Do I need Baffles?!!

Italianwinelove

Here I go, building my first "higher end" system...

I have been piecing together a collection of LCi speakers for my livingroom in my house. All speakers are waiting for install day to come, so that they can see the light of day. I have spoken to a local shop pro who has told me that I will not need any type of baffle (The house is older, built in 1964 and I will not be using the Polk pre construction units) since I have a a sub. Here is what I have bought...
Pair of Lc265i's-Mains
Pair of Lc65i's-Rears
Pair of LC80fx-Surrounds
A Lci-C-Center
a DSW Micro Pro 3000
Powered by Denon AV 4802

The specialist at my local shop did not sell me the speakers and the shop doesn't currently deal with Polk so I am wondering if when I quoted him what speakers I have, if he may not have been aware that they are rated as low as 28 Hz... The placement due to room construction will require I put some of the speakers in locations where they will not have the same in wall volume of space on left and right sides. I felt like fabricating some kind of baffle will assure that there is no loss from the 30Hz low range from the speakers and sub's coverage as well as equal balance side to side. Should I be concerned or just pop them babies in the walls and move forward? Seems like I am going to miss out on speaker potential without some type of enclosure...
Thanks for any feedback!
Rick

tonyb

What you should be more worried about, is that those speakers are 4 ohm and your receiver is not up to driving all those 4 ohm speakers. You need an amp, from one Italian wine lover to another.

Italianwinelove

I called Polk tech support and asked if the 4802 would be a good match, before buying the speakers and they said it would be...

tonyb

Your coin Sir, may I suggest you read up a tad first. Hate to see you blow a speaker or fry a receiver out of the gate.
Welcome to the club btw, cruise around, read up, enjoy yourself.

Italianwinelove

Thanks man, will do. I appreciate it. Any thoughts on the baffle/ enclosure topic?
What Italian wine would you have to drown your blown speaker sorrows?

Italianwinelove

Denon gave me thumbs up as well...

pyrocyborg

Well, try to set your crossover to 80 hz or near. This way, only the sub will make the very low frequencies. Sure, you'll lose some kind of performance from your speakers, but I'm sure they don't go as low as 28 hz without shacking the walls... Sometime, speakers are rated as 28-30 hz, but they don't go under 50 hz without some kind of loss in both volume and impact.

In the best world, you'll have baffles/enclosures, but it's hard to install them without completetly destroying your wall and replacing your studs. There is some kind of "fill" you may install near those walls which may reinforce your walls, thus reducing the amount of rattling you may hear, but I don't have the name. Thus, the best way would be to let your sub do the lower frequencies, as those in-wall speakers are not towers.

As for your receiver, you'll have to keep the volume lower than you would expect from 8 ohm speakers, at least 3 or 6 dB less. Never go to "cinema" level, or else, your amp will enter in clipping mode, or worst, will fry or damage your speakers. Also, try to keep it in a ventilated area, if possible with fans all around it. I do not know why both Denon and Polk could consider that using a 8 ohm rated amp for 4 ohm speakers would be a good idea. Sure, at low to medium level in a small to medium sized room, there is generally no problems to use it as a temporary fix, but in a bigger living room and with more than a pair of speakers rated at 4 ohms, I would never try.

Italianwinelove

Thanks Pyro,
I appreciate the input. Further investigation with, reading and speaking again with the pro in the shop I had mentioned, has brought me to a similar place. The room is only 20' x 15'.
Fans blowing into the unit, 80 hz. cut off and sensible levels will have to get me by for the time being. As an ageing audiofile wannabe, my wife and kid permit me very few opportunities to really crank up the music any more... I get most of that out of me at band practice and gigs! I will have to work towards purchasing a 7 channel amp and then use my Denon as a preamp until the preamp phase of the search can launch...
One of my rears is going to have to be mounted in an external wall. Any advice on that placement? I've been reading forum banter about the vapor barrier and am a little concerned...