded Motion tweeter. H/V dispersion is spec'd at 80/80. Crossover is 3.1kHz. Wish I could hear them somewhere before buying. I'll have to read up on beaming to understand when that occurs.

 

[Wader]

The MartinLogan SLM XL uses a Folded Motion tweeter. H/V dispersion is spec'd at 80/80. Crossover is 3.1kHz. Wish I could hear them somewhere before buying. I'll have to read up on beaming to understand when that occurs.

Danny Richie Tuesday Tech Talk #13 video says 4" driver beaming frequency is about 3300 Hz. Not sure if he was referring to a speaker in free air or on a baffle, or if that matters. So maybe ML SLM with 4" drivers don't beam.