In Wall Speakers

If you're thinking of buying a new speaker system, there is now a huge range of brands and types to choose from. If you're very house-proud and don't want speakers all over your floor, or if you simply don't have a lot of space, but still want a great sound system, in wall speakers can be the perfect option for you. They clearly require more work than just buying a standard speaker system because you'll have to either install them into the wall yourself or hire someone to do it for you; but if you're prepared to do this, choosing in wall speakers can be a good investment.

In view of the difficulty with installing them, they're still not as popular as wall mount speakers. However, in spite of the difficulty, people are choosing these types of speaker more and more. It's easy to see why: You don't have to have big speakers and wires all over your floor, and in addition to this, the newer range of in wall speakers have got to the stage where their audio quality of the higher-end speakers can be very impressive.

Before you buy the speakers, you should have a think about what you'll actually be using them for. If you just want some mp3 player speakers, you could probably get away with opting for a couple of standard speakers and a sub-woofer. If you're looking to build a whole home theatre in your living room, you'll probably want several smaller speakers and a sub-woofer, for 5.1 surround sound. You can go a stage further than this with in wall surround speakers by buying a set with included “tweeters” (as in the high-pitched sounds that birds make).

A tweeter is a smaller speaker, usually enclosed in the same casing as the main speaker that can produce higher pitched sounds. A speaker set with included “tweeters” can have an improved dynamic range and can improve the overall balance of the audio (bass to middle to treble mix). With a lot of speakers the tweeter will swivel to enable you to create the perfect sound in your room; this can be especially useful if you're using in wall surround speakers for a home theatre system because it will enable you to point the sound in the correct direction. This can be helpful even if you've had to mount the speakers in a wall that's not pointed in the exact direction you need, in a similar manner to the way you'd be able to turn wall mounted speakers on their bracket.

So what should you look for when you're buying an in wall speaker system? There are a huge amount of variables to consider when you're buying wall speakers, but I'll cover the main things you should look for.

• Firstly, the power rating is important. This is how much power that you can use to create the sound through the speaker. Very simply put, the power input is how much you can use to safely drive the speaker with before it gets damaged. Just make sure that you match the amplifiers power output to the maximum input of the speakers.

• Frequency response is a measure of the range of bass to treble that the speaker can create. Sound is created by vibrations in the air - the higher frequency of the vibration, the higher pitched the sound. So the greater the range that the speaker can handle, the better. Humans can only hear between 20 Hz and 20,000 Hz. And this is when we're children; as we get older, we start to lose the upper range of our hearing; by the time we're elderly, we can only hear to a maximum of 15 to 16,000 Hz. This means that speakers are rated in some range between these values. For example, a speaker may have the rating 65 Hz to 20 KHz or 35 Hz to 20 KHz. The one with the greater range (35 Hz to 20 KHz) will provide the better quality) because different instruments produce sound at different parts of the range - for example an electro acoustic bass guitar will produce much lower tones than a violin.

• The sensitivity rating of the speaker tells us (very basically) how loud the audio can be played without causing problems to the speakers - the higher this value, the better. (A more accurate description is that the sensitivity is the sound pressure that the speaker can actually create – it's listed in dB after being measured with a power input of 1 watt.)

• Moisture resistance is absolutely essential if you'll be installing in a bathroom or sauna wall, where the moisture in the air would ruin a normal speaker.

• What can also be really useful is if the individual speakers have their own bass and treble controls. The cavity of the wall will usually amplify the bass parts of the audio and alter the acoustics of the music. This is generally a good thing because you'll get a richer sound. However, because you don't know exactly how much the bass will be amplified until you install the speakers, the individual controls on each speaker can help to keep the sound quality at its optimum.

Finally, when you've bought your in wall speakers, you'll need to install them. This can be dangerous if you don't know what you're doing. Electrical power cables and gas pipes run in walls, so if you start trying to hollow out a wall, you can seriously injure yourself. So, unless you know exactly how to install these types of speaker, it's extremely advisable to hire a professional to install them.