Rap a knuckle on the side of a good speaker. Now rap the same knuckle against a wall. Notice the difference? The speaker produces a quiet thunk that dies immediately. But the wall booms loudly as the Sheetrock vibrates back and forth. Now imagine how much that wallboard would vibrate if a speaker were mounted in it.

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The CP Gold In-Ceiling (left) and CP Gold In-Wall (right) both employ woofer cones made from C-CAM, a ceramic-coated aluminum/magnesium alloy that Monitor Audio says reduces spurious vibration in the cone. (Click images to enlarge)

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Here lies the problem with in-wall speakers. The woofer in a typical in-wall speaker produces sound waves on both sides. The sound waves fill the wall, and the wall vibrates along with the sound waves. Those vibrations muddy the bass: Master jazz bassists become garage-band hacks. The vibrations also bloat voices: The starlets of Sex and the City sound like they’re doing Vin Diesel impressions.

Solving this problem seems simple. Just add a box to the back of the in-wall speaker, so the sound waves coming from the back of the woofer stay in the box instead of filling the wall. But almost no manufacturer does this, because tacking that box onto the back of the speaker diminishes the bass. Now that in-wall speakers have become so popular, though, a few manufacturers have taken the risk of adding back boxes, sacrificing some of the bass to get quality midrange and treble.One such company is Monitor Audio, which has created CP Gold, a line of in-wall and in-ceiling speakers with high-quality components and, most notably, integral back boxes. They install just like any other in-wall speakers, but they produce a sound far closer to that of a good freestanding speaker.

The company sends me five cartons containing three CP Gold In-Walls and two CP Gold In-Ceilings. The in-walls become the front left, center and right speakers in my home theater system; the in-ceilings become my surround speakers.

Your designer has no cause to complain about these speakers. Because all of the CP Gold speakers fit almost perfectly flush with the walls and ceiling, there are no unsightly ridges or bulges that would call attention to the speakers. Paint them the same color as the wall or ceiling on which they’re mounted, and no one will ever notice—until you fire up your audiovisual system.I see immediately that the CP Golds feature better drivers than most in-wall and in-ceiling speakers do; in fact, the drivers are the same as found in Monitor Audio’s Silver Series freestanding speakers. Indeed, the CP Golds achieve far better sound quality than most other in-walls. Voices sound natural, much as they do from the speakers I chose for myself after months of careful evaluation (Genelec HT205s, if you’re curious). Sarah Michelle Gellar’s voice is still Sarah Michelle Gellar’s, whereas most in-wall speakers would transform her into Bea Arthur.

For movies, the clarity of voices alone would be enough reason to recommend the CP Golds over typical in-wall speakers. But when I listen to music, the deal is sealed. I hear none of the “cheap speaker” sound most of us expect from an in-wall. Instead, I hear breathy saxophones, cutting guitar riffs, clean piano fills and everything else one associates with competent music reproduction.

The treble leans toward warm and soft, rather than crisp and detailed. I could boost or cut the treble a bit using switches on the front, but leaving these switches off best suits my taste.
The sound does not wrap around me as it would with good conventional speakers, but it never does with in-walls, so no points off there. I do, however, experience a gratifying sense of depth: Instruments seem to come from deep inside the wall, as if another room has opened up between the speakers. Overall, the CP Gold In-Walls produce a much lusher, more dimensional sound than I hear from almost all conventional in-wall speakers.Even when I disconnect the CP Gold In-Walls and listen only to the CP Gold In-Ceilings, the music still sounds good—although I lose the sense of depth I enjoy with the in-walls.

So how did Monitor Audio’s engineers solve the bass reproduction shortcomings common to in-walls with back boxes? Truth be told, they did not. Neither the In-Wall nor the In-Ceiling offers enough bass capability for loud music listening; the speakers start to distort, and they never get my toes tapping. For background music, the speakers sound great on their own, but if you want to crank the system up for parties or use the speakers in a home theater, consider a subwoofer mandatory. I hope Monitor Audio will soon grace us with a heftier CP Gold model that offers deeper bass reproduction.

Would it be too much to say that the Monitor Audio CP Gold In-Walls and In-Ceilings are the speakers the world has been waiting for? Probably. But they are definitely speakers that I have been waiting for—and I know many music aficionados, movie fans and custom installers will agree.

DESCRIPTION
In-wall speakers for stereo or home theater use; models include CP Gold In-Wall speaker and CP Gold In-Ceiling speaker. Subwoofer strongly recommended.

COMPONENTS
CP Gold In-Wall: 6.5-inch C-CAM woofer, 1-inch gold dome tweeter.
CP Gold In-Ceiling: 6.5-inch C-CAM woofer, 1-inch gold dome tweeter.

CONNECTIONS
Spring-loaded metal binding posts; accept bare wire, pins and banana plugs.

DIMENSIONS
CP Gold In-Wall: 16.7 x 10.7 inches (hw); 3.9-inch installed depth
CP Gold In-Ceiling: 11.1 inches diameter; 7.2-inch installed depth

PRICE/CONTACT
PRICE: CP Gold In-Wall $550 each; CP Gold In-Ceiling $500 each
CONTACT: 905.428.2800
www.monitoraudio.com