Building In Wall Speaker Enclosures

This article details how to build a sealed speaker box which separates the front and rear sound waves to improve the bass.

Building in wall speaker enclosures.

The basic two speaker box designs are sealed and vented. En wall enclosure systems use a combination of superior materials including dynamat back wave foam and the soundsnake to damp diffuse and decouple in wall speakers. You will probably need 2 sheets. The speaker box should be constructed from medium density fiberboard mdf.

In true infinite baffle designs the front wave output of the woofer is separated from the rear wave output of the woofer with the air mass behind the woofer does not assist the mechanical operation of the woofer. Nearly all in wall speakers are open back because it s cheap lightweight and easy. However since they do require additional work make that extra work easy on yourself by using klipsch architectural audio accessories in your installation. Most all in wall and in ceiling speakers are infinite baffle design.

An open back speaker will annoyingly bleed sound into adjacent rooms but there s another problem. Both the mid and woofer are designed to work in an enclosure of a specific size. This is so it does not come too close to the other side of the wall. If they are both in the same chamber like most cheap speaker systems then the enclosure size for the mid will be too large and performance will be lost.

You should use minimum 3 4 mdf which is sold in 4x8 sheets. See the mdf board faq for more information on obtaining and using mdf along with safety issues. Learning how to build a speaker box allows you to customize the fit and design of the box to match your desired audio quality. A speaker arbitrarily installed in a stud or joist space will not have the optimum volume of air behind it as a speaker in an engineered enclosure will.

Architectural audio accessories in wall and in ceiling speakers are a great way to bring high performance audio to any room you want without having to cover your floor in speakers. That means en wall significantly reduces wall vibration projects clearer sound into the room and reduces unwanted sound traveling outside the room.