If you’re aiming to upgrade your home theater system with in-ceiling speakers, you should remember to get an appropriate speaker backbox for it, too. If you don’t want to miss out on a complete upgrade, read on to learn more about a ceiling speaker back box in this quick guide.
What Is a Speaker Backbox?
A speaker backbox is also known as a speaker hood. It serves to protect your speakers and provide support. Backboxes enhances your overall listening experience, because it serves as an enclosure.
A speaker backbox encloses the rear of your speakers to preserve its produced audio quality. Sound waves are captured and redirected by the backbox, preventing the sound to travel to unwanted areas. However, speakers don’t usually come with a backbox. This is why it’s important for you to be aware of such upgrades to enhance your listening experience.
These boxes are made of many different types of materials, but they usually come in wood, plastic, and cloth.
If you’re tight on budget, you can simply DIY the backbox to your liking. However, you’ll be happy to know that speaker backboxes usually come as accessories to in-ceiling speakers and wall-mounted speakers.
When Should You Use a Speaker Backbox
To know more about why you should use a speaker backbox for your speaker, here are the situations we’ve identified in which a speaker backbox is ideal.
In-Ceiling and Mounted Speakers
As discussed earlier, all in-ceiling and mounted speakers need to have a backbox.
These types of speakers usually just have cylindrical or cube shaped rears you put into holes in your ceilings or walls. Backboxes are especially designed for these situations for better mounting and to secure it in place.
The device provides improved audio, speaker protection, and soundproofing to your setup.
Second Floor House Plan
This situation is very much in line with the previous one. In-ceiling speakers produce horrible sound when placed in between two floors of a building without the aid of backboxes.
Imagine the reverb and unwanted sound it might pick up from the floor above it. These interruptions in sound waves produce an apparent sound leak. This is caused by misdirected sound and bad acoustic dampening.
You should highly reconsider your floor plan, as well [1]. Designing it to accommodate your speakers is ideal. Even then, the use of the backbox is still highly recommended.
Surround Sound System
To ensure the most ideal setup for your surround sound system, a backbox is a must.
Having so many speakers in a single room could be unsightly. When your surround sound system starts to make you feel stuffy, you might consider an upgrade to have some of them ceiling and wall mounted instead.
This brings us back to the previous two situations. Your speakers would need backboxes once you decide to do this change.
Why Invest on a Backbox?
If you’re still not convinced on getting a backbox, here are the reasons that you should consider for long-term situations.
Keeping Wires in Place
If your main concern when getting a backbox is not about the sound quality, then perhaps you can consider the neatness and organization of your setup.
A backbox would help give your sound system a cleaner look by hiding any obvious wires. By doing so, you won’t experience any distractions other than what you’re watching.
Keep Your Speakers Tidy
The backbox might help keep the dust particles off from behind your speakers. Vibrations from your speakers allow for the movement of dust particles. If you want to minimize the drag and low-blow of those foreign objects, enclose your setup with a speaker hood.
This will certainly preserve the sound quality of your speakers.
Conclusion
As exemplified above, backboxes are important for in-ceiling and wall-mounted speakers.
You have control over the sound quality and direction of your speakers. You just have to take that extra step and not be afraid to make any upgrades to your setup with a ceiling speaker back box.
Want to improve your home theater setup? Then, these guides might be of help to you!
