Invisible speakers are designed to blend in seamlessly with wall and ceiling materials.
Invisible speakers are frequently specified by architects and interior designers who don't want external speakers cluttering up floors or shelves, and who hate the look of metal speaker covers on walls or ceilings. These specially designed speakers have covers that mimic the look of wallboard or ceiling panels, so they blend in with their surroundings and stay out of sight.
Cover Materials
The key to invisible speakers are their covers, called radiating diaphragms. These rigid, flat panels are built of proprietary materials which transmit sound but which have an exterior texture similar to that of standard wallboard. The diaphragms are finished with paper that can accept the skim-coat plaster used to finish interior walls.
Speaker Technology
Behind the radiating diaphragms, invisible speakers use high-power tweeters and woofers that are designed to project sound in a hemispheric polar pattern, providing even sound distribution on the other side of the wall or ceiling. Woofer cones are frequently designed to project low-frequency vibrations into the surrounding wall materials themselves.
Installation and Finishing Options
In new construction, invisible speakers are installed in housings that fit between the wood studs in the walls. The outer diaphragms are then screwed directly to the studs. The surrounding wallboard is installed, and the joints between the diaphragm and the wallboard are tapped. Finally, skim coat is applied over the entire wall, completely concealing the speaker. The wall over the speaker can then be painted, or even covered with a light wallpaper, without significantly affecting the sound quality.
Sound Performance
Although they're buried in the wall, invisible speakers can provide extremely good sound performance. Invisible speakers typically provide frequency ranges from 40 Hz all the way up to 20 kHz. They also generate fairly even hemispherical sound distribution patterns, even at frequencies as high as 16 kHz.
Tags: designed project, invisible speakers, radiating diaphragms, sound distribution, wall ceiling