原文: Hidden Home Theater/Hi-Fi Speakers

The difference between a “messy” home theater installation and a slick, smooth-looking install has a lot to do with the integration of the speakers system. Whether outdoors, indoors, wall-mounted, in-wall, or hidden, it’s essential to mount the system’s speakers in a way that gives it a nice seamless effect – or in a way that completely hides the speaker so that you don’t even know that it’s there. If you want the look of a professional home theater installation, speaker integration is one of the most important aspects of the job.

We’ll take a look at some of the best examples of ultra-smooth speaker integration inside some of the coolest home theaters, whether the system be inside a the home, at the pool, in the garden, or anywhere else around the house. You’ll see that there really is no limits when it comes to mounting a high-end speaker system just about anywhere around your home, and have it be almost completely stealth.

The technically-savvy owner of this 14,000 sq. ft. estate requested (1) complete integration of all electronics, (2) unbridled user control and programmability, (3) optimum flexibility, (4) thorough and accurate status feedback of all electronics in the house, and of course (5) reliability…an integrators dream…a challenge to behold. The client’s request culminated in using 49 AMX touchpanels running off 5 Netlinx masters with 37,245 lines of code controlling 43 audio zones, 9 local systems, 13 video displays, 9 PTZ cameras with hard drive recorder, 18 Litetouch enclosures, 12 climate zones, 140 security zones and pool/spa control. This young, retired dot.com founder enjoys family life with his wife and three young children. As an avid baseball fan and car collector, his house caters to these interests with a richly detailed automobile museum in the basement and HDTV displays in virtually every room. source

A great example of integrating a home theater surround sound system into the walls of the theater, and seemingly making the speakers invisible, is a half of a million dollar home cinema in Denver, Colorado. The Genelec in-wall speakers are built into the walls of the theater, and they are surrounded by a sound-proofing material. An attractive fabric material is then placed over the speakers to give the theater a cleaner look. This is a relatively simple way to hide speakers, but it’s effective at creating a smooth-looking theater without any bulky speakers protruding from the walls or taking up space on the floor. source

A great way to conceal home theater speakers is to blend it into its background. For example, this beautiful log cabin home in Canada features surround sound speakers that are built into the stonework of the home. They’re barely visible without actually knowing that they’re there. Aside from the creative way of concealing this home’s surround sound speakers, this place even has window shades which close with the push of a button when it’s time to watch a movie, and the movie screen is revealed with the push of a button as well. Almost every electronic system (audio, heating, lighting, etc.) in this home is controlled through an Elan touch panel that is embedded in the stonework. So much for rustic log cabin living! source

If you want to have that great sound system in your home, but you also want to keep it looking elegant and discreet, you may want to check out the various realistic speaker covers on the market. These are very realistic furniture pieces which house a speaker hidden inside. The photo shows a great example of how realistic these hidden speakers actually look. There are multiple speakers in this photo including three of them on the mantle – it’s not very easy to spot them! The speakers on the mantle are disguised as the two vases, and the set of books in the middle. The line of speakers in this photo are from the Acoustic Research Home Décor line of audio products. They also have speakers disguised as lamps, wicker baskets, decorative towers, clocks, and a variety of subwoofers mounted inside of decorative trunks. source

When it comes to an outdoor living space, it’s not complete until a nice outdoor sound system is installed. Whether in a garden, poolside, patio, or any other outdoor space, a good sound system is a great addition to help bring music/home theater outside. Outdoor speakers come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and colors to fit just about any type of outdoor décor. You can find waterproof outdoor speakers in the shape of rocks, tree stumps, potted plants, water fountains, and various decorative statues. These types of speakers are perfect for poolside music, garden entertainment, parties, or for your outdoor home theater. These outdoor speakers are very discreet, and often times people don’t even notice that they’re actually a speaker. source

When trying to keep a wall-mounted surround sound system discreet and hidden, it’s sometimes difficult, but it is possible. This example of a bedroom home cinema shows a great way to mount a 5.1 surround sound system very discreetly into the ceiling, and still be able to achieve the optimal listening angle while watching a movie. The two front Kef loudspeakers sit flush with the angled ceiling until the home theater system is turned on. At that point, they will automatically descend from the ceiling to produce the optimal listening angle. The 42-inch plasma sits hidden inside the custom-built window sill, and the MJ Acoustics Reference 100 subwoofer is hidden in a custom-built cabinet. When not in use, this home cinema is almost completely hidden – great install! source

This 7,500-square-foot home in Illinois may just have the ultimate sound system. This house contains a total of 49 speakers, both inside and outside of the home. The total cost of this extreme speaker set-up was around $30,000! The owner’s say that there’s not one dead-spot in the house where sound can’t be heard at an optimal level. You’ll find speakers mounted in the closets, bathrooms, on the patio, and even inside the steam shower. The entire sound system consists of a variety of Elan and Sonance speakers, which are mounted either in-wall, in-ceiling, or outdoors. The owner’s commented about why they installed such an elaborate sound system in their home, “we like listening to music, sure” - well Duh! source

So how do you go about installing 24 12-inch subwoofers in a home theater room, and still be able to hide them enough so that nobody even knows they’re there?…until you crank up the volume of course. This award-winning home theater in Texas was able to accomplish this seemingly impossible task. The $3.4 million theater’s sound system consists of a total of 38 audio zones where sound is heard at optimal levels. Just to get an idea of the cost of this sound system, the least-expensive speakers used were a pair of $2,000 CAT in-wall speakers. By discreetly integrating the extensive speaker system into the existing décor, the installers were able to make the speakers disappear behind hand-made fabric screens (the photos show the speakers with the fabric screens off), and blend it in perfectly with the overall theme of the theater - turn-of-the-century Parisian opera house. source

If you are inspired to better conceal your speakers and speaker cables for your HDTV setup or audio system then its time to explore your options for vogels wall mounts, vogels brackets and speaker wall plates.

Post from: Geek About

译文: 遁形的家庭影院

      有的家庭影院设备乱糟糟的,而有的则看起来华丽完美,导致这种区别的主要是扬声器系统的整体布局.无论你的家庭影院是安置在户外的,还是在室内的,无论是挂在墙壁上的,或是嵌入式的,亦或是遁形的,最重要的就是要布置扬声器设备,使它产生完美的音效,或者完美的隐藏你的扬声器,使人完全辩识不出它的位置.如果你想要专业的家庭影院设备,扬声器与装潢的统一性是很重要的一项工作.

      下面我们就来参观一些超酷的家庭影院,扬声器系统完美地溶入了整体装潢之中,它可能是在居室之中的,在游泳池边,在花园里,或者是家里的其他角落.你会发现为了追求高端扬声器系统溶入家居,什么都不再是问题,甚至我们可以让它们遁形.



      这户住所有14,000平方英尺,户主懂得技术,他有如下要求:(1)所有的电器都必须达到完全统一的效果,(2)无限人性化操控和可编程性,(3)适当的灵活性,(4)所有电器精确的反馈噪音,当然(5)可靠度...所有综合之人的梦想...但也是个巨大挑战.客户的要求最难达到的就是：使用49个AMX触摸式控制面板来操纵5台Netlinx主控器，引导37,245条线路，这样就能控制43个声卡，9个local sysytem，13个影碟播放器，9个PTZ硬盘录音摄像机，18个Litetouch附件，12个温控设施，140个保卫设施以及泳池和SPA的控制器了。这位年轻的客户是已经退休的dot.com的创始人，他要和他的夫人以及三个孩子享受天伦之乐。同时他还是一名忠实地棒球粉丝和汽车爱好者，他的居室要满足他所有的兴趣，因此在地下室需要有个巨大的汽车博物馆，而且几乎每个房间都要配备高清电视。source

    有个显著的例子，能展示家庭影院环绕声系统与影院的墙壁合二为一的效果，你几乎不能辨识扬声器的位置，这是科罗拉多州丹佛地区的一家庭影院，耗资150万美元。Genelec （真力，一知名扬声器品牌名）嵌入式扬声器被嵌制于墙壁之中，周围采用隔音材料。这种结构材料放于音响之上以达到美观的效果。这种遁形术相对简单，但是却十分有效，它能使房间看起来舒服很多，而且避免了从墙上或者地面上特别圈出一块地来放置庞大的音响。source

    有一个办法可以隐藏扬声器，那就是让它和家庭装潢融合。比如，这个坐落于加拿大的漂亮原木小屋，它的环绕立体声扬声器是被装进家中的石墙里的。如果你不知道它们在这儿，你是绝对辨识不出的。除了这种新颖独特的遁形术外，这里还有窗帘，如果你要看电影，只要按一下按钮，窗帘就会自动拉上，屏幕也会自动显现。几乎每个电子系统（声像，温控，电灯照明措施等）都是由Elan touch panel 控制，这个主控面板是嵌在石墙上的，好了，原木小屋的乡村特色的参观到此结束！source

      如果你希望你能在家享受绝妙的音效，同时你又希望保持家里的优雅和高档，你可以选择去买些不同的扬声器套子。这些仿真的家具实际上是给你放置音响的。照片上的就是一个例子，你会发现这些隐藏的扬声器看起来就跟真的家具没什么两样！这张照片里还有许多扬声器，有三个是在地幔上的，当然不仔细看，你是不会发现的！在地幔上的扬声器伪装成了两个花瓶，还有那套书中其中一本。这张照片中的一套扬声器是Acoustic Research Home Décor制造的系列。他们还将扬声器做成灯的形状，柳条篮子的样子，装饰用的高柜，钟表，以及许多嵌在装饰的树干里的超低音音箱。source



      如果在室外，仅靠这些是不够的，我们还要安装一些户外系统才行。无论是在花园，露台，或是其他户外场所，一套优秀的音响系统能帮我们把美妙的音乐带到户外来。户外扬声器千奇百怪，它们有不同的造型，不同的颜色，不同的形状，适合任何风格的户外装饰布局。你会看见放水的扬声器被制成岩石状，树墩状，盆栽状，喷水池状，或者其他各种造型。这类扬声器最适宜泳池边放音乐，为户外聚会助兴，或者为户外影院添彩。这些户外音响十分隐蔽，所以人们一般不会发现它们其实是扬声器。source

      想把固定在墙上的环绕扬声器隐藏起来可不容易，但是并不是完全不可能。这间卧室的家庭影院证明了这点，5.1环绕音响系统被隐秘地固定在天花板上，同样能够在看电影时达到最佳的音响效果。两个Kef（一个知名品牌）前音响与天花板的角度完全齐平，而且当这个家庭影院打开时，这两个音响会自动从天花板上降下调整出最佳角度。42英寸的等离子屏幕隐藏在订制的窗台后面MJ Acoustics Reference 100超低音音箱（英国MJ Acoustics(MJA)带来了多款全新的超低音扬声器,这个以制造性价比高的超低音出名的英国品牌,这次展出了包括全新的入门级300英镑新型号Pro 50 mkII和定价￡3,000的顶级Reference ）就藏在订制的陈列柜里。这些家庭影院被完全隐藏，完美啊~source

      这个7,500平方英尺的住所位于伊利诺伊州，它拥有最顶级的音响系统。这个屋子里里外外总共装有49个扬声器。安装这些顶级设备居然耗资$30,000! 屋主称在这个房子的每个角落都能享受最好的音效。你会发现储藏室，浴室，露台甚至蒸汽淋浴房都有扬声器，它们被安装于不同的地方，有的在墙里面，有的在天花板里，还的在户外。屋主说他之所以在家里如此精心安装这些音效系统完全是因为“我们喜欢听音乐！”哦，太酷了。source