"Speaker Panel" - Improvement or Worsening?

Hi, I'm building this studio: http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=11174 I've been making thoughts on mounted speakers for a long time. I've read about the improvements you get by mounting your speakers into a wall. Also Genelec (the manufacturer of my speakers) suggest this. I've done a drawing in sketch for an idea I had for a "speaker panel". I would build a speaker stand that consist of a board from floor to ceiling which acts as "the wall" the speaker is mounted in. See the picture below. Will this benefit to the sound or will I worsen the sound with this build?? btw: this is a studio in the attic ergo I have s loping roof. I hope you can see this in the pic. I can upload the sketch up if someone would like to have it! Thanks

That's called "soffit mounting", basically. But you need to do a lot more than just cut holes in panels! I think you could learn a lot from these threads: http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewt ... it&start=0 http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=766 http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=12 And also do a search on the entire forum for "soffit mount". It's a good idea, but not as simple as you think. Lots of factors come into play.

Hi soundman! thanks for the quick response. Well I guess this was my fault. What I had in mind to explain with this picture was to show that I won't be building a closed wall with mounted speakers in it but only 2 panels within the room - space behind them, beside them and so on. I'm aware of that I would have to do much more than "glue a panel in front of my speakers". I would replace the existing speaker stands of course and the speakers would stand on - lets call it - the "soffit mounting rack". So this rack would have much more depth than shown in this picture. I wanted to be sure that soffit mounting still works when you don't have a sealed and closed front wall but 2 lonely mounting racks withing the room. Will check the threads though! Thanks for your feedback!

Hi, I've done a new sketch up. This represents more the solution I had in mind. A "soffit rack" or whatever you wanna call it. Cheers

If you move forward with this idea, might want to fill the open space between the two speakers. Sound will travel at a rapid rate around the edges of the "rack" and go right into the void area behind them. Hell, it may sound good ;) But I'm thinking you are going to have a big hole in your sound at the listening position. Sides of this rack will work the same way but may not have as negative an impact on your listening. Sound is going to move into the area behind the racks and fill that place up, reflecting or getting absorbed(however you have or will treat this part) so I am thinking it has too many negatives (as it is currently)to produce a critical monitoring area.

I was thinking more or less the same as xSpace: that gap in the middle doesn't seem like a good idea. Also, it looks like your speakers are pretty high up in the soffits: I think you really should angle the upper portion of the soffits downwards slightly, so that the speakers are also pointing downwards, towards the mix position. Either that, or position the speakers much lower, with the tweeters at ear height. One final comment: Your angles don't look right. It's hard to be sure from the pictures you posted, but it doesn't look like you have 60 degree angles, creating an equilateral triangle between the speakers and your head. Did you check that? - Stuart -

Aloha, Here's a link that might be helpful. Be sure to go through all of the update buttons. :wink: http://www.johnlsayers.com/Studio/Mainpage/MP-Sjoko.htm Hope this helps, Aloha 8)

Hi guys! Thanks for all your comments! As it turned out the project wasn't a good idea. Too much planing with time and money effort and all this with an unknown result. So I decided to start without the panel. Also I haven't seen something similiar anywhere else which made me even more sceptic ;-) Cu! And have a nice x-mas time!

Hmmm, Don't give up to easy. There are other versions of the "infinite baffle" I had an old fender bassman cab (monstorous) a few years ago that I converted into two smaller guitar cabs. They sounded terrible! so I got out the jigsaw and cut an opening in the back of each. 5cm x 40cm slot- which really just ported the "infinite baffle" Now there sound quite good. I don't know but i like experiments!