In Wall Subwoofer Question/Advice

by lambed3 Oct 10, 2008 7:15AM PDT

I just purchased a Cambridge Soundworks P300HD subwoofer to use in my basement which I am finishing. As I am framing out walls, I have created space behind one of the walls by the electrical box. I am putting a door there for access to the area so I left plenty of space in case I need to get back there in the future. The space to the right of the electrical box behind the wall is about 3 feet wide x 4 feet long x 8 feet high to the ceiling. I was thing of putting the sub there with large access panels to let the bass flow out of the wall. This space is about 4 or 5 feet directly to the left of where the TV will be located and the chairs will be in front of the TV about 8 feet back. My guess is the chairs will be about 10 feet from the sub. I can frame inside the wall around the sub to try and force the bass to flow out through the access panels and not through out the open space behind the wall.

So, I am interested in peoples opinions on putting a floor standing sub behind the wall. Has anyone ever tried it or read an article on it?

The reason for doing it is that I have small children and don't really want the sub out in the open for them to climb on. I considered an in wall sub but they are just too expensive (~$1700 for a good one with an amp versus $500 for the one I got).

Discussion is locked

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Honestly, its a bad idea

by jostenmeat Oct 10, 2008 7:31AM PDT

While I did read your post, I don't have a great idea of what's going on. Pics could help, or even something like google sketch.

Bass waves like having space. The low freq's have extremely long wave lengths.

If you have the space, and are willing to build one, you could do a false wall, that would give you may or may not give you multiple benefits, however this is something that is particularly beneficial with a front projection system.

but in your case, you could put your speakers behind it as well. The difference with a false wall is that its acoustically transparent.

Now, if you can't trust your kids to tear the fabric up, well I don't know what to say.

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Another thought

by dinox64 Oct 10, 2008 12:39PM PDT

If it is in or part of the wall, I don't know how you would keep it from resonating and vibrating the whole wall or house. I have a small 10", I think 80 watt powered sub sitting in the living room. Not turned up by any means(we have a plant on it and it doesn't vibrate off), but sometimes that thing will shake the house, just by frequency I guess.
So I would assume an inwall would be worse since it's part of it. I may have just repeated what Jostenmeat said but in different words.

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by jonnybones Oct 11, 2008 9:41AM PDT

I think you could do it. I would make sure to not just frame in the sub, but make a sealed enclosure to house it, buried in your space. You also may want to consider some sound dampening material to stop the rest of the house from shaking. believe it or not dynamat (the stuff for car subwoofers) works pretty well. You could line part of the closet around the subwoofer with it to at least quiet some of the vibrations you may feel in other rooms.

How big of a sub were you thinking?

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by jonnybones Oct 11, 2008 9:49AM PDT

So after I posted that I actually looked at your subwoofer. You can probably ignore most of what I said (I wish cnet had an edit post option)

Now why are you worried your kids will destroy it? That thing leaves a pretty small footprint. Its tall, but thats about it. if you are really worried about them, just strap that thing down. it has the perfect type of feet that you could run a strap across it so it doesnt tip over. or, since you are in the business of framing, make a shelf (with a lip of course) that is a few feet off the ground, where they cannot reach.

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Well, people have been putting speakers behind walls forever

by NM_Bill Oct 11, 2008 11:55PM PDT

What you want is to get acoustic cloth so as to create an acoustically transparent screen opening directly in front of the speaker grille. You will not be perfect if the sub is down firing & you place it in that position. Easy to understand the sound waves will be interfered with. Maybe point a down firing one outward to avoid the sound wave misdirection.

Glad you have invested in a nice sub.

In Wall Subwoofer Question/Advice

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