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Home Theatre Systems

In-Wall Speakers vs Floor Standing Speakers

You’re probably wondering… How on earth can in-wall speakers be as good as those big tower speakers?

I know it sounds crazy but it’s true. A pair of nearly invisible speakers tucked away inside the wall of your room can give you the same full, clear sound as a pair of big box speakers.

It’s because they have a unique advantage…

Floor standing speakers rely on their “big box” to prevent sound waves from cancelling each other out. The speaker cones inside the box push and pull air in both directions… without a box, the moving air would fold around and cancel itself out.

They call this the “enclosure” and it’s non-negotiable if you want rich lower mids and bass.

So what’s the advantage of in-wall speakers?

They use the walls of your home as an “infinite baffle enclosure” that allows full control of the mids and bass frequencies.

The multiple speaker cones in the Jensen in-wall speakers (especially the Elite-303 speakers) play those frequencies with amazing presence and detail despite actually being far less of a visible burden in your room.

In-Wall Speakers for Surround Sound

If you want to keep it simple, you can use a single pair of Jensen in-wall speakers and you’ll get awesome sound quality as well as a 3D audio image. You’ll hear sounds coming from different places in front of you as you watch movies and listen to music.

It’s not just a traditional stereo image either… this 3D performance is a unique design feature of our latest Jensen line and our clients are raving about it. We call it the Perfect Centre Speaker System.

If you’re keen for a real home theatre project, we recommend taking things up a notch and using one or two additional pairs of in-wall speakers.

The first additional pair will be installed behind your listening seat to provide rear sound effects. The second will be installed directly to the sides of your listening seat to complete the immersive surround experiences from all around you.

To truly crown your home theatre and add ATMOS sound effects from above, which almost all movies released today contain, add some in-ceiling speakers to the system.

Are they hard to install?

While you will need a few tools and a minimum level of handiness about you, install of a pair of Jensen in-wall speakers is very straight forward and easy. There are no AC mains cables to run, so no electrician needed.

If you have the tools and basic skills, it shouldn’t take more than a couple hours to install the pair. You will essentially:

  1. Measure and mark the location of your speakers, making sure there are no structural studs behind your chosen spot (best to use a stud finder).
  2. Use the template we provide to cut out the cavity for your speaker to go (it can be rough because the speaker covers it).
  3. Use a “snake” tool to fish your speaker cables through to wherever your AV receiver will be hidden (so you’ll never see the cables).
  4. Press down the spring-loaded terminals to connect the speaker cables to the speakers, then to tighten the speakers into the walls using a screw driver.

After those four steps, you connect the speaker cables to your receiver and that’s it. You can kick back and start immersing yourself in the divine audio of your new Jensen system!

(If you would prefer, we have a network of experienced installers available to get the job done for you. Get in touch with us here.)

In-Wall Speaker FAQ's

Setting up an in-wall speaker system consists of choosing where to place them, installing them into your wall and connecting them to an amplifier, and setting the amplifier up.

If you want help deciding where to place your speakers, click here. If you’re worried about how to install them into the walls and run cabling, our simple install instructions will guide the way.

As for setting up your system configurations, it will depend on the amplifier you choose. If you go with an AV receiver, it will walk you step-by-step through setting up all the audio channels and configuring inputs. Most receivers on the market today are very user-friendly, but let us know if you want most guidance.

Absolutely. In-wall speakers use the enclosure of your wall to create rich bass while providing clear separation across the front three home theatre channels.

They also act as superior surround sound speakers. Install additional pairs behind and beside your listening seat for a fully immersive sound experience.

To get surround sound from in-wall speakers, there are two options most people choose from.

(1) Add one additional pair of in-wall speakers behind your listening seat. Space them apart so that one is back and to the left; the other is back and to the right. Then adjust the tweeters of both inward towards your seat.

Plug each of these into the “surround” inputs on your AV receiver.

(2) Add two additional pairs of in-wall speakers. One pair goes behind your seat, and the other pair goes directly to the side of your seat (one left and one right).

When you connect them to your AV receiver, you’ll plug the back speakers into the “surround back” inputs and the side speakers into the “surround” inputs.

To connect in-wall speakers at the speaker end all you need is a stripped, bare wire end of speaker cabling. There will be two ends and one of them will be marked or colored. The marking may be as simple as a bit of text — just make 100% sure you can differentiate between the two wires.

Connect the marked or colored wire to the red terminal on the speaker by pressing it down, revealing a little hole to place the bare wire. When you release the terminal it will lock in place. Then repeat with the unmarked wire into the black terminal.

Now you can connect at the receiver / amplifier end. Strip back the wires again and connect the marked wire to the red terminal; the unmarked wire to the black terminal. Be sure to choose the correct channel (left, centre, surround right, etc.) based on where the speaker you’re connecting is located.

To get your TV playing through in-wall speakers, you have to first connect them to an amplifier. Then you will connect the TV to the amplifier, which will play that audio through your speakers.

Your TV might output audio in a few ways: HDMI ARC, optical, analog (red and white circle connections), or Bluetooth.

If you are using an AV receiver as an amplifier, your best bet is to use the HDMI ARC connections. Run an HDMI cable from the ARC input on the TV to an HDMI out on the receiver. Then you’ll select TV audio on the receiver to hear what’s playing on the screen.

Other amplifiers may not have HDMI connections. They may only have an optical input or an analog input. If it has optical, you can run an optical cable from the TV (most have it) to the amplifier. If it only has analog and your TV does not have analog output, you will have to buy an additional optical DAC. This will allow you to connect the TV’s optical output to the amplifier’s analog input.

Bluetooth output on TV’s is really meant for headphones and Bluetooth speakers — we don’t recommend trying to connect to your in-wall speakers using Bluetooth because cabling is more reliable and higher quality.

Insulation isn’t a direct threat to the back side of your speakers. But you don’t want loose fill insulation pushing on the back of the speaker cones. This can hurt the quality of sound you get.

We recommend clearing some of the insulation from wherever you’re putting each speaker so that very little is touching it.

You want to install in-wall speakers so that they are level and approximately ear-height, in most cases. This will provide a clean look and the best sound.

Click here for a guide on where to place your speakers. (Coming Soon)

The easy install instructions we provide will walk you through marking where to put your speaker, how to cut out the cavity to place them, how to run speaker wires to your AV receiver or amplifier, and how to tighten everything in place.

Unfortunately, in-wall speakers can’t be used as ceiling speakers. The audio dispersion is designed for playing outward into a room and not downward, so even if you tried mounting them on the ceiling the sound wouldn’t be quite right.

We also find that circular speakers tend to look better on ceilings than rectangular ones.

Yes, you will need an amplifier to power your in-wall speakers. In order to work they need a powered audio signal.

AV receivers and stereo amplifiers both work to do this, although stereo amplifiers can only power two speakers (left and right audio). If you want movie audio (centre channel and surrounds) you’ll need an AV receiver.

The install instructions we provide will walk you through running speakers cables from your in-wall speakers to wherever you want to store your amplifier.

We recommend 14 AWG speaker cable for all installations. This is a good thickness to ensure cable resistance doesn’t reduce sound quality, even for long runs (up to 15 metres)

You will need to connect your computer to an amplifier / receiver first. Then you connect that amplifier to your in-wall speakers. You can usually connect a computer to an amplifier using an analog cable (3.5 mm to 2 RCA cable) or a USB cable (if the amplifier has a USB DAC built in).

Select the appropriate input on the amplifier and it will stream your computer audio to the speakers.

If you don’t have a standard plasterboard wall you might need to make a box for your in-wall speakers. Be sure the box has a depth of 75 mm (for the Elite-303) and 62 mm (for the Elite-203).

Your box will need to have a complete front face with a cutout to match the template we provide. This will ensure the speaker has an edge to clamp onto (this is how they stay in place).

Yes! You will need to connect an amplifier / receiver to your in-wall speakers to power them. Then you need to connect your mobile device to the amplifier using Bluetooth or WiFi. You can do this by either (1) having an amplifier with Bluetooth / WiFi built in, or (2) purchasing a Bluetooth / WiFi module and connecting it to your amplifier.