Audio Video News

Once something no serious movie lover would consider, in-wall speakers have made huge gains in performance in the past couple of years. In-walls are now real contenders for your home theater dollar.

Britain's B&W Loudspeakers has recently introduced an "architectural" in-wall speaker, the SIG-8NT, incorporating the company's famous Nautilus technology. The 8NT features a version of the Nautilus tweeter, a 1" aluminum dome with a tapered-tube loading system that absorbs the tweeter's back-waves without adding colorations. The Nautilus tweeter is capable of reaching 50KHz (-6dB), making it ideal for realizing the full potential of DVD and SACD recordings.

The SIG-8NT's tweeter is mounted in a sub-enclosure with a 6" FST Kevlar midrange driver. Two 8" woofers that can reach 28Hz in the low bass region flank this sub-enclosure. The mid/tweet sub-enclosure can be rotated 90 degrees for use in vertical (L/R) or horizontal (C) positions. The design of the SIG-8NT eliminates the "sweet spot problem" in most installations. A rigid frame and baffle eliminate coloration-causing vibrations, and an optional back-box is available to improve acoustic isolation from one room to another. Finish is a matte white that can be painted to match any room.

Available in December, the B&W Signature SIG-8NT will sell at retail for $1700. A new construction bracket, the PMK 8NT, is $50 additional, and the SIG-8 back-box is $250 additional.