Top brands and specialists

Many speaker brands well-known from domestic hi-fi have seen the attraction of the architectural speaker market. JBL has almost the same depth of range with in-walls as with its boxier speakers, with models like the two-way JBL 6IW shown above with 6.5-inch bass driver for around $350, rising to in-wall speaker arrays retailing at tens of thousands of dollars. Indeed it’s hard to think of a hi-fi speaker brand which doesn’t have architectural speakers. Every one of the six brands of speaker packages in this round-up also has ranges of in-wall and in-ceiling designs available, and often it is possible to find architectural models which directly correspond to their box speaker ranges: pictured right, for example, is ELAC’S DEBUT IW-DC51 IN-WALL CENTRE SPEAKER, designed to complement the Debut IW-D61-W in-walls but also Debut floorstanding and bookshelf designs. Then there are specialists, which may be, by definition, brands with less market presence, but which have nevertheless built an industry reputation. Origin, Sonance and SpeakerCraft all lay claim to the distinction of ‘firsts’ and have built huge ranges without ever being tempted into the home hi-fi market. But to see where such specialist knowledge can lead, we need look no further than our own back yard. Our most recent Sound+Image 2022 award win for architectural speakers went to Australia’s own Elementi, whose designs are digital active using locally-mounted dedicated amplifiers. The ELEMENTI PHOENIX front LCR (or surround) speaker is pictured left. Another Sound+Image award-winner in this arena is South Australia’s Krix, whose architectural models bridge its professional cinema designs and its domestic hi-fi and home cinema. Besides the behind-screen modular MX ‘wall-ofsound’ systems, the $495 KRIX HEMISPHERIX SPS IN-CEILING SPEAKER (left) won an award for its remarkable indoor/outdoor stereo delivery, while the $2195 EPIX IN-WALL (right) can be used vertically for L/R, or horizontally as a centre, promising the fidelity of Krix’s award-winning Neuphonix Mk2 and Epicentrix Mk2 boxes.