Heard but not seen

The minimal approach

A lot of us take great enjoyment from the appearance of our audio equipment. It's fair to say that there's nothing like sitting back, enjoying a favourite album and gazing at a great set of floorstanding speakers.

But this isn't always the case. If you're going for a more minimal look, you might not be so interested in an audio system being front and centre. This was the case for one of our customers who preferred their sea view over a rack full of equipment.

Never ones to shy from a challenge, the Soundline team set about sourcing the components that would provide great sound throughout the home, while remaining firmly in the background and out of sight.

 

Speakers

Speakers are probably the most difficult items to hide from view as that usually means a compromise in sound quality. Anything coming between the speaker driver and the listeners ear represents reflection or absorption that ultimately spoils the fun. The solution in this case was to install Sonance in-ceiling speakers that provide great sound throughout each room, but are totally unobtrusive. The beautiful slatted wood ceiling of this home was an additional challenge with all holes needing to be carefully located and cut before installation. Always looking to go the extra step, we mounted these speakers to be flush with the ceiling so as not to detract from the stunning appearance of the wood finish.

The second challenge was presented by the in-wall TV. This approach can look great, with the unit cleanly integrated into the room, but can be limiting for sound options, particularly subwoofers which can often require a little more space to operate at their best. The solution to this was a special band pass vented subwoofer hidden in the wall space directly behind the TV, and vented downwards to project bass out from underneath the screen. This made use of otherwise wasted space, provided top quality sound and still remained hidden from view while remaining accessible for future servicing if ever required.

Amplification

Controlling the flow of entertainment to each room is an equipment rack located far away in a utility cupboard. Here it can remain out of the way but easily accessible for any maintenance or future upgrades. Out of sight, but certainly not out of mind. Control is made easy through a wireless remote system that works throughout the home.

 

The choice is yours

One of the hardest parts of completing an installation like this is that all the hard work remains hidden. The beauty of this project is that so much is going on behind the scenes to make everything work perfectly, but none of it is visible to the home owner. The technology just gets out of the way so they can enjoy their home just as they want to. We do love a good pair of floorstanding speakers out in front, but there's also a lot to be said for the 'less is more' approach. If you're looking at building or renovating, now is a great time to talk to us if you're considering integrating entertainment into your home.