Should You Flush Mount “Soffit Mount” Your Monitor Speakers?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 ส.ค. 2024
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If you walk into any professional studio you will see large studio monitors built into the front wall. This is known as flush mounting and incorrectly termed "soffit mounting" as well. In this article I will go over the pros and some cons to flush mounting your speakers so you can decide what is best for your situation.
1) The Pros To Flush Mounting Your Speakers
There are numerous benefits to flush mounting your speakers into the front wall. Here is a list of what we will go over in more detail.
- Eliminate Diffraction At Speakers Edges
- Eliminate SBIR on Front Wall
- Increased Low Frequency Efficiency
- Improved Stereo Imaging
A) Eliminate Diffraction At Speakers Edge
The acoustical term diffraction refers to how sound interacts with edges of furniture, partitions and in this context the edges of your loudspeakers. The mid to high frequencies coming from your loudspeaker spreads out the front in 180 degrees. When those waves meet the edges of your loudspeakers they immediately propagate outward in a new direction. As Philip Newell states in his book Recording Studio Design, " 'diffraction' is particularly problematic at the sharp edges of small loudspeaker boxes, where the edges can act like independent sound sources." (Philip Richard Newell, 118)
The term independent sound source is very important because you can almost imagine diffraction as having new little speakers on all of your speaker edges pointing towards your front, and side walls. This leads to more phase issues if not absorbed properly.
This is all to say that if you flush mount your speakers in a rigid and dense wall then diffraction will no longer be an issue in your room.
B) Eliminate SBIR off the Front Wall
SBIR or Speaker Boundary Interference Response is an acoustical term that refers to the soundwaves hitting a surface in a room and reflecting back to the listener. The reflective sound waves arrive after the direct sound waves creating phase problems in the room.
The biggest issue with SBIR with loudspeakers is the low frequency radiation off the front wall and back to the listening spot. This causes dips and peaks in the frequency response of the loudspeaker which can lead to hearing too much or too little bass in your mixes. This then leads to over or under compensating in the mix or master leading to bass heavy or bass light mixes. All of this is undesirable in a control room.
Flush mounting your speakers in a heavy dense front wall means the bass frequencies are only radiated forward into the room. This means you will hear the direct sound of the bass without reflections (assuming the rest of your room is heavily absorbent at low frequencies) and make accurate decisions when recording, mixing and mastering in your room. This then leads to mixes that translate everywhere and speeds up every part of the production process.
C) Increased Low Frequency Efficiency
When you flush mount your speakers you are essentially extending the front baffle of the speakers from the left to the right wall. This leads to an increased efficiency in the monitor system leading to as Newell points out, "greater low-frequency efficiency of between 3 and 6dB compared to the same loudspeakers free-standing." (Philip Richard Newell, 381)
This means that the less electrical power is needed, which leads to less heat in the voice coils, "which tends to both reduce power-compression and distortion, and improves the transient response of the system at high SPLs. (Philip Richard Newell, 381)
Although, this is a very technical benefit, it nonetheless is important to mention since better efficiency of the system leads directly to a more accurate monitoring environment.
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Works Cited
“File:WaveDiffraction.jpg - Coastal Wiki.” Www.coastalwiki.org, www.coastalwiki.org/wiki/File:WaveDiffraction.jpg. Accessed 15 Mar. 2024.
Philip Richard Newell. Recording Studio Design. New York ; London, Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2017.
0:00 - Intro
1:09 - Pros to flush mounting
1:12 - No diffraction
2:36 - Eliminate SBIR off Front Wall
4:51 - Low Frequency Efficiency
6:06 - Improved Stereo Imaging
7:18 - Cons To Flush Mounting
7:35 - Low Quality Monitors
9:25 - Not enough absorption at low freq
11:01 - Don't know how to flush mount
11:53 - Want to move your studio
13:04 - Conclusion
FREE Acoustic Treatment Guide: www.soundproofyourstudio.com/acoustic
This was helpful, thank you.
Glad it was helpful!
Very good, thanks!!
Glad you liked it!
As I'm 80% done with my Atmos room, my head just exploded.
That would be a lot of flush mounting.
Would building a rigid plywood wall within the edge of the room and flush mounting the speakers help? I have Gene 8351b and massive peak at 35hz, null at 70 and 140 (12db) =(
I would use acoustic treatment first before flush mounting. It will help but you need a very heavy wall the speakers sit in and lots of planning and exact dimensions.
@@soundproofyourstudio I'm gonna give up on that idea then, lol. Thanks for replying 🙏
What about surface mount speakers?
I believe those still count as flush mounting, but surround sound speakers are different techincally.
When working out critical room dimensions and building the ‘room within a room’ do you have to account for those things that go up against the walls, such as storage shelves etc? If 20’ is ideal but I’m putting a cabinet against it…. Does it have to be 20’ to the front of the furniture storage cabinet, even though shelves may not all filled ‘solid’ and will have gaps etc?🤔
Shelves won't really affect low end.
No don’t get bogged down in room ratios. They are a good starting place, but the room will function differently than predicted because the math assumes infinitely rigid walls which are impossible to build.
U may have addressed this an I missed it but I had heard if u have rear ported speakers do not flush mount. Have u ever heard of this?
I would imagine same goes for speakers with a down firing cone…. No sense on firing into a wall cavity 😳
I will do more research on it, but as long as the speaker has room for the rear ports to breathe it should be fine. Asking the manufacturer is a good option too.
@@soundproofyourstudio cool if you find out for sure and think about it at the time, let me know what you find out bro Id greatly appreciate it! and thanks for the reply also much appreciated!
In over 30 years I've never seen an audiophile, no matter their budget, flush mount speakers. It's always been curious to me that recording studios do.
Recording studios don't care that much about aesthetics or elegance. Or at least they prioritize monitoring quality.
@@LeDemiChef my thinking is that both worlds care very much about monitoring quality, but perhaps prioritize different aspects. I wouldn't doubt that audiophiles tend to care more about "air" and imaging which leaves me wondering if having speakers out in the room helps those elements.
@@chriswilliams67 a lot of audiophiles don't even know what they're talking about. I've heard so many ridiculous things you wouldn't believe it
@@chriswilliams67 also the listening position for a listening room js usually further back against the back wall and reflections are typically treated differently
Audiophiles and hi-fi listening is about re-creating reality as played by the artist imo. not about creating unrealistic pure sound waves.