In am in the process of upgrading the speakers in my home theater setup and am looking to buy the following:

(1) W150 (Center)

(pair) W22 (Mains)

Here is my problem: I live in a townhouse and share a common wall with a neighbor. They already complen that my 16" JBL sub kicks their ass. I am worried that when I install these Axiom on-wall speakers, the rear speaker cabinet will be so close to their wall that the sound will drive them nuts.

Also, planning ahead, I will eventually move to a house where soundproofing options will definitely be and option. I plan on doing the double drywall / green glue effect. Do on-wall speakers affect the reliability and productivity of a soundproof room in a negative way?

Thanks.

Hmmmm... I don't think I would use on wall speakers in the situation. Maybe bookshelf speakers would be the best?

I agree, most townhouse situations have an association or something similar. You may not be able to cut that large of hole in the wall.

Dusty, welcome. If you mean that you would install the Ws in the common wall, that definitely wouldn't appear to be a good idea.

I think he is saying they will be "ON" the wall not in it?

I also think you should go for something that is away from the wall, as you say they have already complained.

I don't think the W series speakers would be the best choice in your situation.

I am pretty sure that you have to cut a big hole in the wall for the on wall speakers.

Graeme,

The W Series speakers require you to cut a hole which sits in the wall cavity.

I suspect he's already received this answer from his wife/girlfriend/significant other and was hoping the guys here would tell him to go for it anyway. You guys are totally letting him down. Graeme, go for it man, forget the neighbors!






PS: Just kidding, I unfortunately agree with the rest of the folks here. I don't think these would work well given what you've described.

I will disagree with the rest of you. As long as he is the owner or the owner doesn't mind a few rather large holes in the wall AND the common wall is insulated I think he would be all right to use the W series. I believe most of the sound is produced to go forward and would not resonate back through the wall much.
Ever stand behind your speakers? Not much happening back there when they are playing. I think as long as the crossover is relatively high, say 100hz the bass notes wouldn't be too bad going through the wall.

I wonder how much sound is transferred directly to the walls because unlike a stand alone speaker with just it's butt to the wall, the W speakers will be physically attached to the wall.

I imagine the whole design of the w series is to obviously minimize this effect so as not to distort the sound by sonically activating the wall, but I've never heard it discussed so I'll ask.

That is what I was thinking. I would hope they wouldn't be any worse than a set of bookshelf speakers mounted onto the wall or QS8's etc.

Jason, that's correct. The W series all have their own enclosures that inside the wall are sealed so as to prevent any acoustical energy from venting into the wall cavity. The actual ports (for the ported models) are on the bottom of the exterior "on-wall" frame. It's one of the advantages we cite over other manufacturers whose speakers are loaded into the wall cavity, which produce a surprising amount of output into the neighboring room.

Regards,
Alan