Polk in wall or freestanding?

I'm in the process of finishing my basement but have a delima. I don't want and speakers on the floor. Am i better off with a in wall or a tower speaker sitting in a cabinet with no door. I am looking at the RT line of in wall or monitor series 70 speakers.

Comments

  • MrBuhl
    MrBuhl Posts: 2,419
    edited January 2018
    IMO, unless you have a pretty close tolerance to the tower size, you could find that you are essentially putting your speaker in a resonant chamber like a big drum, (like sticking them in corners - it exaggerates the bass for one thing). I have a setup where my SDA's sit in a cabinet, but it basically takes up the whole cabinet space and was designed to be that way for exactly that reason. The Mon 70's are front firing for the port, so at least that should be OK. Here's a view of my 2bTL's in their built-in.

    f2rl6wunijkl.jpg

    If you don't want speakers on the floor, in-wall is a great option IMO. WAF is off the charts at least at my house, YMMV. They have a really clean look and in-wall designs have really gotten to where I don't think you're giving up much when paired with a good sub for general listening and multi-media.

    If you're still finishing, you can wire for both, and decide later, that's what I did, if you don't mind a couple extra blank wall plates that is. Honestly, I just took exact measurements, ran the wire and took good reference pictures, and popped holes where I needed 'em once I had worked out the whole design.
    VA HT HK AVR20II, Sony S9000ES CD/DVD/SACD, Polk Audio RC80i / Polk Audio CSi3, 60" Panasonic Plasma, Nordost / Signal Cable A2 / Wireworld / Pangea / Magic Power
    VA 2 Channel Focal Electra 926 speakers, Pass Labs X150.5 Amp, Eastern Electric MiniMax Preamp (Tutay mods), Eastern Electric Minimax CDP (Scott Nixon mods), Music Hall mmf 5.1 Turntable, Parks Audio Budgie Phono Pre , Audioengine B1 streamer, MIT S3 IC's / MIT Shotgun S3 Speaker Cables / PS Audio power cables
    Noggin Schiit Valhalla, Pangea, Phillips Fidelio X1, Polk UF8000

    Polk SDA1c modded
    Polk CRS+ 4.1TL modded (need veneer)
    Polk SDA2BTL (fully modded)
    A/L 1000VA Dreadnought Canare 4s11 SDA cable
    SACD Marantz DV8300
    Sony S9000ES CD/DVD/SACD
    Yamaha YP-D6
    Soundcraftsmen PCR800
    Audible Illusions L1 Preamp
    Vincent MFA based Cocci Tube Preamp
    Pho-700 Phono Pre
    Signal Cable Silver Resolution IC's






  • Clipdat
    Clipdat Posts: 12,557
    You don't want them on the floor, or your wife doesn't?
    dremmick wrote: »
    I don't want and speakers on the floor.

  • Clipdat wrote: »
    You don't want them on the floor, or your wife doesn't?
    dremmick wrote: »
    I don't want and speakers on the floor.

    both of us
  • Clipdat
    Clipdat Posts: 12,557
    Fair enough. Just giving you a little crap :)
    dremmick wrote: »
    both of us

  • MrBuhl wrote: »
    IMO, unless you have a pretty close tolerance to the tower size, you could find that you are essentially putting your speaker in a resonant chamber like a big drum, (like sticking them in corners - it exaggerates the bass for one thing). I have a setup where my SDA's sit in a cabinet, but it basically takes up the whole cabinet space and was designed to be that way for exactly that reason. The Mon 70's are front firing for the port, so at least that should be OK. Here's a view of my 2bTL's in their built-in.

    f2rl6wunijkl.jpg

    If you don't want speakers on the floor, in-wall is a great option IMO. WAF is off the charts at least at my house, YMMV. They have a really clean look and in-wall designs have really gotten to where I don't think you're giving up much when paired with a good sub for general listening and multi-media.

    If you're still finishing, you can wire for both, and decide later, that's what I did, if you don't mind a couple extra blank wall plates that is. Honestly, I just took exact measurements, ran the wire and took good reference pictures, and popped holes where I needed 'em once I had worked out the whole design.

    Thanks for your help. I am just curious about bang for the butt, I am assuming towers will outperform in wall even if tower speaker is in a cabinet.
  • MrBuhl
    MrBuhl Posts: 2,419
    edited January 2018
    Honestly, that would be my assumption too. Good In-Walls aren't cheap, and I would also assume that towers properly placed would outperform them. I'm sure you could get very close with in-wall, especially since you're not at the highest end of towers, but it might not be nearly as cost effective to do so.

    FWIW I have the setup pictured above in "man-town" in the basement, but in-walls paired with a sub upstairs for the Mrs. and general listening. Before we moved into this house, I had only in-walls in a townhouse on two floors, and properly setup, they are very nice and added about $5K to the value of the TH when we moved out. I had them all tied together so they could be controlled from a single point, with even the stereo "cabinet" built into the space under the stairs, so everything was recessed. Clean open floors, very appealing in a resale at that point.

    It's all about compromises.
    VA HT HK AVR20II, Sony S9000ES CD/DVD/SACD, Polk Audio RC80i / Polk Audio CSi3, 60" Panasonic Plasma, Nordost / Signal Cable A2 / Wireworld / Pangea / Magic Power
    VA 2 Channel Focal Electra 926 speakers, Pass Labs X150.5 Amp, Eastern Electric MiniMax Preamp (Tutay mods), Eastern Electric Minimax CDP (Scott Nixon mods), Music Hall mmf 5.1 Turntable, Parks Audio Budgie Phono Pre , Audioengine B1 streamer, MIT S3 IC's / MIT Shotgun S3 Speaker Cables / PS Audio power cables
    Noggin Schiit Valhalla, Pangea, Phillips Fidelio X1, Polk UF8000

    Polk SDA1c modded
    Polk CRS+ 4.1TL modded (need veneer)
    Polk SDA2BTL (fully modded)
    A/L 1000VA Dreadnought Canare 4s11 SDA cable
    SACD Marantz DV8300
    Sony S9000ES CD/DVD/SACD
    Yamaha YP-D6
    Soundcraftsmen PCR800
    Audible Illusions L1 Preamp
    Vincent MFA based Cocci Tube Preamp
    Pho-700 Phono Pre
    Signal Cable Silver Resolution IC's






  • Not a fan of speakers inside cabinets. I would go with good in-wall speakers.