KEF Ci3160RLM-THX In-Wall Speaker Review

[Dan1210]

Something seems off there. I currently have a pair of the newer Ci5160RLM in my living room running full range and they're flat to 35Hz in my room.

Do you have jumpers running between the 2 black binding post terminals and the 2 red binding post terminals on each speaker?

Two terminals one red one black have plugs in them.

 

[Dan1210]

Should definitely have no problem getting down to 80Hz. Doesn't seem likely that both of the LF drivers aren't hooked up, as then they would roll of quickly under the 650Hz crossover (I doubt the older version has a significantly lower crossover). Though maybe if just one of the LF drivers is disconnected it gets weak in the lower frequencies?

Even if there is air leakage in the column, a leaky "enclosure" is normal in real in-wall installations (and both the specifications and this review are with the speaker open-backed, so basically an infinite enclosure volume). It's only an issue if the sound is able to leak out significantly enough that you get cancellations. How wide are the columns they are installed in? Maybe you're getting significant baffle step problems if they are too narrow? Do you have any ability to

Columns are approximately 40cm wide and 11cm deep.

 

[Dan1210]

Would a hypex ncx252 mp be sufficient to power these close to reference levels seated approximately 2m from the speakers? Thinking of reducing my Nad M27 to 3 channel duty.

 

[kyuu]

Peak SPL Calculator

If we assume 20dB headroom for transient peaks, then 85dB average will be no problem. Note this is with only one speaker and no boundary reinforcement, so actual peak SPL will likely be higher.

 

[muslhead]

This is a really interesting thread and got me thinking. Am going to build a new house next year and am going to look into KEF in wall. All the posts have been extra helpful. But (unless i missed it) no one has yet to talk about bass. is no one using subs? if yes, are they in wall? If no, what are you using and how are you integrating them?

 

[Dj7675]

This is a really interesting thread and got me thinking. Am going to build a new house next year and am going to look into KEF in wall. All the posts have been extra helpful. But (unless i missed it) no one has yet to talk about bass. is no one using subs? if yes, are they in wall? If no, what are you using and how are you integrating them?

I did Perlisten in wall to keep everything in wall in our living room.

 

[GS430man]

We went with Perlisten in-wall speakers. Subs are Ascendo, they are built into cabinets.

 

[muslhead]

I did Perlisten in wall to keep everything in wall in our living room.

DJ
If you did the perlisten in wall, did you go with the 3i or 18i and how many did you install?

 

[Dj7675]

DJ
If you did the perlisten in wall, did you go with the 3i or 18i and how many did you install?

Went with 4 D3i. I believe, for this room and my listening level could have probably just done 2 but didn’t wanted to make sure so settled on 4. I think if a person planned out things well enough, one could use KEF in wall subs as well. I think doing 4 of the 3160rlb could work for some. But the D3i is quite potent considering how shallow it is. With 4 on the front wall output exceeds my needs and sound great.

 

[muslhead]

Went with 4 D3i. I believe, for this room and my listening level could have probably just done 2 but didn’t wanted to make sure so settled on 4. I think if a person planned out things well enough, one could use KEF in wall subs as well. I think doing 4 of the 3160rlb could work for some. But the D3i is quite potent considering how shallow it is. With 4 on the front wall output exceeds my needs and sound great.View attachment 531968

Very nice. thanks for sharing

 

[todordd]

Hi All, this is a very helpful and interesting thread!

I am in the process of designing and building my living/media room with a home theatre and have a few questions I'd like to run by you all. I hope you can help me make the most rational decision, given my circumstances...

So, for my LCR set up, I got three 5160RLM's and am planning to build a false wall, in front of the brick/concrete wall of my house, similar to the one Dj7675 built (Dj, I hope you don't mind me plagiarizing your design, I think it's great!). I will be leaving room for 100 inch TV in the center and mount the LR channels in their own enclosures to the sides. The speakers will have about 3.10 meters between them, center of the tweeter to center of tweeter, and the MLP will be roughly 3-3.5 meters away. The MLP will most likely be a 3 person sofa/media couch, with a raised sofa table right behind it to add an improvised second row of seats when needed. Taking into consideration the above distances, my question here is whether it would be necessary/beneficial to angle the speakers 10 or 15 degrees toward the MLP, like in Dj's set up, or just mount them flat on the false wall? What would you folks suggest or recommend?
The other question I have is regarding the center channel. I am thinking about mounting it above the TV (similar to Dj's set up but without the under the TV dual speaker center channel part) with the tweeter center being roughly 2.45 meters above floor level. I am thinking about angling the center channel 15 degrees towards the MLP, like in Dj's set up. I'd rather have that speaker over the TV than under, in order to avoid potential damage to the drivers from kids/pets, etc... Do you guys think setting it up this way will work without penalty to the sound stage for the center channel?

Any additional thoughts or suggestions are also welcome.

Thanks in advance for the help!

 

[No_hair_left]

Went with 4 D3i. I believe, for this room and my listening level could have probably just done 2 but didn’t wanted to make sure so settled on 4. I think if a person planned out things well enough, one could use KEF in wall subs as well. I think doing 4 of the 3160rlb could work for some. But the D3i is quite potent considering how shallow it is. With 4 on the front wall output exceeds my needs and sound great.View attachment 531968

I'm not jealous at all , this is clean.

 

[Dj7675]

Hi All, this is a very helpful and interesting thread!

I am in the process of designing and building my living/media room with a home theatre and have a few questions I'd like to run by you all. I hope you can help me make the most rational decision, given my circumstances...

So, for my LCR set up, I got three 5160RLM's and am planning to build a false wall, in front of the brick/concrete wall of my house, similar to the one Dj7675 built (Dj, I hope you don't mind me plagiarizing your design, I think it's great!). I will be leaving room for 100 inch TV in the center and mount the LR channels in their own enclosures to the sides. The speakers will have about 3.10 meters between them, center of the tweeter to center of tweeter, and the MLP will be roughly 3-3.5 meters away. The MLP will most likely be a 3 person sofa/media couch, with a raised sofa table right behind it to add an improvised second row of seats when needed. Taking into consideration the above distances, my question here is whether it would be necessary/beneficial to angle the speakers 10 or 15 degrees toward the MLP, like in Dj's set up, or just mount them flat on the false wall? What would you folks suggest or recommend?
The other question I have is regarding the center channel. I am thinking about mounting it above the TV (similar to Dj's set up but without the under the TV dual speaker center channel part) with the tweeter center being roughly 2.45 meters above floor level. I am thinking about angling the center channel 15 degrees towards the MLP, like in Dj's set up. I'd rather have that speaker over the TV than under, in order to avoid potential damage to the drivers from kids/pets, etc... Do you guys think setting it up this way will work without penalty to the sound stage for the center channel?

Any additional thoughts or suggestions are also welcome.

Thanks in advance for the help!

Hi All, this is a very helpful and interesting thread!

I am in the process of designing and building my living/media room with a home theatre and have a few questions I'd like to run by you all. I hope you can help me make the most rational decision, given my circumstances...

So, for my LCR set up, I got three 5160RLM's and am planning to build a false wall, in front of the brick/concrete wall of my house, similar to the one Dj7675 built (Dj, I hope you don't mind me plagiarizing your design, I think it's great!). I will be leaving room for 100 inch TV in the center and mount the LR channels in their own enclosures to the sides. The speakers will have about 3.10 meters between them, center of the tweeter to center of tweeter, and the MLP will be roughly 3-3.5 meters away. The MLP will most likely be a 3 person sofa/media couch, with a raised sofa table right behind it to add an improvised second row of seats when needed. Taking into consideration the above distances, my question here is whether it would be necessary/beneficial to angle the speakers 10 or 15 degrees toward the MLP, like in Dj's set up, or just mount them flat on the false wall? What would you folks suggest or recommend?
The other question I have is regarding the center channel. I am thinking about mounting it above the TV (similar to Dj's set up but without the under the TV dual speaker center channel part) with the tweeter center being roughly 2.45 meters above floor level. I am thinking about angling the center channel 15 degrees towards the MLP, like in Dj's set up. I'd rather have that speaker over the TV than under, in order to avoid potential damage to the drivers from kids/pets, etc... Do you guys think setting it up this way will work without penalty to the sound stage for the center channel?

Any additional thoughts or suggestions are also welcome.

Thanks in advance for the help!

Copy away on the design. Hope you find it useful. Couple of thoughts..
-In my room the left speaker was fairly close to the corner and it didn’t seem like much of an option not angling the left right. Plus the Left/Right are pretty far apart, I think if it is possible and not too much work, angling is better if you can.
-If you are set on putting the center speaker above, definitely angle it down due to the height of the speaker. If you go under, I think you may be able to get away with not angling it. If you raise the tv up a bit, but still better to angle it.
-In regards to having to put the center above to keep it safe, the stock grills are metal. I originally purchased the cloth grills assuming the would cover the entire speaker but they do not. There is a metallic trim that sticks out around the cloth grills so I went with the metal grills and painted them black for now. The good news is the metal fully cover and protect the speakers for when small children are around.
Good luck.

 

[nick-v]

Agreed that slightly angling the L & R speakers is the best option. However, just an anecdote that I run a pair of Ci5160RLM that I retrofitted in my 2-channel living room system. Considering the retrofit installation, we weren't able to angle the speakers. I can tell you that they sound incredible running full range (high passed at 35Hz) installed flat on the wall (just over 9 feet center-to-center).

 

[todordd]

Copy away on the design. Hope you find it useful. Couple of thoughts..
-In my room the left speaker was fairly close to the corner and it didn’t seem like much of an option not angling the left right. Plus the Left/Right are pretty far apart, I think if it is possible and not too much work, angling is better if you can.
-If you are set on putting the center speaker above, definitely angle it down due to the height of the speaker. If you go under, I think you may be able to get away with not angling it. If you raise the tv up a bit, but still better to angle it.
-In regards to having to put the center above to keep it safe, the stock grills are metal. I originally purchased the cloth grills assuming the would cover the entire speaker but they do not. There is a metallic trim that sticks out around the cloth grills so I went with the metal grills and painted them black for now. The good news is the metal fully cover and protect the speakers for when small children are around.
Good luck.

Thanks for the input Dj, it is greatly appreciated!
I am still in the design stage of the false wall, so the angling of the left and right channel is something that can be accommodated. I am planning to put some thick, lined curtains on both sides of the false wall that can be pulled out and sort of "close-off" the room into a movie theatre "mode" when watching movies. That would shorten the distances from the side walls/surfaces to the left and right channel, so angling them is probably the best option, sound wise. I do prefer the "flat" look better, but I am willing to sacrifice a bit on the optics front to get better acoustics...
The center channel above the tv will also allow me to put gear/stuff on top of the media console if needed, without blocking the speaker or raising the TV too far up, so I am pretty set on placing the center there, unless it is a huge downgrade to the acoustics for that channel.

 

[todordd]

Agreed that slightly angling the L & R speakers is the best option. However, just an anecdote that I run a pair of Ci5160RLM that I retrofitted in my 2-channel living room system. Considering the retrofit installation, we weren't able to angle the speakers. I can tell you that they sound incredible running full range (high passed at 35Hz) installed flat on the wall (just over 9 feet center-to-center).

View attachment 535500

Thanks for chiming in, Nick!
My idea is to use the set up for 5.2.4 home theatre and 2.2 music listening, so hearing about your two channel utilization of the speakers is very insightful. Did you use a room correction system, such as Dirac or Audyssey, to calibrate the sound for two channel listening? Any pointers regarding that?

 

[muslhead]

Agreed that slightly angling the L & R speakers is the best option. However, just an anecdote that I run a pair of Ci5160RLM that I retrofitted in my 2-channel living room system. Considering the retrofit installation, we weren't able to angle the speakers. I can tell you that they sound incredible running full range (high passed at 35Hz) installed flat on the wall (just over 9 feet center-to-center).

View attachment 535500

read the info at the bottom of your post, just to confirm, you are NOT using any subs in living room? In not, do you miss them? Or is 35hz enough
How big is your room?

 

[nick-v]

Thanks for chiming in, Nick!
My idea is to use the set up for 5.2.4 home theatre and 2.2 music listening, so hearing about your two channel utilization of the speakers is very insightful. Did you use a room correction system, such as Dirac or Audyssey, to calibrate the sound for two channel listening? Any pointers regarding that?

I use Dirac Live (miniDSP SHD + NAD C298).

 

[kyuu]

Agreed that slightly angling the L & R speakers is the best option. However, just an anecdote that I run a pair of Ci5160RLM that I retrofitted in my 2-channel living room system. Considering the retrofit installation, we weren't able to angle the speakers. I can tell you that they sound incredible running full range (high passed at 35Hz) installed flat on the wall (just over 9 feet center-to-center).

No surprise really. Any decent in-wall design, which the Ci5160RLM certainly is, shouldn't have any significant tonal imbalance out to at least 30-degrees off-axis so you don't really need to angle them.

 

[nick-v]

read the info at the bottom of your post, just to confirm, you are NOT using any subs in living room? In not, do you miss them? Or is 35hz enough
How big is your room?

I had originally planned a pair of in-wall subwoofers in this system, but after installing a pair of SVS 3000 in-wall subwoofers in my master bedroom system, I decided I didn't want to go with in-wall subs here.

I'll likely eventually hide a pair of slim 18" sealed subwoofers (Procella P18Si or similar - possibly DIY), in the front corners of room. The subs will likely be hidden by AT fabric wrapped, slim console tables with some sort of plant or art displayed on top.

The Ci5160RLM sound great as-is for mostly casual TV & Movie watching and Music, but the main floor is all open-concept and this room has 20' ceilings so I still want to eventually add a pair of subs.