I just went through this process, and was surprised that speakers from JM Labs AND PSB that were purposely built as surrounds sounded shitty when wall-mounted! I found their spectral response quite nice in free-space (when auditioning and at home), but the boundary support really muddied up their bottom ends. It's like these guys just took their two-way designs and squashed them into cute wall-mount cabinets without bothering to rework the crossovers and bass alignments. Geez....So, needing to couple a high WAF into this, I eliminated a few ugly black ones, and tried the Boston Acoustics VR-MX in cherry/black. These have an active 5+1 front-firing and 5 passive+ tweeter rear-firing, so you can interchange their positions depending upon setup. They sounded anemic (properly so) in free-space, but realy good with boundary support. I found B-stock AND a fine PV-1000 sub at their factory through an employee-friend, and happened to bump into their designer when picking them up, and mentioned the nice voicing. The guy explained ow much effort he put into getting them just right for wall-mounting, AND high WAF acceptance. A nice guy obviously proud of his work....I use a pair as the rears with my Spendor front trio (S3/1p and SC3), and they
combine splendidly. I must say the Boston rears are MUCH better voiced than their Monitor fronts! C'est la chance, c'est la vie....
combine splendidly. I must say the Boston rears are MUCH better voiced than their Monitor fronts! C'est la chance, c'est la vie....