In-Wall, In-Ceiling Speakers Are Invisible!
August 12, 2010

The new DesignerSeries from Triad are the first truly invisible speakers. The product line is the perfect solution for applications that require great sound, but speakers can't be seen…not even the inwall grills!

Most of us have seen speakers with the grille painted to match the wall. Some companies have made speakers that are disguised as picture frames (desktop or wall mounted). MTX Audio makes a “near wireless” stealth speaker that’s built into a torchiere, plus another that’s built into a ceiling fan. Klipsch recently demonstrated a wireless speaker that disappears when you screw it into the sockets of your house’s can lights. However, none of these solutions succeeds in creating a truly invisible speaker that sounds as good as a visible one.

So how does Triad make these speakers disappear in the wall?

As pictured at right, the speakers themselves are not invisible. But, Triad instructs you to cut a hole in the wall that’s just large enough for the speaker to fit in. You then mount the panel flush with the wall and cover it with plaster and paint or wallpaper. This makes it invisible to the naked eye and an audible treat to the equally naked ear.

The paper skin on the surface of the honeycomb panel on the speaker provides a high-bond surface that’s supposed to hold on tight to plaster skims when your local drywall guy covers it over. You can cover it over yourself, but only if you’re very, very careful, because the thickness of the plaster must be between 0.06 and 0.09 inches.

Ok clever, and thank god for good plaster pros and wallpaper hangers. But what about the sound?

Those puck-like devices shown at left on the back of the speaker panels are a key part of a flat-transducer technology developed by NXT. Triad says the drive devices are made with the finest rare-earth neodymium-iron-boron magnets. Technically, the drive devices are known as steered flux exciters. Since the drive devices are directly connected to the paper-covered honeycomb core on the front of the speaker, the vibrations transfer to the rectangular surface and then launch into the room. The principle is similar to that of a piano or guitar, where the soundboard amplifies the strings’ vibration.

Aside from the obvious benefits of shallow depth requirements and total stealth, the distributed mode NXT flat speaker technology produces non-minimum phase sound with extremely diffuse dispersion. This is important, especially if your room layout does not permit the traditional speaker positioning for the optimum listening experience. With these speakers just install and enjoy!