I am working on a theater right now that is going to have a cabinet built for a sub to sit on inside a wall. Behind the wall is a closet that will be open for us to slide the sub in. It will be a front fireing sub. They are going to have wall paper put on the wall. I was throwing out some ideas to the client about how we could cover the opening to make it flush with the wall. My 2 ideas were to put molding all along the outside of the opening and have the front of the sub visible. Or to have a black or white piece of cloth covering the hole. Does anyone have any other ideas?

Try cutting a hole in the wall just big enough for the sub to slide in. Then cover the hole with a white metal air return vent (Home Depot)Make sure to use rubber washers to prevent vibration between the grill & wall. I would also seal around the hole inside the closet. I did this with a 15" front firing velodyne and it worked great.

john,

what about this?

[Link: triadspeakers.com]

it's a great subwoofer

otherwise, there are widely available fabrics that could be used, as you suggest.

I also like the air return vent idea, although I have never tried it!

avdude

Take a look at RBH in-wall subs. They are back boxed
(for consistant tone) and easy to install.

I used a Rel front firing sub with clip off grille .i just cut a hole for the drive unit extended the clips and clipped though the wood paneling .I dyed the grille.

What about back waves...don't those factors need consideration when you are installing a ported box withing a wall cavity?

Thanks for all the great ideas guys. I'll run some of these by the homeowner and see wich one they like best.

dont use ported subs as JBJ says

I've used a inwall speaker grill with the drywall "catch tabs" bracket, and that worked fine. It won't match the size, but it does the job of making the install of a sub stealthy.
Once again, don't use a ported sub if you can help it, as the other guys before mentioned.

I was saying not to use ported subs. Most I use happen to be, just throwing it out there.

WAIT!!!!

What if it's a FRONT ported sub...it should be fine...ehhh?

avdude

I don't think so...the back waves might reek havoc. I once did an install with a sub under a stage and built sort of a box around it...let's just say we had to change our design a bit to make it work.

Try it out and let us know!

THXRick had this to say on ported subs on another forum :

"I also believe the best subs are sealed, period. If your subs have to have a port to get the extra gain needed for big rooms they will never be a great subwoofer..All this said we have to sell many subs that I don't think are "great" subs for mere price alone..Subs should also be judged by how much air they can move, without the box itself causing bad harmonics in the delivery of doing this"
"Just my 2 cents guys"


THXRick

Boston Acoustics now has an inwall sub with matching rack-mount amplifier.

yeah...they've had that for four years...so do about fifteen other companies

avdude