in-wall question

garyinct

I am in the middle of purchasing in wall and ceiling speakers for a family room remodel. I am pretty much set on the polk tc series. I went and audtioned the line at a local retailer that had a display wall of various speakers, the wall appeared to set up so each speaker was mounted in its own compartment with each compartment the same. In auditioning the tc65i in wall the sound was superior to that of the tc80i ceiling speaker. I haven't been able find any other stores that actually have the tc series set up. The tc80i are more expensive and designed for ceiling use so I would hate to buy the tc65i's for ceiling use based solely on that listen but would also hate to not trust my ears. tc80i were much brighter the 65's had a much fuller sound. Any one have any opinions as to if they had the speakers set wrong or if going with the 65's for ceiling use would actually be he route to go? Please help, I need to make a decision soon.

SCompRacer

Provided they are driven properly and fed from the same source, the only thing I can think of for the difference you experienced is the round, tc80i in-ceiling speaker’s drivers are offset in the frame and the tweeters are mounted in front of the drivers. The rectangular tc65i’s are more conventional with the driver mounted parallel to the frame with the tweeter above it. Both speakers have aimable tweeters. The offset drivers in the ceiling speakers allow you to aim them towards the sweet spot.

I have LCi in walls for front/center and LC60i in-ceiling speakers for the rears. It has been a couple of years since the install but I don’t remember the LCi in-wall/LC in-ceiling sounding that much different in the store display.

wallstreet

most folks like round speakers in the ceiling. this is purely a visual thing. rectangular speakers will work just as well. you may be noticing one of the primary criticisms of in wall speakers, their inconsistent sound based on their installation environment. that said, with a little work you should be able to get good sound out of either speaker.

fisheerman

Gary

Not sure if you are interested or not but I have a pair of brand new TC615i's that I was about to list on ebay? PM me if you are.

Not sure if you auditioned them or not but basically the same as the RC65s just timbre matched to the RTi line of speakers.

I have a 5.1 setup using these in my family room and they are awesome. They are also less expensive than the tc65is.

Good luck

fish

ben62670

If you are going to install in wall speakers make sure you use a good quality speaker wire like the canare S411. It has an effective 11ga size which is good for long runs, and is a nice sounding wire.

Ben