Exciters as Surrounds

[jwbohrer]

I'm in the midst of planning a substantial upgrade to my theater system as described in this very long post http://techtalk.parts-express.com/fo...oughts-welcome.

My first item of business is to finalize what I'm going to do about the surrounds. If you don't want to read the other post, the take-away is that its a relatively small room with not much space for surrounds. Aside from having the surrounds RIGHT on the edge of the couch and pointing right at the listeners heads, I got a great suggestion to build an omnidirectional speaker like the Top Hats. Right now, that is Plan A.

However, in looking at exciters, I wanted to get your thoughts on Plan B, which would be to mount some exciters on either foam board pictures or metal pictures. I like that idea because it allows me to add decor as well as surround speakers that are basically invisible but have zero experience in listening to them. They could be mounted on the back ball, right behind the left and right corners of the couch.

Has anyone used foam board surrounds before, and, compared to Plan A Omnidirectional Top Hats, what would you guys do?

[Kornbread]

DIY flat panel speaker love

Buried somewhere in there a guy did some, and had them painted, and framed. They looked quite good.

[KevinN]

I'm using a small pair as rear surrounds (using small cigar boxes from the dollar store as the panels) in my livingroom. Not nearly as pretty as the paintings referenced above, but mounted just below the ceiling they are barely noticeable.
Bass-limited to 100 Hz by my AVR, they do a decent job with sound fx at moderate volume levels.

[Silver1omo]

I built a pair some time ago, not the best sounding, but enough to get you going.

http://techtalk.parts-express.com/forum/tech-talk-forum/57850-transducer-surrounds

[[email protected]]

I built a pair for my theater room and have been building a few for friends. I am just starting to build some flat panel wireless bluetooth versions as well. In the image, the far left and right pictures are the speakers. You can also hear them in action at the link below.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEAkQSTtxAg

[jwbohrer]

Here's what I finally came up with. I got the blue foam board, coated it with several layers of water/glue mixture, rounded the edges, and attached Dayton DAEX32U-4 Ultra to each one. They are about 11X14 inches. Then, as you can see, I had my wife draw a "blueprint" on each one.

So far the sound has been amazing. Better than the surrounds that came with the system, and better than my first stab at a DIY replacement. They sound good enough that I don't think I will replace them--they are just perfect for my limited-options listening area.